The TARDIS is one of the most pivotal icons in the Doctor Who franchise and without it, The Doctor would be stranded on a single planet forever. Not only is this legendary blue box The Doctor’s best friend, but it has a mind of its own and can travel to any point in space and time. Thus, with its wide variety of fancy gadgets and space-age controls, it’s fair to say that the pair go hand-in-hand.
But, despite its mind-boggling abilities, the TARDIS is far from perfect. Its Chameleon Circuit malfunctioned in the first-ever episode of Doctor Who, and The Doctor is yet to restore it to working condition. Thus, The Doctor’s TARDIS is considered inferior to others as it cannot easily adapt to new environments. But what exactly is the Chameleon Circuit, and why hasn’t The Doctor fixed it yet?
It’s More Than Just a Humble Disguise Feature
The Chameleon Circuit is an ingenious tool that allows the TARDIS to alter its exterior so that it can blend into the background of any new location and will not be a distraction to passers-by. Fortunately, whilst the exterior is able to shapeshift into any object possible, the interior remains the same. It’s not just The Doctor’s TARDIS that has this benefit. In fact, all Time Lords have access to a TARDIS that can mimic this effect. For example, in Season 3, Episode 4, “The Dalek’s Master Plan,” The First Monk disguises his Mark IV TARDIS as a giant rock. But, the Doctor manages to alter the Monk’s Chameleon Circuit so that his TARDIS is turned into a block of ice and he is left for dead on a barren planet.
This is a prime example of how the TARDIS can think for itself and use superior Time Lord technology to seem more inconspicuous. However, the TARDIS also has something called a perception filter, which ensures that it can blend into the background and not draw too much attention to itself. Therefore, many people only spot the TARDIS as something in the corner of their eye that they can’t quite see.
So, if the TARDIS can transform into absolutely anything, why have fans been looking at a blue police box for the past 60 years? Well, in Season 1, Episode 1, “An Unearthly Child,” the Doctor decides to transform the TARDIS into a contemporary police box so that it would fit in with the surrounding junkyard. But, just as the group is about to leave, Susan notes that the TARDIS is now stuck as a blue police box.
Though many fans believe that it would be amazing if the TARDIS could still adapt to its surroundings, audiences note that police boxes are now linked to Doctor Who more than their initial purpose. In turn, the show has managed to cement itself into popular culture using an already-established item seen throughout everyday life during the 1960s. Plus, these hubs were originally used as a way for the public to call the police in the event of danger. Therefore, it could be said that The Doctor enjoys the fact that people associate his time-traveling machine with a sense of comfort and security.
The Chameleon Arch Is Just as Powerful
When Doctor Who returned to screens in 2005, it was clear that writers had to expand on the show’s lore. So, the writers introduced the Chameleon Arch, a tool that was linked to the TARDIS’ vast biological database. As such, in the same way that the Chameleon Circuit can alter the appearance of the TARDIS, the arch manipulates a person’s DNA so that they can appear as a new person but still maintain their original look.
It should also be mentioned that using the Chameleon Arch is extremely painful as it implants a biodata module, which looks like a fobwatch, into a Time Lord’s forehead. Thus, just like the TARDIS, the Arch uses a perception filter to ensure that normal people can ignore the implant. Plus, the Time Lord still retains their memories in their new state, but they tend to be a bit fuzzy and are usually translated via dreams and visions.
This is most notable in Season 3, Episode 8, “Human Nature,” when the Tenth Doctor uses the Chameleon Arch so that he can take on the role of John Smith, a teacher at Farringham School for Boys. Thus, by altering his DNA so that he is completely human, The Doctor and Martha were able to hide in 1913 England in order to escape the Wrath of the Family of Blood. More recently, The Fugitive Doctor used a Chameleon Arch to disguise herself as Ruth Clayton whilst she hid on Earth waiting to save the Thirteenth Doctor.
As a result, it’s clear that the Chameleon Arch is an integral aspect of the TARDIS, and it could also be argued that it’s more important than the Chameleon Circuit, as it allows the Time Lords to better blend in with their human counterparts. In turn, although the Chameleon Arch isn’t used as much as it could be, many fans agree that it’s an interesting addition to the TARDIS and has the potential to offer audiences a wealth of complex plotlines.
Why Doesn’t The Doctor Just Fix the Chameleon Circuit?
Even with the Chameleon Circuit and the Chameleon Arch combined, the TARDIS has not really changed since the show first aired in November 1963. Admittedly, there have been a few examples of The Doctor trying to fix the Chameleon Circuit, like in Season 22, Episode 1, “Attack of the Cybermen.” Unfortunately, the Sixth Doctor only managed to transform the TARDIS into an array of useless objects such as a wardrobe and an organ. Thus, it seems that no matter how many times The Doctor says he’s going to restore the Chameleon Circuit, he never does.
It is obvious that the Doctor Who franchise is keen to maintain the TARDIS’ original look as it is a popular icon of the show. But in a deeper sense, The Doctor may not be too bothered about the Chameleon Circuit because of the TARDIS’ perception filter. Therefore, the TARDIS is able to remain undercover as a 1960s police box, even in the 21st century.
Therefore, as the Fifteenth Doctor gears himself up for more adventures, it seems that fixing the Chameleon Circuit is not very high on his to-do list. Plus, by getting rid of the TARDIS’ classic exterior, The Doctor would be making himself less recognizable, which in some situations, is not necessarily a good thing. So, even though fans probably won’t ever get to see the Chameleon Circuit back in shape, they can rest assured that the TARDIS will always remain the same, even when the next alien apocalypse is on the horizon.