# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/21 "2013-04-28T17:24:38Z")
At one point in her travels through the Tardis, Clara looks at a Victorian-age telescope. Does this instrument have anything to do with previous DW episodes? I thought it would have been nice if she saw some more Companion relics, rather than some of Amy’s stuff. Oh, well… ---
**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, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/22 "2013-04-28T19:13:01Z")
I feel better about the episode now that I understand the button was the tractor beam remote. It shouldn’t take reading two different message boards to figure this out. There’s no telling how many attempts it took to successfully get the remote through the time crack. Definitely at least two attempts. Those crispy monsters were killed versions of Clara and the Salvage crew in previous failed attempts. The last scene with Clara after her swim seemed unusually friendly and intimate. They are implying a much different relationship between Clara and the Doctor is beginning to form. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/23 "2013-04-28T19:32:02Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I feel better about the episode now that I understand the button was the tractor beam remote. It shouldn’t take reading two different message boards to figure this out. No, it shouldn’t. Since they showed a close-up of the salvage crew holding it and then showed a close-up of Clara holding the same thing. That might have been a hint that they were the same. ---
**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, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/24 "2013-04-28T20:31:18Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > No, it shouldn’t. Since they showed a close-up of the salvage crew holding it and then showed a close-up of Clara holding the same thing. That might have been a hint that they were the same. It was clear that the Big Friendly Button was the same device that the salvage crew had. It was just that the fact that it was a remote control was sort of lost to me. The dialogue was maybe a little too snappy, or (more likely) I wasn’t paying close enough attention, and I couldn’t see at first how this thing that looked like a hand grenade that the Doctor considered to be a weapon banned across the galaxy could reset time. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/25 "2013-04-28T20:54:48Z")
Wait, so the time zombies were just versions of themselves who did not escape from the magno-grab, and what we just saw was the successful escape? Why this time was the brother not ripped from the picture? Oh, I think Clara is gorgeous. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/26 "2013-04-28T21:11:10Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > 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)] I’m confused about why you say this is “for the dads.” ---
**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, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/27 "2013-04-28T21:23:08Z")
An old classic reference to Doctor Who. Doctor Who is considered a kids show. But they always included an attractive Doctor’s Companion to grab the dad’s interest and get him watching too. Always very much family entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/28 "2013-04-28T22:08:43Z")
> [@Galwegian](#): > > 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. > > . It was the Wicked Witch of the East. You obviously missed the feet curling up and disappearing and the Ruby Slippers appearing on Clara’s feet. She used at the end when she said “There’s no place like Tardis…No Places like Tardis…” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/29 "2013-04-28T22:26:22Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > Wait, so the time zombies were just versions of themselves who did not escape from the magno-grab, and what we just saw was the successful escape? Yeah, there’s a whole bunch of iterations of the Doctor trying and failing before finally getting it right. One iteration of the Doctor is crushed under the Tardis. Another iteration makes it out safely but gets incinerated by the Eye of Harmony. One iteration throws the magno-grab remote control through the rift but Clara picks it up and doesn’t realize what it’s for. One iteration goes through the rift himself to make sure the next iteration of the Doctor gets the remote. And the final iteration gets the remote and turns off the magno-grab before the engines explore. Each time through the Doctor uses a little bit of information from the future to make it a little further along through the sequence. However, we’re following the adventures of the second to last iteration, so we have to reconstruct what must have happened to the earlier iterations from glimpsed traces. It’s very timey-whimey. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/30 "2013-04-28T23:01:07Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > At one point in her travels through the Tardis, Clara looks at a Victorian-age telescope. Does this instrument have anything to do with previous DW episodes? Wasn’t there a similar telescope in that one where it turns out the royal family are werewolves? Something to do with the founding of Torchwood as well, IIRC. Possibly I’m conflating multiple episodes. Have to say, I dislike the use of the reset button (call it whatever you want, it still stinks). Though I do wonder what’s up with that piece of paper that the Doc didn’t notice fluttering down towards the end. Pre-reset Clara sending a message about what she found out to post-reset Clara? ---
**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, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/31 "2013-04-28T23:14:38Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Though I do wonder what’s up with that piece of paper that the Doc didn’t notice fluttering down towards the end. Pre-reset Clara sending a message about what she found out to post-reset Clara? No, it’s the rag he threw in the air a couple of seconds before fluttering down slowly. ---
**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, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/32 "2013-04-28T23:15:47Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > At one point in her travels through the Tardis, Clara looks at a Victorian-age telescope. Does this instrument have anything to do with previous DW episodes? > [@TBG](#): > > Wasn’t there a similar telescope in that one where it turns out the royal family are werewolves? Something to do with the founding of Torchwood as well, IIRC. > > Possibly I’m conflating multiple episodes. It’s the telescope from “Tooth and Claw” where Ten and Rose meet Queen Victoria, it does involve a werewolf (and kung-fu type monks in Scotland, of all places). At the end, Victoria founds Torchwood to guard against aliens and monsters. Yes, all that happened in one episode, you’re not conflating a bunch of them. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/33 "2013-04-29T02:02:34Z")
It was good to hear the cloister bell again after so many years. Missed the swimming pool though. Must have blinked. My favorite tardis what Sylvester McCoy’s. The Victorian designed model (at least at the beginning of the movie. Don’t remember whether the one in the series was the same.). Bob ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/34 "2013-04-29T02:06:17Z")
> [@urban1a](#): > > It was good to hear the cloister bell again after so many years. Missed the swimming pool though. Must have blinked. My favorite tardis what Sylvester McCoy’s. The Victorian designed model (at least at the beginning of the movie. Don’t remember whether the one in the series was the same.). > > Bob The cloister bell rang in “Hide” too, I think, so twice in two weeks. Before that, it was probably “Turn Left.” ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/35 "2013-04-29T02:18:06Z")
If the Doctor died in previous iterations how did time reset so he would get another chance at not dying? ---
**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 29, 2013, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/36 "2013-04-29T02:22:06Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Yeah, there’s a whole bunch of iterations of the Doctor trying and failing before finally getting it right. Holy crap. If you’re right, this was the worst directed episode ever, and could, if directed competently, have been really fun. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/37 "2013-04-29T02:22:35Z")
I don’t get the whole cloister bell thing. Anyone care to fight my ignorance? ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/38 "2013-04-29T02:46:45Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > I don’t get the whole cloister bell thing. Anyone care to fight my ignorance? _The Cloister Bell was an alarm bell located in the Cloister Room inside TARDISes. The Cloister Bell was used in the most serious emergencies, emergencies so grave that even the TARDIS itself (and its inhabitants) was in danger. Its distinctive, sonorous, ringing sound resembled that of a large church bell. It could be answered by anyone inside the TARDIS._ [Cloister Bell | Tardis | Fandom](http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Cloister_Bell) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/39 "2013-04-29T03:24:07Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > If the Doctor died in previous iterations how did time reset so he would get another chance at not dying? Time didn’t reset. It’s leaking backwards and forwards through the crack. They can see past and future versions of themselves. But they can use that information to avoid particular futures by avoiding the circumstances that bring those futures about. For example, when they’re in the room with the Eye of Harmony the doctor orders the brothers not to stand next to each other because he can see that the future incinerated versions of them are fused together. The “reset button” wasn’t a reset button. It was just the remote control for the magnetic grabber. The Doctor just had to figure out a way to get it back to a past version of himself BEFORE the engine room exploded. When the past version finally got it, he pushed it, turning off the grabber and setting the Tardis free. ---
**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 29, 2013, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881/40 "2013-04-29T04:21:30Z")
This episode needs to be completely re-edited to match **Hamster King** ’s version of the story. Especially as I think he’s nailed it, and it’s just Directorial incompetence that has made it so confusing and disappointing for so many. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-tardis/656881.md?page=3)