# What was the point of a TARDIS? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296 "2015-07-16T04:24:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/1 "2015-07-16T04:24:04Z")
As best I can figure out it basically serves as a home base for undercover anthropological study. Some of it is absurdly over-engineered for purpose if it is just a time machine, cars generally don’t have swimming pools and bedrooms etc. Making them “alive” and sentient seems awfully cruel, especially if you’re going to put decommissioned ones in museums. Not sure what this adds to the function either. The fact they were mass grown, and each time lord or lady had their own suggests against the scientific study option. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/2 "2015-07-16T04:37:57Z")
The point is: I want one. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/3 "2015-07-16T04:43:26Z")
How long has the Dr. Who mythos been building? Decades, yeah? The TARDIS is the result of decades of “Can You Top This?” among the writers. ---
**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:** [July 16, 2015, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/4 "2015-07-16T05:46:36Z")
> [@grude](#): > > As best I can figure out it basically serves as a home base for undercover anthropological study. > > Some of it is absurdly over-engineered for purpose if it is just a time machine, cars generally don’t have swimming pools and bedrooms etc. > > Making them “alive” and sentient seems awfully cruel, especially if you’re going to put decommissioned ones in museums. Not sure what this adds to the function either. > > The fact they were mass grown, and each time lord or lady had their own suggests against the scientific study option. It’s the work of an unimaginably advanced billion-year-old civilization. They made it that complex because they could. Saying it’s over-engineered because it has a swimming pool is like saying that your car is over-engineered because it has air conditioning. It’s not as if humanity doesn’t make devices far more complex than they need to be - you’re looking at such a device right now. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/5 "2015-07-16T06:52:31Z")
Why have a TARDIS with a swimming pool? Dunno. Why have a starship with a bowling alley, a gymnasium, an Olympic-size swimming pool, a theatre, an ecumenical chapel, an arboretum, a bar, and holodecks? **BECAUSE WE CAN, DAMMIT!!!** 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/6 "2015-07-16T07:02:24Z")
For The Doctor, it isn’t just transport, it’s his home. He needs a place to live and store all his stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/7 "2015-07-16T07:03:39Z")
Keep in mind, while TARDISes (TARDII?) were common in Time Lord culture, we really only ever see the one on the TV show, and that’s a damaged model owned by a lunatic. We really don’t know what a “regular” TARDIS would look like, or what uses they were most often put towards. Swimming pools may not have been standard. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/8 "2015-07-16T12:06:45Z")
I’m betting that his is a very old model that was never meant to be in use as long as it has been, and that it has evolved in ways that the original designers could never have forseen. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/9 "2015-07-16T12:19:03Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Keep in mind, while TARDISes (TARDII?) were common in Time Lord culture, we really only ever see the one on the TV show, and that’s a damaged model owned by a lunatic. We really don’t know what a “regular” TARDIS would look like, or what uses they were most often put towards. Swimming pools may not have been standard. In Classic Who we saw the inside of (at least the control room) of the Master’s TARDIS and the Rani’s TARDIS. Those rooms looked pretty much the same as the Doctor’s, and the Master stated that his TARDIS was a far superior model. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/10 "2015-07-16T12:42:29Z")
Why overthink this? The tardis looks just like a policeman’s call box. …So surely the purpose is to enable the bobbies of 1968 to make their calls. In black and white. (and did anybody in the general public actually know what was inside those blue booths, anyway?) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/11 "2015-07-16T12:46:44Z")
That’s only because the chameleon circuit was broken. Which brings up a more obvious question: Why did the Time Lords call it a chameleon circuit? Did they have chameleons on Gallifrey? ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/12 "2015-07-16T12:56:39Z")
OK, my husband is a bit of a Doctor Who nut, so I asked him. Here’s his reply: > [@](#): > > Travel and research - the Time Lords used to help other civilisations, but kept screwing it up, so withdrew to Gallifrey. After that point, they observed and collected data only. I’d be happy to ask any follow up questions to him. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/13 "2015-07-16T13:03:14Z")
Oh, there’s more. I’m starting to regret asking… > [@](#): > > TARDISes are advanced telepathic AIs powered by a black hole - but given Time Lord tech, that’s not special, just a nice new car. > Internal size is configurable - space for crew and to take specimens, laboratories for field analysis. > Dimensional transcendentalism means size is just not even a question. Can be big or small. Just basic Time Lord tech. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/14 "2015-07-16T13:07:04Z")
Didn’t some classic eps hint that Time Lords were kind of like guardians for the other races in the space/time continuum? Before the writers got caught up with all the Dalek stuff… ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/15 "2015-07-16T15:35:38Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Making them “alive” and sentient seems awfully cruel, especially if you’re going to put decommissioned ones in museums. Not sure what this adds to the function either. Might have been an emergent quality, especially for this “defective” one that was able to detect a kindred rogue soul. And as for the cruelty factor, it seems from the gathered evidence that the Time Lord establishment are never above a dick move. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/16 "2015-07-16T15:38:55Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Didn’t some classic eps hint that Time Lords were kind of like guardians for the other races in the space/time continuum? Before the writers got caught up with all the Dalek stuff… The Two Doctors (#2, #6, Peri, Jamie) is one of the eps that (IIRC) seem to imply this, if not outright saying it. I’ll have to watch it again sometime to check this out. Between Pretty Peri in Peril, Seville, and the awesome pairing of 2 and 6, this was a pretty fun ep. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/17 "2015-07-16T15:43:00Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Didn’t some classic eps hint that Time Lords were kind of like guardians for the other races in the space/time continuum? Before the writers got caught up with all the Dalek stuff… Some NuWho episodes mention it too - there’s Eccleston in _Father’s Day_: _There used to be laws stopping this kind of thing from happening. My people would have stopped this_ ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/18 "2015-07-16T15:44:11Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > That’s only because the chameleon circuit was broken. > > Which brings up a more obvious question: Why did the Time Lords call it a chameleon circuit? Did they have chameleons on Gallifrey? “Chameleon” is the English translation of whatever Gallifreyan word that was used to describe the circuit. We don’t know what it was actually referring to. For that matter, Time Lord technology could be so different from ours that the word “circuit” could be referring to something we couldn’t possibly understand. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/19 "2015-07-16T16:31:10Z")
As the last of his race, I imagine that to a certain extent, the inside of the Doctor’s Tardis is kind of like Will Forte’s character’s home in The Last Man on Earth. That is to say, he’s a thousand year old eccentric alien with a time machine that’s infinitely large on the inside. He probably spends a great deal of time filling it up with whatever stupid shit comes to mind whenever he gets bored. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/20 "2015-07-16T16:39:24Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > In Classic Who we saw the inside of (at least the control room) of the Master’s TARDIS and the Rani’s TARDIS. Those rooms looked pretty much the same as the Doctor’s, and the Master stated that his TARDIS was a far superior model. Sure, but did the Rani’s TARDIS have a swimming pool? That’s what I meant when I said we don’t really know what other TARDIS are like. We’ve had tons of little throw away comments about stuff in the Doctor’s TARDIS, and even a few episodes where they go to parts of the TARDIS that aren’t the control room. We don’t have those details for any of the other TARDISes that have shown up in the series. We don’t know how many of those details are standard to all such ships, and which are specific to the Doctor’s. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296.md?page=2)