Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS (TV story)
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Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS was the tenth regular episode of the seventh series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales. It was notable for marking the first time the Doctor told Clara Oswald about her multiple lives and deaths.
Synopsis
The TARDIS has crashed, Clara is lost inside, and the Doctor has 30 minutes before his ship explodes!
Plot
Clara Oswald is lost in the depths of the TARDIS which is invaded by intergalactic salvage crew Van Baalen Bros., who want to sell it for scrap. However, the Doctor threatens to destroy the TARDIS by putting it in lockdown and activating the self-destruct if the salvage crew doesn't help him find Clara.
Cast
- The Doctor - Matt Smith
- Clara Oswald - Jenna-Louise Coleman
- Gregor Van Baalen - Ashley Walters
- Bram Van Baalen - Mark Oliver
- Tricky - Jahvel Hall
- Time Zombies - Sarah Louise Madison, Ruari Mears, Paul Kasey
References
Books
- The History of the Time War appears to be a book unfolding the history of the Last Great Time War. Clara read the book while in The TARDIS' library. She later implies that the Doctor is mentioned in it.
- The library also contains the Encyclopedia Gallifreya, which is knowledge in liquid form.
The TARDIS
- Tricky mistakenly describes the TARDIS as "some kind of escape pod."
- The TARDIS' sentience is alluded to yet again; and when the salvage team tries to open it, Tricky senses that she seems to "suffer".
- Amongst its other rooms and chambers, the TARDIS has an observatory with a telescope that appears to be the light chamber from Torchwood Estate. (TV: Tooth and Claw)
- The swimming pool and library are shown. These are mentioned several times by the Doctor and Amy Pond.
- The Doctor tells Clara that the TARDIS is not like a cheese grater.
- The TARDIS display that declares "Engine Status: Overload" also mentions the console room, Eye of Harmony, library, observatory, and Arch-Recon.
Individuals
Story notes
- The name of the episode was influenced by the novel Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
- This is the first televised story to include the word "TARDIS" in its title.
- This episode aired on Jenna-Louise Coleman's 27th birthday.
- At seven words long, this episode shares the record for the longest televised story title to date with The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe.
- Sarah Louise Madison, Ruari Mears and Paul Kasey (Time Zombies) are credited on-screen, but not in Radio Times.
- This is the first time since the series restarted, that the doctor has closed the Tardis doors from the console, rather than manually shutting them. Something that was the norm in the classic series.
Ratings
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Filming locations
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Production errors
If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
- To create letters as a burned area on Clara's hand, the inscription on the "Big Friendly Button" would need to have raised letters that are hotter than the surrounding metal. When the device is shown, it appears to have etched letters, which would create a burned area on the hand with unburned skin in the shape of the letters.
Continuity
- Clara briefly learns the Doctor's true name but then forgets it when the Doctor rewrites the entire adventure. This makes her the second person in the televised series who learns the Doctor's true identity. The first of his companions to learn his name was River Song. (TV: Forest of the Dead)
- Clara glimpses the TARDIS swimming pool. (TV: The Invasion of Time, The Eleventh Hour, Day of the Moon)
- Clara hides in the TARDIS library. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
- Inside the library, the Doctor has kept The History of the Time War, a book outlining the history of the Time War. (Rose, The Unquiet Dead, The End of Time)
- Clara comes across the Doctor's cot. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War, GAME: The Gunpowder Plot)
- Clara picks up an apparently wooden model of the TARDIS. Amy made several models of the TARDIS, one of which appears identical. (TV: The Eleventh Hour, TV: Let's Kill Hitler)
- As the TARDIS leaks the past, several voices can be heard. They are, in respective order:
- The voice of Susan Foreman says, "I made up the name 'TARDIS' from the initials: Time and Relative Dimension In Space." (TV: An Unearthly Child)
- The Third Doctor saying, "The TARDIS is dimensionally transcendental" and his companion, Jo, asking "What does that mean?"
- The Eleventh Doctor saying, "You sexy thing!" then Idris (the TARDIS in human form) replying, "See, you do call me that! Is it my name?" followed by the Doctor's exclamation of "You bet it's your name!" (TV: The Doctor's Wife)
- The Fourth Doctor saying, "That's trans-dimensional engineering. A key Time Lord discovery." (TV: The Robots of Death)
- The Ninth Doctor saying, "The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me they've tried." (TV: Rose)
- Martha Jones saying, "It's just a box with that room crammed in!". (TV: Smith and Jones)
- Amy Pond saying, "We're in space!". (TV: The Beast Below)
- Ian Chesterton asking, "A thing that looks like a police box, standing in a junkyard, it can move anywhere in time and space?" (TV: An Unearthly Child)
- The Fifth Doctor asking, "You've changed the desktop theme, haven't you?" (TV: Time Crash)
- This is the third time the Doctor has forced others into helping him by threatening to blow the TARDIS up, once again admitting that the TARDIS self-destruct is a hoax. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen, Victory of the Daleks)
- The Seventh Doctor's umbrella appears. (TV: Paradise Towers).
- The Eye of Harmony is seen within the TARDIS. (TV: Doctor Who)
- The TARDIS's cloister bell tolls after the TARDIS is pulled out of flight and suffers heavy damage to the console room. (TV: Logopolis, Castrovalva, Resurrection of the Daleks, Doctor Who, Hide)
- The Doctor once again steps through a crack in time and space to undo events. (TV: The Big Bang)
- Despite time being rewritten, Gregor remembers something that the Doctor had told him not to forget. (TV: The Big Bang)
Home video releases
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External links
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