{"id":24486,"date":"2022-10-25T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T07:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1725531"},"modified":"2022-10-25T09:37:11","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T07:37:11","slug":"tardis-was-nearly-erased-from-doctor-who-for-something-new-and-different","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/tardis-was-nearly-erased-from-doctor-who-for-something-new-and-different\/","title":{"rendered":"TARDIS was nearly erased from Doctor Who for something \u2018new and different\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Sabastian Astley\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 25 October 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Although many things change in the world of <\/span>Doctor Who<\/span><\/a> \u2013 actors, companions, time periods and even universes \u2013 one thing that\u2019s remained the same since the very first episode is the iconic TARDIS with its police box disguise<\/span><\/p>\n

However, in the 1990s, the TARDIS was almost changed forever as <\/span>1996 TV Movie<\/span><\/a> producer Philip Segal had to fight executives or risk the police box\u2019s erasure forever.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking to <\/span>RadioTimes.com<\/span><\/a> ahead of the release of new documentary <\/span>Doctor Who Am I<\/span><\/a> about the legacy of the film, Segal elaborated on what Fox and Universal had in mind: \u201cThey said, \u2018We don\u2019t want a police box for his spaceship.\u2019 What they wanted they simply described as \u2018something new, fresh, and different\u2019. They never had an actual idea!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\""font-weight:\">The police box appearance of the Type 40 TARDIS has been a day-one staple of the series, from its first appearance in <\/span><a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/doctor-who-guide\/an-unearthly-child\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\""font-weight:\">An Unearthly Child<\/span><\/a> <span style=\""font-weight:\">all the way into the modern day. While TARDISes can take whatever form needed to blend into a planet\u2019s culture, the Doctor\u2019s TARDIS has a faulty chameleon circuit which resulted in it being permanently stuck as a 1960s police box, common at the time of the show\u2019s conception.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\""font-weight:\">The disguise has become so synonymous with Doctor Who<\/span> <span style=\""font-weight:\">that the BBC actually owns the trademark of the police box design \u2013 but given Segal\u2019s reinvention of Doctor Who<\/span> <span style=\""font-weight:\">was American-orientated, it\u2019s not massively surprising executives sought to create their own icons.<\/span><\/p> <p><span style=\""font-weight:\">So what did Segal do? \u201cI obviously had to fight for the TARDIS. I explained to them that the police box was actually invented by Americans in New York City before the concept went to London \u2013 which is actually true! So, once they realised it was an American invention, they left me alone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\""font-weight:\">Though the US executives might\u2019ve backed off once they realised the Doctor was technically operating a piece of classic American history, it\u2019s undeniable that the blue time-travelling police box will always be known as a British icon first and foremost.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more about Doctor Who:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/matt-smith-doctor-who-exit-newsupdate\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Matt Smith says his Doctor Who exit could have been \u201cbetter\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/doctor-who-sacha-dhawan-jodie-whittaker-tribute-newsupdate\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Doctor Who star pays tribute to Jodie Whittaker: \u2018Best I\u2019ve worked with\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/stephen-fry-doctor-who-podcast-newsupdate\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Stephen Fry recalls childhood memory of falling in love with Doctor Who<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/doctor-who-jodie-whittaker-terrifying-newsupdate\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Jodie Whittaker says \u201crage\u201d over Doctor Who casting was \u201cterrifying\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/doctor-who-not-exist-outside-bbc-chris-chibnall-newsupdate\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Doctor Who \u201cwould not exist\u201d outside of the BBC, says Chris Chibnall<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><p><b>Doctor Who Am I is released in UK cinemas on 27th October, and on Blu-ray, DVD & digital download from 28th November.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Doctor Who is available to stream on <\/b><a href=\"\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/iplayer\/episodes\/b006q2x0\/doctor-who"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\"><b>BBC iPlayer<\/b><\/a><b> with episodes of the classic series also available on BritBox \u2013 you can sign up for a <\/b><a href=\"\/\/britbox.sjv.io\/c\/1236178\/1303835\/15931?subId1=radiotimes-0&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwatch.britbox.co.uk%2F"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""sponsored" noopener noreferrer\"><b>7-day free trial here<\/b><\/a><b>.\u00a0<\/b><b>Check out more of our <\/b><a href=\""https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/"\"><b>Sci-Fi<\/b><\/a><b> coverage or visit our <\/b><a href=\""https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/tv-listings\/"\"><b>TV Guide<\/b><\/a><b> to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013 <\/b><a href=\"\/\/radiotimes.com\/magazine-subscription?utm_term=evergreen-article"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\"><b>subscribe now<\/b><\/a><b> and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31.<\/b><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0<a title=\""https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/audio\/podcasts\/"\" href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/audio\/podcasts\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener noopener noreferrer\" noreferrer=\"\" data-auth=\""NotApplicable"\" data-safelink=\""true"\" data-linkindex=\""1"\">Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sabastian Astley Published: Tuesday, 25 October 2022 at 12:00 am Although many things change in the world of Doctor Who \u2013 actors, companions, time periods and even universes \u2013 one thing that\u2019s remained the same since the very first episode is the iconic TARDIS with its police box disguise However, in the 1990s, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":24487,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/tardis-was-nearly-erased-from-doctor-who-for-something-new-and-different.jpg",1600,1067,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/tardis-was-nearly-erased-from-doctor-who-for-something-new-and-different-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/tardis-was-nearly-erased-from-doctor-who-for-something-new-and-different-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/tardis-was-nearly-erased-from-doctor-who-for-something-new-and-different-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/tardis-was-nearly-erased-from-doctor-who-for-something-new-and-different-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/tardis-was-nearly-erased-from-doctor-who-for-something-new-and-different-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/tardis-was-nearly-erased-from-doctor-who-for-something-new-and-different.jpg",1600,1067,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Sabastian Astley Published: Tuesday, 25 October 2022 at 12:00 am Although many things change in the world of Doctor Who \u2013 actors, companions, time periods and even universes \u2013 one thing that\u2019s remained the same since the very first episode is the iconic TARDIS with its police box disguise However, in the 1990s, the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/24486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}