Doctor Who Series 10: 7 Big Questions We're Asking After 'Oxygen'

6. Why Doesn't The TARDIS Need The Fluid Link?

Doctor Who Oxygen Questions
BBC Studios

For fans of William Hartnell’s First Doctor, there is yet another Series 10 Easter Egg in the surprise reference to the TARDIS’ fluid link. The mercury filled tubes were vital components of the TARDIS, so much so that she couldn’t take off without them. The Doctor once lied that a fluid link was all out of mercury, just so that he could explore the Dalek City with Susan, Ian and Barbara.

The Doctor seems to have confirmed its importance to Nardole, only to then surprise him and countless Doctor Who experts by claiming that the removal of the Fluid Link wouldn’t prevent the TARDIS from leaving Earth after all.

It’s all a bit confusing, with the only point of continuity being that the Doctor has a habit of lying about the Fluid Link. But then he has a habit of lying about most things. So is this one of those inevitable inconsistencies in a show with such a long history, a little like River Song claiming that the wheezing and groaning sound of the TARDIS materialising is down to the Doctor not properly applying the brakes?

Or maybe the Doctor has tinkered with the TARDIS and replaced the fluid links with more reliable upgrades. After all it caused near catastrophe in both The Wheel in Space (where a mercury leak forced the TARDIS crew to evacuate) and The Mind Robber (where the overheating links forced the Doctor to take the TARDIS out of reality itself), and hadn’t been mentioned again until this week’s episode.

Contributor
Contributor

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.