Summary

• Doctor Who: Tales of the TARDIS introduces a brand-new Memory TARDIS that connects all the Doctors and companions, allowing them to reminisce about past adventures.
• The Memory TARDIS is a method of therapy, helping the Doctor and companions confront past losses and sad partings.
• The Memory TARDIS is a powerful machine fueled by memories, providing an opportunity for reunions, new adventures, and the potential to bring back characters from the Doctor's past.

WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Doctor Who: Tales of the TARDIS.In Tales of the TARDIS, Doctor Who introduces a brand-new type of TARDIS that connects every incarnation of the Doctor and their companions. Written by Russell T Davies, Phil Ford, and Pete McTighe, the six new episodes reunite Doctors and companions to reminisce about their time in the TARDIS. These reminiscences effectively act as bookends to feature-length edits of classic serials like "The Curse of Fenric", "The Mind Robber", and "The Three Doctors." Tales of the TARDIS launches Doctor Who's Whoniverse, the umbrella title for the entire universe of the main show and its various spinoffs.

Currently exclusive to iPlayer in the UK, Doctor Who's Tales of the TARDIS is an extra treat for the show's 60th anniversary. Reuniting Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy for new scenes with their companion actors Janet Fielding, Nicola Bryant, and Sophie Aldred is a touching nod to Doctor Who's past. However, the manner of reuniting the Doctors and their companions is more complicated than the sentient hologram used in "The Power of the Doctor." This time, the Doctor and their companions are brought back together by something called a Memory TARDIS, which is a brand-new concept for Doctor Who.

What Is The Memory TARDIS, Exactly?

In the "Earthshock" episode, the Memory TARDIS is described by the Fifth Doctor as "a ed TARDIS" - the memory of a time machine. The set has elements of almost every TARDIS set from Doctor Who history, with various consoles and roundels dotted around it. It also has an extensive collection of sonic screwdrivers, as well as a fully operational 1980s style TARDIS console mounted to the ceiling. It's designed to evoke the memories of its invited guests, inspiring them to recount old adventures to "feed" the Memory TARDIS. Brilliantly, the Fifth Doctor and Tegan conclude that the Memory TARDIS is a method of therapy, to allow them to confront the loss of Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) and their own sad parting.

It appears that the setting for the Doctors and their companions to reunite is an extension of Doctor Who's TARDIS. It's claimed that "the TARDIS never really lets go", implying that it's potentially created by the time and space machine's psychic abilities. It was confirmed way back in Tom Baker's Doctor Who era that the psychic link between the TARDIS and its occupants was the reason why the Doctor and their companions could understand foreign and alien languages during their adventures. This could explain how the Memory TARDIS is still able to reach out to the Doctor and their companions decades after they regenerated or ended their adventures together.

The Memory TARDIS Is Linked To Every Doctor & Every Companion

As well as the Doctors, companions are also drawn into the Memory TARDIS to recall their past adventures. In one of the most moving episodes of Tales of the TARDIS, Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) and Zoe Herriot (Wendy Padbury) are reunited to recollect the events of "The Mind Robber." Brilliantly, the cruel memory wipe enforced on them by the Timelords at the end of "The War Games" is reversed by the effects of the Memory TARDIS. The memories of their adventures come flooding back, and they realize that the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) has influenced their entire lives even if they couldn't him.

In both "The Mind Robber" and "Earthshock", there's a sense that the Memory TARDIS is where Doctor Who companions go when they dream. Jamie and Zoe worry that they'll lose their memories again when they "wake up" while Tegan and the Fifth Doctor both talk about waking up inside the Memory TARDIS. If that's the case, then it's a beautifully poetic idea from Russell T Davies and his writing team, implying that the TARDIS has one last gift to give the Doctor and their companions. The prospect of this dream TARDIS where anything is possible - even a reunion between Jo Jones (Katy Manning) and her deceased husband Cliff Jones (Stewart Bevan) - has a lot of potential for future installments.

Doctor Who's Memory TARDIS Is Powered By The Doctor & His Companions' Memories

The Memory TARDIS is effectively a more joyous celebration of the Doctor and their companions than the group seen in "The Power of the Doctor." While that scene was visually coded as if they'd all experienced a traumatic event, Tales of the TARDIS is a colorful and emotive celebration of Doctor Who's past. The central conceit of the show is that this new TARDIS is powered by the memories of those that it brings aboard, thereby allowing the actors to provide new intros to classic adventures. However, it never feels like a clunky plot mechanic because the idea of a magical machine powered by memories is particularly potent during an anniversary year.

After six decades of Doctor Who, there are so many adventures to relive, but tragically, there are also so many people who are no longer around. From an in-universe perspective, the death of Adric prompts the Fifth Doctor and Tegan to observe that he'll never truly be gone as long as they him. It's the very reason that the Fifth Doctor convinced Tegan to relive "Earthshock", because it was an emotionally powerful memory. Jamie's melancholic remembrance of Victoria Waterfield has added meaning due to the sad death of Deborah Watling in 2017. Memories have the power to bring people back to life, if only briefly, and this is one of the many gifts that the Memory TARDIS provides.

Any Doctor & Companion Can Visit The Memory TARDIS

The Memory TARDIS has no constraints on timelines, reuniting Jamie McCrimmon from 18th century Scotland with Zoe Herriot from Earth in the far future. Much like a dream, the barriers between past, present, and future are broken down so that the Doctor and their old friends can come together and reminisce. The Doctors themselves are visibly older, with the Sixth Doctor observing that he's a "bit bigger a bit greyer and a bit beardier" suggesting that these are independent projections of the Doctor post-regeneration, similar to the Guardians of the Edge in "The Power of the Doctor."

There's a great deal of potential in the Memory TARDIS to bring back faces from the Doctor's past for emotional reunions. If an older Fifth Doctor can arrive in the Memory TARDIS, it's surely possible for an older Adric to appear, like Cliff at the end of "The Three Doctors." Given that characters like Clyde from The Sarah Jane Adventures is able to visit the Memory TARDIS, it means that anyone who has ever traveled with the Doctor - no matter how briefly - can be brought aboard to tell their story.

The Memory TARDIS Can Give Old Teams New Adventures

The Fifth Doctor and Tegan use the Memory TARDIS to finally sit down and have a heart-to-heart. However, both the Sixth Doctor and Peri, and the Seventh Doctor and Ace decide to have brand-new adventures together. Whether these new adventures will be real, or imaginary within the confines of the Memory TARDIS' potential dreamscape is immaterial. The very concept of Tales of the TARDIS allows an unfairly maligned partnership like the Doctor and Peri to have brand-new adventures that showcase how close they were to one another. It's unclear at this stage if Tales of the TARDIS will open the doors for a new Sixth Doctor era of Doctor Who, but it feels like an incredible opportunity.

Similarly, Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred were cut down in their prime when Doctor Who was canceled in 1989. While their adventures have continued in books, comics, and audio dramas, the prospect of actually seeing the Seventh Doctor and Ace embark on new adventures is incredibly enticing. Tales of the TARDIS was a last-minute addition to the 60th anniversary slate, but the concepts within could throw open the doors for a fresh and exciting era for Doctors and companions new and old. It's a joyous way to launch the Whoniverse and begin Doctor Who's 60th anniversary celebrations.

Doctor Who: Tales of the TARDIS is currently only available in the UK via BBC iPlayer. Doctor Who begins streaming on Disney+ globally on November 25th.