The Control Panel is a panel with controls in the centre of the Tubbytronic Superdome. The Teletubbies play with the controls and make funny adjustments like animal sounds and vehicle sounds. It is followed by buttons, levers and the Tubby Sponges.
The final design in the original series[]
The final design for the Control Panel features the following controls:
- On the right side, there are 5 levers with lights above them, each with the numbers 1 to 5 printed on them. They make various noises throughout the show. Above the levers, there are 2 dome-shaped metres, each coloured in segments (yellow, orange and red) and a black arrow. Above the metres are two light bars with three lights each, coloured the same way as the meters.
- On the left of the previous section, a pole with a steel square can be found. On it is a red light in the middle, a red needle on its left and a blue line on its right. It’s located in between 2 long light bars. Each bar has 6 lights; on the left, the lights are yellow, while on the right they are blue.
- In the centre of the panel are five huge bars, each with three big lights and three smaller buttons. They range in colour from Blue, Green, Yellow, Red and Orange.
- To the left, there are 4 Sponge-Cases, where the Tubby Sponges are located. There is also a red button and a microphone located next to it.
- On the very left of the panel are a series of levers. On the top are 3 smaller leavers with red ball-tips. They also point to a green and yellow light. Below is a larger wedge-shaped lever, also with a round red tip. This lever points to a green, yellow and red light. On the left of this wedge is a set of three red lights that alternate. Below the wedge and the red lights is a smaller crank. On the bottom of this section (directly underneath the wedge) is a series of 3 lights (yellow, green, red) with shapes (circle, triangle, square). Underneath each of these lights are 2 red lights (for a total of 6) that alternate.
The first version of the panel[]
In earlier episodes of the original show, a slightly different version of the Control Panel can be briefly seen. This is a list of controls seen in The Gingerbread Boy, Painting with Hands and Feet, Humpty Dumpty, and The Helicopter. For the most part, the panel remains the same, except for these changes:
- The buttons in the middle of the panel are replaced with 2 strips of red lights in groups of 4, surrounding 3 white lights with blue bases. There is also a bar on top of the strip with red, yellow and blue lights that alternate.
- The Tubby Sponges section was replaced with 4 coloured hand-prints on the Sponge-Cases. The microphone is gone and the red button was replaced with a crank (the same that is now located on the left side of the panel, near the slide, only much larger).
In some episodes, the changes can be seen, like with My Mum's Keyboard/Paddling Pool or Animals - Fish, where the panel appears either unfinished or partially non-functional, but progressing to its final design.
Interestingly, the blue borders used for this version can still be seen on the frame for the final version of the Control Panel.
List of controls in the reboot series[]
- The Tubby Phone.
- Four colourful levers Po played on the episode Making Sounds.
- Some squares with other colours on them, a rectangle with a green and orange light and another one on top and 2 on the other side of the panel, one of the squares has a yellow circle on them, 2 long rectangles with 3 long thin lights, 4 bars with a thin light, 2 bar with an orange light and 2 squares with a circle one of the lights were replaced with a button Tinky Winky pressed in the episode Tallest Shortest.