Doctor Who The Flux: 10 Huge Questions After The Halloween Apocalypse
1. Will The TARDIS Survive The Flux?
Strange things are happening to the TARDIS, from the doors moving to the black treacle-like substance that is leaking in the console room. The Doctor dismisses it as nothing to worry about, but it is clear the true nature of the leak is something else she wants to hide from Yaz.
The ringing of the Cloister Bell is always an ominous sign and it means the TARDIS is as much in danger as the Doctor. The ship will of course survive the cliff-hanger and the Flux (whatever it is), but it might just be a delaying of the inevitable. As powerful as she is, the TARDIS is not indestructible and her current vulnerability brings to mind the arc of series 5 and the painting of the exploding TARDIS by Vincent van Gogh.
Shorter running series have just about survived the destruction of an iconic ship (Blake’s Seven’s Liberator for example), but can Doctor Who continue without the TARDIS? In theory, of course it can, but any replacement would always been compared to her. If the Doctor isn’t a Gallifreyan by birth, would the loss of the TARDIS play a role in completely redefining her? Does her species of origin have their own form of time travel? Will she shed herself of all ties with the Time Lords?
When the negotiations for the 1996 TV movie were taking place, one of the few non-negotiables from the BBC was the TARDIS and its exterior design as a 1950s police telephone box. If even its exterior is still set in stone, then losing the ship altogether sounds highly implausible. Perhaps though it is about time? There are certainly calls for a new exterior look, with the blue box resisting progressiveness and functioning as a far less reassuring symbol than it did in the last century.