Editing TARDIS (section)

==Conceptual history==
===Exterior design===
{{multiple image
| align             = right
| total_width       = 400
| header            = Police boxes
| image1            = Ilford Manor Road geograph-3065865-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg
| alt1              = Photograph of a street with trolleybuses and a police box on the pavement
| caption1          = A police box is visible in this 1955 photograph of a street in [[Ilford]] in London.
| image2            = Here's that TARDIS again, SW5 - geograph.org.uk - 906215.jpg
| alt2              = A blue police box on a street
| caption2          = A police box still stands outside [[Earl's Court tube station]] in London.
| footer            = [[Police box]]es were once a common sight on British streets.
}}
When ''Doctor Who'' was being developed in 1963 the production staff discussed what the Doctor's time machine would look like. To keep the design within budget<ref>Howe; Walker (2003), p. 23</ref> it was decided to make the outside resemble a [[police telephone box]], a common piece of [[street furniture]] that had originally been designed in the 1920s by the Scottish architect [[Gilbert Mackenzie Trench]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meighan |first1=Michael |title=Glasgow with a Flourish |date=15 October 2011 |publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-4456-1261-4 |pages=34–35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SGqoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT34 |language=en}}</ref> The idea for the police-box disguise came from a [[BBC]] staff writer, [[Anthony Coburn]], who rewrote the programme's first episode from a draft by [[C. E. Webber]].<ref>Howe; Walker (2003), p. 15–16</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-13411516 |title=Doctor Who fan in tardis replica plan for Herne Bay|date=16 May 2011|publisher=BBC|access-date=20 February 2013}}</ref> While there is no known precedent for this notion, a November 1960 episode of the popular radio comedy show ''[[Beyond Our Ken]]'' included a sketch featuring a time machine described as "a tall telephone box".<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 March 2021 |title=How Tall Is The Tardis? Tardis' Height |url=https://colonelheight.com/how-tall-is-the-tardis-tardis-height/ |access-date=25 June 2023 |website=Colonel Height |language=en-US |archive-date=25 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230625000730/https://colonelheight.com/how-tall-is-the-tardis-tardis-height/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The concept of a [[cloaking device|cloaking mechanism]] (later referred to as the "chameleon circuit") was devised to explain this. In the first episode, ''[[An Unearthly Child]]'' (1963), the TARDIS is first seen hidden in a London scrapyard in 1963, and after travelling back in time ("[[The Cave of Skulls]]") to the [[Paleolithic era]], the police box exterior persists.{{sfn|Haining|1995|p=114}} In a subsequent story, ''[[The Time Meddler]]'' (1965), the [[First Doctor]] explains that the TARDIS should automatically adopt a disguise, such as a [[howdah]] (a carrier on the back of an Indian elephant in the [[Indian Mutiny]]) or a rock on a beach.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chakoteya.net/doctorwho/2-9.htm|title=The Doctor Who Transcripts – The Time Meddler|website=chakoteya.net|language=en-gb|access-date=27 January 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202024622/http://www.chakoteya.net/doctorwho/2-9.htm|archive-date=2 February 2017}}</ref>

Accounts differ as to the origin of the police box prop. While the BBC asserts that it was constructed specially for ''Doctor Who'',<ref>{{cite web|title=Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide: An Unearthly Child |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/unearthlychild/detail.shtml|publisher=BBC |last1=Howe|first1=David J.|last2=Walker|first2=Stephen James|access-date=30 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070330065005/https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/unearthlychild/detail.shtml |archive-date=30 March 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> it has been claimed that the box was a reused prop from the BBC television police dramas ''[[Z-Cars]]'' or ''[[Dixon of Dock Green]]'' (a claim repeated by ''Doctor Who'' producer [[Steven Moffat]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=The Police Signal Box: A 100 Year History |last=Stewart |first=Robert W. |date=June 1994 |publisher=[[University of Strathclyde]] |page=16 |url=http://www.eee.strath.ac.uk/r.w.stewart/boxes.pdf |access-date=6 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318143908/http://www.eee.strath.ac.uk/r.w.stewart/boxes.pdf |archive-date=18 March 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Doctor Who boss not worried by budget squeeze |publisher=BBC News |date=23 March 2010 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8580299.stm}}</ref>

The dimensions and colour of the TARDIS police box props used in the series have changed many times, as a result of damage and the requirements of the show,<ref name="themindrobber-tardis"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://medium.com/tardis-history/the-props-74481fcd14c4|title=The Props|last=Brooks|first=Will |date=4 March 2020 |website=Medium |access-date=24 April 2020}}</ref> and none of the BBC props has been a faithful replica of the original MacKenzie Trench model. Numerous details have been altered over time, including the shape of the roof, the signage, the shade of blue paint, the presence of a [[St John Ambulance (England)|St John Ambulance]] emblem and the overall height of the box.<ref name="tardis2">{{cite web |url=http://www.themindrobber.co.uk/tardis-police-box.html |title=Doctor Who A History of the TARDIS Police Box Prop and its Modifications |access-date=17 February 2010}}</ref> The original prop remained in use for around 13 years until it collapsed – reportedly on [[Elisabeth Sladen]]'s head. A new prop was introduced for ''The Masque of Mandragora'' in 1976, and there have been at least six versions in total.<ref name="Who-ology">{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Cavan |last2=Wright |first2=Mark |title=Doctor Who: Who-ology |date=7 June 2013 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-4481-4125-8 |pages=264–265 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Okr1_6pV6cQC&pg=PA264}}</ref> The evolution of the prop design was referenced on-screen in the episode "[[Blink (Doctor Who)|Blink]]" (2007), when the character [[Detective Inspector]] Shipton says the TARDIS "isn't a real [police box]. The phone's just a dummy, and the windows are the wrong size."{{refn|group="nb"|The episode's writer [[Steven Moffat]] confirmed that this line was an [[in-joke]] aimed at fans on "Internet forums".<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Pixley |first1=Andrew |last2=Morris |first2=Jonathan |author-link2=Jonathan Morris (author) |last3=Atkinson |first3=Richard |last4=McGown |first4=Alistair |date=23 March 2016 |title=Blink: Pre-production |magazine=Doctor Who: The Complete History |publisher=[[Panini Comics|Panini Magazines]]/[[Hachette (publisher)|Hachette Partworks Ltd]] |volume=56 |page=57}}</ref>}}

===Interior design===
The TARDIS console room was designed for the first episode by [[set design]]er [[Peter Brachacki]] and was unusually large for a BBC production of this time. It was noted for its innovative, gleaming white "futuristic" appearance.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tribe |first=Steve |title=The Tardis Handbook |date=2010 |publisher=BBC Books |isbn=978-1-84607-986-3 |page=44 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fYWR9xgQRucC&pg=PA44 |access-date=5 July 2022}}</ref><ref name="themindrobber-tardis">{{cite web |title=Doctor Who A History of the TARDIS Police Box Prop and its Modifications |url=http://www.themindrobber.co.uk/tardis-police-box.html |website=www.themindrobber.co.uk |access-date=5 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302120814/http://www.themindrobber.co.uk/tardis-police-box.html |archive-date=2 March 2022|first=Anthony|last=Sibley}}</ref>

Like the police box prop, the set design of the TARDIS interior has evolved over the years. From the inception of the show in 1963 up until the end of the "[[List of Doctor Who episodes (1963–1989)|classic series]]" in 1989, the design of the TARDIS console room remained largely unchanged from Brachacki's original set, a brightly lit white chamber, lined with a pattern of roundels on the walls and with a central hexagonal console which contained a cylindrical "time rotor" that moved when the TARDIS was in transit. Numerous alterations were made to the central console and to the layout, but the overall concept remained constant. In [[Doctor Who (season 14)|Season 14]] (1976–77), a dark wood-panelled "Control Room Number 2" was briefly used for a few episodes, but the white console room set was reinstated in [[Doctor Who (season 15)|Season 15]], due to damage to the set. After the cancellation of the television show, a radically redesigned TARDIS set was used in the [[Doctor Who (film)|1996 TV movie]], heralding a move to a more [[steampunk]]-inspired set design, which later influenced the set design in the [[List of Doctor Who episodes (2005–present)|revived series from 2005 onwards]].{{sfn|Burk|Smith|2012|pp=543–5}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150" class="center" caption="The evolving TARDIS interior sets 1963–2017">
File:Doctor Who Experience (13080761155).jpg|The original 1963 set (2014 reproduction)
File:Doctor Who Experience (25307755549).jpg|The console room set used from 1977 to 1983
File:Console (23963541552).jpg|The updated console room set used from 1983 to 1989
File:Tardis (6502023691).jpg|The redesigned set from 2005 to 2010
File:BBC Tardis Set (6868569950).jpg|The TARDIS interior used by the [[Eleventh Doctor]] ([[Matt Smith]]) from 2010 to 2012
File:Peter Capaldi's TARDIS Set (25074781711).jpg|The TARDIS interior from 2012 to 2017, as it appeared during the era of the [[Twelfth Doctor]] ([[Peter Capaldi]])
</gallery>

===Depiction of time travel===
{{Listen
| filename    =TARDIS_sound_effect.ogg
| title       =TARDIS sound effect
| description =Sound effect of the TARDIS dematerialising by Brian Hodgson
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The production team conceived of the TARDIS travelling by [[Teleportation|dematerialising]] at one point and rematerialising elsewhere, although sometimes in the series it is shown also to be capable of conventional space travel. In the 2006 Christmas special, "[[The Runaway Bride (Doctor Who)|The Runaway Bride]]", the Doctor remarks that for a spaceship, the TARDIS does remarkably little flying. The ability to travel simply by fading into and out of different locations became one of the trademarks of the show, allowing for a great deal of versatility in setting and storytelling without a large expense in special effects. The distinctive accompanying sound effect – a cyclic wheezing, groaning noise – was originally created in the [[BBC Radiophonic Workshop]] by sound technician [[Brian Hodgson]] by [[Tape recorder|recording on tape]] the sound of his mother's house key scraping up and down the [[Piano wire|strings of an old piano]]. Hodgson then re-recorded the sound by changing the tape speed up and down and splicing the altered sounds together.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kistler |first1=Alan |title=Doctor Who: A History |date=1 October 2013 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4930-0016-6 |page=54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXRBBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 |access-date=1 July 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2009-07-29/interview-doctor-whos-brian-hodgson-on-creating-the-sounds-of-the-tardis-and-daleks/|title=Interview: Doctor Who's Brian Hodgson on creating the sounds of the Tardis and Daleks|website=Radio Times|language=en|access-date=25 February 2019}}</ref> When employed in the series, the sound is usually synchronised with the flashing light on top of the police box, or the fade-in and fade-out effects of a TARDIS. Writer [[Patrick Ness]] has described the ship's distinctive dematerialisation noise as "a kind of haunted grinding sound",<ref>{{cite book |last=Ness |first=Patrick |date=2013 |title=Tip of the Tongue |location=London |publisher=[[Puffin Books]] |page=12 |isbn=978-1-405-91213-6}}</ref> while the ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' comic strips traditionally use the [[onomatopoeic]] phrase "vworp vworp vworp".<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Butler |editor-first=David |title=Time and Relative Dissertations in Space: Critical Perspectives on Doctor Who |date=2007 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=9780719076824 |page=38 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQpoAAAAMAAJ&q=vworp+vworp |access-date=20 May 2020}}</ref>