New Look TARDIS for 2010?

[Si Hunt]

The Tardis will undergo a full redesign when Matt Smith joins the cast as the eleventh Doctor in 2010, it has been claimed.

Producers will radically refit the inside of the time-travelling police box and will also enhance the quality of the exterior, The Mirror reports.

A source said: "It will be the most hi-tech, intricate Tardis ever."

Incoming head writer Stephen Moffat is reportedly interested in making sure the Tardis looks good in high definition.

He is also said to be attempting to distance himself from outgoing executive producer Russell T. Davies, and to herald a new era of the show.

Davies has previously admitted that a move to high definition would require the reconstruction of the Tardis to prevent its "flaws" showing on screen.

Idle rumour? Or some truth in it?

Si.

[Antony Cox]

Who knows?

Where was that quote from, Si?

[Si Hunt]

Digital Spy! Not that that's the holy grail of truth, but they do tend to repeat a lot of stuff doing the rounds in the papers and in magazines, which have been known to have a grain of truth to them.

Si.

[Antony Cox]

but they do tend to repeat a lot of stuff doing the roundels in the papers and in magazines

[SiHart]

Well it would be nice if it was true, wouldn't it?

Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

I'm not sure there's much they can do to the exterior, but a new interior is potentially something exciting to look forward to - it's nice to know that, just like in the good old days, nothing is so totally set in stone that it can't be changed.

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Ant,

Here's £50. Go knock up a TARDIS console for the Beeb. Think how much money it will save them!!!

[shada pavlova]

Could it possibly be a return to the Hartnell-era computer banks and ormulu clocks?

[Pip Madeley]

Could it possibly be a return to the Hartnell-era computer banks and ormulu clocks?

The show would be laughed off the television.

[Larry]

think I'd rather have a redesign of the opening credits...

[Simon R]

I really hope it's true as I've never been over keen on either the outside or inside of the current TARDIS. I'd like it more pink.

The show would be laughed off the television.

Really? Why? They'd obviously avoid the blown up paracetmol packet walls and make the console a bit more sturdy but If they did it right they could say it was retro.

[SiHart]

An Ormulu clock would be a nice touch. And bring back the old chair back too!

Si xx

[Pip Madeley]

Really? Why? They'd obviously avoid the blown up paracetmol packet walls and make the console a bit more sturdy but If they did it right they could say it was retro.

I just think the old version, particularly the 80s console room has dated badly.

Let's have something brand new again.

[Dirk Gently]

I still think the TVM Console Room was the best.

[Si Hunt]

I think it should be high-tech but, crucially, lived in. That was what appealed to me as a kid - when you got coats hanging up, or the bedrooms in the TARDIS. This is after all where the Doctor and his companion live - the modern console room, or the TV Movie one, are more like caves or underwater caverns. You can't possibly imagine someone calling them a home. And the fact that the new series console room doesn't seem to have any entrance into a living area is ridiculous.

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

And the fact that the new series console room doesn't seem to have any entrance into a living area is ridiculous.

Just because we haven't seen it doesn't mean there isn't one - Rose and Mickey walk off at the end of 'Girl in the Fireplace' and we see the wardrobe room in 'The Christmas Invasion'. RTD obviously didn't want to dwell on the TARDIS too much because it detracts from adventuring outside the doors, the emphasis is on getting them out of the doors and into the plot.

[Andrew Curnow]

I like the new console room a lot (although I wasn't sure at first) and especially the sound of feet running round the grille. But I agree with Si that I always used to like the little bits of 'domesticity' about the TARDIS.

I mean, crikey, new fans must still be wondering how the travellers eat - somebody write in a lengthy food machine sequence for Matt's debut, quick!

[Si Hunt]

Just because we haven't seen it doesn't mean there isn't one - Rose and Mickey walk off at the end of 'Girl in the Fireplace' and we see the wardrobe room in 'The Christmas Invasion'.

Which is odd because the rest of the time it's clearly shown that there ISN'T one. There physically isn't another door out the console room, unless for some bizarre reason it's invisible or the wall slides up or something. It's not just unseen - it isn't there, and it's absence is actually a strange visual inconsistency that goes unmentioned in almost every episode.

RTD obviously didn't want to dwell on the TARDIS too much because it detracts from adventuring outside the doors, the emphasis is on getting them out of the doors and into the plot.

Which is very strange, for a version of the format which seeks to bring the domestic further into Doctor Who than ever before. I mean, it's not like they don't spend much time in the TARDIS - there's masses of time spent in it, it's just all in the console room. To me, the major role of the TARDIS in the series was as a "safe haven", a cosy place that acted as a goal for the characters to get back to at the end of the story. It just doesn't work when it looks like a submarine.

Si.

[SiHart]

I'd like it more homely too. That was what always appealed to me too as a kid. And roundels. Would it really be so bad to have a few around the place as a reminder of what it once was?

Si xx

[Rob McCow]

The show would be laughed off the television.

Rubbish! That's like saying K-9 would be laughed off the television, or the Daleks, or the Sontarans.

[SiHart]

Indeed, as long as it was done with care and attention I'm sure they could make an update of the old look work well. Some of the possible design sketches they did way back in 2004 were quite intriguing hi-tech updates and there were some excellent console designs they discarded.

Si xx

[Pip Madeley]

As I said, I'd like to see something original again - I liked the New Series interior because it was so new/striking. The old console room of the 1980s was dull dramatically limited, over-lit and tiny. They can do better, they have the people, they have the budget.

And I don't think my opinion is "rubbish!" but there you go.

[Mike Saville]

Which is odd because the rest of the time it's clearly shown that there ISN'T one. There physically isn't another door out the console room, unless for some bizarre reason it's invisible or the wall slides up or something. It's not just unseen - it isn't there, and it's absence is actually a strange visual inconsistency that goes unmentioned in almost every episode.

Si.

I dunno, I don't watch the show as often as you guys, and missed most of the last series, but I've only ever seen the console room from a couple of angles, and a whole portion of it I've never seen in shot, probably about a 120 degree arc at least.

[Si Hunt]

We've seen the whole console room plenty of times, and there ain't no interior door!

Pip seems to think we want the eighties console room back, I don't know where he's got that from! "Futuristic" covers a wide range of designs. Now, don't shoot me down for this, but suppose something like the bridge of the Enterprise had been used as a basis for the design - sleek, warm, futuristic... the point is, that worked in the '90's as a 'futuristic' design for a space ship and that show never got "laughed off television", so I don't see why Who couldn't go down a similar design avenue for the TARDIS.

Si.

[Antony Cox]

The trouble is, futuristic sci-fi design is nearly always (and very obviously) present day design + 100 years or something. The fact that in the New Series they went for something which doesn't necessarily look furturistic as such was quite a clever move, really.

Personally I'd still like to see an updated version of the original console room which IMO was the best of all of them.