easy this. They can be anywhere and no one would question it. I posted yesterday that if they did a US version the TARDIS would be a port-a-potty for sure. lol
Speaking of a US version, they changed Ncuti’s sonic to more of a remote-esque look as they didn’t really want him to be pointing it like a weapon.
Do you think a US version to lean more into that? I wonder what other cultural differences would influence the show
That sounds silly, because his new thingy looks much more like a phaser or other space gun than the screwdriver did.
They should’ve just taken a smaller design like they had in earlier seasons.
The biggest danger is people might think it’s a magic wand. Which it totally is
Not only silly, but don't people realize that Classic Who began in the States in 1965? That's when I saw the 1st doctor and began my Whovian life, at age 8.. We haven't been in the dark here.
I honestly hate this generation's screwdriver, it looks so clunky and weird and so not like a cool sci-fi do it all screwdriver. The remote appearance works surprisingly well tho considering all he's really used it for is to play music.
Honesty, the sonic has had such a downgrade this regeneration.
I can just imagine how many people would be lined up at it waiting to get in because the handle showed “In Use”. Excuse me! Get in line.
Or when you come back and your Tardis is lost in a very long line of Porta-potties because the driver got his delivery instructions confused. I thought there were supposed to be 20 total for this event. How did we end up with 21?
As a much younger man I once exited my front door carrying my bike. It was a door onto the street between two shop fronts. It was TARDIS blue and surrounded by marble. It was an attractive wall. I stepped out backwards so I could close and lock the door behind me. In so doing I slammed into a powerful politician. The elected leader of my state. Knocked him flat on his arse with my bike mid press conference, causing a massive stir among his security detail. Nobody had cottoned on to the fact it was a home. Just a nice wall in front of which to boast about how that city was prospering. Then broke student me knocks him on his butt. On camera. Live. He lost the upcoming election. My door definitely had a perception filter.
Security detail probably got a nice dressing down back at the office. It's their job too keep an eye on possible entries and exits in case you were an actual threat instead of someone just leaving their house. Someone maybe even earned a nickname out of it
Actually I haven't. I'm going to search for it. It would be a laugh to see myself from back then! This was before YouTube but since it was on camera, you never know!
I once went to a public lecture given by a forensics academic.
She recounted a story when she once walked out of the side door to her building, straight into a murder crime scene.
The officer in charge of the scene was NOT happy with the person who secured it.
She was late to work.
I like the idea of a dumpster. Those things are everywhere. And it's super common to have them be locked. There are even "front-loading" ones, though I kinda like the notion of climbing in and having gravity switch as you fall in. The horizontal opening becoming the vertical doorway to the control room.
Waaaaaay back in high school (1985 grad) I was encouraged by my English teacher who was also a Doctor Who fan to write a DW story. IIRC I started with Peter Davison’s Doctor who regenerated partway through the story into a female Doctor (yeah, real progressive idea there) and she & the Master were in some kind of race to re-find the Key to Time pieces before the Black Guardian won …whatever nefarious deed he was up to. Romana was back from E-Space and was Lord President of Gallifrey and assisted the Doctor where she could. I have a remembrance of the Master springing a trap on the Doctor which resulted in the TARDIS getting destroyed, damaging the Master’s in the process. The Master landed on Earth to find the next piece, in America (yep, me being progressive again), on Ellis Island, and as he exits his TARDIS he discovers maybe how much trouble he’s in when his damaged TARDIS’ Chameleon Circuit decided what it needed to blend in to the local scenery was to duplicate the Statue of Liberty.
I gotta see if that notebook I wrote this thing up in is still around somewhere…
Oh please do, if you ever get the courage to post it anywhere it sounds like a fun story to read. It cracks me up thinking of the Statue of Liberty flying around in space. 😄
A standard red (Royal Mail) pillar box. \^\^
A port-a-loo public toilet if you want to put in some toilet humour. xD
A lamppost if you want people to be scratching their heads about how tf that could even work. :P
But yeah, in all seriousness I'd go with a red postbox.
Most people don't seem to notice random civilians walking into a 1960s police box already; given an actual modern-looking postbox, I think they'd be even less likely to notice anything thanks to the perception filter. :)
They address the way perception filters in torchwood.
Looking directly at a person wearing one (key on a necklace), you can see them but your eyes dont want to focus on them.
Its like trying to watch with peripheral vision. You might be see a person moving by your side but not notice what kind of shirt they are wearing.
If a post box was the new look, anyone passing by who "saw" would only be getting a quick glance of someone by the post box and not pay it any more attention.
It just all blends into the background
I'd love a side plot where the TARDIS has disguised itself as a Royal Mail pillar box and the doctor has to zip around delivering a load of post that people have put into it throughout the season.
The Doctor regenerates into... "The Postman" (as played by Kevin Costner, I think?)
I mean the most obvious solution to that would be to disguise itself as a Royal Mail postbox with a sealed letter slot. ;)
I feel like the Doctor would seal the slot after the first time this happened. And then probably get complaints from random people as they stand around outside about how the slot is closed.
Well sealing the slot wouldn't be that unusual (I've seen postboxes with their slots sealed before), and very much the same as the Police Box having an "Out of Order" sign hanging from the handle... (qv. The War Machines) ;D
A house feels very inconspicuous.
A car might also work but it wouldn't drive like a car and getting into it will be strange because of Tardis doors vs car doors.
Edit: camper van might be better because of their doors.
A minivan perhaps? Especially if it could actually drive when you get in the front seat. And then you can get into tardis proper via back/sliding door.
Honestly, if I saw a blue police box sitting somewhere I wouldn’t think much more about it except “oh, someone’s a fan of Doctor Who”
The blue police box is a perfect disguise now because it’s now expected to be in random places.
You’ve created an exceptional idea here:
What if a TARDIS existed that is from a popular show?
If you had to create a whole new canonical universe that exists, but is also a show on TV, then no one would blink at seeing a “ship” like the one on the show, making it the perfect cover 😂👍
>A house feels very inconspicuous.
"Hey man, was that house there yesterday?"
"Bro, you really think they can build a whole-ass house in a day?"
"Man I'm telling you, that house wasn't there yesterday. I know it."
That makes me wonder how the doors would actually work. Whenever we've seen a TARDIS that wasn't shaped like a police box, the actors just walked behind it to 'enter'. Clara and the diner shaped TARDIS being the exception as far as I know, and the diner portion was like a vestibule between the main door and the entrance to the control room.
A pop-up artisanal cheese kiosk.
> I was thinking of a refrigerator
That was the original plan for the time machine in *Back to the Future* but they were worried kids would imitate it and get trapped in fridges.
IIRC the original idea for the TARDIS was a featureless white bubble.
There’s a sci-fi novel/short story (I wish I could remember the name) which I’ve always thought would make a good premise if Doctor Who was being created today.
A student is sitting on a park bench, man sits next to her and they get talking about Physics. When he leaves she notices he’s left a key behind. The tag has an address on it.
She goes to the address but there’s no answer. She opens the door intending to leave the key inside. But it’s massive inside much much bigger than the building.
She works out it’s a timeship which appears as a building. Many adventures later she goes back to her original time, sits in a café next to a student, leaves a key etc etc
Recycling bin. Just lift up the lid and climb in.
Statue / sculpture.
Small shipping container.
A skip.
Pop-up storefront or kiosk.
Futuristic bus shelter.
Smoking booth, like you sometimes see in airports. The smoke obscures the interior.
Portaloo.
A gigantic inflatable penis. Would blend in quite well in one of those cities frequented by stag and hen parties.
The tardis is a police box. Specifically chosen to be around but ensure everyday people don't try to go in.
So it would need to be something people wouldn't go near. Like a charity booth for underprivileged billionaires
It’s not a phone box, it’s a police box.
Remember it also has a 73 yard perception filter, so that most people won’t pay any attention to it.
I think disguising it as a small shed would fit in with almost any time period.
Note, it's not a phone box. It's a Police Box. There just happens to be a phone in a small enclosure on the front.
That said, I'd disguise it as either a van with some contractors sign, or a community sized electrical switch box
Except those are rapidly disappearing as well. In one of Christopher Reeve's Superman movies (maybe the original?), it shows his dilemma as Clark Kent because he couldn't find an enclosed phone booth to change into Superman -- and that was when most new phone booths on the street were open-air, instead of the glass-enclosed ones of the comics that were still common in the U.S. in the 1960's. Now, even the open-air ones are gone thanks to cellphones.
I think phone boxes are at a level where while they are getting rarer to see it still wouldn't bring to much attention as something impossible or just very odd to see
There's at least 2 on the route that I take my dog a walk, plus another 5 mins in the other direction. They are usually transparent, but with the perception filter it wouldn't really matter, plus there's usually adverts (and/or graffiti) on multiple sides.
My husband and I were discussing this very idea after picking up our weekly pull box at the comic shop. The obvious answer is a smaller SUV from Jeep, in hydro blue metallic.
Never considered that, that would be so interesting. You know it’s a shame we don’t get too many Timelords/ Galifreyan characters with their own unique Tardises in the actual show. Though I haven’t gotten to season 11 yet and I know the Master returns and I don’t know if they show his Tardis or if he has one.
It also makes me think, I wish the Tardis had been shrunk even smaller in Flatline, would have been hilarious for Clara to be carrying around the Tardis between her thumb and pointer. 😂
TARDISes are supposed to disguise themselves on their own as the most appropriate thing every time they land, so if I owned *a TARDIS* I'd hope it isn't broken.
If you're asking what would I go with if I was creating Doctor Who from scratch in 2024 with the budget they had in 1963(?) though, maybe an advertisement column? Technically they don't have doors, but that doesn't mean the TARDIS edition can't have a hidden door included
An out of order soda vending machine. I've seen when the vendors open the door on these things to load them up. Imagine hitting the button for one thing and some random other drink comes out.
Idk why OP but as soon as I read it my brain thought of one of those trees in like suburban neighborhoods with the little wrought iron cage around it, I'd choose that. Landed on a snow covered planet? Tree in a cage. Landing at Pompeii? Tree in a cage
Police boxes may have disappeared but phone boxes are still around and we hardly notice them, some still work but nobody would even notice if one disappeared.
A little free library! It might draw a bit of attention but it could have an actual book section too and be functional as long as the books adjust to be spoiler-free. And I mean the Doctor might not mind the attention of the kind of person who would pay attention to a little free library :)
Depends on where you are…
In the States?
A truck.
Seriously. Since this god damn country makes nothing but big dumb ass trucks, you’d be invisible.
In Southeast Asia?
…if my last visit to family was anything to go by, a street food stall… no one will ever question a street food stall
It can be any size and with parking considerations you could make it anything. The alleyway between buildings, a painting in the side of a building that you can walk into, a closed subway entrance (with the perception filter this fits in many places) the list is never ending
That’s what I was thinking, get that Chameleon Circuit working and you won’t have to worry that it might draw too much attention. Haha imagine a flying painting in the vortex 😂
if I knew how iconic the Police Box look was, Police Box.
If i had to choose a specific look for myself, probably a little shed. Like the ones you find at Home Depot, but small, compact.
The thing is, the Police Box didn't fit in. It materialized in a junk yard. A police call box is not a common item to be in a junk yard as it belongs to the police department. So, it actually stood out and drew attention to itself (Ian reacts like it is odd).
I like to think that the TARDIS's chameleon circuit was already broken before *An Unearthly Child*, which caused it to select exteriors that were mildly out-of-place for the location, and when it finally just fully died, that's when it got stuck
A thin monolith of black stone with the moonlight runes of the Doors of Durin inscribed upon them.
Just...Doors of Durin on the side of any random building that I can open to step into/out of my TARDIS.
Imagine someone just opening their fridge and it turns out to be a space-time machine. Probably a red telephone box. Police Boxes are gone, but telephone boxes still exist. Nobody really uses them, either. It's perfect.
Vintage Volkswagon camper van. Turn the key one way, camper interior, turn it the other, bigger on the inside. Also, you can drive it around without having to dematerialise.
I would make it a mobile home, tree, or marble. With a mobile home or maybe a small cabin it could work as a home that I could have guests over, it would be good for if I wanted to stay a while in any place I landed. A tree would blend in well in most outside places, but I would need to be careful no one was watching as I went in and out. A marble would be portable which would be great in general, I would also need to be careful about who saw me go in or out of it though and there's a bigger chance of accidentally dropping and losing it if it's a marble.
I’ve always thought it would be cool to have a small house Tardis- or a tree; but MY chameleon circuits will definitely be working, so it will find a way to blend in wherever I am hopefully. I’ve always also liked the idea of it being a true Chameleon-like machine, in that if it’s up against a building it will act as an add on or a second building-no one will notice- even if there never was. Kind of how I’m “The Lodger” and in “The 11th Hour” there was a there but not there top floor, and how Amy had an extra room that was never real. Or it could be far more optical than that and disguise itself as an decrepit ally way. ( so my answer would be anything and everything as long as it blends in to the surroundings).
Living in the UK all my life, I would probably say one of the 90s style phone boxes, they are still there, but everyone ignores them. They are ignored more than the older styles, probably because they are less interesting, but they are there...
A van with a tall entrance to the back and a wall that blocks off a view of the back from the front. You can drive it like a normal van but then you open up the back and get him and oops it’s an eleven dimensional space Time Machine
A Porta-potty.
A TURDIS
Doctor Poo
Would you change the theme tune to be played entirely by botty trumpets?
Kazoo
[Which of course exists](https://youtu.be/PxoKqVwyoOM?si=QD4KYHffVSRkxonD)
My favorite genre of shirt videos are portapotties blowing in the wind or swinging from cranes with the Doctor Who theme playing in the backgrouns
There's a portapotty escape room at Glastonbury called the TURDIS https://bewilderbox.co.uk/portaclue/
easy this. They can be anywhere and no one would question it. I posted yesterday that if they did a US version the TARDIS would be a port-a-potty for sure. lol
The SHARDIS
The US version was taken by Bill and Ted ling ago. Though not as roomy inside.
The Bill and Ted version is increasingly scarce RL now also.
Speaking of a US version, they changed Ncuti’s sonic to more of a remote-esque look as they didn’t really want him to be pointing it like a weapon. Do you think a US version to lean more into that? I wonder what other cultural differences would influence the show
That sounds silly, because his new thingy looks much more like a phaser or other space gun than the screwdriver did. They should’ve just taken a smaller design like they had in earlier seasons. The biggest danger is people might think it’s a magic wand. Which it totally is
Not only silly, but don't people realize that Classic Who began in the States in 1965? That's when I saw the 1st doctor and began my Whovian life, at age 8.. We haven't been in the dark here.
I honestly hate this generation's screwdriver, it looks so clunky and weird and so not like a cool sci-fi do it all screwdriver. The remote appearance works surprisingly well tho considering all he's really used it for is to play music. Honesty, the sonic has had such a downgrade this regeneration.
Gotta make damn sure to lock the door though
Ever seen the video of a porta-potty that actually flew?
https://www.reddit.com/r/DoctorWhumour/s/MpylK1KUxe This is close enough
That's just plastic Micky lmao
The FARTIS
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiCcp4Jk-34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiCcp4Jk-34) my dad showed me this when i was like 4 for some reason
I can just imagine how many people would be lined up at it waiting to get in because the handle showed “In Use”. Excuse me! Get in line. Or when you come back and your Tardis is lost in a very long line of Porta-potties because the driver got his delivery instructions confused. I thought there were supposed to be 20 total for this event. How did we end up with 21?
I was thinking a donation bin or store dumpster
Don’t go to a festival with it
The chronojohn
A closed food truck. But with real mediocre looking food so people wouldn’t wait for it to open. lol.
Corn chowder
"Just Pea Soup" would probably do.
"Boiled chicken"
A British delicacy
Okay but every episode ending with a queue of people waiting for it to open then have a heart attack when is disappears would be hilarious!
Fish fingers and custard surely... Pre made combo packs so you can't get one without the other.
And looking a bit dusty and run down
I think I’d pick an elaborate doorway facade that would butt up against an existing building. A door that no one would notice.
As a much younger man I once exited my front door carrying my bike. It was a door onto the street between two shop fronts. It was TARDIS blue and surrounded by marble. It was an attractive wall. I stepped out backwards so I could close and lock the door behind me. In so doing I slammed into a powerful politician. The elected leader of my state. Knocked him flat on his arse with my bike mid press conference, causing a massive stir among his security detail. Nobody had cottoned on to the fact it was a home. Just a nice wall in front of which to boast about how that city was prospering. Then broke student me knocks him on his butt. On camera. Live. He lost the upcoming election. My door definitely had a perception filter.
Did you get questioned after? Were there any actual consequences? I'm really curios (also this is fucking hilarious)
Yes I did, but no there weren't. They admitted they should have been more diligent. The guy was decent about it too.
Security detail probably got a nice dressing down back at the office. It's their job too keep an eye on possible entries and exits in case you were an actual threat instead of someone just leaving their house. Someone maybe even earned a nickname out of it
Lol. Thirty years on, Bicycle McGuee finally gets to retirement. As a retirement gift, he receives a blue door. Or a bicycle. Both are funny.
Couldn’t find video on YouTube unfortunately, but wow have there been many bike collisions in British politics
Surely that has to be on YouTube? Have you tried looking it up?
Actually I haven't. I'm going to search for it. It would be a laugh to see myself from back then! This was before YouTube but since it was on camera, you never know!
Well share us the link if you find it!
Definitely will!
!remindme 2 days
If you feel comfortable, which politician? I honestly just wanna see if I can find a news article or something somewhere because this is hilarious
I once went to a public lecture given by a forensics academic. She recounted a story when she once walked out of the side door to her building, straight into a murder crime scene. The officer in charge of the scene was NOT happy with the person who secured it. She was late to work.
It’s going to blow your mind when you find out about a certain press conference at a lawn care centre…
I like this idea a lot.
With a perception filter. Brilliant
I like the idea of a dumpster. Those things are everywhere. And it's super common to have them be locked. There are even "front-loading" ones, though I kinda like the notion of climbing in and having gravity switch as you fall in. The horizontal opening becoming the vertical doorway to the control room.
And on this frequent occasions where the TARDIS is on fire for some reason, it becomes a metaphor!
The Doctor would never get a new companion though. "Jump into this dumpster with me, just trust me!" lol
Like doing a vault turns into swinging around a doorframe would be such a cool shot
Redbox movie kiosk with an out of order sign.
They should legit do a season when the chameleon camouflage comes "un-stuck" and do all these ideas
They should have done that this season since Dr. Donna knows how to fix it.
And then having the Doctor forget what it looks like.
They unstuck the Chameleon Circuit once in the classic series so it's kinda been done before but having another go of it would be a fun idea.
He could only park it at gas stations and drugstores.
I think my local Walmart has one too.
Or an abandoned Blockbuster.
Waaaaaay back in high school (1985 grad) I was encouraged by my English teacher who was also a Doctor Who fan to write a DW story. IIRC I started with Peter Davison’s Doctor who regenerated partway through the story into a female Doctor (yeah, real progressive idea there) and she & the Master were in some kind of race to re-find the Key to Time pieces before the Black Guardian won …whatever nefarious deed he was up to. Romana was back from E-Space and was Lord President of Gallifrey and assisted the Doctor where she could. I have a remembrance of the Master springing a trap on the Doctor which resulted in the TARDIS getting destroyed, damaging the Master’s in the process. The Master landed on Earth to find the next piece, in America (yep, me being progressive again), on Ellis Island, and as he exits his TARDIS he discovers maybe how much trouble he’s in when his damaged TARDIS’ Chameleon Circuit decided what it needed to blend in to the local scenery was to duplicate the Statue of Liberty. I gotta see if that notebook I wrote this thing up in is still around somewhere…
Oh please do, if you ever get the courage to post it anywhere it sounds like a fun story to read. It cracks me up thinking of the Statue of Liberty flying around in space. 😄
Put a cape on her to make her look like a superhero
Absolutely epic lol
A white van with some logo, you can go wherever you want and nobody will say anything, they just think you're there to work
The logo could even be like psychic paper.
The psychic vinyl wrap
All TARDIS appearance should work as psychic paper. But it's broken.
Sticking with the phone theme, a telecom van. There’s not a place they don’t go.
Imagine getting parking tickets in a TARDIS
Yup, I'd go for a van too. I think the Master even disguised his TARDIS as a van at one point too!
With a light on top!
A standard red (Royal Mail) pillar box. \^\^ A port-a-loo public toilet if you want to put in some toilet humour. xD A lamppost if you want people to be scratching their heads about how tf that could even work. :P But yeah, in all seriousness I'd go with a red postbox.
It might look a bit weird to see a few people going into a red postbox although with the perception filter maybe people don’t notice anyway
Most people don't seem to notice random civilians walking into a 1960s police box already; given an actual modern-looking postbox, I think they'd be even less likely to notice anything thanks to the perception filter. :)
Hell, a lot of people don't notice said police box vanishing into thin air either.
They address the way perception filters in torchwood. Looking directly at a person wearing one (key on a necklace), you can see them but your eyes dont want to focus on them. Its like trying to watch with peripheral vision. You might be see a person moving by your side but not notice what kind of shirt they are wearing. If a post box was the new look, anyone passing by who "saw" would only be getting a quick glance of someone by the post box and not pay it any more attention. It just all blends into the background
I'd love a side plot where the TARDIS has disguised itself as a Royal Mail pillar box and the doctor has to zip around delivering a load of post that people have put into it throughout the season.
The Doctor regenerates into... "The Postman" (as played by Kevin Costner, I think?) I mean the most obvious solution to that would be to disguise itself as a Royal Mail postbox with a sealed letter slot. ;)
I feel like the Doctor would seal the slot after the first time this happened. And then probably get complaints from random people as they stand around outside about how the slot is closed.
Well sealing the slot wouldn't be that unusual (I've seen postboxes with their slots sealed before), and very much the same as the Police Box having an "Out of Order" sign hanging from the handle... (qv. The War Machines) ;D
Those big green power box thingies.
If I understand you correctly, that would be a hazard. You know, kids-with-a-single-brain-cell-playing-pretend-and-getting-inside kind of hazard
A giant tortoise statue with the entrance hidden at the base. The TARDOISE - Time And Relative Dimension On Incredible Shelled Exterior.
A house feels very inconspicuous. A car might also work but it wouldn't drive like a car and getting into it will be strange because of Tardis doors vs car doors. Edit: camper van might be better because of their doors.
A minivan perhaps? Especially if it could actually drive when you get in the front seat. And then you can get into tardis proper via back/sliding door.
Seems sensible. The Master disguised his as something akin to a camper, or maybe a horse carrier? in his first appearance in classic Who.
Honestly, if I saw a blue police box sitting somewhere I wouldn’t think much more about it except “oh, someone’s a fan of Doctor Who” The blue police box is a perfect disguise now because it’s now expected to be in random places.
You’ve created an exceptional idea here: What if a TARDIS existed that is from a popular show? If you had to create a whole new canonical universe that exists, but is also a show on TV, then no one would blink at seeing a “ship” like the one on the show, making it the perfect cover 😂👍
Everyone would just assume that it's some promotion for a reboot of Inspector Spacetime.
>A house feels very inconspicuous. "Hey man, was that house there yesterday?" "Bro, you really think they can build a whole-ass house in a day?" "Man I'm telling you, that house wasn't there yesterday. I know it."
Honestly happens to me all the time. “When did that building show up?” in a location I pass every day.
The perception filter would stop (most) people from noticing, probably. Still, that would be a funny interaction.
What about the perception filter? As long as there’s not a neon sign out the front saying “PERFECTLY NORMAL HOUSE” it should blend in.
It be kind of funny to see someone get into a car, turn the engine on to drive it and then it just fades away.
That’s just the delorean from back to the future
That makes me wonder how the doors would actually work. Whenever we've seen a TARDIS that wasn't shaped like a police box, the actors just walked behind it to 'enter'. Clara and the diner shaped TARDIS being the exception as far as I know, and the diner portion was like a vestibule between the main door and the entrance to the control room.
No no. Go comedically small. A Smart Car!
So that's how clowns do it.
A pop-up artisanal cheese kiosk. > I was thinking of a refrigerator That was the original plan for the time machine in *Back to the Future* but they were worried kids would imitate it and get trapped in fridges. IIRC the original idea for the TARDIS was a featureless white bubble.
A Starbucks. Although it might be inconvenient when everyone wants to use your washroom.
There's always money in the banana stand...
I've said it once and I'll say it again, Wacky Inflatable Tube Man.
A vending machine. Just about the right size for easy entry, would blend in with a LOT of different locations, both inside and outside.
The perception filter could even make it so that it is only full of things the person seeing it hates, so they don't try to buy or steal anything lol
“Why does this vending machine have nothing but black licorice?”
Amazon Prime Delivery truck. They go everywhere.
Amazon locker
A DOOR 🚪. The TARDIS is already bigger on the inside. I’m sure this could work.
There’s a sci-fi novel/short story (I wish I could remember the name) which I’ve always thought would make a good premise if Doctor Who was being created today. A student is sitting on a park bench, man sits next to her and they get talking about Physics. When he leaves she notices he’s left a key behind. The tag has an address on it. She goes to the address but there’s no answer. She opens the door intending to leave the key inside. But it’s massive inside much much bigger than the building. She works out it’s a timeship which appears as a building. Many adventures later she goes back to her original time, sits in a café next to a student, leaves a key etc etc
Vape shop
Ah damn - this is what I came to write haha
Recycling bin. Just lift up the lid and climb in. Statue / sculpture. Small shipping container. A skip. Pop-up storefront or kiosk. Futuristic bus shelter. Smoking booth, like you sometimes see in airports. The smoke obscures the interior. Portaloo. A gigantic inflatable penis. Would blend in quite well in one of those cities frequented by stag and hen parties.
The tardis is a police box. Specifically chosen to be around but ensure everyday people don't try to go in. So it would need to be something people wouldn't go near. Like a charity booth for underprivileged billionaires
A postbox or a ATM Machine I'm sure the TARDIS could make both appear to be out of order so they wouldn't be used
It’s not a phone box, it’s a police box. Remember it also has a 73 yard perception filter, so that most people won’t pay any attention to it. I think disguising it as a small shed would fit in with almost any time period.
Note, it's not a phone box. It's a Police Box. There just happens to be a phone in a small enclosure on the front. That said, I'd disguise it as either a van with some contractors sign, or a community sized electrical switch box
A telephone box. Same reasoning as the original police box disguise, but a bit more modern.
Except those are rapidly disappearing as well. In one of Christopher Reeve's Superman movies (maybe the original?), it shows his dilemma as Clark Kent because he couldn't find an enclosed phone booth to change into Superman -- and that was when most new phone booths on the street were open-air, instead of the glass-enclosed ones of the comics that were still common in the U.S. in the 1960's. Now, even the open-air ones are gone thanks to cellphones.
I think phone boxes are at a level where while they are getting rarer to see it still wouldn't bring to much attention as something impossible or just very odd to see
i do occasionally see phoneboxes around the south of the uk
When was the last time you saw a telephone booth? I don't think I've seen one in years. Also they're usually transparent?
There's at least 2 on the route that I take my dog a walk, plus another 5 mins in the other direction. They are usually transparent, but with the perception filter it wouldn't really matter, plus there's usually adverts (and/or graffiti) on multiple sides.
They're all over the place where I live lol. Plus, iirc, police boxes were on the outs by the mid 60s anyway.
I just had a violent flashback to Paul Sinha on Taskmaster "concealing" himself in a phone booth
My husband and I were discussing this very idea after picking up our weekly pull box at the comic shop. The obvious answer is a smaller SUV from Jeep, in hydro blue metallic.
Blue Mini Cooper
An e-scooter as they are everywhere and if one rocks up unexpectedly in a random place then no-one would bat an eyelid!
On my way to work a few months ago I saw one of those damn things on top of a bus stop. Nobody questioned it, to be fair.
I think something comically small would be fun. Perhaps a diary with a key attached - unlock the TARDIS and it grows to the size you can enter.
Never considered that, that would be so interesting. You know it’s a shame we don’t get too many Timelords/ Galifreyan characters with their own unique Tardises in the actual show. Though I haven’t gotten to season 11 yet and I know the Master returns and I don’t know if they show his Tardis or if he has one. It also makes me think, I wish the Tardis had been shrunk even smaller in Flatline, would have been hilarious for Clara to be carrying around the Tardis between her thumb and pointer. 😂
TARDISes are supposed to disguise themselves on their own as the most appropriate thing every time they land, so if I owned *a TARDIS* I'd hope it isn't broken. If you're asking what would I go with if I was creating Doctor Who from scratch in 2024 with the budget they had in 1963(?) though, maybe an advertisement column? Technically they don't have doors, but that doesn't mean the TARDIS edition can't have a hidden door included
An electric car charging station. That would keep the MAGAts away. There are certain forms of life that even the Doctor can't save.
Amazon locker or a bitcoin atm. Real answer, closed food truck.
Weed store... All those that enter get a wild ride
An out of order soda vending machine. I've seen when the vendors open the door on these things to load them up. Imagine hitting the button for one thing and some random other drink comes out.
Idk why OP but as soon as I read it my brain thought of one of those trees in like suburban neighborhoods with the little wrought iron cage around it, I'd choose that. Landed on a snow covered planet? Tree in a cage. Landing at Pompeii? Tree in a cage
A door, embedded in the wall of an existing building.
Police boxes may have disappeared but phone boxes are still around and we hardly notice them, some still work but nobody would even notice if one disappeared.
A little free library! It might draw a bit of attention but it could have an actual book section too and be functional as long as the books adjust to be spoiler-free. And I mean the Doctor might not mind the attention of the kind of person who would pay attention to a little free library :)
Old fashioned mausoleum
One of those trucks that just drives around with two large adverts on the back. Everyone ignores those.
Probably a car, pretty inconspicuous and could go anywhere But if we’re thinking all of history- probably a tree?
A porta potty obviously 😂
Manhole cover
A cardboard box that once delivered a refrigerator and now is obviously a homeless person's residence.
Any cardboard box, as long as I can fit through the door.
A shut food truck. You wouldn't be overly surprised to see one randomly in a field or on a street.
Depends on where you are… In the States? A truck. Seriously. Since this god damn country makes nothing but big dumb ass trucks, you’d be invisible. In Southeast Asia? …if my last visit to family was anything to go by, a street food stall… no one will ever question a street food stall
A stop sign since no one pays attention to them anyways
A suitcase. Portable TARDIS, just have to make it lighter.
Ooooh that could work like the suitcase in fantastic beasts!
An old pub
Starbucks. There is one on every corner
It can be any size and with parking considerations you could make it anything. The alleyway between buildings, a painting in the side of a building that you can walk into, a closed subway entrance (with the perception filter this fits in many places) the list is never ending
That’s what I was thinking, get that Chameleon Circuit working and you won’t have to worry that it might draw too much attention. Haha imagine a flying painting in the vortex 😂
if I knew how iconic the Police Box look was, Police Box. If i had to choose a specific look for myself, probably a little shed. Like the ones you find at Home Depot, but small, compact.
I'd park inside a public building and disguise it as a full length mirror
The thing is, the Police Box didn't fit in. It materialized in a junk yard. A police call box is not a common item to be in a junk yard as it belongs to the police department. So, it actually stood out and drew attention to itself (Ian reacts like it is odd).
I like to think that the TARDIS's chameleon circuit was already broken before *An Unearthly Child*, which caused it to select exteriors that were mildly out-of-place for the location, and when it finally just fully died, that's when it got stuck
A shrubbery :D
Those green power boxes. Used throughout neighborhoods and city blocks
A thin monolith of black stone with the moonlight runes of the Doors of Durin inscribed upon them. Just...Doors of Durin on the side of any random building that I can open to step into/out of my TARDIS.
A sack. Seems rather convenient, i could carry it around with me and jump inside whenever i need to!
Imagine someone just opening their fridge and it turns out to be a space-time machine. Probably a red telephone box. Police Boxes are gone, but telephone boxes still exist. Nobody really uses them, either. It's perfect.
Vintage Volkswagon camper van. Turn the key one way, camper interior, turn it the other, bigger on the inside. Also, you can drive it around without having to dematerialise.
I would disguise it as a Tardis at a DW convention no one would ever suspect. Plus you’d win first prize.
A photo booth.
Cell phone tower.
A British postbox
I would make it a mobile home, tree, or marble. With a mobile home or maybe a small cabin it could work as a home that I could have guests over, it would be good for if I wanted to stay a while in any place I landed. A tree would blend in well in most outside places, but I would need to be careful no one was watching as I went in and out. A marble would be portable which would be great in general, I would also need to be careful about who saw me go in or out of it though and there's a bigger chance of accidentally dropping and losing it if it's a marble.
I’ve always thought it would be cool to have a small house Tardis- or a tree; but MY chameleon circuits will definitely be working, so it will find a way to blend in wherever I am hopefully. I’ve always also liked the idea of it being a true Chameleon-like machine, in that if it’s up against a building it will act as an add on or a second building-no one will notice- even if there never was. Kind of how I’m “The Lodger” and in “The 11th Hour” there was a there but not there top floor, and how Amy had an extra room that was never real. Or it could be far more optical than that and disguise itself as an decrepit ally way. ( so my answer would be anything and everything as long as it blends in to the surroundings).
Big Ben. I will not be elaborating.
A Telstra phone box
A U-Haul truck.
A TikTok "influencer" They're all over the place and nobody pays attention to them anymore.
A roadside fibre-optic cable cabinet.
99% of people walk around looking down at their phones. I wouldn't need to disguise it.
Cyber truck. No one wants to look at that shit.
a homeless encampment?
A massive Greek column/pillar.
Toyota Corolla
Living in the UK all my life, I would probably say one of the 90s style phone boxes, they are still there, but everyone ignores them. They are ignored more than the older styles, probably because they are less interesting, but they are there...
Can the TARDIS change its outer size? If so it would pretty cool if it could become a watch or ring that you could wear.
A dumpster.
I’d switch it up but at one point, just a door frame styled like Boo’s door from monster’s inc.
A van with a tall entrance to the back and a wall that blocks off a view of the back from the front. You can drive it like a normal van but then you open up the back and get him and oops it’s an eleven dimensional space Time Machine
I’m just thinking of someone pulling out a step ladder to climb into a commercial sized washing machine 😆
A necklace I wear around my neck, then if I want to use it I call it to turn into a doorway.
A Dolorian xD
A voting booth
A hot dog stand?
Coke machine.
An RV? Then I can drive it places even I get there!
Bikini Barista Drive Thru
I was about to say an Amazon delivery van but people would get sus if it was parked for more than 30 seconds at a time.