tardis's chamelon circuit

[Redfern]

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." ...Some poor copper tries to call his wife to say he's working late and ends up getting an eye-full of TARDISy goodness.

That was actually the situation presented in the second Peter Cushing movie, "Dalek Invasion Earth 2150 AD". Bernard Cribbins (yes, Wilf' from the Donna Noble episodes) is a constable who, after being injured during a bank robbery, sees the TARDIS; assumes it's a genuine police box, and stumbles into it just as he blacks out.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

It's not like the chameleon circuits of other TARDISes are known to work any better. The Master's seemed to prefer an old Earth grandfather clock for a while, even if he was on Gallifrey or parked inside another TARDIS; later on it morphed into a Roman column which appeared in 1980s London plus various othr time zones and alien planets. Granted, in other stories it seemed to work just fine, but it doesn't have the best track record for something that's supposed to automatically change to fit its surroundings regardless of where or when.

Similarly, the Rani's TARDIS showed up as a grey box whose external decorations matched the internals (it even had to be camouflaged by a boobytrapped partition) and later on as a funky shiny pyramid matching similar funky shiny pyramids in her lab. Many fans think that she either went around with her chameleon circuit off because she just didn't care - the grey box was the "default" look and the pyramid could be another or something related to the (presumably) Galligreyan technology she was harnessing for that story. It's just as possible though that her TARDIS' chameleon circuit was busted as well.

In any case, I do wonder is the Doctor will try fixing this function now that he's laying low - to keep enterprising blonde teens from Googling "Doctor Blue Box" and finding him that way, etc. It's true that the magical and over-referenced perception filter tends to keep many people away, but even in nuWho there have been examples of people seeing it and reparking it or somesuch - it's not invulnerable. Besides, the DoctorDonna did mention that it wouldn't be THAT difficult to fix. It would be cool to at least reference him trying to repair the thing during this period if he's indeed bothering to avoid being bothered.

Mark

 

[Mr Pointy Ears]

think this is the episode i was thinking of,i remember the junkyard.thanks very mucn.

 

[Christopher]

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.

Except that most of the other cited forms for TARDISes haven't been things you'd expect to enter. The Master's grandfather-clock and Roman-column versions have been mentioned upthread, as have the forms the Doctor's TARDIS took in "Attack of the Cybermen," including a pipe organ and a stove. In "An Unearthly Child," Susan said that the TARDIS had previously been an Ionic column and a sedan chair (okay, a sedan chair is something one could climb into). The Meddling Monk's TARDIS appeared as a sarcophagus, a large boulder, a carved stone block, and various other forms.

Anyway, the telephone in a police box only connected to the station, so it couldn't be used for personal calls. It was a way for the public to contact the police station or for police to check in. The light on top was to signal officers in the area to call the station, or for the public to signal them in an emergency. And you didn't need to enter the police box interior to use the phone; you just open the hatch with the sign on it (despite what Idris said in "The Doctor's Wife," the PULL TO OPEN sign refers to the phone hatch that it's printed on, not to the big doors). The interior contained various supplies like an incident book, a fire extinguisher, and a first-aid kit. I read once that they could be used to lock up suspects until a wagon could arrive to take them in, but I can't find any confirmation of that at Wikipedia or the other online sources I checked.

^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.

Yup. "Free for Use of Public. Advice and Assistance Obtainable Immediately. Officers and Cars Respond to Urgent Calls." That's a pretty good mission statement for the Doctor.

Plus the Hartnell, Cushing, and Smith versions bear the St John Ambulance logo, which is kind of like the Red Cross, the symbol of a group of charitable organizations dedicated to teaching first aid and providing ambulance services around the world. So that also fits a character called "the Doctor." (I guess the logo was included on real police boxes to denote that they had first-aid supplies within.)

 

[Captain Crow]

It's not like the chameleon circuits of other TARDISes are known to work any better. The Master's seemed to prefer an old Earth grandfather clock for a while, even if he was on Gallifrey or parked inside another TARDIS; later on it morphed into a Roman column which appeared in 1980s London plus various othr time zones and alien planets. Granted, in other stories it seemed to work just fine, but it doesn't have the best track record for something that's supposed to automatically change to fit its surroundings regardless of where or when.

Similarly, the Rani's TARDIS showed up as a grey box whose external decorations matched the internals (it even had to be camouflaged by a boobytrapped partition) and later on as a funky shiny pyramid matching similar funky shiny pyramids in her lab. Many fans think that she either went around with her chameleon circuit off because she just didn't care - the grey box was the "default" look and the pyramid could be another or something related to the (presumably) Galligreyan technology she was harnessing for that story. It's just as possible though that her TARDIS' chameleon circuit was busted as well.

The chamelon circuit has been shown to have an automatic mode and a manual mode. The Master and the Rani probably just had theirs set to manual in those stories.

 

[Stevil2001]

I read once that they could be used to lock up suspects until a wagon could arrive to take them in, but I can't find any confirmation of that at Wikipedia or the other online sources I checked.

This was stated in "Boom Town" by the Doctor, actually, but I've never seen it confirmed by a source that didn't derive from the episode.

 

[Christopher]

I read once that they could be used to lock up suspects until a wagon could arrive to take them in, but I can't find any confirmation of that at Wikipedia or the other online sources I checked.

This was stated in "Boom Town" by the Doctor, actually, but I've never seen it confirmed by a source that didn't derive from the episode.

I'm pretty sure it's something I read decades ago, in some article about the original series. Although of course human memory is a fallible thing.

 

[CaptainMatt]

No I remember such a reference too but it was not from Boom Town or any of the modern series.

 

[starsuperion]

From the recent research I have been doing, it would seem the Hartnell Doctor's Tardis a Mark I, denotes the console, and I have seen a publication cutaway of the Hartnell Console showing the Chameleon circuit in that, and then later when we see, what I am certain is the Mark III console, which probably was downloaded by the Doctor during his fourth incarnation on Gallifrey during the series the Deadly Assassin and the Invasion of Time, after which in his Fifth Body was able to finally get around to remodeling it with the upgrade..Which leads to the series depiction of the Mark III chameleon circuit being installed in the Console during the 6th Doctor's tenure in Attack of the Cybermen, after adjusting the Chameleon circuit relays in the Tardis roundels.

 

[Mr Awe]

It's not like the chameleon circuits of other TARDISes are known to work any better. The Master's seemed to prefer an old Earth grandfather clock for a while, even if he was on Gallifrey or parked inside another TARDIS; later on it morphed into a Roman column which appeared in 1980s London plus various othr time zones and alien planets. Granted, in other stories it seemed to work just fine, but it doesn't have the best track record for something that's supposed to automatically change to fit its surroundings regardless of where or when.

Similarly, the Rani's TARDIS showed up as a grey box whose external decorations matched the internals (it even had to be camouflaged by a boobytrapped partition) and later on as a funky shiny pyramid matching similar funky shiny pyramids in her lab. Many fans think that she either went around with her chameleon circuit off because she just didn't care - the grey box was the "default" look and the pyramid could be another or something related to the (presumably) Galligreyan technology she was harnessing for that story. It's just as possible though that her TARDIS' chameleon circuit was busted as well.

The chamelon circuit has been shown to have an automatic mode and a manual mode. The Master and the Rani probably just had theirs set to manual in those stories.

The Master often controlled the shape of his to fit in with his plan. In Colony in Space, it looks like a space ship to give the appearance of the Adjudicator arriving from Earth. And, in Keep of Traken, it took the shape of Melkur to carry out his plans. Even when not part of the plan, the Master's TARDIS fit in nicely as a truck, computer, etc.

In fact, the Doctor was so put out by the Master's superior TARDIS at Traken that it prompted the Doctor to take his TARDIS to Logopolis to be fixed!

Mr Awe

 

[Tom]

I thought the Master had two Tardis's in Traken. The better Melkur one (that could move and fire beams) , then had his original Tardis (disguised as a grandfather clock) inside the Melkur Tardis. When the Melkur was destroyed he escaped in his old Tardis then came back to steal Tremas's body.

 

[Mr Awe]

^ That's right, I'd forgotten that! At any rate, the Doctor was motivated to get his fixed! In Castravalva, it is nicely disguised as a fireplace that he escapes in. So, the circuit is working fine at the point.

 

[Tom]

"A new body... at last!" LOL

 

[starsuperion]

^ That's right, I'd forgotten that! At any rate, the Doctor was motivated to get his fixed! In Castravalva, it is nicely disguised as a fireplace that he escapes in. So, the circuit is working fine at the point.

I believe the one on Trakken which was Melkur was the newer one since it had lasers, and the one after in Castrovalva was the type 45..which has a defense electrocution type feature, but no lasers..

It is interesting that the Doctor's TARDIs chameleon circuit seems to prefer the police box, over anything else, and yet he can make it invisible..

 

[MacLeod]

Perhaps the TARDIS simply prefers being in the shape of a Police Box. She can be tempermental after all.

 

[diankra]

Is Melkur actually a TARDIS? It's the obvious conclusion (and I've assumed so since my 14th birthday!), but the Master has another TARDIS parked inside it, which usually leads to all sort of dimension-tangling messes (as shown an episode later). Perhaps it's an alien war machine he's stolen and retro-fitted with some TARDIS tech...
Actually, a nice retcon would now be that Melkur is the Teselecta's sister ship, nicked by the Master long before the Doctor knew such things existed...

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

but the Master has another TARDIS parked inside it, which usually leads to all sort of dimension-tangling messes (as shown an episode later).

Does it? I just assumed that was the case when it was the same TARDIS causing some infinite regress issues.

 

[Gotham Central]

The chameleon circuit and the perception filter both seem redundant given that the thing has a perfectly functional cloaking device...and has had such since the second doctor. Why bother blending in when you can hide completely?

I also tend to think that the writers forget that the police box is camouflage and not how the TARDIS actually looks. Given that the circuit is not supposed to work, it does seem odd that the TARDIS would retain the fiction of a broken police box even as its dying on Trenzalore.

 

[Mytran]

It might be camouflage, but I understood that if was a "solid" type; ie, the cold plasma shell reformed itself into whatever shape and colour it needed to then stayed that way until the CT instructed it otherwise.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

The chameleon circuit and the perception filter both seem redundant given that the thing has a perfectly functional cloaking device...and has had such since the second doctor. Why bother blending in when you can hide completely?

I also tend to think that the writers forget that the police box is camouflage and not how the TARDIS actually looks. Given that the circuit is not supposed to work, it does seem odd that the TARDIS would retain the fiction of a broken police box even as its dying on Trenzalore.

Making it invisible all the time would be stupid, because you always run the risk of people bumping their heads walking into the thing.
Also we all know the Doctor would forget where he parked the thing.

I also think the appearance is not a holographic disguise that is layed over the actual appearance. I think the actual appearance changes to the police box, hence the doors being part of the outer shell being police box doors even from the inside (though that apparently was different during the classic run.)

In the end all these systems might be there as redundancies and options depending on situational demands the Time Lords can use.

Also the Doctor can park the TARDIS on a solid state cloud and just use the invisible staircase to stay hidden.