TARDIS


 * This is a general article on a type of vessel. For discussion of the vehicle used by the Doctor, see The Doctor's TARDIS and TARDIS (disambiguation).''

A TARDIS or TT Capsule or "Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space" was a space-time vehicle used by the Time Lords and still in use by the Doctor. Unlike other vehicles they are grown and not built.

Meaning of the name
"TARDIS" was an acronym standing for "Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space".

Susan explained to Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright that "TARDIS" stood for "Time and Relative Dimension in Space". (DW: An Unearthly Child)

Variatations on the name
There was some discrepancy as to the precise meaning of the acronym over time, however. Vicki pluralized the fourth word when she explained the term to Steven, making it stand for "Dimensions". (DW: The Time Meddler) This interpretation seemed to hold for a time, being used by several subsequent companions and Doctors. Nevertheless, the singular Dimension, may have been "more correct", as his eighth, ninth and tenth incarnations consistently preferred the original, singular form. (DW: Doctor Who (1996), Rose, Smith and Jones)

Origin of the name
Susan claimed to have coined the name TARDIS. By popular usage, the name has come to mean any Time Lord time ship. (DW: The Pilot Episode, An Unearthly Child, NA: Lungbarrow) Some Time Lords, however, such as Castellan Spandrell and Romana have referred to the Doctor's TARDIS as a "TT capsule," with "TT" presumably standing for "time transport" or "time travel". (DW: The Deadly Assassin, The Pirate Planet)

Types and models
TARDISes came in several types, usually indicated by the use of numerals. The numerical scheme was seemingly simple; the higher the number, the later the design had been produced. However, two types of numbering schemes may have been employed. The Monk called his version a "Mark 4", and the First Doctor's reaction seemed to suggest that he had a lower-numbered model. (DW: The Time Meddler) Subsequent incarnations and other Time Lords called the Doctor's TARDIS a "Type 40". (DW: The Ribos Operation) It is additionally possible that each type had several marks. Thus, both the Monk and the Doctor might have had "Type 40s", with the Monk's being a later version of a Type 40.

Whatever the case, TARDISes were generally referred to using the nomenclature, Type X. For instance, the Second Doctor, while working for the Celestial Intervention Agency, was briefly assigned a Type 97 TARDIS (EDA: World Game). The Fifth Doctor once remarked that he should have upgraded to a Type 57 TARDIS (DW: Warriors of the Deep). In his eighth incarnation, he encountered the Type 102, which appeared to be a near-Human (EDA: Alien Bodies).

Older models of TARDIS were forcibly retired by the government of Gallifrey. By at least the time of the Doctor's fourth life, the entire Type 40 line had been retired from use (DW: The Deadly Assassin). This policy ostensibly helped the Time Lords police the use of time travel by reducing the total number of TT capsules possibly in use at a given moment in time. Policing was further assisted by ensuring that individual units of the same model had the same key. Thus the Castellan's guards were able to easily effect entry into the Doctor's TARDIS. (DW: The Invasion of Time)

Copied technology
During the Doctor's second incarnation, the renegade Time Lord known as War Chief provided similar time ships named SIDRATs to the War Lords to further the latter's plans of conquest. When they learned of this, the Time Lords placed the War Lord planet in a time loop. (DW: The War Games)

Specialised models
On more than one occasion, the Doctor encountered heavily armed battle TARDISes armed with time torpedoes, first developed during his fifth incarnation or ealier. (DWM: The Stockbridge Horror, BFA: Neverland))

Features and functions

 * For basic information on TARDISes similar to the Doctor's, see Type 40

Chameleon circuit

 * See separate article.

Personality
It is known that TARDISes have a certain degree of intelligence. As well, a TARDIS will often "mourn" the death of the Time Lord pilot, even going so far as to commit suicide by flying into a sun or simply hurling itself into the Time Vortex. The Doctor says that there "is an elephants graveyard" of TARDISes somewhere at the end of time. (BFA: Omega, The Axis of Insanity) The Doctor is known for talking to and stroking parts of the TARDIS when he operates it, and he once commented that a TARDIS is "more like a person." (DW: The Five Doctors) TARDISes are actually grown rather than constructed. (DW: The Impossible Planet)

Rassilon Imprimatur
Before a TARDIS is fully functional, it needs to be primed with the biological imprint from the symbiotic nuclei of a Time Lord's cells. Known as the Rassilon Imprimatur, this gives them a symbiotic link to their TARDISes and allows them to survive the physical stresses of time travel. Without the Imprimatur, molecular disintegration would result, a safeguard against misuse of time travel, even if the TARDIS technology were copied. Once a time machine is properly primed, however, and the imprint stored on a component (a briode nebuliser), it can be used safely by any species. (DW: The Two Doctors)

Other

 * ''See List of TARDIS components

The Doctor's TARDIS

 * See main article.

The Doctor stole his TARDIS (DW: The War Games, Planet of the Dead). By the time of his fourth incarnation, all other Type 40's had gotten de-commisioned, save his and that owned by the Master. (DW: The Deadly Assassin). Following the events of the Last Great Time War, the Doctor believed that his was the last TARDIS in existence. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen).

Possessed by other renegades
The Master possessed at least one TARDIS. According to the Doctor, was a Type 40 Mark II.DW: Terror of the Autons. The Rani, the Monk and Iris Wildthyme also had TARDISes, with the latter's possibly even older than the Doctor's.
 * See The Master's TARDIS, the Monk's TARDIS and Iris Wildthyme's TARDIS for more information.



Unique TARDISes
Compassion (a former member of The Remote) evolved into a TARDIS, the prototype of the sentient Type 102. (EDA: The Shadows of Avalon)