TARDIS police box exterior
The Doctor's TARDIS was stuck with an exterior resembling a police box.
Design[[edit] | [edit source]]
Basic features[[edit] | [edit source]]
On a basic level, the TARDIS exterior was a “TARDIS blue” rectangular box with a doorway on one side.
Its walls and door(s) were panelled; most designs had four panels per slat and two slats per side, with the highest panel being segmented windows. The entrance side had a telephone panel and often a lock and sometimes a St John's Ambulance badge.
Each side had two slats and each corner had a post.
The posts on all sides connected to lintels with Police Public Call Box signs.
Roof, different variations of the design had different numbers of tiers, but the top tier was usually angled in a subtle pyramid shape with a lamp at its centre. (PROSE: TARDIS Type 40 Instruction Manual [+]Loading...["TARDIS Type 40 Instruction Manual (reference book)"], et al.)
Compared to police boxes[[edit] | [edit source]]
Rumours suggested that sightings of the TARDIS exterior in the 1920s may have paradoxically inspired the design of the Metropolitan Police Box. (PROSE: TARDIS Type 40 Instruction Manual [+]Loading...["TARDIS Type 40 Instruction Manual (reference book)"])
Variation[[edit] | [edit source]]
The police box design visibly changed through its history, such that when versions of the TARDIS from different points in its history were parked next to each other, there were often notable visual differences. (TV: The Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"], Twice Upon a Time [+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"])
Some accounts indicated that these changes occurred due to the Doctor tinkering to try to fix the chameleon circuit, with the efforts instead leading to slightly different police box designs. (PROSE: The Time Travellers [+]Loading...["The Time Travellers (novel)"], St Anthony's Fire [+]Loading...["St Anthony's Fire (novel)"])
The Sixth Doctor once recalled that the TARDIS had originally looked more like an actual police box, but had altered over the years due to old age setting in to the outer plasmic shell. (PROSE: Synthespians™ [+]Loading...["Synthespians™ (novel)"])
The Seventh Doctor described the ship as suffering from chameleonic fluctuations. (PROSE: St Anthony's Fire [+]Loading...["St Anthony's Fire (novel)"])
Multi-journey forms[[edit] | [edit source]]
The original form was used by the First Doctor from his travels with Ian, Susan, and Barbara to his travels with Ben and Polly. (TV: An Unearthly Child [+]Loading...["An Unearthly Child (TV story)"], The Smugglers [+]Loading...["The Smugglers (TV story)"])
A shorter form with a more uniform colour scheme was used from the end of the First Doctor's life to the early travels of the Fourth Doctor. (TV: The Smugglers [+]Loading...["The Smugglers (TV story)"], The Seeds of Doom [+]Loading...["The Seeds of Doom (TV story)"])
An even squatter form was used by the Fourth Doctor in the middle period of his life. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora [+]Loading...["The Masque of Mandragora (TV story)"], Shada [+]Loading...["Shada (TV story)"])
A form more approximating the original was used from the end of the Fourth Doctor's life into the Seventh Doctor's life. (TV: The Leisure Hive [+]Loading...["The Leisure Hive (TV story)"], Survival [+]Loading...["Survival (TV story)"])
Another form was used by the Seventh and Eighth Doctors. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"])
A bulkier, battered form was used during the Last Great Time War and to the end of the Tenth Doctor's life. (TV: Rose [+]Loading...["Rose (TV story)"], The End of Time [+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"], The Night of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Night of the Doctor (TV story)"], The Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"])
A cleaner, brighter form was used by the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors. (TV: The Eleventh Hour [+]Loading...["The Eleventh Hour (TV story)"], Deep Breath [+]Loading...["Deep Breath (TV story)"], et al.)
A darker, more compact form was used by the Thirteenth Doctor and onwards. (TV: The Ghost Monument [+]Loading...["The Ghost Monument (TV story)"], et al.)
