I can remember an epsiode where the tardis materised and it waasnt the police box(think it was a 5th doctor episode)?>
tardis's chamelon circuit
- Thread starter Mr Pointy Ears
- Start date
I think #6 had it materialize as a pipe organ.
I think that was Attack of the Cybermen, I think it appeared as a wardrobe or something like that at a junkyard as well.
In Attack of the Cybermen, The Sixth Doctor tinkers with the chameleon circuit and the TARDIS materializes randomly as a decorated stove, a pipe organ, and an ornamental gateway, much to The Doctor's dismay and Peri's amusement.
What's really funny (i.e. sloppy) is that they totally forget about the chameleon circuit being fixed and let the idea trail off. By episode's end, they just have the TARDIS all of a sudden take the form of a Police Box again, with little more than a shrug from the Doctor.
Actually, there was a scene from the next story "Vengeance on Varos" that addressed why it was stuck as a Police Box again but it got cut for time. It's available as an extra on the DVD. The scene had Peri making fun of the Doctor's faulty repair job by pointing out the TARDIS kept choosing conspicuous objects to diguise itself as in few unseen adventures. The Doctor then more or less tells her he's relocked the exterior as a Police Box.
Given how much that police box has changed over the years--in height, size, and color--I think the chameleon circuit still works but can only change into different versions of a 1960's Police Box.
http://www.themindrobber.co.uk/tardis-police-box.html
http://www.themindrobber.co.uk/tardis-police-box.html
It's always worked, it does look like a Police Box after all, it's just jammed. Originally from a glitch in "An Unearthy Child" then on purpose by Six when he realised it couldn't blend in worth a fart after his crap repair job. Eight (and I think one of the later ones) makes a comment that he actually likes it as a Police Box.
In other words, it's broken. It doesn't work the way it's supposed to--to blend the exterior naturally with whatever locale it materializes in.
It seems the Doctor was never all that terribly bothered by it from the start.
Going by coments hes made over the years, (defensiveness/trying to get the people on Logopolis to fix it for him/claims that he likes it) I get the feeling he doesn't actually have a clue on how to fix it.
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My understanding is that the perception filter renders the chemelion circuit rendant: If people don't "see" the TARDIS it doesn't matter what it looks like.
The disadvantage of the chamelion circuit is that it makes the TARDIS "look" like "something" and there's always the risk that "someone" could need, or try to enter that "something." You essentially end up with the reverse of the gag from the start of this year's Christmas special. Some poor copper tries to call his wife to say he's working late and ends up getting an eye-full of TARDISy goodness.
dJE
The disadvantage of the chamelion circuit is that it makes the TARDIS "look" like "something" and there's always the risk that "someone" could need, or try to enter that "something." You essentially end up with the reverse of the gag from the start of this year's Christmas special. Some poor copper tries to call his wife to say he's working late and ends up getting an eye-full of TARDISy goodness.
dJE
This. The chameleon circuit is probably obsolete and redundant, hence the Doctor indulging the TARDIS's obsession. Anyway, the circuit itself works fine. It turns the ship into a blue phone box every single time!
Shame the 4th Doctor got stuck with the shortest and ugliest phone box.
Especially since he was one of (if not the) tallest Doctors.
And in the "extra" scene between the Elventh Hour and Beast Below, the 11th Doctor explained to Amy that the TARDIS is successfully performing a scan of the outside environment, and then selecting from over hundreds of thousands of possible exteriors...and then every single time it selects the Police Box.
This implies less that it is stuck, and more that it is either broken, stubborn, stupid, or all of the above. It also lends a lot weight to the premise that the Doctor doesn't know how to fix it. At this point in his life, he's looked into it and it appears to be working fine...except it keeps picking the Police Box. he's stumped.
Donna was about halfway telling him how he could easily fix it, wasn't she?
^or perhaps the TARDIS has just decided shes likes that look and doesn't want to change. Given that she takes the Doctor where he needs to be. Usually where there is someone/thing doing something wrong. The Police box does sort of fit in with what the Doctor does. He fights injustice etc.. across time and space.
Yea, she must've grown fond of the Police Box shape in the Junkyard, since Susan comments in the first Caveman episode, as they leave the Tardis with Barbara and Ian for the first time, how strange it is that she didn't change shapes when they left the Junkyard
I don't like NuWho's perception filter. It's just a cheap excuse to avoid the startled villagers you used to get every so often in the original series. Also the writers seem to have forgotten that no one is suppose to see it since just about everyone still sees it.
The first Doctor had a remedy for that in "The War Machines".
Lock the door and hang an "out of order" sign on it.
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