# Doctor Who: Journey to the Centre of the Tardis. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 28, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881 "2013-04-28T03:20:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/1 "2013-04-28T03:20:11Z")
A bit of a confusing one but I liked it. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/2 "2013-04-28T03:39:42Z")
Had some great moments - loved the library, the swimming pool - pretty much hated the resolution. A few great lines to be sure - “so that’s who…” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/3 "2013-04-28T04:06:12Z")
Did not like this one at all. The acting from the guests was awful, the writing was a bit ordinary, and the conclusion is one of the big cop-outs that ought to be avoided at all times. It also felt like that early on there were a few severe edits that affected continuity, which bothered me so much it put me on the wrong foot throughout. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus\_alba](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quercus_alba/32/4061_2.png) [@Quercus\_alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus_alba)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/4 "2013-04-28T04:10:46Z")
They should’ve shown Bobby Ewing taking a shower in one of the rooms, just to to foreshadow the reset. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky_the_Wonder_Spirit)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/5 "2013-04-28T04:18:00Z")
Do I hate re-set buttons? YES. YES I HATE RE-SET BUTTONS. I did like seeing the pool, though. And the library. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/6 "2013-04-28T04:29:48Z")
The umbrella… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/7 "2013-04-28T04:32:03Z")
> [@Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](#): > > Do I hate re-set buttons? YES. YES I HATE RE-SET BUTTONS. > > I did like seeing the pool, though. And the library. This wasn’t a re-set button! This was a BIG FRIENDLY BUTTON! I quite liked how every time Clara would pass something like the pool, she’d stop, giggle in delight, and then remember that she was supposed to be fleeing in terror from the MOTW. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/8 "2013-04-28T04:40:24Z")
Matt’s Doctor is a bit careless isn’t he? The 12th Doctor has nearly blown up the Tardis twice so far. I can’t recall any of the other Doctors coming this close. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/9 "2013-04-28T05:05:40Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > The 12th Doctor has nearly blown up the Tardis twice so far. Eleventh. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/10 "2013-04-28T05:50:28Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Eleventh. Twelfth, if you count [John Hurt](http://www.kasterborous.com/2013/04/curious-50th-anniversary-rumour-spoilers/). Maybe. This episode? I don’t know. I’m beginning to really miss the RTD era. Moffat seems to feel that SF means you can just do anything.This isn’t even good fantasy. But it’s always fun to see more of the TARDIS. So… 5/10, ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/11 "2013-04-28T06:27:21Z")
I’m disappointed that Clara isn’t growing as a character. She finally had a break through with the Doctor and then it just gets reset. So we’re back to her blissfully stumbling around while the Doctor suspects her? At some point Clara has to learn whats going on. She did tonight before that stupid reset. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/12 "2013-04-28T07:07:00Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > This episode? I don’t know. I’m beginning to really miss the RTD era. Moffat seems to feel that SF means you can just do anything.This isn’t even good fantasy. That’s been my problem with Moffat from the start. He has brilliant ideas, but lacks the intellectual rigor to bring them together into coherent plots. He’s a creator of scenes, not of stories. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/13 "2013-04-28T07:22:21Z")
Clara never looked better or sexier. A little something for the dads out there. 😃 **Click the thumbnail** [ImageBam](http://www.imagebam.com/image/b5e406251369075)] [ImageBam](http://www.imagebam.com/image/160d73251369079)] ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/14 "2013-04-28T07:29:21Z")
I don’t really get the obsession with her looks - she’s cute, but nothing more. Maybe she’s just not my type. I don’t really find short, pointy women like her that attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/15 "2013-04-28T07:31:34Z")
I don’t really mind seeing the reset button technique used in a show with a time machine in it. Seems like par for the course for me. But I do feel kind of bad for Tricky, the brother who went back to not being aware that he’s actually a real boy with some cybernetic enhancements instead of an android. He seems like a wee bit of a dumbfuck for not figuring it out on his own, but I still feel kind of bad for him. I think we’re led to believe that Gregor has rediscovered, thanks to the events of the erased timeline, a bit of his humanity in the normal timeline and will be more likely to tell him the truth at some point. I’d like to think that, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/16 "2013-04-28T07:33:55Z")
This seems the right episode to point out my dislike of the current design of the TARDIS interior. It’s cold, metallic, and featureless. It seems like an unpleasant place to spend five minutes, let alone a lifetime. It would give me a headache just on its own. It’s like an empty mental hospital hallway with a flickery fluorescent light. ---
**Author:** ![Galwegian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galwegian/32/3426_2.png) [@Galwegian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galwegian)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/17 "2013-04-28T11:59:06Z")
As well as not liking this episode, I didn’t understand it. Maybe that contributes to my dislike of it. Who was the body trapped under the Tardis at the start? Was it the older brother? But he died in the future, and inside the Tardis. How exactly did the Doctor get out of the Tardis to confront their brothers on the deck if their ship? If he walked out through the door, the brothers would have seen him, and he would have known that Clara was still inside. Instead, he seemed to suddenly realise that Claa didn’t get out after. Why exactly was Clara going to die in less than an hour? The gas in the Tardis was removed by the extractor fans within a few seconds of the Doctor going back in, wasn’t it? Did he already know about the crispy zombie monsters? He seemed to know from the very start that they were roaming around, and knew exactly what they were. What exactly was that reset button? Where did it come from? And who carved “Big Friendly Button” on it? Also, his brothers fooled Tricky into thinking he was an android? And Clara running from a monster in a damaged Tardis stopped to browse the library? And… “So that’s who!” WTF? Maybe it will be more clear on a second viewing. It could be timey-wimey. But I think it’s more likely bad writing and/or editing. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/18 "2013-04-28T12:36:40Z")
Definitely an episode you need to watch more than once to get all the bits. As far as the re-set button resolution goes… it was telegraphed from the very beginning, an obvious Chekov’s gun, and about as strange to a story set in a timeship as a climatic gunfight is to an old western. Also, obviously self-referential and trope-aware writing with the “big friendly button” line. > [@Galwegian](#): > > Who was the body trapped under the Tardis at the start? Was it the older brother? But he died in the future, and inside the Tardis. I thought it was the Doctor, who wasn’t dead, just unconscious, who then got up to talk to the brothers. > [@](#): > > How exactly did the Doctor get out of the Tardis to confront their brothers on the deck if their ship? If he walked out through the door, the brothers would have seen him, and he would have known that Clara was still inside. Instead, he seemed to suddenly realise that Claa didn’t get out after. The TARDIS threw him out to save him? Not really explained. > [@](#): > > Why exactly was Clara going to die in less than an hour? The gas in the Tardis was removed by the extractor fans within a few seconds of the Doctor going back in, wasn’t it? Did he already know about the crispy zombie monsters? He seemed to know from the very start that they were roaming around, and knew exactly what they were. Think it was more that the Doctor knew Clara was in potential danger and used the one hour deadline to spur the salvage brothers to action, just as he cut the one hour to a half an hour to get them to move on finding Clara. Clearly, the TARDIS is full of potential dangers even in normal operation, just as a normally operating car can be a hazard if mishandled, even more so if something is amiss. > [@](#): > > What exactly was that reset button? A re-set button. A BIG FRIENDLY BUTTON. > [@](#): > > Where did it come from? The salvage brothers, early scene shortly after the Doctor met them, outside the TARDIS. > [@](#): > > And who carved “Big Friendly Button” on it? The Doctor, as a message to himself. > [@](#): > > Also, his brothers fooled Tricky into thinking he was an android? Yes. Because they’re assholes. > [@](#): > > And Clara running from a monster in a damaged Tardis stopped to browse the library? And… “So that’s who!” WTF? She saw a book saying “History of the Time War” and when she said that she had just found out the Doctor’s name. I have to wonder if Sexy Thing re-ordered the library deliberately so she’d find that volume, which was laid out to attract attention. ---
**Author:** ![Galwegian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galwegian/32/3426_2.png) [@Galwegian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galwegian)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/19 "2013-04-28T13:39:06Z")
Thanks **Broomstick** for the clarifications. > [@Broomstick](#): > > Definitely an episode you need to watch more than once to get all the bits. As far as the re-set button resolution goes… it was telegraphed from the very beginning, an obvious Chekov’s gun, and about as strange to a story set in a timeship as a climatic gunfight is to an old western. Also, obviously self-referential and trope-aware writing with the “big friendly button” line. Just rewatched the start. The Big Friendly Button was the remote for the MagnoGrab. Which explains why pressing it acts as a reset. The MagnoGrab was shut off, allowing the Tardis to escape. > [@Broomstick](#): > > I thought it was the Doctor, who wasn’t dead, just unconscious, who then got up to talk to the brothers. You’re right, of course. I spotted the boots, but with the altered colour through the “android’s” eyes, I mistook them for the boots that the salvage crew had put on a few seconds before. > [@Broomstick](#): > > I have to wonder if Sexy Thing re-ordered the library deliberately so she’d find that volume, which was laid out to attract attention. Good point. On first viewing I thought that the Doctor was using the sonic screwdriver to do something to the remote to make it act as a time reset. In fact, he was scorching “Big Friendly Button” on it. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/20 "2013-04-28T16:25:09Z")
But she had to know that the only way they’d survive was with a reset … so why? Part of this episode is foreshadowing I think. Again, the not remembering thing. In this case because it never happened in this time timeline. Part that Clara is normal now. So what happens to her is _because of_ The Doctor and his interaction with her. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881.md?page=2)