Doctor Who Season 11: 10 Huge Questions After 'Demons Of The Punjab'
8. Did We Already Know About The TARDIS Telepathic Circuit?
The Doctor might have changed gender, but we found out in this episode that she still sees the TARDIS as a she (cf. The Doctor’s Wife). Given the expense of the new TARDIS set, surprisingly the Doctor’s sentient ship has barely featured up to now. It was, then, a pleasant surprise to see a little bit more of the TARDIS team in the Doctor’s home. The Doctor explains to Yaz and the others that the TARDIS has telepathic capabilities which it can use for navigation.
As with most features of the TARDIS, this aspect is something of a confusing mess continuity-wise. The telepathic circuits have had various functions over the years. Originally they were used by the third Doctor as a way of getting messages to the Time Lords. They have also been connected to the ability of its travellers to speak in native tongues (pretty good Punjabi in this case), and to translate written text (The Fires of Pompeii), or even write new messages (Turn Left).
It was Steven Moffat who first introduced the idea that the TARDIS could use telepathy to aid with navigation. This was largely achieved through tapping into a person’s memories. In Listen, the circuit had an organic element to it, some kind of glutinous substance that could even enable Clara to fly the ship. This is the closest we get to the remodelled Heath Robison version on display in series 11. This upgrade can even extract data from an inanimate object such as Yaz’s Nan’s watch. It’s a handy little thing, and we should probably expect to see it being used again.