Cloister Room

The Cloister Room was a highly important part of the Doctor's TARDIS. (TV: Logopolis ^[+]Loading...["Logopolis (TV story)"], Doctor Who ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) Also known as simply the cloisters, they resembled (PROSE: Cold Fusion ^[+]Loading...["Cold Fusion (novel)"]) the Cloisters on Gallifrey. (TV: Hell Bent ^[+]Loading...["Hell Bent (TV story)"])

Nature

By the time of the Fourth Doctor's regeneration, the Cloister Room appeared to be an ancient variant on a typical TARDIS room, with benches on the sides of the room and plants growing on the crumbling pillars; (TV: Logopolis) including a type of ivy known as Hedera helix. The room's walls seemed to be made of stone, and it contained at least one decorative pool. It was described as "a hexagonal colonnade, part of a tranquil area not far from the console room". (PROSE: Cold Fusion ^[+]Loading...["Cold Fusion (novel)"])

By the time of the Seventh Doctor's regeneration, the Cloister Room had changed to appear larger, more gothic and more cathedral-like, with stairways and a central "well" which gave access to the Eye of Harmony. Its stonework now appeared dark. (TV: Doctor Who ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"])

History

According to the Fifth Doctor, the cloisters were among the oldest parts of the TARDIS, and everything else has "grown around it", both metaphorically and literally. (PROSE: Cold Fusion ^[+]Loading...["Cold Fusion (novel)"])

Whilst searching for his Five Hundred Year Diary, the Fourth Doctor believed that he left it in the Cloister Room. However, Romana I told him that it was in the TARDIS' swimming pool. (AUDIO: The Final Phase ^[+]Loading...["The Final Phase (audio story)"])

The Fourth Doctor visited this room with Adric shortly before his regeneration. Tegan Jovanka also venturd through it by herself after stumbling into the ship. (TV: Logopolis ^[+]Loading...["Logopolis (TV story)"])

A few days later, the regenerated Fifth Doctor returned to the cloisters to make sure they had not been deleted when he was forced to jettison parts of the Ship to escape the Tremas Master. He was found there by Nyssa and shared a conversation with her. (PROSE: Cold Fusion ^[+]Loading...["Cold Fusion (novel)"])

The Fifth Doctor would later recall how he used to "hide from Tegan" in the Cloister Room. (AUDIO: No Place Like Home ^[+]Loading...["No Place Like Home (audio story)"])

Constance Clarke compared the Cloister Room to "an ugly industrial cathedral". (AUDIO: Absolute Power ^[+]Loading...["Absolute Power (audio story)"])

Ace attempted to relax in the Cloister Room, but gave up when the bell would not stop ringing. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark ^[+]Loading...["Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark (novel)"])

When he took control of the TARDIS in San Francisco after the Seventh Doctor's regeneration, the Master went to the Cloister Room with Chang Lee to access the Eye, eventually forcing Grace Holloway to help him open the Eye fully as part of a plot to steal the regenerated Eighth Doctor's remaining lives. Consequently, the Doctor and Master's climactic fight happened within the wildly-shaking Cloister Room as the Eye was destabilised, with the Master eventually falling into the Eye. (TV: Doctor Who ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"])

The Eighth Doctor visited the Cloister Room again a short time later, and fell victim to the Master's last trap. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors ^[+]Loading...["The Eight Doctors (novel)"])