Doctor Who Background Material

Science fiction shows are full of stories about parallel universes. Maybe it lets the show writers reimagine a premise in the show, to ask "what if" and see what the characters do. In any case, a show centered on a travel capsule which can traverse all of time and space, don't you think it's fair to ask if any kind of parallel universe showed up?

Think "The TARDIS" and you think an old-style Police Telephone Box. TARDIS's are supposed to adjust their shape to fit their surroundings, but The Doctor's TARDIS refuses to do so. Supposedly it's a broken chameleon circuit, or maybe this TARDIS has a mind of its own. In any case there is a real history to the Police Telephone Box's in Great Britain. They served a public safety function, giving police officers a place to rest/work and keep in touch with their precinct, and it gave the public a quick way to contact the police for assistance.

The TARDIS is The Doctor's home and spaceship. TARDIS's were invented by the Time Lords, and contain a range of technology gizmos to manipulate time and space and energy systems and who knows what else. The TARDIS is therefore a central plot device in Doctor Who, and you could argue the TARDIS is also a character in the story since it has been demonstrated to have its own consciousness and will.

The word, TARDIS, has been treated as an "acronym" as if the letters have a meaning, just like the word RADAR is actually an acronym meaning either "RAdio Detection And Ranging" or "RAdio Direction And Ranging". The problem with thinking TARDIS is an acronym is language differences. Gallifreyans do not speak English, and therefore would not use an English-centric acronym as the meaning of the word TARDIS.

But, within the context of Doctor Who, several acronym/meanings have been given for TARDIS. Let's just go with that and hum a chant about timey-wimeyness.