TARDIS n. 1

in the British television series Doctor Who: a time machine having the outward form of a police telephone box; (hence) any means of travelling through time

[acronym < Time And Relative Dimension (or Dimensions) In Space]

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Time Travel

Vehicles

Doctor Who

  • 1963 A. Coburn An Unearthly Child (BBC TV script, Doctor Who, pilot episode) 27 page image

    Susan: The Tardis can go anywhere…. Chesterton: Oh, let me get this straight. A thing that looks like a Police Box standing in a junk yard. It can move anywhere—in time and space.

  • 1979 Starburst (#15) Nov. 25/3 page image

    If the Doctor knows where the TARDIS is going, then there’s a chance the Guardian might.

  • 1988 New Musical Express 24 Dec. 33

    The shiny streamlined tardis of Kraftwerk.

  • 2003 Dreamwatch Aug. 78/1

    There’s no TARDIS, no wandering in time and space and no Daleks. Instead, the Doctor enjoys his adventures in the ‘possibility generator,’ a kind of VR machine in which he meets Hannibal attempting his crossing of the Alps.

  • 2007 C. Stross Halting State (2008) 295 Charles Stross

    ‘Imagine you were a time-traveller from the 1980s, say 1984, and you stepped out of your TARDIS right here, outside, uh, West Port Books.’ (Which tells you where you are.) ‘Looking around, what would you see that tells you you’re not in Thatcherland anymore?’

  • 2014 N. Gaiman in SFX (#250) Aug. 63 page image Neil Gaiman

    There were Time Lords. We knew what they were. They could freeze and control the TARDIS remotely. They were infinitely powerful.


Research requirements

antedating 1963

Last modified 2021-03-05 03:57:56
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.