If it wasn't for Doctor Who, no-one in Britain would suggest the "police box" as a shape for the TARDIS in 2014 - we simply don't have any connection to that thing EXCEPT for this TV show.

So...

If DW was being created today, what would the exterior of the TARDIS look like?

Is there anything that we see everyday on The High Street that matches the post-war police box (which wasn't THAT rare in 1963)?

It needs to be large enough to fit a human through "the door" and it must be accessible - for purely practical, production reasons - so no hiding the TARDIS inside a CCTV camera.

Can we have a TARDIS that looks like poundland or starbucks?

Literally, could you make DW with that 1963 remit in 2014 - or does it only work because od when it was first created?

A pay toilet? A modern day phone box?

Of course Doctor Who would be different if it was invented today. Its a product of its times. Its like asking 'What would the Beatles sound like if they formed next week?'. Firstly they wont. Secondly they wouldn't sound anything like the Beatles and wouldn't be the Beatles.

Is hard to think of a durable modern equivalent surprisingly. It's wooden, which is a great contradiction.

It's a police box, it represents the place you go when in danger of need help.

It's blue, safe colour.

A portaloo or portakabin?

I was thinking of both these- but all modern phone boxes have transparent windows so that wouldn't work, and I think it'll be a different show if every week a 55 year old man and 20-something woman went into a portaloo

I think the downside of if the TARDIS was created today is that it would undoubtedly be some hi tech up-to-date special effect sort of ship, whatever it looked like.

What I love about the TARDIS Police Box design is that it is so English and so quaint, it has that old-fashioned feel about it, like The Doctor himself. With a New design I feel that would be lost if created today.

I agree, I love the Police Box, its so iconic and welcoming. I always thought a barren landscape with a Police Box plonked in the middle to be one of the coolest sights.

^ This. In this post-Star-Wars age there'd surely be an upfront demand for a cool-looking spaceship instead of an adaptation of a prop left over from another show. With that, they might have never thought of the bigger-on-the-inside concept and the TARDIS would never quite have that 'almost home but always out of place' quality that has made it so endearing.

And me.

I get a bit annoyed when it gets suggested he should or could fix the chameleon circuit because it looks great. The best part is it looks so out of place everywhere it goes, yet when it lands on modern day Earth nobody gives it a second glance

I know this isn't to do with DW, or this thread, but has Capaldi_Capaldi just had his DS privelages taken away from him again? I noticed one thread he created has been closed. Does that also mean he's not allowed to use DS for a while, too?

About a month or so ago, Capaldi_Capaldi had a thread closed, and he couldn't use DS for 48 hours.

Anyway, back to the thread in question. OP do you mean, if DW hadn't been thought of at all until now, what would it be like?

Well...? That's a difficult one. Maybe the TARDIS would look like the phone box used in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

I saw this picture, and I like it very much!

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3...mi5o1_1280.jpg

I have a feeling that, if made today, they would have a working chameleon circuit, so they could do 'what will the tardis look like this week' gimmick every time.

Also being that it is popular for modern drama's to be twisty, even sometimes on the small detail's, it would enable them to do thing's like 'oh, you thought that was the tardis, just because the camera lingered for a second on it at the start? well actually, that totally boring looking thing you hadn't even noticed was the tardis all along'.

Also it would enable scenes like opening on the doctor and master's tardis smashing into one another, and your not quite which one you want to come out unscathed because your seeing them both talking in their interior's but when it show's the outer view your not quite sure which one is which, having never seen either exterior before.

don't get me wrong, I love the police box and would be horrified if it was even suggested it be changed, just thinking as many others have said that their is no modern day equivalent that compares, so if was being newly made today, they would be best to make it changeable and reap the storytelling benefits of such a decision.

I've alway's wondered why the bbc didn't bring up copyright issue's to bill and ted, being the fact that both use a time travelling phone box, and doctor who came up with the idea first. Obviously, it's not the same type of phone box, but it still strikes me that the makers of bill and ted were probably copying the idea.

I don't think the BBC would dare try it regarding Bill and Ted. In Bill and Ted it actually is an American phone box. It isn't a disguise. It isn't a spaceship. The point of it is that they can dial the year they want to go to. I would doubt the creators even had Doctor Who in mind. If they did? Its enough of a strong idea in itself to ward off any plagiarism charges and should at best be seen as minor tribute.

Do you not think maybe its for the best if you stop talking about a certain forum member? Its just going to encourage it. I am thoroughly fed up of the cult of Capaldi. It wasn't amusing or clever to begin with. Why are you dragging the subject into yet another thread? If you have questions message the user himself or the moderators.

One of those silver burger vans

Possibly a Post Box or Telephone Box

An ambulance

I'm fed up with Capaldi_Capaldi too! He shouldn't be on here at all, if he's going to do this. It's totally disruptive.

I hope he gets a lot longer than two days to think about this. Yes, I will message the Forum Support people in future.

Hmm... funny sentiment... I remember a little exchange between you two... it almost seemed you might become buddies... do I detect a faint hint of facetiousness? Just if you did, on the off chance, happen to have some form of contact with the fellow, why not ask him why he can't contribute to the existing threads like everybody else does? Because I can barely recall him ever doing it. I'm sure then no-one would find him a nuisance. It wouldn't get him the same amount of attention either of course....

Anyway, enough of that particular matter... (and when I say enough, I do mean it, so there's no need for you to respond to this as it won't find a further response, or even be read)


I believe the original concept (which proved too expensive or unworkable) was for the TARDIS to be a large, transparent bubble or somesuch. So there's nothing to suggest it would even have to be a familiar object really. The TARDIS was very much a case of accidental genius.

It might even have been nothing more than a door in the wall, ala 'The Impossible Astronaut' (actually a cool idea).

I'd suggest a 1950's VW camper van.

It's a reasonable size on the outside, has (almost) full-size doors so people can walk in and out - is "odd" but not impossibly so - and is regarded as "cuddly" by most people - it's got built-in "classic" value - and it's a gentle nod to age of the orginal DW.

Aside from "blending in" on Earth, a drivable TARDIS could prove interesting in terms of visual presentation and story writing.

And if the US market wants a more "dymanic" Doctor, a variation on the chameleon circuit could see the TARDIS change into other vehicles - sports cars through to artic-lorries.

Good for merchandising too.

But was that part of the original specification, or just a happy coincidence/an association that built up over time?

Perhaps this?

Seriously though, I doubt there's any real point trying to suggest what it might look like, as it simply wouldn't exist... Though I would hazard a guess that it would be an actual ship, as there isn't the constraints that resulted in the need for the Blue Box.

Reminds me of Professor Chronotis, whose TARDIS was his office.

I agree with those saying that the TARDIS would probably be just another spaceship.

Wasn't the police box idea implemented due to the technical/budgetary constraints of the BBC in 1963? These days it would be a completely different ball game.

If they did decide to go down the broken chameleon circuit route they would no doubt pick a design the modern audience were familiar with. I doubt many people under a certain age would know what a police box was if it wasn't for Doctor Who so you could bet your right arm it would not be a police box in any case.

I don't think they would have The Doctor as an elderly, grandfather figure either. There'd be too much running around for that just as there is now.

And because Doctor Who was originally intended for children it would be relegated to the CBBC channel these days, meaning it would never have enjoyed mainstream success.

Makes me rather glad the series was made when it was.

I meant to add in my original post - the police box has all these great attributes but was chosen purely on co-incidence I believe