The TARDIS
(help·info) ( T ime A nd R elative D imension(s) I n S pace) is a time machine and spacecraft in the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who .
A product of Time Lord technology, a properly maintained and piloted TARDIS can transport its occupants to any point in time and space. The interior of a TARDIS is much larger than its exterior, which can blend in with its surroundings through the ship's chameleon circuit. In the series, the Doctor pilots an unreliable, stolen, obsolete Type 40 TARDIS, once referred to as a TT Capsule, whose chameleon circuit is faulty, leaving it locked in the shape of a 1950s-style London police box after a visit to London in 1963. It was stolen from Gallifrey where it was old, decommissioned and derelict. The unpredictability of the TARDIS's short-range guidance—short relative to the size of the Universe—has often been a plot point in the Doctor's travels.
Although "TARDIS" is a type of craft, rather than a specific one, the Doctor's TARDIS is usually referred to as "the" TARDIS or, in some of the earlier serials, just as "the ship","the capsule" or even "The Police Box". (In the two 1960s Dalek films, the craft was referred to as Tardis , without the definite article.)
Doctor Who has become so much a part of British popular culture that not only has the shape of the police box become more immediately associated with the TARDIS than with its real-world inspiration, the word "TARDIS" has been used to describe anything that seems bigger on the inside than on the outside. The name TARDIS is a registered trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Conceptual history
When Doctor Who was being developed in 1963, the production staff discussed what the Doctor's time machine would look like. To keep the design within budget, it was decided to make it resemble a police box. This was explained in the context of the series as a disguise created by the ship's "chameleon circuit", a mechanism which is responsible for changing the outside appearance of the ship in order to fit in with its environment. The Ninth Doctor explains that if, for example, a TARDIS (with a working chameleon circuit) were to materialise in ancient Rome it might disguise itself as a statue on a plinth. A further premise was that the circuit was broken, explaining why it was "stuck" in that form.
The idea for the police-box disguise came from BBC staff writer Anthony Coburn, who rewrote the programme's first episode from a draft by C. E. Webber. Coburn is believed to have conceived the time machine's external form after spotting a real police box while walking near his office on a break from writing the episode. In the first episode, An Unearthly Child , the TARDIS is first seen in a 1963 junkyard; it subsequently malfunctions, retaining the police box shape in a prehistoric landscape.
At the time of the series' debut in 1963, the police box was still a common fixture in British cities. It provided a direct telephone link to the local police station; the telephone was mounted to a small hinged door making it possible to use it from the outside, while the box itself was used as a temporary office containing a desk. (In The Empty Child (2005) the Doctor stated that the telephone is not connected to a telephone line and in Logopolis (1981) the Master materialized his TARDIS around a normal police box while a police officer was using the telephone, causing the line to go dead) With approximately 700 in London alone, the police box was a logical choice for the time machine's camouflage.
While the idea may have begun as a creative ploy by the BBC to save time and money on props, it soon became an in-joke genre convention in its own right as the old-style police box was phased out of use. The anachronism has become more pronounced since there have been very few police boxes of that style left in Britain for some considerable time. Despite changes in the prop, the TARDIS has become the show's most consistently recognizable visual element.
The type of police box the TARDIS resembled was normally constructed out of concrete. However, the props for the television series were originally made out of wood, and later on from fibreglass, for easy transportation and construction on location as well as within the confines of a studio set. The props have also varied slightly in their dimensions and designs over the years, and do not conform precisely to their real-life counterparts (all are slightly scaled down versions of the real thing), a fact which was noted in-series in the episode Blink (2007) when Detective Inspector Shipton remarks that the TARDIS "isn't a real . The phone's just a dummy, and the windows are the wrong size." (Episode writer Steven Moffat confirmed that this line was an in-joke aimed at the Outpost Gallifrey forum.)
The production team conceived of the TARDIS travelling by dematerialising at one point and rematerialising elsewhere, although sometimes in the series it is shown also to be capable of conventional space travel. In the 2006 Christmas special, "The Runaway Bride", the Doctor remarks that for a space ship, the TARDIS does remarkably little flying. The ability to travel simply by fading into and out of different locations became one of the trademarks of the show, allowing for a great deal of versatility in setting and storytelling without a large expense in special effects. The distinctive accompanying sound effect — a cyclic wheezing, groaning noise — was originally created in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop by Brian Hodgson. He produced the effect by dragging a set of house keys along the strings of an old, gutted piano. The resulting sound was then recorded and electronically processed with echo and reverb. When employed in the series, the sound is synchronised with the flashing light on top of the police box. The comic strip feature of Doctor Who Magazine traditionally represents the ship's distinctive dematerialisation sound with the onomatopoeic phrase "vworp vworp".
In 1996, the BBC applied to the UK Patent Office to register the TARDIS as a trademark. This was challenged by the Metropolitan Police who felt that they owned the rights to the police box image. However, the Patent Office found that there was no evidence that the Metropolitan Police — or any other police force — had ever registered the image as a trademark. In addition, the BBC had been selling merchandise based on the image for over three decades without complaint by the police. The Patent Office issued a ruling in favour of the BBC in 2002.
General characteristics
TARDISes are grown, not made ("The Impossible Planet"). They draw their power from several sources, but primarily from the singularity of an artificial black hole, known as the Eye of Harmony. In The Edge of Destruction (1964), the power source of the TARDIS (referred to as the "heart of the TARDIS") is said to be beneath the central column of the console. They are also said to draw power from the entire universe as revealed in the episode "Rise of the Cybermen", in which the TARDIS is brought to a parallel universe and cannot function without the use of a crystal power source from within the TARDIS, charged by the Doctor's life force.
Other elements needed for the proper functioning of the TARDIS and requiring occasional replenishment include mercury (used in its fluid links), the rare ore Zeiton 7 ( Vengeance on Varos , 1985), a trachoid time crystal ( The Hand of Fear , 1976) and "artron energy". The latter is a form of temporal energy, generated by Time Lord minds, which is also said to help power TARDISes ( The Deadly Assassin , 1976; Four to Doomsday , 1982). Another form of energy, "huon energy", is found in the heart of the TARDIS and (apart from the activities of the Torchwood Institute) nowhere else in the universe ("The Runaway Bride").
Before a TARDIS becomes fully functional, it must be primed with the biological imprint of a Time Lord, normally done by simply having a Time Lord operate the TARDIS for the first time. This imprint comes from the Rassilon Imprimatur, part of the biological makeup of Time Lords, which gives them both a symbiotic link to their TARDISes and the ability to withstand the physical stresses of time travel ( The Two Doctors , 1985).
Without the Imprimatur, molecular disintegration would result; this serves as a safeguard against misuse of time travel even if the TARDIS technology were copied. Once a time machine is properly primed, however, with the imprint stored on a device called a "briode nebuliser", it can be used safely by any species. According to Time Lord law, unauthorised use of a TARDIS carries "only one penalty", implied to be death ( The Invasion of Time ).
A TARDIS usually travels by dematerialising i
Hayward Pool Products Canada - swimming pool pumps, filters, heaters ...
Information on Hayward pool products for residential swimming pools and spas, the Total Hayward System, and online search capabilities to find local Hayward builders and dealers.
Hayward Pool Products - Swimming Pool Filters for In Ground Pools
Information on Hayward pool products for residential swimming pools and spas, the Total Hayward System, and online search capabilities to find local Hayward builders and dealers.
Hayward Pool Products - swimming pool pumps, filters, heaters ...
Information on Hayward pool products for residential swimming pools and spas, the Total Hayward System, and online search capabilities to find local Hayward builders and dealers.
Hayward Pool Filters, Pumps and Heaters - Hayward Swimming Pool ...
Browse our best selection of Hayward swimming pool equipment. We offer great prices on Hayward pool filters, pumps, cleaners, heaters, chlorine generators, chemical feeders and ...
Hayward Spa Filters, Swimming Pool Pump, Filter Parts, Hot Tub Cover ...
Shepnell offers the most complete line of pool, hot tub and spa supplies and accessories featuring above ground swimming pool lift cover, cleaner, chemicals, filter parts, Hayward ...
Buy Hayward, Pentair & Sta-Rite Swimming Pool Filters & Backwash Valve ...
At Pool Products 4 Less, you will find the finest quality swimming pool filters from brands like hayward, pentair & sta-rite swimming. Buy backwash valve for de filter at best ...
Pool Filters
Looking for a new replacement pool filter for your swimming pool? Well you came to the right place. Our selection includes brands like Hayward, Pentair and Sta-Rite for Above ...
Hayward Pro Grid Swimming Pool Filters
Hayward Pro-Grid Swimming Pool Filters. ... Find all your pool supplies including pool heaters, liners, filters, cleaners, winter covers, alarms, above ground
Pool Filters - Jandy, Hayward, Sta Rite, Pentair Swimming Pool Filters
There are three main types of filter systems out there Sand, Cartridge, and D.E. filters. You should first determine your pump size. This will then determine the filter size needed ...
Cartridge swimming pool Filter systems by Hayward, Hayward Star Clear ...
Hayward Starclear Cartridge pool filters systems at very Cheap prices