Doctor Who/TARDIS

Overview

Acronym: TARDIS

Time and Relative Dimension in Space.

The TARDIS is a space/time ship capable of travelling anywhere in time or space. It was designed to be able to change its outward appearance to blend in with its surroundings. In the first episode it appeared as a police box. It could for instance, also look like a marble column in ancient Greece. The camouflage feature never seemed to work very well after the first episode. It continued to look like a police box from that point forward.

Although it appears to be small on the outside, once inside the TARDIS it is quite large in fact. The main door(s) enter onto the control room, which appears to be roughly circular and about 30 feet in diameter.

Susan, the Doctor's first companion, claims to have coined the term TARDIS herself.

Control Room

Control Panel

Time Rotor

Located in the very center of the control panel, the time rotor remains still unless the TARDIS is moving. When the TARDIS moves, there is the familiar "grating" sound accompanied by the up-and-down movement of the time rotor.

Door Switch

The door switch is located on the side of the control panel nearest the main doors.

Fast Return Switch

A switch located on the main control panel that allows one to quickly return to their point of origin. This switch has springs that can fail, locking the switch into an always-on situation.

Accomodations

Food Dispenser

The food dispenser, located near the control room, creates concentrated food that tastes remarkably like the real thing. Food and drinks can be ordered by simply entering the proper code. Bacon and eggs can be ordered by using the code J-6-2-L-6, for instance.

The result is a block of food about the size of a candy bar.

Features

Keyed Entry

The TARDIS door can be locked, if needed. According to Susan in The Daleks, there are 20 wrong ways to insert the key and only one right way. Insert it the wrong way and it will melt the lock.

Scanners

The scanners record and display visual data from outside the ship.

Chameleon Circuit

The chameleon circuit is a camouflage feature that is supposed to disguise the TARDIS as something nicely inconspicuous for whatever time and place it happens to settle in. The chameleon circuit is always stuck in the guise of a police box. The Doctor's attempts to fix it usually make it worse, causing the TARDIS to appear as something even more conspicuous than a police box.

Fault Locator

A display panel located off the main control room that displays alphanumeric problems codes to assist in diagnosing problems.

Police Box Sign

POLICE   TELEPHONE

FREE

FOR     USE     OF

P U B L I C

ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE

OBTAINABLE IMMEDIATELY

OFFICERS AND CARS

RESPOND TO

URGENT CALLS

PULL   TO   OPEN

Trivia

• Rematerialisation is the most dangerous part of a journey in the TARDIS.