Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS (TV story)

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS was the tenth regular episode of the seventh series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales. It was notable for marking the first time the Doctor told Clara Oswald about her multiple lives and deaths.

Synopsis
The TARDIS has crashed, Clara is lost inside, and the Doctor has 30 minutes before his ship explodes!

Plot
Clara is lost in the depths of the TARDIS which is invaded by an intergalactic salvage crew who want to sell it for scrap, but the Doctor threatens to destroy the TARDIS by putting it in lock down and activating the self destruct if the salvage crew doesn't help him find Clara.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Clara Oswald - Jenna-Louise Coleman
 * Gregor van Baalen - Ashley Walters
 * Bram van Baalen - Mark Oliver
 * Tricky - Jahvel Hall

Books

 * The History of the Time War is a book unfolding the history of the Last Great Time War. Clara is reading the book while in The TARDIS' library.

The TARDIS

 * Tricky mistakenly describing the TARDIS as "some kind of escape pod".
 * The TARDIS is at least partially sentient, and when the salvage team tries to open it, she seem to "suffer".
 * Amongst its other rooms and chambers, the TARDIS has a observatory with a Telescope.
 * This episode reveals that the TARDIS console takes a key. Director Mat King lingers on it, making sure that the audience can read it. The fact that it says "Smiths" makes for two distinct in-jokes.  Some viewers will likely think it's a fairly blatant reference to actor Matt Smith, drawing the conclusion that Smith has the key to the TARDIS.  Other viewerss will recognise it for what it truly is: a clock key made by one of Britain's oldest clockmaking firms. For these viewers, the joke is that a clock key is an integral piece of equipment for a time machine.

Individuals

 * Tricky thinks he's an Android, because of a cruel joke his brothers told him.

Story notes

 * The name of the episode was influenced by the novel Journey to the Centre of the Earth. This previously occured with The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, the title being based on the novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
 * This is the first televised story to include the word "TARDIS" in its title.
 * This episode aired on Jenna-Louise Coleman's 27th birthday.

Ratings
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Filming locations
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Production errors
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Continuity

 * Clara briefly learns the Doctor's true name but then forgets it when the Doctor rewrites the entire adventure. This makes her the second person in the televised series who learns the Doctor's true identity. The first person to learn his name was River Song. (TV: Forest of the Dead, The Wedding of River Song)
 * Clara glimpses the TARDIS swimming pool. (TV: The Invasion of Time, The Eleventh Hour, Day of the Moon)
 * Clara hides in the TARDIS's library. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
 * Inside the library, the Doctor has kept a book outlining the history of the Time War. (Rose, The Unquiet Dead, et al)
 * Clara comes across The Doctor's cot. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War, GAME: The Gunpowder Plot)
 * As the TARDIS leaks the past many voices can be heard.
 * The voices are, in respective order:
 * The voice of Susan Foreman says "I made up the name Tardis from the initials: Time and Relative Dimension In Space"(TV: An Unearthly Child)
 * The Third Doctor saying "The Tardis is dimensionally transcendental" and his companion, Jo, asking "What does that mean?"
 * The Eleventh Doctor saying "You sexy thing!", then Idris replying "See, you do call me that! Is it my name?" followed by the Eleventh Doctor's exclamation of "You bet it's your name!" (TV: The Doctor's Wife)
 * The Fourth Doctor saying "That's trans-dimensional engineering. A key Time Lord discovery." (TV: The Robots of Death)
 * The Ninth Doctor saying "The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, believe me they've tried." (TV: Rose)
 * Martha Jones saying "It's bigger on the inside". (TV: Smith and Jones)
 * Amy Pond saying "We're in space!".
 * Ian Chesterton saying "It can move anywhere in Time and Space?" (TV: An Unearthly Child)
 * This is the third time the Doctor has forced others into helping him by threatening to blow the TARDIS up. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen, Victory of the Daleks)
 * The Seventh Doctor's umbrella appears. (TV: Paradise Towers).
 * The Eye of Harmony is seen within the TARDIS. (TV: Doctor Who)
 * The TARDIS's cloister bell tolls after the TARDIS is pulled out of flight and suffers heavy damage to the console room. (TV: Logopolis, Castrovalva, Resurrection of the Daleks, Doctor Who, et al.) The cloister bell was also heard in the preceding serial, TV: Hide.

Home video releases
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