A roundel, (TV: Terminus [+]Loading...["Terminus (TV story)"]) affectionately dubbed "the round things" by the Doctor, (TV: The Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"]) was a decorative feature in TARDISes used to hide circuitry and other functions.
Roundels were a key standard feature in all TARDISes, (TV: Hell Bent [+]Loading...["Hell Bent (TV story)"]) and a standard design for centuries, so much so that they were a telltale sign for identifying a TARDIS. (AUDIO: The Lifeboat and the Deathboat [+]Loading...["The Lifeboat and the Deathboat (audio story)"])
Functionality[[edit] | [edit source]]
At least some of these roundels doubled as access covers to circuitry in the walls. (TV: Terminus [+]Loading...["Terminus (TV story)"], Attack of the Cybermen [+]Loading...["Attack of the Cybermen (TV story)"]) Some others were small storage units. (PROSE: Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks [+]Loading...["Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (novelisation)"], TV: Castrovalva [+]Loading...["Castrovalva (TV story)"])
The Doctor's TARDIS[[edit] | [edit source]]
.jpg){kind=link}
The First Doctor's TARDIS control room originally had basic white roundels, circular in shape, indented into the wall. (TV: An Unearthly Child [+]Loading...["An Unearthly Child (TV story)"])As the Doctor's travels progressed, these roundels were gradually replaced by a simpler flat roundel variant which came to be the standard. (TV: The Space Museum [+]Loading...["The Space Museum (TV story)"], Galaxy 4 [+]Loading...["Galaxy 4 (TV story)"]) By one account, one wall consisted of white hexagons with roundels implemented on them. (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"]) The Second Doctor inherited this design, (TV: The Power of the Daleks [+]Loading...["The Power of the Daleks (TV story)"]) however, when working for the Celestial Intervention Agency, he was given a TARDIS which had roundels that served as the inner technological functions of the ship. (TV: The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"])
The Third Doctor originally inherited his predecessors' design (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians [+]Loading...["Doctor Who and the Silurians (TV story)"]) but later used a new TARDIS control room with bowl-like roundels edged with plastic furnishings. One of them then served the role of the scanner. (TV: The Time Monster [+]Loading...["The Time Monster (TV story)"]) Later, he switched to a TARDIS control room using the flat roundels, (TV: The Three Doctors [+]Loading...["The Three Doctors (TV story)"]) with this continuing into the TARDIS control room used by the Fourth Doctor. (TV: Planet of Evil [+]Loading...["Planet of Evil (TV story)"], Pyramids of Mars [+]Loading...["Pyramids of Mars (TV story)"])
The second control room had multi-grooved roundels made of wood, with some roundels containing stained glass. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora [+]Loading...["The Masque of Mandragora (TV story)"], et al.) When the Fourth Doctor returned to a version of the white control room, this room has plastic-y white versions of the same roundel design, (TV: The Invisible Enemy [+]Loading...["The Invisible Enemy (TV story)"], et al.) which were kept in the slightly altered TARDIS control room (TV: Meglos [+]Loading...["Meglos (TV story)"]) and the more significant renovation done by the Fifth Doctor. (TV: The Five Doctors [+]Loading...["The Five Doctors (TV story)"]) However, on one occasion that version of the room had flat roundels. (TV: Battlefield [+]Loading...["Battlefield (TV story)"])
The Eighth Doctor's TARDIS control room had circular cut-outs in the support beams. Its inner doors also had rectangular panels with circular idents, (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) which one source called "wooden roundels". (PROSE: Suns and Mothers [+]Loading...["Suns and Mothers (short story)"])
The War Doctor's control room used the original roundel style. When the Tenth Doctor's TARDIS interior glitched because of the War Doctor and the Eleventh Doctor's presence and reverted to the War Doctor's desktop settings, the Eleventh Doctor, despite having forgotten their purpose, happily pointed out the "round things" to his predecessors. The Tenth Doctor voiced his love for the "round things", though he admitted he had no idea what they were when his successor asked. (TV: The Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"])
.jpg){kind=link}
In the Ninth Doctor's control room, the walls of the TARDIS for a time featured back-lit hexagons. (TV: Rose [+]Loading...["Rose (TV story)"]) By the time of the Tenth Doctor, overhead lights were added to the TARDIS's illumination, so the roundels fulfilled a mainly decorative function. (TV: Doomsday [+]Loading...["Doomsday (TV story)"]) However, the roundels could be removed from the wall and used as devices. (TV: Army of Ghosts [+]Loading...["Army of Ghosts (TV story)"])
The Eleventh Doctor's first TARDIS control room had not so many roundels in the walls, but the theme did continue slightly, and there was a larger circular screen set into the wall near the door. (TV: The Eleventh Hour [+]Loading...["The Eleventh Hour (TV story)"])
The Eleventh Doctor's second main TARDIS control room had blue and red neon roundels. (TV: The Snowmen [+]Loading...["The Snowmen (TV story)"]) The Twelfth Doctor made a minor redecoration to his TARDIS while keeping the same layout of roundels, noting that he used to have a lot of "round things" and feeling partly unsatisfied with the lack of more. (TV: Deep Breath [+]Loading...["Deep Breath (TV story)"]) These roundels reminded the Tenth Doctor for "Dalek bumps", briefly mistaking this version of the TARDIS as belonging to the Master. (COMIC: Four Doctors [+]Loading...["Four Doctors (comic story)"]) The Twelfth Doctor later told Clara Oswald that he wanted more roundels in the TARDIS, saying he was about "new takes on old classics". (COMIC: The Hyperion Empire [+]Loading...["The Hyperion Empire (comic story)"]) He eventually did a new type of roundel to his control room, specifically on the lower floors. (TV: Under the Lake [+]Loading...["Under the Lake (TV story)"])
At some point, River Song found alcohol stored within the roundels of the Twelfth Doctor's TARDIS and took to drinking some of it whenever using the TARDIS without the Doctor's knowledge, much to his surprise. (TV: The Husbands of River Song [+]Loading...["The Husbands of River Song (TV story)"]) The First Doctor apparently started this, as he kept brandy in a similar location within his own TARDIS, and expressed annoyance at how some of the contents had been drunk by the time of the Twelfth Doctor. (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"])
The Thirteenth Doctor's TARDIS, similar to her ninth and tenth incarnations', lacked the more conventional roundel. Instead, the walls were made up of many hexagonal sections that contained a cog-like pattern that was reminiscent of roundels. A metal framework, wrapped around the raised platform the control console resided on, also consisted of hexagonal shapes, alongside some blue lights. (TV: The Ghost Monument [+]Loading...["The Ghost Monument (TV story)"]) Some of these hexagonal cutouts functioned as scanner screens, (TV: Can You Hear Me? [+]Loading...["Can You Hear Me? (TV story)"]) while the blue lights functioned as access to circuitry (TV: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos [+]Loading...["The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (TV story)"]) and general storage. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Revolution of the Daleks (TV story)"], The Power of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"])
After the Fourteenth Doctor regenerated following the capture of Beep the Meep, the roundels on the TARDIS lit up different colors depending on the mood and setting. (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"])
The Remembered TARDIS had a variety of roundel styles. (TV: Empire of Death [+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"], et al.)
Other references[[edit] | [edit source]]
.jpg){kind=link}
At the time of the Doctor and Susan's escape from Gallifrey, the TARDIS repair shop had a loose neon roundel being worked with, with a nearby screen showing the arrangement of its components. (TV: The Name of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Name of the Doctor (TV story)"])
Roundel was among a succession of words which were uttered by the Sixth Doctor to impede a trio of Carrionites. (AUDIO: The Carrionite Curse [+]Loading...["The Carrionite Curse (audio story)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Despite its prevalence in fan circles, Terminus is the only televised story to use the word "roundel" on screen.[1] It occurs several times at the top of the first episode when Turlough is instructed to sabotage the TARDIS by the Black Guardian, and in Turlough's subsequent conversation with Tegan.
- A scene recorded for The Awakening part one, but edited out of the finished programme due to the episode overrunning, featured Tegan encountering Kamelion with his hand inserted into a roundel in a corridor, learning more about the TARDIS.