The Doctor's TARDIS — also called the Ship, the Box, and simply the TARDIS was the Doctor's primary means of transport. It was capable of travelling through space and time. The Doctor voyaged all across the universe in this vessel, from the Big Bang (TV: Terminus, Castrovalva, AUDIO: Slipback) to the end of the universe and from the centre of the universe (TV: Terminus) to its outermost edges. (TV: Planet of Evil, Underworld) The craft was also capable of travelling between parallel realities, in spite of the fact that it was not specifically designed for inter-dimensional travel. (TV: Inferno, Knight Falls) Like all other TARDIS models, the Doctor's TARDIS was controlled via a central control console. (TV: An Unearthly Child, et al.)
Other Time Lords frequently characterised the Doctor's TARDIS as woefully out-of-date. (TV: The Claws of Axos, The Ribos Operation) Romana called it "scrap", compared to her own Type 500. (TV: The Final Game) Indeed, by at least the time of the Doctor's fourth incarnation, if not much earlier, the model — called a "Type 40" — had been pulled from general service on Gallifrey, and replaced by more advanced models. (TV: The Deadly Assassin, The Invasion of Time)
The craft was prone to a number of technical faults, ranging from depleted resources (TV: An Unearthly Child, The Wheel in Space, Vengeance on Varos) to malfunctioning controls (TV: The Edge of Destruction) to a simple inability to arrive at the proper time or location. (TV: The Visitation, Attack of the Cybermen and many others) However, because the TARDIS was a living being, these "faults" may instead have been at least partially attributed to the manifestation of the ship's free will.
As the centuries passed and all of the Doctor's companions came and went, the Doctor's faithful TARDIS remained their constant companion. They shared an unbreakable bond, and the Doctor came to feel that in the end, it was just the Doctor and their TARDIS, travelling the universe together. (TV: The Antitempus) The Eighth Doctor thought of her as his oldest friend. (TV: Knight Falls)
History[]
Arrival on Earth[]
The TARDIS landed in London in the 1960s, coming to rest in I.M. Foreman's junkyard. (TV: An Unearthly Child)
The ship's chameleon circuit disguised the ship as a police box fitting for 1960s London. However, when the TARDIS rematerialised roughly 100,000 years earlier, the ship's disguise failed to update and match the new surroundings, with the circuit apparently being broken. (TV: An Unearthly Child)
Travels with the Doctor[]
While living on Earth, Susan had enrolled herself at Coal Hill School. The various gaps in her knowledge worried two of her teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, who followed her home on November 23rd 1963 and forced their way into the TARDIS when they heard her voice from inside it. Unwilling to allow humans to have knowledge of his ship, the Doctor dematerialised the ship with them aboard, arriving in Earth's caveman era. There the four united against the Tribe of Gum, making it back to the ship just before the tribe could deal a killing blow. (TV: An Unearthly Child) After the Thal-Dalek battle, the Doctor attempted to use the fast return switch to return Ian and Barbara home only for the switch to become stuck and take the TARDIS to the beginning of a star system, the gravity fields nearly destroying it before the Doctor repaired the switch. (TV: The Edge of Destruction)
On July the 20th 1966, the TARDIS was stolen by Edward Waterfield on the orders of the Dalek Emperor. Brought to Skaro, the TARDIS was held in the Dalek Emperor's chamber who threatened to destroy it unless the Second Doctor helped the Daleks isolate the Human factor. After discovering the factor and letting it loose in Dalek society, the Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon managed to return to the TARDIS, taking on Victoria Waterfield as a new companion. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks)
Following Victoria's departure and Zoe Heriot joining, the TARDIS was caught in the eruption of a volcano on Dulkis, the heat causing malfunctions in the fluid links. Unable to conventionally take off, the Doctor employed an emergency unit that sent the ship into the White Void. Once the repairs were complete, the Doctor tried to return to N-Space only for the ship to collapse and the three winding up in the Land of Fiction. Once they had defeated the Master Brain, the three returned to reality, the TARDIS reassembling around them. (TV: The Mind Robber)
The TARDIS later landed in what the Doctor initially thought was World War I but discovered was a planet owned by the War Lords who sought to use brainwashed humans as an army. Though able to halt the plan, the Doctor was forced to call on the Time Lords to return the displaced humans to their own times. The Doctor tried to fly away from the planet before the Time Lords arrived only for the ship to be remotely operated from and brought back to Gallifrey. In his trial for the violation of the non-interference policy, the Doctor was exiled to 20th century Earth and the TARDIS was grounded. (TV: The War Games) the TARDIS was equipped with a Stattenheim remote control. (TV: The Two Doctors)
Afterwards the ship was rendered unable to leave Earth. (TV: Spearhead from Space) the Third Doctor made efforts to repair the ship, even removing the console from the control room, (TV: The Ambassadors of Death, Inferno, Terror of the Autons) but discovered the Time Lords had pre-programmed the TARDIS to return to Earth even if he did get her to move. (TV: The Claws of Axos) The Time Lords did direct the ship away from Earth on occasion to deliver the Doctor to missions on their behalf. (TV: Colony in Space, The Curse of Peladon, The Mutants) Following the First Omega Crisis, the Time Lords restored the Doctor's freedom, sending him a new dematerialisation circuit for the TARDIS. (TV: The Three Doctors)
During the Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey, the Fourth Doctor retreated into the TARDIS interior, along with Leela, Andred, Borusa, Rodan and K9 Mark I, pursued by Sontarans. (TV: The Invasion of Time)
The TARDIS inadvertently materialised on Calufrax at the precise same time as the pirate planet Zanak, briefly preventing both vessels landing until Romana altered the ship's course slightly. The Doctor performed this manoeuvre again deliberately to stop Zanak materialising around Earth, buying time for the Mentiads to sabotage Zanak's engines, at considerable risk to the TARDIS. (TV: The Pirate Planet)
The TARDIS accidentally flew into E-Space after encountering a Charged Vacuum Emboitement. (TV: Full Circle) The Doctor was eventually able to pilot the ship back to the main universe via the Gateway. (TV: Warriors' Gate)
The Doctor attempted to have the Logopolitans repair the TARDIS' Chameleon Circuit, however the Master sabotaged their Block Transfer Computation causing the TARDIS exterior to shrink instead, leaving the Doctor trapped inside until he corrected the maths to return the TARDIS to normal. (TV: Logopolis)
The Master exploited Adric's gift of mathematics to use block transfer to force the TARDIS on a course for Event One. The Fifth Doctor was able to to avert disaster by jettisoning a third of the ship's interior, altering the TARDIS' course though he had sacrificed the ship's Zero Room, which he had been using to aid his recovery from his recent regeneration, in doing so. (TV: Castrovalva)
Whilst on Frontios beyond the frontier in time, the TARDIS was broken apart by a meteor storm caused by the Gravis. The Fifth Doctor tricked the Gravis into using its gravitational powers to put the ship back together. (TV: Frontios)
The Sixth Doctor attempted to repair the chameleon circuit. Though his repairs initially appeared successful, the ship eventually reverted back to a police box. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)
Exterior[]
Almost all TARDISes were designed to blend into their surroundings by means of a mechanism usually called the "chameleon circuit", but occasionally the "camouflage unit". Some later models seemed to let the pilot choose a desired exterior, overriding what would have been "natural" for the surroundings. (TV: Time-Flight, Time and the Rani)
The Fourth Doctor showed Adric how the TARDIS could be changed to the shape of an Egyptian pyramid, implying he could override the chameleon circuit's "automatic" functionality. (TV: Logopolis) Susan mentioned the TARDIS also had previously appeared as a sedan chair and an Ionic column. (TV: An Unearthly Child)
In any case, the defining characteristic of the Doctor's TARDIS was that its chameleon circuit had broken after assuming the shape of a police box in 1963 London. (TV: The Cave of Skulls et al.)
On at least one instance, it was implied that the chameleon circuit was working or at least, the Doctor was able to fix it, but that they were fond of the police box shape so the TARDIS remained in that form. (TV: The Night Harvest)
By their eleventh incarnation, the Doctor was telling their companions that the chameleon circuit was working, but due to a fault, invariably assumed its customary police box shape
Friends and enemies could identify the TARDIS by its unvarying shape. The Daleks even used miniature copies of the TARDIS for target practice. (TV: Death to the Daleks) The Cybermen recognised it, (TV: Earthshock) as did the Black Guardian's operative known as the Shadow (TV: The Armageddon Factor) and the Sontarans (TV: War of the Sontarans)
Because the police box shape was relatively easily recognised, the Doctor made several attempts to change the exterior of the TARDIS. None were particularly successful. In the end, they forewent changing how the TARDIS' outer shell looked by their ninth incarnation, deciding that they liked it. When Jean Robinson questioned the wisdom of leaving the TARDIS parked in the middle of 1950s London, thinking the appearance of a police box would draw unwanted attention, the Doctor reasoned that it was not a concern - people would see a blue box in the middle of the city and walk past it, taking no further notice. (TV: The Night Harvest) This was most likely due to the perception filter that the TARDIS had.
Door[]
Generally, the TARDIS had two doors along one of the craft's four sides. They could open inward and outward. (TV: Time-Flight, The Ice Warriors, The Night of New Life)
By the time of the Eleventh Doctor, the doors could be opened by the snap of the fingers. To the Tenth Doctor's surprise, this worked for him, too. (TV: Forest of the Dead, The Night of New Life)
On the left-hand door was a panel in which was a replica of a telephone used in real police boxes to summon the police. (TV: The Empty Child, The Bells of Saint John [+], The Time of the Doctor [+]) While the Second Doctor inhabited the TARDIS the emergency phone was sometimes on the right-hand panel, but by the time of his adventure on Dulkis, it had returned to the left-hand door. (TV: The Dominators) A sign on this small door offered instructions on use of the phone. (TV: Logopolis )
On most occasions, the left-hand door was set to a fixed position. Likewise, the windows on the door were most often seen in a closed position, though the First Doctor sometimes opened them. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
The left-hand door was sometimes used for egress and the right-hand one stayed in a fixed position. (TV: The Aztecs)
The windows on the doors and around the exterior could be opened, at least during the First Doctor's tenure. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Rescue, The Web Planet)
During the Doctor's first incarnation, a faded St John Ambulance logo could be seen on the door, even though it was sometimes barely visible under a layer of paint. Beginning during their second incarnation, it was not present. (TV: The Dominators [+]onwards) When the TARDIS regenerated itself at the start of their eleventh incarnation, a new St John sticker appeared on the door. (TV: The Night of New Life)
By the time he was going to have the chameleon circuit repaired by the Logopolitans, the Fourth Doctor had installed a handle on the telephone panel on the left-hand door. This remained a subtle, if functional, part of the design. (TV: The Empty Child)
Lock and key[]
Operation[]
Entry to the Doctor's TARDIS was usually effected by inserting a key into a lock, just as would be expected with a real police box. However, the lock did not respond to police-issued keys. (TV: Black Orchid, Blink)
Susan suggested that the key forced the user to insert it precisely or the lock would self-destruct. (TV: "The Survivors") Later, the lock had a metabolism detector, preventing Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart from using the key. (TV: Spearhead from Space )
It could be opened with the standard Gallifreyan key for its outdated model. (TV: The Invasion of Time )
Rare individuals managed to break open without a key. Among those, the companion Adric through lock-picking (TV: Logopolis ) and the gastropod Mestor through its psychic power. (TV: The Twin Dilemma)
Design and features[]
The external design of the key changed over time. It usually appeared to be an ordinary Yale lock key. (TV: Spearhead from Space and others) However, it occasionally appeared to have a more ornate, Gallifreyan motif. (TV: Planet of the Spiders , Ghost Light)
Gallery[]
Interior[]
First / Second Doctor's Console Room[]
When the TARDIS was used by the First and Second Doctors, its interior was a bright white room, with roundels on the walls and a large computer bank taking up a major part of the ''back'' wall. These computer backs contained the fault locator and various systems relating to navigational control. (TV: An Unearthly Child, The Daleks) The interior had several pieces of furniture and antiques strewn about it, the position/presence of these objects changed over time. This interior also had a scanner on the wall, its appearance and position often changed as well. (TV: An Unearthly Child, The Abominable Snowmen, Fury from the Deep, The Wheel in Space, The Mind Robber)
The overall structure of the room occasionally changed, with it at times being hexagonal. (TV: An Unearthly Child), and other times rectangular (TV: The War Games)
The console was shown in the Third Doctor era separated from the its interior as the Doctor attempted to fix it during his exile. (TV: Inferno)
Third Doctor's Console Room[]
The first look at the TARDIS interior in the Third Doctor's era showed an interior with unchanged wall from the original version, the difference in terms of structure to the original room include a different scanner and the fact that the room is noticeably smaller. The main difference from the previous interior was a new center console, the controls had minimal changes but the time rotor now had a green column with white and red lights inside the glass casing. (TV: Colony in Space)
The Third Doctor briefly changed the walls of the console room, adding concave "bowl" shaped structures over the regular roundels, with edges that jutted out from the wall, and featuring shallower, non-backlit roundels for the half-roundels at the tops and bottoms of the walls. One of the roundels served as a replacement for the scanner, a picture appearing in its centre. (TV: The Time Monster) He later reverted to the more traditional design, though with a more visible separation between the roundels and the wall behind them. This new interior had several similarities to the original, with a ceiling based scanner and a large computer at the back. (TV: The Three Doctors)
Fourth Doctor's First Console Room[]
The Fourth Doctor's first console had many similarities to that of his predecessor, however it was remarkably different. The most distinct feature of this new consoles aesthetic was the introduction of the first new roundel style. While half the walls remained the same indented roundels seen in the previous interiors, the other half consists of new shallow roundels that are the same grey colour as the walls around them.(Note: The ratio of new to old roundels changes from episode to episode) In terms of the console only one aspect carried over from the previous one, that being the time rotor.
The time rotor of this console is the same as the one from the previous one, except that the previously white lights on it have been changed to red. The controls of the console have been completely changed, as opposed to previous console which only added aesthetic changes (i.e. paneling). At the back of the console room is an indented door that leads to the rest of the ship. (TV: Planet of Evil, Pyramids of Mars)
Fourth Doctor's second Console Room / Secondary Console Room[]
There existed a small second control room which the Doctor claimed may have been the original console room; a recorder and smoking jacket were found in here, implying both the Second and Third Doctors visited this room but chose not to use it. It was simpler and more compact than the main control room, with the console resembling a desk, no visible time rotor and all the controls hidden behind what appeared to be wooden paneling. The controls of this console primarily consisted of various keyboards of multi-coloured keys. On one wall there is a very large scanner built into an indented space on the wall.
It had more subtle roundels, some of them framing stained glass windows. There were many pieces of furniture in this interior, several chairs, tables, and desks are present. There are railings that surround the console and line the staircase leading to the exit. For a brief period, the Fourth Doctor used this as the main control room. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora, The Hand of Fear, The Deadly Assassin, The Robots of Death, The Invisible Enemy)
Fourth Doctor's Third / Fifth Doctor's First Console Room[]
This interior was very similar to the Fourth Doctor’s first interior in terms of structure, however there were several differences. The biggest similarity between the two interiors is the console itself. The controls of the console are the same as the ones as the ones from the first one, with small changes and repairs on this one. The time rotor is the same as the one in the first except that while the original was green this one is red. The walls of the interior are notable for two things: the introduction of columns between the individual walls and the phasing out of the original roundel style. Though the last interior used a mix of old new roundels, this interior used a brand new type.
These roundels were yellow when lit and had a very different structure to previous types. These roundels were shallow like the last new type, but where these differ is that the roundels have an outer rim that as even further indented.
The doors also had a version of these roundels in their indented roundels. Opposite to the doors are the scanner and a single door leading to the rest of the ship. The scanner opens in an ‘’eye-like’’ fashion and rests on its own indented space in the wall. (TV: The Invisible Enemy)
The Fifth Doctor continued to use this design. On orders from the Black Guardian, Vislor Turlough later damaged the heart of the TARDIS enough to the point of the TARDIS nearly falling apart, (TV: Terminus) leaving the room darker for some time until repairs were done. (TV: Enlightenment) The appearance of the interior change very little, with the exception of refurbishment to the controls.
Fifth Doctor's Second / Sixth Doctor's / Seventh Doctor's First Console Room[]
This interior had many similarities to the previous one, primarily in the setup of the walls. The roundels were carried over from the previous models as were the set up of the columns, however the columns themselves changed.
The columns were originally cylinder-shaped but now they were more rectangular in shape. This new rectangular motif continued on to the scanner, with new descending rectangles lining to the sides of it. The main difference for this interior was the new console.
The console of this interior was simultaneously the most complex and yet one of the most simple. All the panels consisted only of several keyboards and switches, some of the panels had a monitor. The time rotor was also new, it consisted of an ascending incline of clear discs sat upon several red and white poles inside the glass cylinder.
Aside from those elements, all parts of this interior were identical to the previous model. (TV: The Five Doctors).
Following the Fifth Doctor’s regeneration, (TV: The Caves of Androzani) this interior would continue to be used by the Sixth and Seventh Doctors with no changes. (TV: The Twin Dilemma, Time and the Rani)
Seventh Doctor's Second / Eighth Doctor's / Ninth Doctor's First Console Room[]
This interior was the most drastic change of interior since the use of the secondary console room. This interior consisted of a large hexagonal room that consisted of dark beige walls covered in yellow roundels. This console introduced a new roundel type, with the roundels in this interior being completely flat. On the left of the console was the scanner, the mechanisms and appearance of which was identical to the previous interior (with the colour changed to match the wall).
Opposite of the doors was the entrance to the rest of the ship, this entrance was quite simple as it consisted of an opening without a door. Above the wall were slanted blacks pieces of roof that connected to the top of the console, each slant contained two trapezoidal-shaped light pieces. The most drastic change was in the console itself, this was the first and so far only console to connect to the roof of the interior. The console actually hung from the ceiling, with the console’s rounded bottom being off the ground with no support. The time rotor consisted of a long glass cylinder connected to the roof, inside of which lay several glass mechanisms with a reddish light shining through it. The console was a gold colour and the controls consisted of a new arrange of switches, levers, and buttons. (TV: Earth Aid)
Following the Seventh Doctor’s regeneration, (TV: Alixion) this interior would continue to be used by the Eighth Doctor with no major changes other than the exception of the occasional piece of furniture being added. (TV: The Zygon Invasion) This interior would later be used by the Ninth Doctor, who used it during his early adventures with Bernice & Chris.
Ninth Doctor's Second / Tenth Doctor's Console Room[]
This interior was once again another drastic change. This interior was a more round room that consisted of light blue walls with mint blue roundels. The roundel type reverted back to the types used by the Fourth to Seventh Doctor's. On the left wall was the scanner, which took up the majority of some of the wall.
The main doors were changed to match the Exterior's police box doors. Opposite of the doors was the entrance to the passage to the rest of the ship, which had no doors. The roof consisted of beams going all the way round the console room, which held the roof up. The time rotor consisted of long electrical beams, which would slowly rotate around when the ship was in flight. The console was a round shape and the controls consisted of few buttons and levers, with most of the controls being digital. This interior was used by the Ninth Doctor sometime after he met Abigail. The Doctor would continue to use this interior into his Tenth incarnation.
The console room was badly damaged & set on fire during the Doctor's regeneration. Most of the roundels exploded into pieces & the time rotor became severley damaged. (TV: The Day of Vengeance, The Night of New Life)
Eleventh Doctor's / Twelfth Doctor's First Console Room[]
This interior harkened back to some of the earlier console rooms while retaining the drastic changes of more recent rooms. The roundels reverted back to the bigger design of some of the original console rooms, albeit on a curved wall. The roundels glowed a mix of purple & yellow behind the main wall.The scanner, like the previous design, was located on one of the walls & took up the majority of the space on that wall.
The main doors reverted back to the bulky design of earlier interiors & once again required being opened from the console. However behind the big doors were the Police box doors of the exterior. Like the Eighth Doctor's console, this console hung from the ceiling. The console was a round shape and the controls consisted of mostly stitches, buttons & dials.
This interior was used by the Eleventh Doctor, after the previous design was destroyed in the Final Fight of the War. (TV: The Dusk of War, The Night of New Life). The Doctor would continue to use this interior into his Twelfth incarnation (TV: Blood of Eternity)
Twelfth Doctor's Second / Thirteenth Doctor's Console Room[]
After receiving help from his younger self, the Twelfth Doctor changed the desktop theme into a more Victorian & cosy design. (TV: Mary's Monster, The Human Market). The traditional white walls were replaced with wooden ones, and the roundels resembled closer to those from the Secondary control room. The room was filled with many of the Doctor's favourite books throughout time & space, as well as many chairs & furniture.
The main doors retained the white, bulky design from previous models, which lead to the doors of the Police Box. The console took on a more 'Steampunk' design. The controls varied from simple switches to other unusual elements such as a typewriter. (TV: The Starzen Invasion).
After his regeneration, the Thirteenth Doctor would go on to inherit this console room. (TV: The Oncoming Nightmare, Epsilon)
Fourteenth Doctor's / Fifteenth Doctor's First Console Room[]
At some point after his regeneration, the Fourteenth Doctor dispensed with his predecessor's control room. Seemingly smaller, this new console room contained a console with more literal input devices and instrumentation, as well as a pair of secondary consoles on the railing of the main platform. The room was bright mechanical, covered in tones of blue and an overall cold mood. (TV: The Uprising [+], etc.)
This control room was inherited by the Fifteenth Doctor, (TV: The Last Life) who proceeded to upgrade the console room by adding several items to it, including a reclining chair and bookshelves. Overall, she gave the once empty and stark control room a homelike sense of decor, provision, and sophistication. (TV: New World)
The control room that featured light blue lighting and time rotor, Gallifreyan markings on the ceiling and above the time rotor and Gallifreyan markings on the top level. Several tiny lights went around the walls of the room in a straight line, flashing sections at a time. The console featured two screens, and what seemed to be a radar on one face. There were two additional consoles around the edge of the main level. It was also much darker than the previous iteration.
There were three levels: an upper balcony, which looked down over the console and had doorways off of it, the landing, which housed the console, seating, and main doors (TV: The Uprising) and the lower level, which had several compartments, one of which contained clothing. There were four doorways to other sections of the TARDIS, two on the upper level either side of the main doors, and two on the lower level
This console room included a hatstand, located on the lower level. (TV: Mummy on the Orient Express)
Fifteenth Doctor's Second / Sixteenth Doctors Console Room[]
To be added.
Other rooms[]
Accomodations[]
Some of the companions shared accommodations. (TV: The Edge of Destruction)Many companions had their own bedrooms in the TARDIS, decorated to their tastes. (TV: Meglos, Earthshock) Some of the companions were given previously used rooms. (TV: Terminus)
Susan's bedroom was later used by a number of companions. (TV: Terminus) Romana's room was jettisoned after Romana II left, as the TARDIS would not dematerialise. (TV: Logopolis) Adric's room was reused by Turlough, (TV: Terminus)
Wardrobe[]
The Doctor kept clothing from their previous incarnations, as well as clothing for other people, in the TARDIS wardrobe. (TV: Pyramids of Mars, The Androids of Tara, The Twin Dilemma, Time and the Rani)
Some of the clothing in the wardrobe was picked up during travels. (TV: Spearhead from Space) or left by ex-companions. (TV: Pyramids of Mars)
It contained clothing from various times and environments, to suit where and when the TARDIS' occupant(s) found themselves. (TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang, The Mark of the Rani, Ghost Light, The Curse of Fenric)
During Ace's time in the TARDIS, it was apparently right next to the control room. (TV: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy)
Cloister Bell/Room[]
The Cloister Room was related to the Cloister Bell, which sounded when disaster was imminent. The room appeared to be ancient with benches on the sides of the room and plants growing on the crumbling pillars. The Fourth Doctor visited this room with Adric shortly before his regeneration. (TV: Logopolis)
Swimming pool[]
The TARDIS had a swimming pool. It was used by Leelaand Borusa to hide from the Sontarans. Both the Fourth Doctor and Leela referred to this room as a "bathroom", and the Doctor described what K9 called "[being] totally immersed in H2O" in this room as a "fine time to take a bath". (TV: The Invasion of Time ) It was later jettisoned due to leakage, which Mel found bothersome. (TV: Paradise Towers)
Zero Room[]
The Zero Room was unaffected by the outside world and smelled of roses for some reason unknown even to the Doctor. It was a refuge for Time Lords undergoing regenerations in danger of failing. It was accidentally jettisoned along with other rooms in the TARDIS to escape from Event One. (TV: Castrovalva)
Kitchen[]
A food machine area was originally near (but not in) the console room. (TV: The Edge of Destruction and others)
Botanical house[]
The Doctor had a botanical house which contained a man-eating plant. This plant ate a Sontaran. (TV: The Invasion of Time )
System[]
Specific control systems[]
The Fourth Doctor claimed that the TARDIS controls were isomorphic, though this appeared to have been a ruse for the benefit of Sutekh the Destroyer. (TV: Pyramids of Mars) The Time Lords were also able to pilot the TARDIS by remote control, (TV: Colony in Space ) usually, as the Fourth Doctor once bitterly noted, so he might take care of "some dirty work they don't want to get their lily-white hands on". (TV: The Brain of Morbius)
Various companions were able to operate the TARDIS and even fly it. (TV: Castrovalva, Four to Doomsday, The Visitation , The Five Doctors
The Second Doctor once used a portable Stattenheim remote control to summon his TARDIS. (TV: The Two Doctors ) The TARDIS was also vulnerable to diversion or relocation by the Guardians, Eternals, and other immensely powerful beings such as the Keeper of Traken (TV: The Ribos Operation, Enlightenment, The Keeper of Traken)
Temporal grace[]
On more than one occasion, the Doctor indicated that the interior of the TARDIS existed in a state of "temporal grace", meaning that weapons didn't function inside the TARDIS. (TV: The Hand of Fear, Time-Flight) However, the system seemed to be malfunctioning by the time the Fifth Doctor was piloting the vessel. (TV: The Visitation, Earthshock, Arc of Infinity) The Sixth Doctor was able to use a Cyberman gun inside it. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)
Emergency systems[]
The TARDIS had an alarm system known as the cloister bell that activated in dire circumstances. (TV: Logopolis, Castrovalva)
The Fifth Doctor implied that an automatic function for when the TARDIS exploded would become inoperative whenever the TARDIS was on manual, stating: "Oh yes, that's the trouble with Manual Over-ride." (TV: Castrovalva)
Defensive systems[]
Beyond the chameleon circuit, the TARDIS could teleport itself a short distance away from its current location if it was being attacked, rematerialising after the attacker had gone. This was called the Hostile Action Displacement System (HADS) by the Second Doctor. (TV: The Krotons)
Personality[]
In the first time, the First Doctor showed to be not fully aware of the consciousness of his vessel, until its first attempt to communicate when it warned the crew of its impending destruction by developing faults and allowing the Doctor to find the problem. (TV: The Edge of Destruction) It was called stupid by K9 Mark I. (TV: The Invasion of Time) Though intelligent, it was usually unable to communicate in words with the Doctor. (TV: The Edge of Destruction)
The Doctor responded to the TARDIS' personality by showing it great tenderness. The Fourth Doctor referred to it as his "dear old thing" on more than one occasion. (TV: The Deadly Assassin, The Robots of Death)
Destruction[]
Over its long history with the Doctor, the TARDIS came to several ends where it was actually destroyed, either rebuilding itself later or stopping the damage from occurring in the first place through temporal actions. These "deaths" included;
- Breaking apart while exposed to the forces outside the universe (TV: The Mind Robber)
- Being broken apart by the gravity manipulations of Tractators, requiring the Gravis to pull it back together. (TV: Frontios)
Behind the scenes[]
- Although the TARDIS has been a constant presence in the television series since 1963, it has almost always been essentially a mode of conveyance, with the majority of stories taking place away from the vessel. There have been a few exceptions, such as The Edge of Destruction and Time Crash in which the entire action of a story takes place within the TARDIS. Kelsey's Choice also falls into this category, although given the illusory nature of the story, much of it was filmed on locations and sets other than the actual TARDIS. The Invasion of Time was the first story to give viewers an extensive tour of the bowels of the TARDIS (other than occasional glimpses of individual rooms); a more modest "tour" occurred in Castrovalva.
- The Doctor's TARDIS appeared in the video game Fallout in a random encounter.
- The Doctor's TARDIS also appeared in the 2013 video game Call of Duty: Ghosts as a trophy stating "awarded for the largest interior with the smallest exterior."
- The TARDIS has appeared in every televised Doctor Who story with the exception of Mission to the Unknown, Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Mind of Evil, The Dæmons, The Sea Devils, The Sontaran Experiment, Genesis of the Daleks.
- The characteristic wheezing noise of the dematerialising TARDIS is made by scraping a key against a piano wire.
- The TARDIS makes a brief cameo in Chelmsford 123 when it materialises in the background; the Doctor exits to have a look around before reentering the TARDIS and dematerialising.
- The TARDIS cameos in The Legend of Dick and Dom: when Dick & Dom are travelling through the mists of time, the TARDIS is seen in the background.
- The TARDIS cameos in Iron Sky: while the Moon Nazis' ships approach Earth, it is seen flying by quickly.
- The scene in the TV story Terror of the Autons where the Third Doctor mentions his TARDIS' and the Master's TARDIS' models of dematerialisation circuits turns out differently in the novelisation Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons. In the novelisation, the Doctor specifies his TARDIS as "one of the original Mark One's [sic]", while the Master's TARDIS is "one of these flashy Mark Two jobs", and that this is the reason why the two circuits are not interchangeable.
- In the online game Wizard101, a special event (known as the "Five B.O.X.E.S.") features Doctor Who themes: it revolves around players assisting a character known as "The Professor" (a parody of "The Doctor"), who owns the "B.O.X." (a red-coloured TARDIS, disguised as a 'Telegraph Box'), with combating a villain called "The Maestro" (a parody of "The Master"), who seeks to disrupt the present by changing the past.
- In older episodes of Doctor Who, especially from the First Doctor's era, characters often refer to the TARDIS as just "TARDIS" without "the," as if it is a proper noun, such as "Use TARDIS" and "TARDIS is." Often, even within the same episodes, other characters say "the TARDIS."