- You may wish to consult
Matrix (disambiguation)for other, similarly-named pages.
A TARDIS matrix, described as the TARDIS's hard drive, (COMIC: What He Wants...) was the soul/consciousness of a TARDIS, its very sentience.
Deleting a TARDIS matrix would mean blowing a hole in the universe. It could, however, be removed from a TARDIS and placed into a recepticle, which is what House did when he brought TARDISes into the bubble universe. The matrix would eventually die, and without it House could feed on the residual artron energy of the TARDIS. The Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS matrix was placed inside Idris, possibly extinguishing her own consciousness. This actually allowed the Doctor to communicate with his own ship for the first time before Idris' body finally collapsed and the matrix returned to the TARDIS. (TV: The Doctor's Wife)
While trying to work out how Donna Noble had appeared in his ship, The Tenth Doctor speculated that something may have been macro-mining her DNA within the TARDIS' interior matrix. He also thought she may have been put into alignment with the chronon shell. (TV: The Runaway Bride)