Journey to the Centre of the Tardis (3311/711)

[GateWorld]

DOCTOR WHO - SERIES 33 JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE TARDIS EPISODE NUMBER - 3311 (711) When the TARDIS is compromised the Doctor calls upon a salvage team to help rescue Clara, who is lost inside the infinite rooms and corridors of the ship — along with a pack of aggressive creatures. VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >>

[Teddybrown]

Pretty good episode, nice to see so much of the TARDIS.
Did anyone catch Christopher Ecclestons voice?
So, Clara learns who the Doctor is then forgets...
Nothing really new in the Clara mystery, but we do learn where she was born...
Think this one needs a rewatch...

[Sealurk]

Hmm, if River was intended to be the Doctor's killer... could Clara be intended to kill the TARDIS?

That was the Doctor's cot! And was that the Seventh Doctor's umbrella Clara picked up?

Wait... did I just see the telescope/moon ray thing from Tooth and Claw.

WOW. I want that library!!

"I can feel a TARDIS tantrum coming on"

"So that's who..." wait, what?

Right now I'm assuming the creature following Clara is some kind of TARDIS defence system... or maybe some kind of time echo or afterimage of a person.

I love the idea that the TARDIS torments people it doesn't want on board by reconfiguring itself.

Wow, for me this is the first time in a while that the TARDIS has felt like the colossal, living, absolute marvel of multi-dimensional engineering we've always been told it is.

Some beautiful acting from Matt Smith and JLC in this episode.

This one merits a rewatch I think.

[P-90_177]

That was better than sex.

[Alan]

Seeing and learning so much more of the TARDIS was an absolute treat! I have to admit getting just a bit dewy eyed hearing the distinct voices of Susan, Ian, Jo, Amy, and the Doctor's 3rd, 4th, and 9th incarnations! There were other voices in the chorus I need to go back and listen to see whom I can make out.

Just a fantastic episode from start to finish and one that is definitely a key story to watch as it undoubtedly moves the 50-years of mythology of Doctor Who forward just a little bit! I am certain there are more stories like this to to come which will continue to add that little bit more to the Doctor and his beautiful blue box's back-story... but at the same time add even more mystery back in!

[stargatefan234]

good episode, i too went gooey with all the voice overs

but what a terrible ending! I could almost accept the reversal of the episodes events, although i feel this is happening alot, but how did it even happen? what made the button so special?!

[Sealurk]

good episode, i too went gooey with all the voice overs

but what a terrible ending! I could almost accept the reversal of the episodes events, although i feel this is happening alot, but how did it even happen? what made the button so special?!

It was the magna-grab remote, allowing the past Doctor to disable the magna-grab and prevent the disaster. At least, that's how I understood it.

[Alan]

It was the magna-grab remote, allowing the past Doctor to disable the magna-grab and prevent the disaster. At least, that's how I understood it.

That was my take on it too. Once the magna-grab was deactivated, the Doctor dematerialised the TARDIS and completely avoided the three scavengers.

[stargatefan234]

and the whole episode seemed to hinge on the TARDIS too much imho.

I know that sounds silly but what I mean is the episode's charm comes from the fact it was set in the TARDIS.

Take that away, put it in any other ship and what do you have, a generic episode like 42, a mediocre at best episode

[Quizziard]

I think I liked it - awaiting a second viewing.

[P-90_177]

and the whole episode seemed to hinge on the TARDIS too much imho.

I know that sounds silly but what I mean is the episode's charm comes from the fact it was set in the TARDIS.

Take that away, put it in any other ship and what do you have, a generic episode like 42, a mediocre at best episode

You can say that about every plot ever written. You take out a core element like the ship or the particular situation and you get at least a thousand other shows that have come before it. Take the sun out of 42 and you essentially get Alien, or any number of horror flicks.

This was in my opinion quite possibly one of my favourite episodes ever. We finally got to see what makes the TARDIS tick. To put that into context, in 50 years of Doctor Who we have only seen a smattering of the TARDIS. And only twice off the top of my head do I remember an episode heavily featuring it. Once in the 4th Doctors tenure in 'The Invasion of Time' and once with the 5th Doctor in 'Castrovalva'. Odd rooms are seen besides. Bedrooms, the wardrobe, the Eye of Harmony room in the '96 movie, etc, but never anything on this scale.

All the more, although you have the twisted after images of Clara and the salvage crew, the main enemy in this episode is The TARDIS itself. Granted the self destruct was a red herring but for the time during the episode where we thought it was on there was a full sense of danger. Even more so when the TARDIS reacted to being ripped apart and defending itself.

The moments between The Doctor and Clara were also wonderful. Not only do we see once again how frantically The Doctor tries to keep secrets, but we see a companion who is fully scared of him.

I was slightly disappointed that everything was fully resolved at the end with a literal reset button, but I don't doubt that the events of the episode will be important.

[stargatefan234]

You can say that about every plot ever written. You take out a core element like the ship or the particular situation and you get at least a thousand other shows that have come before it. Take the sun out of 42 and you essentially get Alien, or any number of horror flicks.

take out the sun, replace it with another threat and you still have the same episode, The Doctor trying to get to the bridge of a ship to avoid the threat.

With this, if the TARDIS is removed so does all the little gems which imo raised the episode in the same way The Doctor's speech lifted "The Rings of Akhaten". A documentary of the TARDIS would have given me the same pleasure as this episode, the characters barely did anything for it.

[techs]

The Doctors baby crib and the toy TARDIS that Mels was playing with. Both hinting at River Song. Which, imo, means Clara is not River. Misdirection.

Oh, and we finally got a glimpse of the swimming pool.

[Sealurk]

Already watching it again since there was so much I missed first time. Things I loved on second viewing:

• "Salvage of a lifetime" is a rather good line that I didn't quite grasp the layered meaning of first time.
• Encyclopedia Gallifrey (now in easy to consume liquid form!).
• The scanner says "Identifiable substance: Clara".
• Matt Smith channelling the Second Doctor immediately after hugging Clara in the outside-looking engine room and he says "We're not going to die here". Also shades of the Fifth Doctor shortly after... I think Mr Smith might be one of the finest actors ever to take on the role of the Doctor because he understands that the people who came before are just as important as putting your own stamp on the role.
• The Doctor getting emotional about the wounded, dying TARDIS when they're in the heart and he doesn't know what to do.
• "The Library. I saw it." I know we saw the TARDIS library (and wow did I like that!), but I think Blen might take notice of that line!
• "I'm mentioned in a lot of books". Hmm, interesting. I get the feeling this wasn't a throwaway line.

I actually listened out for the voices in the console room this time but other than the Ninth Doctor's I can't really make out who they are or what they're saying. I suspect I'll be replaying that bit with volume turned right up several times.

I am a little confused about the Eye of Harmony - is it a miniature star, a full size one, does every TARDIS have one or does every TARDIS connect to the same one? If it's the power source, how come the TARDIS needs to refuel at rifts like the one in Cardiff? And wasn't the Eye of Harmony an actual black hole every previous time we saw or heard of it? So I have a theory... was the original Eye of Harmony lost in the Time War, forcing the Doctor to rely for a while on rift energy, until he found a perfect star that he could turn into a new power source for the TARDIS. He says "The Eye of Harmony, exploding star in the act of becoming a black hole. Time Lord engineering, you rip the star from its orbit and suspend it in a permanent state of decay". He never says the Time Lords themselves did it. Given the statement about its infinite size, I wonder if the Doctor's been busy remodeling his TARDIS to allow it to accommodate an entire star (for context even a small one like our Sun is over a million kilometres in diameter).

But the biggest one so far that I didn't properly catch first time was Clara recognising the Doctor's name. Not just reading it, but recognising it - to me her expression even suggested a modicum of understanding. I do love how this episode answers a lot of questions but sets up even more.

I think I loved this episode. There were problems - the acting of the salvage brothers was often a bit stilted, but overall I thought this was great fun, a well overdue look inside the TARDIS, and the atmosphere was brilliant. Scary TARDIS and overcooked time zombies are surprisingly creepy, it turns out...

[Matt G]

Well...

1. OK Clara...'why' open that door...?

2. So we have confirmation that Clara has no idea what she is...

3. Really couldn't care less about the Moron brothers.

4. Nice scenery though.

Bit of a step down after the last two.