TARDIS control console

A TARDIS control console (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Armageddon Factor) — often simply known as "the console" or the TARDIS console — controlled most of the operations of the TARDIS. It was the namesake of the room of the TARDIS in which it was found — a room alternately known as the "control room" or "console room".

Functionality
A TARDIS console had a wide range of functions. Chiefly, it was the device used to control a TARDIS' flight. But it also contained a variety of other devices and buttons. It could be used to open the exterior doors, (TV: An Unearthly Child, et al) control the chameleon circuit, (TV: Logopolis) access the TARDIS information system (TV: Castrovalva) and a vocal archive, (PROSE: The Nameless City) dispense condiments, (TV: Vincent and the Doctor) make the TARDIS invisible, (TV: The Invasion) and provide power to devices outside the TARDIS and activate loudspeakers on the exterior of the TARDIS. (TV: Utopia)

In addition, the console could even travel in space and time by itself, independently of the rest of the TARDIS, though it lacked the power generation and supply facilities to manage more than one or two jumps before needing to be recharged. (TV: Inferno, The Doctor's Wife)

Eleventh Doctor's first console
The various systems of the Eleventh Doctor's initial console were fairly well-understood. According to one account, each of the six panels controlled discrete functions. The mechanical panel contained the engine release lever, door release lever, gyroscopic stabiliser, locking down mechanism (described as a physical handbrake) and the TARDIS display dials. The helm panel contained the eyepiece (an alternative to visual scanners), the time rotor handbrake and the space-time throttle. The navigation panel contained a time and space forward/back control, directional pointer, atom accelerator and the spatial location input (a computer keyboard). The diagnostic panel contained the inertial dampers, the cooling systems (gauges), a bunsen burner and a microphone/water dispenser. The communications panel contained an analogue telephone, digital com, voice recorder (so the Doctor could leave himself memos), analogue radio waves detector/monitor/changer and a scanner/typewriter. The fabrication panel contained the materialise/dematerialise function, harmonic generator, time altimeter, a fabrication dispenser (which was described as being able to produce sonic screwdrivers and other technology) which eventually housed the laser screwdriver, and a Heisenberg focusing device which was used to break Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. (GAME: TARDIS)

Design history

 * to be added