Doctor Who: 10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About The TARDIS

3. The Doctor's TARDIS Is An Antique

The Doctor's TARDIS, unlike what many new-Who fans might think, is not a unique ship. Contrarily, back in the glory days of Gallifrey, TARDISes were flying around the time vortex left, right and centre. In fact, by that metric, the Doctor's TARDIS is largely obsolete, considered an 'antique ship, if anything. Our beloved TARDIS is a mere Type 40, a fleet decommissioned and retired from use by the time the Fourth Doctor came around. Other, more advanced types of TARDISes have been briefly referenced in different types of Doctor Who canon, including a Type 57, 70 and up to 103, each with increasing technological innovation. The Type 1 prototype TARDIS, conversely, was a difficult, poorly-designed machine. Little is known about the other types of TARDISes, as the one featured most heavily is the Doctor's TT Type 40. Most Time Lords or other TARDIS-savvy folk who have encountered the Doctor's TARDIS note how woefully old-fashioned his much loved time machine is. Unfortunately for the Time Lords, our old, rusty Type 40 seems to be, according to the Tenth Doctor, the very last TARDIS in existence in the wake of the Last Great Time War. And though it's a frequently malfunctioning, imperfect old thing full of technical faults, if the universe were to have only one TARDIS left, most would agree that there are few better candidates.