5. The TARDIS
Its ironic how in the first story, the TARDIS, the one thing that is supposed to change hasnt. Even if the same can not be said of its pilot. This is the big one. When it was announced the series would return, one of the big questions was, would the TARDIS still look like a Police Box and if it did, how would it move. The original effect was just a cross fade between a shot of the prop on the set and a still from before the Police Box was erected. Not as high tech as youd think. Inevitably both prevailed. Various effects were proposed for the time ships landing and take off, but the fade effect, conjured up as a simple effect to save money, with a few little finishing touches remained. The TARDISs exterior is the one thing that hasnt changed (significantly) throughout the whole series history. It would have been wrong to change it in 2005 or at any time. It was of course attempted as an in joke while Colin Baker was the Doctor but it of course didnt last. The whole deal with the TARDIS was to change to blend in wherever it landed. On a 1960s budget that was an obscenely expensive suggestion, so the solution was too have the TARDIS get stuck. Of course Police Boxes havent been around for a long time, but I think that is a good thing. A Police Box is no longer a Police Box, its a TARDIS. That will never change. With the image of the TARDIS obsolete already and so real, it cant really age. The image of the TARDIS is immortal and always will be forevermore. The same cant be said of any other spaceship in Doctor Who, scratch that, all science fiction!