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Doctor Who: I, TARDIS: Memoirs of an Impossible Blue Box
‘Did you ever wonder why I chose you all those years ago? I wanted to see the universe, so I stole a Time Lord and I ran away...’
The Doctor has a unique bond with their TARDIS. They’ve always loved the ‘old girl’ for the way she’s gone looking for trouble anywhere in the universe. The Doctor says they stole the TARDIS from Gallifrey. The TARDIS disagrees… she stole them. She hasn’t always taken them where they want to go, but she’s made sure to take them where they needed to be.
For the TARDIS is far more than just a time machine crossed with a spaceship. Her life reflects the Doctor’s life – a shared wanderlust and longing to explore. Now you can revisit the Doctor’s adventures as seen through the eyes – or the flashing rooftop light, at least – of the TARDIS. From the time the Doctor stole her from Gallifrey to her latest adventures with the Fifteenth Doctor, the TARDIS reflects wittily on her epic, incredible history – past, present and future!
The Doctor has a unique bond with their TARDIS. They’ve always loved the ‘old girl’ for the way she’s gone looking for trouble anywhere in the universe. The Doctor says they stole the TARDIS from Gallifrey. The TARDIS disagrees… she stole them. She hasn’t always taken them where they want to go, but she’s made sure to take them where they needed to be.
For the TARDIS is far more than just a time machine crossed with a spaceship. Her life reflects the Doctor’s life – a shared wanderlust and longing to explore. Now you can revisit the Doctor’s adventures as seen through the eyes – or the flashing rooftop light, at least – of the TARDIS. From the time the Doctor stole her from Gallifrey to her latest adventures with the Fifteenth Doctor, the TARDIS reflects wittily on her epic, incredible history – past, present and future!
Kindle Edition
First published July 11, 2024
13 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Steve Cole
309 books101 followersAlso publishes as Stephen Cole.
Steve Cole is the slightly crazy, highly frantic, millions-selling, non-stop author of Astrosaurs, Cows In Action, Astrosaurs Academy, The Slime Squad, Z. Rex and many other books (including several original Doctor Who stories).
He used to edit magazines and books but prefers the job of a writer where you can wear pyjamas and eat chocolate all day.
Steve just can't stop writing - if he does, strange robots appear and jostle him vigorously until he starts again.
In his spare time he loves making music, reading old comics, thinking up ideas for new books and slumping in front of a warm TV.
Steve Cole is the slightly crazy, highly frantic, millions-selling, non-stop author of Astrosaurs, Cows In Action, Astrosaurs Academy, The Slime Squad, Z. Rex and many other books (including several original Doctor Who stories).
He used to edit magazines and books but prefers the job of a writer where you can wear pyjamas and eat chocolate all day.
Steve just can't stop writing - if he does, strange robots appear and jostle him vigorously until he starts again.
In his spare time he loves making music, reading old comics, thinking up ideas for new books and slumping in front of a warm TV.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 14, 2025
2025 Alphabet Challenge - The Letter I
This was a very cute idea - who wouldn't love the TARDIS talking? I swear that episode with the TARDIS in a human body was one of the most popular ones - but this was not quite the TARDIS talking, so much as the TARDIS recapping every episode from 1963 onwards. At the same time, recapping every companion, and the companion and the episodes tend to have the same information, so it quickly becomes very repetitive.
I did like Lizzie Hopley's narration, I thought she did very well, though I admit, kinda wish that it had been Suranne Jones for the continuity if nothing else.
This was a very cute idea - who wouldn't love the TARDIS talking? I swear that episode with the TARDIS in a human body was one of the most popular ones - but this was not quite the TARDIS talking, so much as the TARDIS recapping every episode from 1963 onwards. At the same time, recapping every companion, and the companion and the episodes tend to have the same information, so it quickly becomes very repetitive.
I did like Lizzie Hopley's narration, I thought she did very well, though I admit, kinda wish that it had been Suranne Jones for the continuity if nothing else.
August 1, 2024
A cute idea with a fairly adequate execution, attempting to retell nearly all of Doctor Who -- from An Unearthly Child in 1963 through The Legend of Ruby Sunday in 2024 -- from the perspective of the alien hero's wondrous time machine. To author Steve Cole's credit, this book meticulously covers every single classic serial and modern-era episode in that span with at least a couple sentences apiece, and occasionally offers a fun take on persistent continuity questions.
(The Brig, Sarah Kingdom, and Wilf are all deemed official companions of the Doctor, or "strays" as the narrator calls them, and the UNIT dating controversy -- a plot hole concerning contradictory indicators whether certain stories take place in the contemporary 70s or near-future 80s -- is due to the TARDIS itself returning to the same spacetime coordinates so often in those days that the timeline got a bit frazzled. And did you know that the inner technology of the contraption shifts in response to the time period around it, hence why it had more wires and levers in the 60s and more digital display screens today? The book even posits that the Fugitive Doctor's TARDIS similarly took on the appearance of a police box due to psychically sensing that form in the later Doctor's mind, which is a satisfactory enough answer to another puzzle that's plagued fans since its introduction.)
On the weaker side, a lot of this information reads like just one long monotonous recap, and I'm not quite sure who the intended or ideal audience for it would be. It's too spoiler-y for anyone not already deep in the trenches for this franchise, and yet it doesn't exactly provide those of us from within that group with much new material. The text itself is presented somewhat like a personal narrative, but it repeatedly loops back and goes over the same stretch again and again: we hear the general story of each Doctor incarnation, then a short biography of each companion, and then the detailed episode-by-episode account, which obviously all cover common ground. And despite being written in the voice of the TARDIS, that inhuman narrator merely relates events with some occasional irreverent commentary, rather than undergoing any sort of meaningful plot or character arc.
The choice of what to include or not is odd, too. The two crossovers on The Sarah Jane Adventures make the cut, as do some of the supplemental minisodes like The Night of the Doctor, Clara and the TARDIS, and Destination: Skaro, but others like Time Crash are left out, as is the Twelfth Doctor's appearance on Class and everything from the wider licensed Whoniverse like the Big Finish audio dramas (with the exception of those offscreen companions listed by name in The Night of the Doctor, who get a similar shout-out here). The book moreover ends in a curious place, at the start of the penultimate episode of the show that's aired to date. After all of the earlier details that would spoil a reader who hadn't seen the relevant episodes yet, Cole for some reason plays coy about who the ultimate villain of that latest season turns out to be and doesn't mention anything about the finale at all. Was there a concern on the BBC's part that someone would read this title while having watched all 61 years of the series barring that one last hour? Were they so concerned about preserving a certain twist that they embargoed it for a tie-in novel that wouldn't be published until well after the season had concluded? Was the manuscript due before the writer could watch Empire of Death for himself?
So it has a few issues. I've still appreciated this work as a chance to revisit a show that I love, but I have to say that it doesn't do much beyond scratching the itch of reminding us about particular installments, without diving deeper at moments when it feels like it could. (The Doctor's Wife, for instance, that magical Neil Gaiman script when the TARDIS first comes to life and speaks on-screen, isn't highlighted as especially more significant than the stories around it. They didn't even get actress Susanne Jones to read the audiobook, which seems like a no-brainer to me.) One exception that does deserve highlighting is the TARDIS's anger and resentment at the Third Doctor for ripping out its innards and tinkering with them like a car mechanic, which strikes me as the most distinctive element this volume contributes to the wider canon. Most of the rest of it, unfortunately, doesn't make much of a lasting impression.
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(The Brig, Sarah Kingdom, and Wilf are all deemed official companions of the Doctor, or "strays" as the narrator calls them, and the UNIT dating controversy -- a plot hole concerning contradictory indicators whether certain stories take place in the contemporary 70s or near-future 80s -- is due to the TARDIS itself returning to the same spacetime coordinates so often in those days that the timeline got a bit frazzled. And did you know that the inner technology of the contraption shifts in response to the time period around it, hence why it had more wires and levers in the 60s and more digital display screens today? The book even posits that the Fugitive Doctor's TARDIS similarly took on the appearance of a police box due to psychically sensing that form in the later Doctor's mind, which is a satisfactory enough answer to another puzzle that's plagued fans since its introduction.)
On the weaker side, a lot of this information reads like just one long monotonous recap, and I'm not quite sure who the intended or ideal audience for it would be. It's too spoiler-y for anyone not already deep in the trenches for this franchise, and yet it doesn't exactly provide those of us from within that group with much new material. The text itself is presented somewhat like a personal narrative, but it repeatedly loops back and goes over the same stretch again and again: we hear the general story of each Doctor incarnation, then a short biography of each companion, and then the detailed episode-by-episode account, which obviously all cover common ground. And despite being written in the voice of the TARDIS, that inhuman narrator merely relates events with some occasional irreverent commentary, rather than undergoing any sort of meaningful plot or character arc.
The choice of what to include or not is odd, too. The two crossovers on The Sarah Jane Adventures make the cut, as do some of the supplemental minisodes like The Night of the Doctor, Clara and the TARDIS, and Destination: Skaro, but others like Time Crash are left out, as is the Twelfth Doctor's appearance on Class and everything from the wider licensed Whoniverse like the Big Finish audio dramas (with the exception of those offscreen companions listed by name in The Night of the Doctor, who get a similar shout-out here). The book moreover ends in a curious place, at the start of the penultimate episode of the show that's aired to date. After all of the earlier details that would spoil a reader who hadn't seen the relevant episodes yet, Cole for some reason plays coy about who the ultimate villain of that latest season turns out to be and doesn't mention anything about the finale at all. Was there a concern on the BBC's part that someone would read this title while having watched all 61 years of the series barring that one last hour? Were they so concerned about preserving a certain twist that they embargoed it for a tie-in novel that wouldn't be published until well after the season had concluded? Was the manuscript due before the writer could watch Empire of Death for himself?
So it has a few issues. I've still appreciated this work as a chance to revisit a show that I love, but I have to say that it doesn't do much beyond scratching the itch of reminding us about particular installments, without diving deeper at moments when it feels like it could. (The Doctor's Wife, for instance, that magical Neil Gaiman script when the TARDIS first comes to life and speaks on-screen, isn't highlighted as especially more significant than the stories around it. They didn't even get actress Susanne Jones to read the audiobook, which seems like a no-brainer to me.) One exception that does deserve highlighting is the TARDIS's anger and resentment at the Third Doctor for ripping out its innards and tinkering with them like a car mechanic, which strikes me as the most distinctive element this volume contributes to the wider canon. Most of the rest of it, unfortunately, doesn't make much of a lasting impression.
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6...
--Or click here to browse through all my reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog
September 19, 2024
As a coffee-table history, it's perfectly fine for what it is...but Steve Cole is a workman-like writer, and his books have always been very...variable. What this book needed was the imagination and the light, fairy-tale touch of a Steven Moffat or a Neil Gaiman or a Paul Cornell...it's just lacking in that special alchemical magic that surrounds the TARDIS. Interesting that it even ignores some of the things established in the series (eg. the TARDIS nickname for Rory with always be "Pretty"). It looks lovely, but there's a spark that is missing.
July 31, 2024
An interesting idea: a viewer's guide to 'Doctor Who', but presented as if written as the (biased) memories of the TARDIS itself.
Steve Cole keeps the text light and picks some amusing nicknames for the companions. Definitely aimed at the younger market, 'I, TARDIS', is perhaps aimed a little too young considering the nature of some of the stories covered.
Steve Cole keeps the text light and picks some amusing nicknames for the companions. Definitely aimed at the younger market, 'I, TARDIS', is perhaps aimed a little too young considering the nature of some of the stories covered.
July 16, 2024
A memoir told from the point of view of the TARDIS seems like a really cool idea in concept. But on execution, “I, TARDIS” reads like a collection of Wikipedia articles. Brief recaps of almost every “Doctor Who” adventure and brief bios of the Doctor’s companion - but from the point of view of the TARDIS. It reads more like one of those out-of-universe behind the scenes books than it does a real in-universe memoir. It’s cool, but it doesn’t hold a candle to something like “A Brief History of Time Lords”.
April 26, 2025
Book 329 Steve Cole - I, TARDIS
Oh dear, oh dear, this was poor. Great idea behind it. The TARDIS always had a type of sentience…. a certain kind of special life form… indeed apart from The Doctor calling his ship ‘her’ or ‘old girl’… we even meet the TARDIS in an eleventh Doctor story…but this is poor….this is childish… this is not good.
I suppose the intended audience could be under 10s… but the telling and retelling of all the ship’s travels is beyond repetitive… as is her judgement of the Doctor’s travelling companions.
The one redeeming part of the book which makes it worthwhile are the images. Some spectacular photos from the series almost makes it worthwhile…almost.
A good effort.
Oh dear, oh dear, this was poor. Great idea behind it. The TARDIS always had a type of sentience…. a certain kind of special life form… indeed apart from The Doctor calling his ship ‘her’ or ‘old girl’… we even meet the TARDIS in an eleventh Doctor story…but this is poor….this is childish… this is not good.
I suppose the intended audience could be under 10s… but the telling and retelling of all the ship’s travels is beyond repetitive… as is her judgement of the Doctor’s travelling companions.
The one redeeming part of the book which makes it worthwhile are the images. Some spectacular photos from the series almost makes it worthwhile…almost.
A good effort.
December 5, 2024
If you're a Doctor Who fan, this is an easy read. Essentially it relates all the doctor's adventures from the point of view of the TARDIS. Don't expect a lot of detail, though: most of what happens in the show does not happen IN the TARDIS, so it's just broad strokes you get. If you're familiar with the episodes/show timeline(s) -- and it begins at the VERY BEGINNING with the first Doctor -- you'll probably get the various references.
Might want to wait for it to go on sale, though. The current $14.99 price is a bit steep for what it is. Or perhaps it'll be available via Overdrive eventually.
Might want to wait for it to go on sale, though. The current $14.99 price is a bit steep for what it is. Or perhaps it'll be available via Overdrive eventually.
September 6, 2024
I listened to the audio version, and while it's well produced, I think that the printed book may be better as it includes pictures and more. The narrator makes the TARDIS sound a bit like a mix of Missy & River Song. Overall this book is essentially a summary of Doctor Who from 1963 to now from the TARDIS's standpoint. It gives some impressions of companions (or "strays" as it calls them) and also seems to fill in some plot holes and inconsistencies. It does kind of repeat things a few times, but in general it's worth checking out. 3.5
May 27, 2025
Steve Cole is better than this.
The mavity joke was tedious onscreen, and grates horribly throughout this book. The tone is meant to be light-heated and fun, but for me misses by a mile. So lacking in depth it’s not interesting as either reference book or story. The nicknames for various’strays’ aren’t funny. I can’t think of a single reason to recommend this book - wait, some of the pictures are nice.
The mavity joke was tedious onscreen, and grates horribly throughout this book. The tone is meant to be light-heated and fun, but for me misses by a mile. So lacking in depth it’s not interesting as either reference book or story. The nicknames for various’strays’ aren’t funny. I can’t think of a single reason to recommend this book - wait, some of the pictures are nice.
September 15, 2024
Really really liked this. The way this book was set from the point of view of the tardis but detailing all the adventures of the doctor in all their regeneration made this incredibly readable - I read it in only a couple of sittings which for a book of this length is incredible. Really brought all the doctors adventures to life.
April 15, 2025
Amusing recap of the Doctor’s adventures told from the point of view of the TARDIS. Goes up to the end of the 15th Doctor’s first season. Some of the fun is the TARDIS’s names for the various companions (or strays as she calls them).
September 8, 2024
wait twojamie canon
March 20, 2025
A great overview of DW, from the very beginning through the latest episodes, and from the perspective of the TARDIS herself! A fun read!
February 15, 2025
A beautifully presented book.
October 26, 2024
This book does not disappoint. It is a great read with some excellent pictures etc. If you are a fan of Doctor Who you will enjoy this. And the book cover is beautiful. I highly recommend this.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews