Doctor Who S7 Ep11 – Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS

Doctor Who is a show about a time wizard, aka a Time Lord, who has a space-time/time-space machine that looks like a 1963 British Police Box, wherein he takes young Earthlings back and forth in time throughout all of space. It is clearly a fantasy show, because there is little hard science used to explain what happens. I bring all this up because it would seem that the latest episode, “Journey to the Center Centre of the TARDIS” was met with a lot of negative criticism due to its recent use of time travel.

Need they be reminded this show is for children? If you’re not of the ages between 8 and 12, then I say your argument is invalid if you didn’t like the episode for its apparent misuse of certain time traveling paradox rules. It’s like telling a child that the person in the Mickey Mouse costume is a 5-foot-woman while at Disney World. Granted, yes, that is true, but is it necessary to point it out while the child is having fun?

I won’t apologize for liking this episode. I rather liked it a lot. I felt that it was a spiritual sequel to “The Doctor’s Wife” in a way. I think that was part of the intent, really. It also has a bit of the mini-episodes “Time” and “Space,” which I also loved. And it showed off parts of the TARDIS that we have only heard about, but were never going to get a chance to see.

In short, the episode centers on the Mario Brothers and Toadstool, er, I mean the Van Baalen Brothers and their android, mistaking the TARDIS for scrap metal with The Doctor and Clara inside. The Doctor is ejected out of the TARDIS when it is brought on board the Van Baalen Brother’s ship and has to convince the Brothers to help find Clara.  But when inside the ship, The Doctor activates the self-destruct and seals the exits as incentive for the brothers to find Clara in exchange for getting the TARDIS.

From here, we get treated to Clara running about discovering all the rooms we want to see for ourselves while simultaneously being hunted by some weird Pyrovile-esque creatures. Things take a turn for the worse when one of the brothers steals a circuit from the TARDIS’ architectural reconfiguration system, causing the TARDIS to go all hexaflexagon with its architecture-creating loops, labyrinths, and echoes of itself.

Once everyone is reunited, minus one of the brothers (because curiosity killed the cat and all), it’s time to find out what those “time zombies,” as Clara puts it, are. Well, it turns out that the TARDIS isn’t just folding space, but also time, and those aren’t some alien creatures, they are their own possible future versions. Turns out that if you’re exposed to the Eye of Harmony not only could you get prophetic visions or time-space distortion, but it’ll burn and warp your body a la Pinbacker from Sunshine. Also, we learn that Toadstool is a Mario Brother, not an android. Oh, and then they become Time Zombies.

In the engine room, they find the engine has already exploded, but the TARDIS has placed the room in time stasis as a safety measure. Trying to figure out what to do next, The Doctor notices the burn on Clara’s hand actually has a message that he realizes a future version of himself had etched onto the device Clara burnt herself with earlier. Jumping through a time rift, The Doctor tells his past self what to do this time to prevent being picked up by the Van Baalen brothers. Everything resets, and The Doctor and Clara are able to get away, thus safely avoiding the dangers.