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We return to normal programming with a look at the TARDIS interior. Will we see more than just the control room in 2010, and do we really want to? (According to my Twitter feed, yes, we do.)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
We return to normal programming with a look at the TARDIS interior. Will we see more than just the control room in 2010, and do we really want to? (According to my Twitter feed, yes, we do.)
I'm always amazed at how this subject polarizes people.
Even our beloved Moffat has said that the TARDIS is like the wardrobe, which is far less interesting than Narnia. (or something like that).
I think the TARDIS interior is simply a location. Saying we absolutely should or shouldn't see more of it is silly.
Sometimes the the TARDIS is like Sherlock Holmes' sitting room, a natural base from which the characters come and go without hampering the story.
Sometimes the TARDIS is like the A-team's van, where it's best to get out and adventure as soon as possible.
Let the story decide.
The answer is – more TARDIS? Hell yeah!
Some of the most magic moments from my childhood immersed in Doctor Who was seeing glimpses of the TARDIS interior.
The joyous romp with the Sontarans in pursuit in Invasion of Time. The secondary control room of the Tom Baker era. Davison unraveling his scarf and mind in Castrovalva. And from that same era – bedrooms – with the tantalising realisation that Nyssa and Tegan slept in the same room together – ooo er!
I have been waiting four years to see the new show have a TARDIS with more than just a control room and a wardrobe. Bring it on.
You mention that the show might seem more "domestic" if we start exploring the TARDIS too much and get exposed to the mundane side of interior decorating. May I perhaps say that the new series is already domestic enough already thank you very much. I don't think seeing a swimming pool or library in the honeycombed interior of Smith's TARDIS is going to make it any more so.
We already have multiple companions and their multiple home life issues and problems. We have seen the Doctor eat chips whilst watching daytime TV. Been checked out by a wannabee Cougar whilst on the trail of the Autons. Been subjected to plot expositions of just how exactly they got that truck in Parting of the Ways. I don't think we have any fear of the show getting MORE domestic.
The classic series TARDIS was the Doctor's home. In the entire new series I have never got that feeling it is treated in the same way. We need to re-connect the Doctor with his home, and see more of it.
Trevor Gensch: Couldn't agree more. The size and spectacle of the TARDIS is and should be anything but domestic. It's fascinating to see the little bits of life in there, but I always felt sad that New Who seemed to have forgotten that the TARDIS is totally kitted out time travelling futuristic spaceship in more than name and plot device. It's a highly interesting and mysterious piece of sci-fi exploration in itself. For it to be just a vehicle to get from plot A to plot B *is* to unfairly domesticate it.
The TARDIS is strange and wonderful, and not just *bigger* on the inside, it's MUCH bigger, even after the drastic jetisoning of large portions in Castrovalva. that's fascinating. The TARDIS is a labyrinth in space – to not explore it is criminal.
Speaking as someone who spent all of series 3 and 4 thinking the TARDIS has no rooms and that all its occupants slept in bunks against the wall – yes, yes we need to see more of the TARDIS!
Seems to me like Doctor Who is all about exploring alien worlds – how much more alien can you get than an ancient, timeless, living ship with rooms that rearrange themselves? What's more, if the Time Lords never come back, the TARDIS will be the closest we ever get to Gallifrey. There's *so much* possibillity there.