Review: Doctor Who: Journey to the Center of the TARDIS
Journey to the Center of the TARDIS was written by Steve Thompson and stars Matt Smith as the Doctor, Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara, Ashley Walters as Gregor van Baalen, Mark Oliver as Bram van Baalen, and Jahvel Hall as Tricky
From the BBC Website:
The TARDIS has crashed, Clara is lost inside, and the Doctor has 30 minutes before his ship explodes!
This was a fun ride and we got to see a good bit more of the TARDIS interior, even though most of it was in emergency lighting.
*****Spoilers*****
I was wondering how Clara ended up stranded somewhere in the TARDIS when she was in the console room. Also how did the Doctor ended up outside the TARDIS in the salvage bay, under the rubble, ala Wicked Witch of the East style?
I let it slide last week when the Doctor said that one crystal was a subset of the Eye of Harmony. I assumed that it was part of the TARDIS’ link to the Eye of Harmony, as all TARDISes have a link to the Eye of Harmony. But this week we are told the Eye of Harmony is actually inside the Doctor’s TARDIS. Last I heard, ignoring the Fox movie, the Eye of Harmony was on Gallifrey under the Panopticon. So are they now saying that every TARDIS has a collapsing Sun in it? Or did the Doctor at some point steal the Eye of harmony from Gallifrey before the end of the Time War? I mean if it’s been there the whole time it sort of negates what we were told back in The Deadly Assassin. It also makes the Doctor’s reason for stopping off in Cardiff Bay to “Fill Up†the TARDIS engines in Boom Town and Utopia pointless. If he had his own Eye of Harmony he would have no need of an external power source. In the Classic Series (I hate using that term, because to me it should all be Doctor Who) All TARDISes are powered by the Eye of Harmony housed on Gallifrey, that same Eye is what powers everything on Gallifrey including the Transduction Barriers, which are their primary defense system.
According to the book The Eight Doctors, the Eye of Harmony in the Eighth Doctor’s TARDIS in the Fox TV movie was actually just a representation (or the link) to the Eye on Gallifrey. In the book The Quantum Archangel it is stated that all TARDISes built after a certain point, which includes Type 40s have a mathematically modeled duplicate of the Eye and all its attendant features.
Or yet another possibility, if all TARDISes have their own Eye, maybe the Doctor’s was damaged or destroyed during the Time War forcing him to have to stop periodically to fuel up. Then when the TARDIS was regenerated when the Doctor regenerated into his 11th body it got a new Eye of Harmony. Yeah I’m not buying it either. I’ve always understood as all other Doctor Who fans have, that if it is not in the TV show it’s not cannon, so anything in the books is suspect until verified in the TV show. The Fox TV movie was clearly at odds with previous cannon on MANY points, one of which being the Eye of Harmony. So I just want to know for certain which it is. Was the Classic Series wrong, is the New Series wrong, or is there some combination that somehow makes both correct?
That brings up another point. History books are usually written after an event, and generally by the winners. So who wrote the History of the Time War book that Clara finds in the TARDIS library? The Doctor was the sole survivor of the Time War, so if he wrote the book, why would he include his name in it? If someone else wrote it, how would they know the Doctor’s name?
Those things aside, this was a highly enjoyable episode. I especially liked how devious the Doctor was when getting the Van Baalen brothers to help him search for Clara. I also liked the way the TARDIS rearranged the interior to keep them from leaving with the circuit. It does however make me wonder how many of the New Series writers are versed in anything other than the New Series or the books. It would be nice if more of them would do their research and at least try to make things fit in with the Classic Series that so many of us love. There is a reason Doctor Who has survived for 50 years, it is the perfect vehicle for telling any kind of story. That does not give you the right to tread on what little continuity and facts that have been laid down years if not decades before.
Check out our “Journey to the Center of the TARDIS†photo Album.
For those of you like me missing Doctor Who Confidential, here is a short behind the scenes clip from the BBC.
Next week’s episode is “The Crimson Horrorâ€Â.  I don’t know much about this one other than it’s the return of Madam Vastra, Jenny, and Strax.  So it will probably be quite funny, but not make much sense.
Other post you may like:
Review: Doctor Who: The Name of the Doctor
Review: Doctor Who: The Snowmen
TARDIS Speakers
New TARDIS Interior
