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) eject waste tanks located further within the TARDIS, (TV: The Husbands of River Song) 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) It also had an appilly-named "wibbly lever", which helped the Doctor and companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams escape after the exterior shell of the TARDIS had materialised inside it's interior shell (TV: Time)

First, Second and Third Doctor
This console was removed by the Third Doctor during his exile on Earth for use in his laboratory, hoping that he would be able to bypass the limitations that the Time Lords had placed on his ability to control the TARDIS by removing the console from the TARDIS itself. However, not only did he require a significant amount of power to make the TARDIS move more than a few seconds in time and a few hundred metres in space, he also removed so many security protocols that he travelled sideways in time into a parallel universe, where he was nearly killed before he managed to convince the alternate versions of his friends to help him return home. (TV: Inferno)

Third Doctor
The Third Doctor made significant functional alterations to the TARDIS console during his exile on Earth, though it's aesthetic appearance wasn't too dissimilar to that of the previous console, in that it was a more obvious shade of green, and the time rotor had a different internal structure, consisting of three, illuminated green rods surrounding a centre red one. The console itself also had a series of lines on it connecting all of the controls, though this didn't seem to have any function other than aesthetic. The controls on the console were also larger, even if they weren't in different places. This console also had an emergency summons control which sent a distress signal to the Time Lords in times of dire crisis. (TV: The Three Doctors)

Fourth Doctor
The console in the TARDIS after the Doctor's regeneration into his fourth incarnation had a lot of changes. It was actually in the centre of the console room and had a completely different control layout. The time rotor also changed, but was not entirely different to the previous model, in that it was completely red/pink and fully illuminated. Just like all of the previous consoles, the Doctor and, on occasions, certain companions could access and repair the TARDIS's systems through panels at the base of the console. This console ultimately remained after the Doctor regenerated into his fifth incarnation.

Fourth Doctor secondary console
For a short period, the Fourth Doctor relocated to a secondary control room in the TARDIS with an entirely different console to any that had come before it. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora) Smaller than previous designs, the console was entirely made of wood, did not possess a time rotor and the controls were merely a series of buttons concealed behind hinged wooden panels on the console itself. Not all of these hinged panels concealed controls either, with one hiding a small storage area for the Doctor's possessions. Eventually, the Doctor went back to using the primary console room. (TV: The Invisible Enemy)

Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctor
At some phase, the Fifth Doctor again redesigned the TARDIS console with an entirely different control layout. (TV: The Five Doctors, et al.) This model of console consisted almost entirely of panels of toggle switches and monitors protruding from among these panels, with the one exception being the controls operating the door and the scanner. The top and bottom of the panels were also built on a slant raised up from the top of the base and to the edge of the time rotor, which also had a different design, appearing as a multiple-layered glass structure built around a series of pulsating rods and lights. The base of the console was significantly different, with indented shapes in its six sides and hexagons risen out from them. With this new design, repairs could no longer be made from the base of the console, but instead through wiring behind the roundels throughout the TARDIS. (TV: Terminus, Attack of the Cybermen, etc)

Seventh and Eighth Doctor
The console in the control room redesigned by the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex (AUDIO: The Settling) was the most significantly different model of console the TARDIS had at the time. The base of the console was made of metal with three supports holding up the base of the control panels, which were made of wood. The controls adopted a somewhat Victorian aesthetic, including wooden dials, switches and a large brake lever which enacted an emergency halt in the TARDIS' flight. While the console had a small monitor connected above the time rotor, there is a large lever on one of the panels which activates a larger scanner which engulfed the entire ceiling of the control room. This console had a completely different time rotor; instead of being a singular column ascending and descending like previous consoles, the time rotor on this console was a raised cylindrical structure, containing two sets of ascending and descending, translucent rods, one at the top and one at the bottom, with the structure itself halting at a different metal structure at the top, with four support girders emerging from it, which are connected to the floor around the base of the console, with room for the Doctor to move around it. (TV: Doctor Who)

Eighth and War Doctor
In the midst of the Time War, the Eighth Doctor again changed the desktop theme of the TARDIS control room with another radically redesigned console. This console had six curved coral supports with a connecting ring holding the control panels in place. The control panels themselves were translucent and lit white with the controls being connected to them, including the main dematerialisation lever; there were also controls connected to the coral supports on the console. The base of the console also had a plethora of wires emerging from it. The time rotor was raised from a metal support with two coral rings along the base. Like the previous console, the rotor was raised to the ceiling, and contained a white-lit glass structure with a single set of rings that ascend and descend during flight. The top of the rotor had an identical but larger set of coral rings compared to the bottom, continuing with a large structure at the top. From the top of the structure emerged the rough coral supports with curves along the walls of the room. The War Doctor continued to use this console during the Time War. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

Ninth and Tenth Doctor
The console used by the Ninth Doctor was almost identical to the previous one; the differences, however, include the change of white lighting to bright green and the alteration of some of the controls, which were presumably damaged during the Time War. This console featured a monitor that displayed Gallifreyan writing with sticky notes left on it by the Doctor. It could also show television channels. (TV: Rose onwards) When Mickey Smith asked Rose Tyler how it worked, Rose said, "It sort of tunes itself." (TV: The Christmas Invasion) It also contained a working telephone, used once by the Doctor. (TV: World War Three) The time rotor was also slightly different, as it now had a similar structure to that used by the Eighth Doctor; the pair of rings connected to glass pillars were doubled, one set being at the top and the other at the bottom. In flight, these rings would rise and collapse towards and away from each other. The Tenth Doctor continued to use this console model, but it was severely damaged after his regeneration into his eleventh incarnation. (TV: The End of Time)

Eleventh Doctor
When the TARDIS regenerated itself, the console was also drastically different. The shape of the control panels maintained a very unique shape with the panels themselves being slightly separated from each other. The panels were mostly made of glass and plastic materials with Gallifreyan shapes indented into them and lights present underneath. This was the second console to have a primary dematerialisation lever, which appeared similar to the throttle of a 21st century plane, but with yellow lights. The time rotor was a completely different shape and the structure inside was a rising and falling glass structure illuminated by a green light from underneath. (TV: The Eleventh Hour to The Angels Take Manhattan) The Eleventh Doctor made all repairs to the console from underneath the glass floor on which the console was stationed; the console structure continued through the glass floor with an entire system of wires emerging from the base, which the Doctor was constantly reconnecting to improve the console's functionality. (TV: The Vampires of Venice et al)

Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor
During his period of grieving the losses of Amy and Rory, the Eleventh Doctor became a recluse; landing his TARDIS on a cloud in Victorian England, and changed the desktop to suit his mood. (TV: The Snowmen) The console in this room was at the centre of the main deck and had a very sophisticated and technological appearance. The base of the console was a supported glass cylinder which was lit in a very bright green light. The six control panels formed a hexagonal console, with each panel contained different types of controls. For example, one was formed up of wheels and gears (TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS), while another was completely comprised of the telepathic circuits. (TV: Listen) These panels could be individually separated from the console structure. The panel furthest from the doors had the main dematerialisation control, as well as a special 'handbrake', which was used by both the Doctor and Clara Oswald in order to keep the TARDIS grounded or bring it in to land urgently. (TV: The Day of the Doctor, Kill the Moon, Under the Lake) Unlike previous consoles, it had two screens, which moved on a rail around the time rotor. The Eleventh Doctor had a special mounting for his Cyber-head, 'Handles', connected to this rail. The rotor itself contained six green rods which lit up most of the room, and was again raised to the ceiling. The rods and light at the console base were changed to orange by the Twelfth Doctor. (TV: Deep Breath) Above the rotor was a series of three spinning roundels, which moved in opposing directions when the TARDIS was in flight. This console was destroyed when the Thirteenth Doctor pressed a button after her regeneration from the Twelfth Doctor; the time rotor was engulfed in flames and a console panel gave way causing the Doctor to fall from the ship. (TV: Twice Upon a Time)