Doctor Who Flux: 10 Huge Questions After War Of The Sontarans

2. What Is Wrong With The TARDIS?

Doctor Who Flux (Series 13)
BBC

Something is wrong with time itself and it looks like this is causing havoc with the TARDIS. Swarm and Azure make out they are the only ones who know exactly what is going on, and Swarm says that the TARDIS isn’t working properly because of the damage to the two Mouri in the Temple of Atropos. So apparently the Doctor should be grateful that he has found a solution. Even if that means both Vinder and Yaz must join the Mouri.

We’ll come on to why Swarm is so keen to get the TARDIS fixed, but with the TARDIS being a sentient being, uniquely connected to the Doctor, it’s worth asking whether the TARDIS herself is really as much of a victim as Swarm assumes.

The TARDIS could already be fighting back, counteracting the effects of the Flux and the broken temple with her own defence mechanisms. We know for one that it already crying out for help with the repeated sounding of the Cloister Bell. It’s an ominous sign, but it is a sign that this part of the TARDIS at least is functioning correctly. What else can the ship do to protect itself and the Doctor?

In the series 8 episode Flatline the Doctor activated siege mode, transforming the TARDIS into a small cube. In this mode the TARDIS is shielded and impenetrable, nothing can get in or out. With such a useful feature on board, we have to ask why it has only been used once. Perhaps it will make a surprise return, or more likely Chibnall has another previously unknown TARDIS trick up his sleeve.

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Paul Driscoll is a freelance writer and author across a range of subjects from Cult TV to religion and social policy. He is a passionate Doctor Who fan and January 2017 will see the publication of his first extended study of the series (based on Toby Whithouse's series six episode, The God Complex) in the critically acclaimed Black Archive range by Obverse Books. He is a regular writer for the fan site Doctor Who Worldwide and has contributed several essays to Watching Books' You and Who range. Recently he has branched out into fiction writing, with two short stories in the charity Doctor Who anthology Seasons of War (Chinbeard Books). Paul's work will also feature in the forthcoming Iris Wildthyme collection (A Clockwork Iris, Obverse Books) and Chinbeard Books' collection of drabbles, A Time Lord for Change.