The TARDIS interior changes almost as much as the Doctor’s face! We take a look at the many variations of the Time Lord’s famous ship…
The Ninth and Tenth Doctor’s TARDIS
This was the TARDIS interior that relaunched the modern series and gave the Doctor’s home a radical overhaul. In the Classic series, the TARDIS interior had been plain white and squeaky clean, like a laboratory, but the Ninth and Tenth Doctors’ version was the complete opposite, full of grills and loose cables. Indeed, it wouldn’t have looked out of place in an Alien movie.
This console room proved popular with viewers, though, and lasted for nearly five years. The Fifth Doctor, however, was none-too-impressed when he paid a visit in 2007’s ‘Time Crash,’ remarking that the TARDIS’ coral-inspired desktop theme was “worse than the leopard skin.”
The Eleventh Doctor’s TARDIS
The TARDIS interior belonging to the Eleventh Doctor was one of the biggest in the series’ history – at the time, anyway. This console room comprised of many levels, with the time rotor sitting on the central platform. Many ramps led off from this area, whilst down below there was a nook consisting of a black, inky pool where the Doctor could get beneath the console itself.
The time rotor, meanwhile, was made up of a piece of blown glass, and above this was a strange spiral structure which was reminiscent of the one seen in the First Doctor’s TARDIS – a sort of metallic swirl that was fixed to the ceiling. Its true function, though, is unknown, and it’s possible that it was simply decorative.
The Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor’s TARDIS
Viewers were treated to a surprise in the 2012 Christmas special when the Eleventh Doctor unexpectedly received a new TARDIS interior. This was a little smaller than the previous iteration, although it retained the previous version’s levels with a raised platform running around the perimeter.
Perhaps the biggest change was the TARDIS console and time rotor. In the previous versions, the levers and switches had been a ragtag assembly of real world objects, as if the Doctor had gotten slack at his TARDIS repairs and started substituting buttons for chess pieces. This time, however, the console had more of an ordered machine look about it, as if Apple had come in and redesigned the user experience overnight. Moreover, a series of interconnected dials now towered above the time rotor, which spun like helicopter blades when the ship was in motion.
And although the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor’s TARDIS interiors remained largely unchanged, some subtle changes were introduced for Peter Capaldi’s Doctor. He was given a couple of bookcases and a blackboard, and the mood lighting was tweaked from blue to orange. Moreover, in Series Nine the classic TARDIS roundels were introduced.
The War Doctor‘s TARDIS
The next TARDIS interior actually preceded the Ninth Doctor’s, although it wasn’t seen until the 50th anniversary special in 2013. This one was very similar to the Ninth and Tenth Doctor’s TARDIS with the grills, cables and coral pillars, but the walls retained the Classic series’ roundels. This was a machine that was very much geared for war, the implication being that the Time Lord was too busy fighting the Daleks to worry about the TARDIS’ aesthetic.
The Thirteenth Doctor’s TARDIS
When Peter Capaldi regenerated into Jodie Whittaker, the TARDIS was not very happy about it. The console room effectively destroyed itself and the console was ripped apart, sending the Thirteenth Doctor plunging into the abyss. And given how desperately the TARDIS tried to ‘shake’ her out of the machine, it was almost as if her time ship couldn’t handle such a radical change.
Eventually, though, the Doctor made it back to the TARDIS and the machine made its peace with her new face, rewarding the Doctor with a brand new TARDIS interior. This was perhaps the smallest of the modern series’ console rooms, but quite beautiful, made up of crystalline structures and interconnecting hexagons on the walls and floor. The console, meanwhile, retained the ragtag look of the Ninth and Tenth Doctor’s TARDIS, and the Thirteenth Doctor was even gifted her own custard cream dispenser.
Curiously, this console also came with its own miniature, spinning glass TARDIS which rotated when the ship was in flight.
The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors’ TARDIS
By the time the Fourteenth Doctor arrived, it had become tradition for the TARDIS interior to change with the Doctor. Indeed, no reason was given for the transformation of the TARDIS interior in ‘The Star Beast.’ It simply changed.
And this TARDIS interior is undeniably the biggest in the series’ history, save only for the Seventh Doctor’s TARDIS in the TV movie. At the same time, it channels the energy of the TARDIS interior from the Classic era, with white-washed walls and the traditional roundels.
This console room is also reminiscent of the Eleventh Doctor’s TARDIS, with multiple levels and swirling ramps leading off in various directions. The console also comes with its own coffee maker, although (as Donna demonstrates in ‘The Star Beast’) the TARDIS isn’t a massive fan of caffeinated beans and promptly explodes when Donna spills her drink.
And even though the TARDIS interior remains unaltered for the Fifteenth Doctor, the Time Lord has introduced his own jukebox which, interestingly, appears to be the same one used by Cassandra in 2005’s ‘The End of the World.’
So there we are – a complete rundown of all of the modern TARDIS interiors to date. We should also give an honorary mention to the Fugitive Doctor‘s TARDIS – a console room which (presumably) predated the First Doctor, and retained the look from the Classic series and traditional time rotor.
Which TARDIS interior is your favourite? And which ‘desktop theme’ would you have in your own TARDIS? Let us know in the comments below.
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Love this article. Hated the 13th Tardis (and the Doctor); looks like a giant bug, busy and a claustrophobic nightmare. Throw in Four!! helpers who all want attention and a Doctor who talks like she has mush in her mouth. Well, I couldn’t… just couldn’t. I’m just saying. Thanks for the great pictures.