4. The Third Doctors TARDIS (The Three Doctors)
Ive already mentioned that the Third Doctor was constantly redecorating his control room, more to procrastinate from doing his actual job of being UNITs scientific advisor. Incidentally after he got the TARDIS working again the TARDIS décor calmed the heck down. That said it was only seen 3 times and even then it was tweaked. This is the set that came after The Time Monster for the 10th Anniversary story The Three Doctors. The point I made about the Time Monster set looking out of place in any other story applies here. This design owes a lot to the original, youd forgiven for thinking the console was the same because it was a replica of the original pretty much, which saw its final day of service in Inferno. The walls too mimic the originals only the design is at least to some degree kept consistent, as in the walls didnt keep rearranging. Even the fault locator, or a wall very similar to it is present. It has everything the original had but does it better, like they took the original and trimmed off all the fat. I look at this console room and I cant actually find anything wrong with it. The 1970s colour TV set scanner maybe but apart from that, its all good. It is a shame that this design didnt last longer and by Tom Bakers heyday the TARDIS interior bore no resemblance to the original, which was for the worse I feel, as I said earlier. Despite the fact the basic structure and components of the room remained the same, there were some additions made as and when the plot required. Most notably in Planet of the Daleks where out of nowhere comes a pretty shoddy looking cabinet unit, which acts as a wardrobe, general storage unit and fold out bed. This is clearly something bought from a furniture shop and no effort is made to disguise the fact. At least the furniture in the First Doctors TARDIS was antique and sophisticated. Youd be lead to believe that the control room was the only room in the ship. But then what does he Doctor do? He grabs a new outfit from the wardrobe and then walks through an exit into another part of the ship, rendering the whole thing completely pointless. This would have been ideal opportunity to show different rooms in the ship. Although the reason why this doesnt happen is clearly down to budget so I guess I cant complain, even if it is ludicrous. In the same episode, the Doctor wheels into shot an emergency oxygen supply, which is 3 oxygen tanks in a box, that are empty. Something integrated was clearly too much to ask. Finally this room appears in Death to the Daleks with smatterings of antique furniture and an oil lamp, and cluttered with a load of holiday gubbins, but no sooner have we entered the TARDIS, the console blows up with a pathetic BBC explosion and the whole ship is plunged into darkness. That was the last we saw of it for some time. A shame really.