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The TARDIS & TARDIS Technology (Merged)


Fenriswolf
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The TARDIS Manual is a work of fiction, based on the BBC's science-fiction television series, "Doctor Who". The manual was written over many years by Alastair Roberts (Copyright © Alastair Roberts, 1994-2003). It is a copyrighted work and may not be printed, downloaded in its entirity, or re-distributed without explicit written permission. It is available free of charge for web-viewing (in its reduced cut-down edition) through this web site only.

 

There you go, that's who's behind the TARDIS Manual.

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here is a bit of contradictory TARDIS cannon

in some eps the Dr has said that the key could only be used by him in other eps the drs companions have freely used the key as have his enemies

 

Not necessarily contradictory.

 

I recall the First Doctor saying this a few times, once to the Sensorites (to keep them from trying to get into the TARDIS, and once re e on tIan and Barbara (to keep them out of the Tardis, probably afraid they'd take off with it).

 

If he said it to keep people from trying 'something stupid', that doesn't make it necessarily true...

 

 

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Yes, that would have been cool GorunNova, probably would have added a bit more charm/mysticism to McGann's incarnation too.

 

Yep, the TARDIS lock has changed with the design of the TARDIS over the years, the flip-cover was in the Movie, has it shown up anywhere else?

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What an interesting thread!

 

I'd like to apply my vast time-lord intellect (actually I mean my limited 1 am fatigue thinking) to the nature of the TARDIS and how it works.

 

According to the original series canon, all TARDIS units are simulataneously powered by the Eye of Harmony. The Eye is a small black hole captured by Rassilon and kept underneath the Panopticon (The Deadly Assasin). The Black Hole provides gravitational energy which is transformed into other types of energy to run the time capsules.

 

As a sidenote, it was Omega (a collegue of Rassillon) who exploded the star which is now the Crab Nebula in order to provide the first burst of energy needed to grab the Eye. He was "lost" in that act until encountered by Pertwee's Doctor and Davison's Doctor.

 

So each capsule is fed vast amounts of energy from a black hole. What is the nature of a TARDIS? The TARDIS is a physical construct created by Block Transfer Computation, or BTC.

 

BTC is mentioned in Logopolis and Castrovalva. Ultimately it boils down to magick, but the theory is such: With advanced enough mathematics you can transform matter to energy and back again. This is how the Logopolitans kept the Charged Vacuum Emboitments open. This is how the Master (Castrovalva) used Adric's powerful mathematics to spy on the Doctor and augment his TARDIS.

 

So the energy from the Eye of Harmony is used by the TARDIS to physically create an interior space via BTC(assumably performed by the Central Computer with the operator's assistance). Now this space is as physical as anywhere else, but must exist in an environment normally hostile to such things: the Vortex.

 

The Vortex connects all time and space. It is the interstitial fabric of the universe. It exists outside and around Hyperspace and should not be confused with it (Stones of Blood). The Vortex is an area of shifting energies both conventional and temporal. Nothing material can exist in there without the use of BTC. An encapsuled BTC created TARDIS is protected from the Vortex by more mundance force fields. In other words, a barrier of both energy and mathematics protects the TARDIS from the devastating energies of the Temporal Vortex! :p

 

Lets talk about the exterior of the TARDIS and the confusion over its variable appearance and mass. Because the TARDIS is reliant on BTC, any programmed object can be replicated. This is how tools, rooms (even life) can be created inside. Essentially the TARDIS does not "fly" through the Vortex as much as program the Real World Interface to appear at a specific time and place. Because of the unusual circumstances of Vortex travel this can result in an apparent "travel time" for its occupants. The Real World Interface is also a BTC construct, which explains its apparent indestructibility (numerous episodes talk about this) and its mutability (a la the Chameleon Circuit). However, certain high-tech explosives can channel their energy through the RWI into the TARDIS and thus harm it and the occupants. Thereforce the TARDIS has NO PERMANENT MASS! Presumably the operator could cause the RWI to have any mass or appearance. Its not soo easy, obviously, as the Type 40 has been stuck for a while (one presumes later TARDIS units are better at BTC and don't get stuck so often). In one Pertwee episode the Master disguised his TARDIS as a spacecraft! I suppose various computational variables could account for the shift mass displayed in the series (the Mudmen in Full Circle could lift it and wanted to use it as a battering ram, can't be that heavy).

 

The TARDIS proper (inside the Vortex and encapsuled in its protective force field and BTC mathematics) has a variable mass and composition just like its Real World Interface. Rooms can be created, manipulated, destroyed etc given enough power and mathematical skill. Obviously power is finite (the Eye of Harmony has only so much to give after all) and this is the only limitation on the structure and size of the TARDIS interior. In Castrovalva when the Doctor deleted rooms to escape the Master's trap those rooms were turned into energy ("thrust") using BTC, allowing him to escape the (ahem) beginning of everything.

 

It should be mentioned that using BTC to do all this crap is very difficult. Its not like you can just call up a marguerita at a moment's notice (well maybe YOU can Hartnell but....oh you get the idea!). Doing all this is costly in apparent operator time, energy and mathematical skill.

 

As an aside I'd like to point out that the Time Lords as a people are kind of like us today. They use this fantastic technology but very very few understand it (note that even the Doctor has trouble often). Gallifrey in the old series was in its final days of decay and had stagnated. But yet they maintained a kind of arrogance that was not appropriate "Oh Doctor you have no comprehension of the complexity of exotonic circuitry...." "Nonsense, I've been to worlds where this would be considered prehistoric junk!" (Or something like that.)

 

The "state of temporal grace" mentioned in the series disables weapons but does not prevent primitive physical violence. Presumably its a function higher-tech (Cybermen and Dalek) weapons can override and can be shut down by the operator. The Sontaran weapons functioned in the TARDIS as well if I recall correctly.

 

Now in the current series much of this has been thrown out the window. The Doctor's TARDIS is now fueled by dimensional energies (Boom Town). Presumably that's because the Eye of Harmony is no longer around. The ever-clever Doctor had to come up with another source. Maybe thats why the TARDIS now shakes and shudders and looks like a junkyard reject. The shaking and travel issues is a fallback to the 1st Doctor's TARDIS which was none too smooth a ride usually.

 

When the DALEKS fired on the TARDIS "in flight" I presume that it was "in flight" dimensionally and that their missiles also had advanced capability to damage such craft (they HAD just fought a war with the Time Lords after all). What we saw was a visual representation of it that a modern (non-whovian fanatic) would identify with.

 

Hey, anyone else notice that it shouldn't be called the Sonic Screwdriver anymore? It does pretty much anything the Doctor wants it to do from scan, manipulate, unscrew and scare primitives:)! I propose we call it the Sonic Phallis Wonder! (no not really, I'm just a geek and I'm tired)

 

Ooooh-kay, I'm sure you asking "how did you come by all this knowledge?" And you're saying "snooty know it all, I bet its all nonsense!" Well most of it comes from watching the episodes since I was 7 (thats more than 3 decades) and reading lots of books and playing two different versions of the Doctor Who RPG. Rest assured I'm sure I don't know everything and it should be pointed out that the series is none too consistent. Especially in the early years it was largely a TV serial soap-opera style. The writers came up with stuff on the fly to get their characters out of situations. Only later did things become "canon."

 

So I hope this long ranting post has been helpful in some fashion, and I look forward to you folks pointing out the inconsistencies. Perhaps I've fired your thoughts a bit and that's all I hope for! Good night and may Rassilon bless you! (but not too much, or you'll end up in the Death Zone)

 

Cthulhu69

 

 

 

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I think it's still called a 'sonic screwdriver' because it can be used in so many ways... just like a normal screwdriver. I have a nice flathead screwdriver that has seen a -lot- of use, and only occasionally to tighten or remove screws ^^'

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very nice and well rounded diisertation Cthulhu69

 

like you say the Canon has changed over time . I was watching Hartnell and he apparently had the cardio system of a regular human .as can be seen in The Edge of destruction for instance . also he was susceptiable to radiation poisoning as can be seen in the 1st ever Dalek episode . these are both starkly contradicted in later Dr Who shows

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