Doctor Who: 10 Best TARDIS Interior Designs
Which box is larger? Which box is cleaner? Which box is rounder? ...Which box is best?
Doctor Who has embraced many changes throughout it’s nearly 60 year history. However, the old Police Box is one of the few things many fans agree should never, under ANY circumstances, be altered (looking at you, Colin...).
But whilst the outside of the famous time machine has remained roughly the same (yes, sometimes there’s a St Johns sticker and it’s a different shade of blue), the same can't be said for the inside. Whether it’s due to budgetary constraints, a desire to revamp the show, or, just because they can, the interior of the TARDIS has seen a vast variety of changes throughout its lifetime.
From minor alterations and tweaks, to full blown regenerations, nowadays fans not only have to decide which Doctor they’d most want to travel with, but also which TARDIS they’d most want to travel in. Fortunately, we’re here to help give you a more informed decision when picking your desired Type 40 variant.
10. The TV Movie TARDIS (1996)
Kicking off the list is the only canonical TARDIS interior that wasn’t designed by the BBC. Yes, 20th Century Fox’s failed Americanised reboot of the show came with a variety of interesting changes. However, two things fans tend to agree on as being overall positive takeaways are; Paul McGann as the severely underrated Eighth Doctor, and that console room!
After 26 years of the TARDIS being a simple, brightly-lit, plain white set in a cramped BBC studio, the enormous movie TARDIS burst onto our screens in 1996 and completely changed the game. Gone was the simplistic look of the original series, and in came extravagant Edwardian décor and mood-lighting. This TARDIS is perhaps the most homely of all the interiors. An extravagantly designed gentlemen’s study, complete with fancy chairs, a library, a jerky gramophone, and candles everywhere.
It’s so homely that looking around, it’s easy to forget that it’s supposed to be a time machine, as the newly designed, albeit rather skinny-looking, console is seemingly just plonked in the middle as though it were some kind of elaborate ornament. The interior certainly conveys a terrific sense of Gothic-Romance, which suits both the Seventh and Eighth Doctors' personalities, however it’s missing a certain “TARDIS-y” feel to it, perhaps the lack of round things on the walls?