TARDIS (video game)

TARDIS is the third of the Adventure Games, a series of five games in which the player have the ability to play as the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond.

Set mostly inside the TARDIS, it gave players a chance to explore the ship in a way not previously offered by any other DWU video game to date. Nevertheless, it was by far the shortest of the five games. It was also the one of the games for which Phil Ford received no writing credit. Instead, writing chores were handled by James Moran.

Synopsis
With the TARDIS caught in a time riptide, it's up to Amy to save the day or leave the Eleventh Doctor trapped in the void forever. Meanwhile, a dangerous entity is roaming the TARDIS corridors and it hasn't been fed for a very long time...

Plot
The Doctor and Amy are inside the TARDIS, discussing where they should go next for a more peaceful outing, which is nearly impossible considering the Doctor's long track record of vacations failing miserably. However, the TARDIS suddenly enters a 'space riptide', and the Doctor is launched through the doors and out into space. After the TARDIS steadies itself, Amy looks outside and sees the Doctor hovering, still conscious and surrounded by a number of strange blue worms, a short distance away.

Through sign language, he manages to tell Amy that he is slowly suffocating, and she can save him by resetting the TARDIS oxygen shield by using the red levers. Amy does so and the Doctor uses an earpiece to properly contact her through the view screen and tells her to use the tractor beam to pull him back in. However, the console would need an outside power source for that and he sends Amy to his drawing room to retrieve something to power the beam. Searching through the many nick-nacks in the Doctor's drawing room, Amy is at first unsuccessful in finding anything useful for powering the tractor beam. Another riptide occurs and one of the clocks on the moves to reveal its the door to a safe. Amy finds 's Laser screwdriver inside, but accidentally knocks over a vase next to it. Thinking she can just replace it, Amy hurries back to the control room. Unbeknownst to her, a orange glow escapes the shattered pieces of vase and follows after her. After informing the Doctor through the view screen that she found the laser screwdriver, the Doctor instructs her to insert it in the console. Doing so activates the tractor beam and the Doctor is pulled back into the TARDIS.

The Doctor explains that the blue worms that had been pestering him are known as Chronomites, somewhat harmless parasites, but they can make you 'very itchy'. Unfortunately, the Entity, a old enemy of the Doctor that survives by draining years from others, has arrived in the control room. The presence of the Entity, along with another space riptide, causes the TARDIS to send Amy away.

Amy is now in a future TARDIS with the Entity. Realising that Amy is in the TARDIS 1,000 years into the future, the Doctor sets about scavenging parts from the present TARDIS in order to create a tachyon feedback loop which will reunite Amy with him. The Doctor manages to scavenge three items from his drawing room; his Fob watch, an Oscillator from the distress beacon he picked up in the GSO Arctic Drilling Station and the Krontos Crystal used to make a chronal blocker on Skaro; using these, the Doctor is able to successfully make the feedback loop.

In the future TARDIS, the Entity begins attacking Amy to suck the time out of her. A time-activated recording of the Doctor contacts Amy and tells her that she needs to answer some trivia in order to prove that she's herself; then she can access and use the tachyon feedback loop to get back to her proper timeline. Amy answers the trivia correctly and completes the loop on her end, allowing the Doctor to pull her back into the present TARDIS.

Once reunited, the Doctor threatens the Entity to restore Amy's time or he will re-imprison it after it finishes her off. The Entity retreats into another vase the Doctor took out and is given a deal in return. The Doctor will release the Entity into the timestream, where it can feed off of the limitless supply of Chronomites. The Entity finds this to be an acceptable offer and is released from the TARDIS. However, Amy tells the Doctor that he forgot to mention that the Chronomites cause itchiness. The Doctor simply says he forgot, possible meaning he wished to give the Entity some kind of punishment for its past deeds.

The Doctor finishes some diagnostics with the TARDIS and sets course for Poseidon 8, built in London's previous location following the great flood of the 23rd century. Exiting the TARDIS, Amy is amazed they're at underwater base. However, her amazement is replaced by fear as both she and the Doctor notice a gigantic alien shark attacking the base and coming towards them...

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * The Entity - Sarah Douglas

Story notes

 * The story continues in GAME: Shadows of the Vashta Nerada.
 * The day before TARDIS was released to download, a story was posted on the Doctor Who website called Wish You Were Here, acting as a prelude to TARDIS.
 * This is the first story to actually teach the viewer/player how to fly the TARDIS and what everything on the console actually does.
 * A 'Who Fact' about Cybermen states the Eighth and Ninth Doctor's never encountered them. However, it does note that there are some adventures "which we never get to see", and indeed it is clearly only covering TV stories. The Eighth Doctor encountered the Cybermen in COMIC: The Flood, AUDIO Sword of Orion,The Girl Who Never Was and Human Resources

Promotion

 * In a video posted on the BBC Doctor Who website, Karen Gillan promoted the game and announced the alien was called the Entity.

Rumours
to be added

Production errors

 * The Doctor says "press red," but Amy pulls two red levers.
 * The promotional image shows the front TARDIS doors, but does not show the "St John's Ambulance" sticker on the right-side door.

Continuity

 * Items from the previous games appear such as the Dalek Eyestalk, Chronon Blocker, Distress Beacon and a Cyberman chestplate. (GAME: City of the Daleks, Blood of the Cybermen)
 * The scene where the Entity breaks out of its small prison is very similar to the scene in the TV movie where the Master does the same. (TV: Doctor Who)
 * The laser screwdriver is attached to the console. (TV: Last of the Time Lords)
 * Amy uses the zigzag plotter. (TV: The Lodger)
 * The Doctor and Amy both notice that he is rambling. (TV: The Vampires of Venice)
 * The Doctor refers to the TARDIS as a female again. (TV: Rise of the Cybermen et al)
 * The Doctor refers to bad things happening at Brighton Beach, and Paris. (TV: The Leisure Hive, City of Death)
 * The Doctor has a Gramophone in the Drawing Room. (TV: Doctor Who)
 * The Entity is stored in a flask, much like Fenric. (TV: The Curse of Fenric)