2. 'The Five Doctors' TARDIS
This console room survived three Doctors; more than any other control room. This design was created more out of necessity than intention as the previous set and console were up to this point literally falling apart. So just like in The Three Doctors a new control room was brought in to mark the occasion. Now in retrospect this design is extremely dated and screams Eighties. With all the modern keyboard controls and switches, it was well and truly brought up to date with the times and went no further it seems. The mini monitors would periodically display a very primitive set of graphics that looked like they had been designed in MS Paint. This is kind of a console sponsored by Atari. Even by Sylvester McCoys time it looked past it but by the end, the walls had been destroyed and only the console remained. Yet when it first appeared in The Five Doctors it looked like a lot of money had been spent on it and the initial impact would have been huge. Even now it is seen as almost as quintessential classic control room as much as if not more than the original. Fortunately this console has survived the test of time and can now be seen in the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff Bay. This TARDIS was dual purpose just like the Time Monster set but without the ingenuity. As the Master was back on the scene he too would require a ship. Solution, take the exact same set and paint it black. So not only was that choice unimaginative, but still had the issue that the Master had redecorated in exactly the same way. Time Lords are so easily led. The main bulk of the set corrects all the things they got wrong with the previous set. It looks solid and clean and properly designed and angular, unlike the previous scruffy hodge podge. Even the scanner is made to look a little more interesting with the addition of some added design features. Sadly the rest of this TARDIS looks pretty much the same as it did previously with the endless same looking corridors. We saw the wardrobe several times over the years, which always seemed to look different but every other room seemed to be completely devoid of any contents. In Attack of the Cybermen the Doctor and comrades are locked in a big, empty room. Nothing much more was done to develop the TARDIS in this time, but at least the console room was interesting enough to be the consistent focus of attention in this time.