Meanwhile in the TARDIS (home video)

Meanwhile in the TARDIS was the title of two minisodes produced exclusively for the Doctor Who The Complete Fifth Series releases for DVD and Blu-ray box sets. They were both written by showrunner Steven Moffat. They take place between two "gaps" in the episodes of the fifth series with the first episode immediately following from The Eleventh Hour and leading into The Beast Below and the second episode leads from the end of Flesh and Stone and immediately precedes The Vampires of Venice.

Plot

Scene 1

Taking place shortly after the TARDIS dematerialised from Leadworth, Amy asks the Eleventh Doctor many questions without pausing: how does the TARDIS retain its air supply? Why did he label a time machine "police box"? Where are the other windows which are on the exterior of the TARDIS? What is a police box and is the Doctor a policeman? Has he seen his haircut? Does he ever need to change the bulb on top the TARDIS? She also thinks the box is made of wood and his bow tie is a cry for help.

The Doctor answers most of these questions. Amy asks again if he's an alien. The Doctor says that, from his perspective, she's the alien. Amy wonders if the Doctor is a space squid or a tiny slug zipped in a human suit, but the Doctor dismisses her theories, stating he's as human as he appears. Amy admits she's done with her questions, but the Doctor tells her she's just begun; he throws a switch on the TARDIS console, opens the door and shows her outer space.

When Amy says it looks like special effects in a studio, the Doctor proves it's real by pushing her out of the TARDIS.

Scene 2

At midnight, 26 June 2010, after Amy attempts to seduce the Doctor, he forces her back into the TARDIS. She leans on the console with an expectant gaze directed at the Doctor, who ignores it and pulls the door release lever next to her to lock the TARDIS doors.

Amy asks if she did something wrong. She thinks she is getting "mixed messages" from the Doctor. She unlocks the doors. The Doctor re-locks them and asks Amy how she's getting mixed messages. Amy says he showed up in the middle of the night to take her for a ride in his time machine. Amy insists that it's an obvious signal, telling her to "Get your coat, love, the Doctor's in."

The Doctor hurriedly explains he didn't bring her with him because he found her attractive. He proudly insists that he's like Gandalf in space. Amy says he acts like a regular bloke, showing off for the girls and laughing at other guys, making fun of Rory's nose.

The Doctor tells Amy that he can't "see it" any more. He's made time and space his back yard for over nine hundred years, so everything about it is now just facts to him. But Amy can "see it", which lets the Doctor see it as well. That is his only reason. Amy wonders if there have been others before her.

The Doctor reluctantly admits that he's had "a few" companions, but Amy won't let go. She wonders how many were girls. The Doctor admits girls made up "a bit over half" of his companions. Amy tricks the Doctor into accessing the TARDIS' visual records. To his dismay, the TARDIS plays black and white visual records on the screen of many female companions — leaving out the men, K9, and Kamelion — from Barbara Wright to Donna Noble, in random order. Amy wonders about one of the Fourth Doctor's companions, Leela. She appears repeatedly in a leather bikini.

Embarrassed, the Doctor decides to collect Rory to have Amy focus on her life. Amy informs him Rory is having his bachelor party. With a smirk, the Doctor tells her, "Well, let's make it a great one" before starting up the TARDIS and flying to the early evening of 25 June 2010.

Cast

The Doctor - Matt Smith
Amy Pond - Karen Gillan

Crew

Worldbuilding

Scene 1

TARDIS

When asked why the TARDIS looks like a police box, the Doctor explains to Amy in detail how the chameleon circuit scans the surroundings upon materialisation, decides on the best disguise, but then disguises the craft as a 1963 police box anyway.

Scene 2

Individuals

When Amy accesses the TARDIS' visual records of the inhabitants, the TARDIS plays black-and-white visual records on the round screen of many female companions, from Barbara Wright to Donna Noble. The Doctor sarcastically thanks the TARDIS ("thanks dear, miss out the metal dog why don't you"), which is a reference to K9.
Amy cracks a Batman joke by quoting "Like a great big Bat Signal in the sky" while discussing signals.
The Doctor compares himself to Gandalf from Lord of the Rings and Yoda from Star Wars.
When the Doctor is listing off different terms for his companions ("Yeah, sure. Loads of them. But just friends, y'know, chums, pals, mates, buddies") he immediately afterwards dismisses the term mates ("Not mates, forget mates") in a reference to how Donna Noble reacted when the Doctor told her he "just want[ed] a mate" ("You just want to mate!?... You're not mating with me, sunshine!") (TV: Partners in Crime)

Story notes

These scenes join a handful of television stories that are entirely set within the Doctor's TARDIS, the first The Edge of Destruction was broadcast in 1964, however the entirely TARDIS-set TV stories have primarily been a post-2005 phenomena the format being used in short-form "minisodes" or other short format stories such as the Children in Need specials; Children in Need Special set after The Parting of the Ways and Time Crash.
These stories are the first shorts produced specifically for home video release. Past releases, such as those mentioned above, were produced with broadcast in mind. The Meanwhile in the TARDIS shorts were the first shorts produced solely for home video. This trend would continue throughout the Moffat era with additional shorts such as the Night and the Doctor shorts, or Clara and the TARDIS. Other shorts, such as Space and Time, would eventually be produced for broadcast or release on other platforms such as YouTube or the Red Button service, with some shorts existing specifically to serve as prequels for upcoming stories (e.g. The Night of the Doctor, The Making of the Gunslinger) or to set up or explain events (The Great Detective, The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later).
If you select "Play All" on a disc in the Complete Series 5 set that contains a Meanwhile in the TARDIS short, it will play at the narratively-appropriate moment - Scene 1 plays between The Eleventh Hour and The Beast Below, and Scene 2 plays between Flesh and Stone and The Vampires of Venice.

Filming locations

Roath Lock, Cardiff, Wales (TARDIS set)

Production errors

Scene 1

Amy asks the Doctor if he's an alien, which provokes a lengthy discussion on this topic. The Beast Below features a similar scene, with both characters seemingly unaware that they'd already had this conversation. As this minisode was filmed long after production on The Beast Below, this can be chalked up as a continuity error.

Scene 2

The Doctor moves a lever on the console next to Amy into the up position. When Amy moves the lever down, the Doctor moves it back up again. When the camera cuts back to Amy, the lever is still down.

Myths and Rumours

These are deleted scenes from The Eleventh Hour/The Beast Below and Flesh and Stone/The Vampires of Venice, included on the DVD set as a bonus feature. Frequently referenced in published reviews as "deleted scenes," these shorts were specially produced for the Complete Fifth Series box set and actually filmed during production of Series 6.

Continuity

Scene 1

This scene immediately follows TV: The Eleventh Hour and immediately precedes TV: The Beast Below.
At the end of this mini-episode, the Doctor pushes Amy out into (presumably) an air corridor in space. Amy is still floating outside the TARDIS, with the Doctor tethering her from floating away, in TV: The Beast Below.

Scene 2

This scene follows from TV: Flesh and Stone, and immediately precedes TV: The Vampires of Venice.
Amy continues her attempts to seduce the Doctor from the previous scene in her bedroom. (TV: Flesh and Stone)
The TARDIS travels from Amy's bedroom, at midnight on the morning of 26 June 2010, (TV: Flesh and Stone) to a local pub on the prior evening. Sunlight is still flooding the pub when the Doctor fetches Rory in TV: The Vampires of Venice
When asked if the prior companions were old or young, the Doctor asserts that everyone is young when compared to him. Jack Harkness, however, was more than twice the Doctor's age in The Stolen Earth / Journey's End and their brief encounter in End of Time, having aged 1,982 years in Adam, on top of the 110 years he waited from before Fragments until the Doctor's return in End of Days/Utopia. The next day (Earth's perspective), Rory Williams would also be over two millennia old when his Auton timeline merged with his human timeline, leaving human Rory with both sets of memories. (TV: The Big Bang, Bad Night, et al.)
Amy reminds the Doctor that he took her away in her nightie (TV: The Eleventh Hour, Meanwhile in the TARDIS 1) which he "did not let [her] change out of for ages." (TV: The Beast Below)
The Doctor's sentiments about having become blasé about travelling throughout space and time are echoed by Amy, a decade into her companionship, in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. Likewise, she and Rory adopt the Doctor's fondness for seeing his less experienced, less jaded companions' view of his world, as shown when the three watch Brian Williams marvelling at the Earth from high above it while silently enjoying his afternoon tea in the same episode.
This story occurs shortly [minutes, less than an hour] before TV: The Vampires of Venice, the Doctor having time to replace Lucy in the giant cake.
The Doctor compares himself to Gandalf; the Master previously made the same comparison. (TV: Last of the Time Lords).

Home video releases

DVD releases

These episodes were specially filmed for "The Complete Fifth Series" boxset.

Blu-ray releases

The episodes were also released on the Blu-Ray version of "The Complete Fifth Series" boxset.