# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**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 17, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/41 "2015-07-17T17:38:26Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Where? Behind that rabbit. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/42 "2015-07-17T17:59:15Z")
> [@Trion](#): > > “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. Or when he’s telling what he knows about [physics concepts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsIh1-G6FIw) that don’t translate well into human. 😃 ---
**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:** [July 17, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/43 "2015-07-17T18:12:17Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Where? The row of vertical cylinders with sliding doors that the Doctor goes into. It’s a Tardis parking lot. ---
**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 17, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/44 "2015-07-17T19:35:53Z")
> [@Galwegian](#): > > The row of vertical cylinders with sliding doors that the Doctor goes into. It’s a Tardis parking lot. We don’t know that’s what it looks like with its chameleon circuit turned off - that might be what it looks like when the circuit is set to “museum display.” 😉 Anyway, my point was about interiors, not exteriors. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/45 "2015-07-17T22:07:59Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > They still don’t know what the round things are for, though. I love the round things! ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/46 "2015-07-18T00:21:45Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I love the round things! What _are_ the round things? ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/47 "2015-07-18T03:33:47Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > ^ This. The Time Lords as a whole are not particularly nice people. In fact, they were quite capable of atrocities of all sorts. The Doctor associating with humans had a lot to do with his current ethics and morality, such as they are (a bit shaky in spots), which is pretty alarming considering what dicks humans can be. We’re _nice_ compared to Gallifreyans. For all the talk about Star Trek, Gallifrey really does seem to point towards what happens if you combine a completely post-scarcity society with a Prime Directive that is actually mostly enforced. Nothing is actually needed, so you end up with the mentality of a HOA in control of the most powerful technology in the universe, who doesn’t use it at all, and turns a usual blind eye to the one person who does use it for good, unless they need him as either a hero or a scapegoat. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/48 "2015-07-18T14:12:06Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > 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_ With “this kind of thing” basically referring to the Whoverse version of Stephen King’s Langoliers. Except they only come when you make a temporal paradox. Apparently the Time Lords would have fixed the paradoxes before. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/49 "2015-07-18T14:14:17Z")
[someone had a better memory than I] ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/50 "2015-07-18T17:59:58Z")
Couple of points: The TARDIS first shows signs of sentience in a very early First Doctor episode with Ian, Barbara, and Susan. The Doctor takes it more or less in stride (and is the one who figures out what’s happening), but it’s clear that he didn’t know about this aspect of TARDISes and is surprised by it. While the TARDIS frequently has a swimming pool (currently in the library) it doesn’t always. The Sixth Doctor mentions jettisoning it due to its leaking. In one episode (Logopolis or Castrovala, I think) the Fourth or Fifth Doctor jettisons something like 40% of the interior space of the TARDIS to provide extra thrust. That seems to imply that the interior isn’t infinite after all, but doesn’t necessarily: if the rooms were all finite and equally sized and number sequentially, they could jettison half of them by eliminating the even numbered rooms, and still have an infinite number of rooms (and infinite space) left. ---
**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 18, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/51 "2015-07-18T22:02:31Z")
I don’t think it’s necessarily infinite as much as it’s unbounded. Like Gay Deceiver after visiting Oz.\* - Sorry, so sorry ---
**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 18, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/52 "2015-07-18T23:26:42Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > I don’t think it’s necessarily infinite as much as it’s unbounded. Like Gay Deceiver after visiting Oz.\* > > - Sorry, so sorry “Stretched”? :dubious: 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296/53 "2015-07-19T01:37:49Z")
The closest thing the TARDIS has to a point is that flashing light on the top. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-a-tardis/725296.md?page=2)