Talk:TARDIS

Tethered Aerial Release Developed In Style
I came to this page expecting to see a mention of this acronym - as per 'The Next Doctor'. Should I try to squeeze in a reference? If so where would be best? 1.43.41.96 (talk) 14:05, 8 September 2023 (UTC)

Conceptual history: Police box exterior origins
I haven't edited the article directly because I know there have been some past issues relating to a certain writer and the extent of their contribution to the early history of Doctor Who, but I'm not sure about the accuracy of the following sentence from Conceptual history section.

"The idea for the police-box disguise came from a BBC staff writer, Anthony Coburn, who rewrote the programme's first episode from a draft by C. E. Webber."

This sites two sources, one of them being Howe, David J.; Stephen James Walker (2003). The Television Companion: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who. I do not have access to this book. The second is a BBC News article where Jason Onion (a fan builder of a TARDIS replica) says that Anthony Coburn states that the police box design originated from Anthony Coburn. However, the above sentence was already in the TARDIS Wikipedia page before this article was written – is it not possible that Mr Onion's information comes from this page itself?

Furthermore, I have in front of me Hearn, M. (2013) Doctor Who: The Vault: Treasures from the First 50 Years. This states that, while Anthony Coburn invented the name TARDIS while writing an Unearthly Child, the idea for the police box appearance of the "ship" is already cited in a document from May 1963, which would have been before Anthony Coburn did his draft of the first episode (The Giants was originally the first story, until it was scrapped in June 1963, which is when Coburn's story was brought forward and his draft of An Unearthly Child written). A copy of the document can be found in the BBC archives as page 1, page 2 and page 3. This would mean that credit for the Police Box exterior should go to Wilson, Webber and Newman, unless Coburn came up with the idea independently as well? However, it seems more likely to me that accounts of Coburn coming up with the Police Box idea came from him or others claiming credit after the fact or, perhaps more likely, misremembering. The Professor (talk) 15:25, 1 January 2024 (UTC)