Warning: The following content contains spoilers on TOS - Legion of Super Heroes comic: "Issue 5" and TOS - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 1".

The TARDIS (an acronym for Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space) was a time travelling vessel which had the ability to materialize as a camouflaged object in the timeline it arrived in. The pilot of a TARDIS entered through a set of doors in the camouflaged exterior, to a control and living area which had greatly expanded dimensions compared to the outside.

In an alternate reality, two TARDISes were deposited on Earth at some point prior to the 23rd century. In this reality, Emperor Vandar tracked these TARDISes when they arrived in his space-time, captured their occupants, and took the vehicles to his trophy room. One particular TARDIS was disguised as a London police public call box and the other was disguised as an ancient Greek column. Both were present when Vandar entertained Captain James T. Kirk and a landing party, who had been captured along with a number of Legionnaires from yet another reality.

Communications vestibule-disguised time-travel exists in a number of forms. Another time travel device that resembled a telephone booth was part of Vandar's collection. This time machine was in the form of a North American-style telephone booth, from the later 20th century. (TOS - Legion of Super Heroes comic: "Issue 5")

In fiction, a similar machine also resembling the London police box was used by the main character in an old Earth science fiction entertainment series made some time before 2200. It materialized with a loud wheezing, groaning sound. In 2275, Jerry Freeman, Nyota Uhura and Harb Tanzer of the USS Enterprise converted an episode of this series into a three-dimensional hologram in the ship's recreation room. They and James T. Kirk saw the machine materialize and the main character step out and ask if he was in Heathrow. (TOS - Rihannsu novel: My Enemy, My Ally)

In the 24th century, agent Marion Dulmur of the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations discovered a device that matched the description of this TARDIS in the Eridian Vault, a warehouse of illegal time-travel devices. (DTI novel: Watching the Clock)

A TARDIS has not yet been named as such within Star Trek literature. The upcoming Star Trek: The Next Generation–Doctor Who crossover, Assimilation², will however feature the TARDIS, and it is shown on the first issue's cover. The fact that the TARDIS captured by Vandar, or that appearing in the Eridian Vault, was disguised as a police call box suggests that it was the one belonging to the Doctor, as the Doctor's is permanently stuck with that particular disguise. There is the possibility, however, that these are other TARDISes that just happened to take the same disguise (such as The Monk's TARDIS), or that these are from separate alternate universes. The ancient Greek, or "Doric", column disguise, meanwhile, was sometimes adopted by the Doctor's enemy, The Master, for his his own TARDIS. The American telephone booth seen next to the TARDIS appeared to be from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Bill and Ted's time-travelling phone booth was in itself a parody of Doctor Who's TARDIS.

A time travel pod from the 31st century encountered by the Enterprise (NX-01) in 2152 exhibited a similar capacity to be bigger on the inside. (ENT episode: "Future Tense")

External linksEdit

• TARDIS article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
• TARDIS article at TARDIS Index File, the Wikia for Doctor Who sources.