Tardis

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Tardis

The Second Doctor owned a recorder that he enjoyed playing, mostly as a source of self-amusement, but also to help him think. While his future incarnations would often relied on a sonic screwdriver as their favourite tool, the Second Doctor preferred the recorder as an all-purpose utensil.

Nature[]

Dr. Who, akin to "Pan of old", used the small musical pipe to "tootle" merry tunes to aid his thinking and to get his thoughts straight. (PROSE: The Phoenix in the Tardis [+]unclear authorship, The Dr Who Annual 1968 (World Distributors, 1967). Page 21.)

Modifications[]

Second Doctor.Recorder.Spyglass

The recorder doubles as a spyglass. (TV: The Wheel in Space [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 5 (BBC1, 1968).)

The Doctor often added modifications to his recorder, allowing him to put it to unusual tasks. The Doctor used his recorder as a blowpipe in Atlantis, expelling powder into Zaroff's face. (TV: The Underwater Menace [+]Geoffrey Orme, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1967).) He also used his recorder as a spyglass on the Silver Carrier, (TV: The Wheel in Space [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 5 (BBC1, 1968).) and in Tobias Vaughn's base. (TV: The Invasion [+]Derrick Sherwin, Doctor Who season 6 (BBC1, 1968).)

Usages[]

The Second Doctor played his recorder several times while on Vulcan, (TV: The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966).) in a marketplace on the Panjistri homeworld to amuse Lilith, (PROSE: Timewyrm: Apocalypse [+]Nigel Robinson, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1991).) in the Grange, (PROSE: Invasion of the Cat-People [+]Gary Russell, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1995).) in London in 1948, (AUDIO: Lost and Found [+]Penelope Faith, Short Trips (Big Finish Productions, 2016).) while in a Scottish prison cell, (TV: The Highlanders [+]Elwyn Jones and Gerry Davis, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966-1967).) while visiting Atlantis, (TV: The Underwater Menace [+]Geoffrey Orme, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1967).) while visiting an Earth colony, (TV: The Macra Terror [+]Ian Stuart Black, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1967).) while imprisoned by the Daleks, (TV: The Evil of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1967).) while imprisoned in Tibet, (TV: The Abominable Snowmen [+]Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln, Doctor Who season 5 (BBC1, 1967).) and while under Robot Yeti guard in the London Underground. (TV: The Web of Fear [+]Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln, Doctor Who season 5 (BBC1, 1968).)

The recorder was useful for more than just music. On an Earth-like planet, the Doctor used his recorder to lure a robot to the TARDIS. (PROSE: The Sour Note [+]The Dr Who Annual 1968 (Doctor Who annual, 1967).) On Harmony, he used it to escape from his captors by playing it discordantly, having seen earlier that it caused them pain. (PROSE: Planet of Bones [+]The Dr Who Annual 1968 (Doctor Who annual, 1967).) In Prague, the Doctor combined his recorder with his sonic screwdriver to communicate with a Doredsor, enabling him to translate colour to binary to Solresol to musical notation and back again. (PROSE: The Time Eater [+]Lee Battersby, Short Trips: Destination Prague (Short Trips, 2007).) On Trodos, the Doctor used his recorder on a Dalek's hearing system, sending it out of control. (COMIC: The Trodos Ambush [+]Roger Noel Cook, TVC comic stories (1967).) On a swamp planet, he used it to stop giant spiders from attacking him and his companions. (COMIC: Master of Spiders [+]Roger Noel Cook, TVC comic stories (1967).) On prehistoric Earth, he used it to befriend a herd of mammoths and get them to destroy the Trods' power supply. (COMIC: Pursued by the Trods [+]TV Comic Annual stories (1968).)

History[]

History with the Second Doctor[]

Shortly after his regeneration, the Second Doctor rummaged through a chest and found the recorder. He then plays a song while tapping his foot. (TV: The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966).)

Jamie once chopped up the recorder, but it didn't prevent the Doctor from producing a new one from somewhere. (PROSE: Twin Piques [+]Tony Keetch, Short Trips: Zodiac (Short Trips, 2002).) When he gave his recorder to Flora Millrace, the Doctor claimed to have extras. (PROSE: The Avant Guardian [+]Eddie Robson, Short Trips: Time Signature (Short Trips short stories, 2006).) The Tenth Doctor would later recall that Jamie often took to hiding the recorder, while also noting that Ben Jackson hated it before he recalled an adventure where his second incarnation had used the recorder to defeat an Alvarian space wyrm by playing a tune that had lulled it to sleep. (COMIC: The Forgotten [+]Tony Lee, IDW mini-series and one-shots (IDW Publishing, 2008-2009).)

When the Doctor's TARDIS landed in Australia, Jamie made the Doctor leave his recorder in the ship before they went out, and the Doctor would later retell Jamie of this to prove he was not RamĆ³n Salamander. (TV: The Enemy of the World [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 5 (BBC1, 1967-1968).)

After escaping from the Land of Fiction, the Doctor realised he had left his recorder there, and sent himself back in to retrieve it. While there, he encountered Goth, who asked him to help the Time Lords, and thus sent him to meet his third incarnation. (PROSE: Future Imperfect [+]Marc Platt, Brief Encounter (1991).) When they were transported to Omega's anti-matter universe, the recorder fell into the TARDIS' force field generator, and was therefore not converted into anti-matter during the trip. When the Doctors discovered this, they offered it to Omega, and the resulting annihilation seemingly destroyed the renegade Time Lord and his world. In exchange for his sacrifice of the instrument, the Third Doctor promised his earlier self that he would buy him a "thousand" more. (TV: The Three Doctors [+]Bob Baker and Dave Martin, Doctor Who season 10 (BBC1, 1972-1973).)

Although his memories of meeting his future self quickly faded, the Doctor did remember that he had lost his recorder, and went to a music shop on Amber Station to get a new one. (PROSE: Briefly Noted [+]Justin Richards, Doctor Who Yearbooks (1994).)

Stop to hear Dr

Dr. Who playing his recorder. (GAME: TV Comic's Counter Game [+]TV Comic games (Polystyle Publications, Ltd., 1968).)

At some point, Dr. Who played his recorder, with the Diddymen potentially having a break from their hike to listen. (GAME: TV Comic's Counter Game [+]TV Comic games (Polystyle Publications, Ltd., 1968).)

The Doctor used his recorder to measure the size of a room on the World using the echoes it created. (AUDIO: The Wreck of the World [+]Timothy X. Atack, The Early Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2017).)

After the Second Doctor[]

Recorder

The Fifth Doctor finds that the recorder isn't suited to him. (TV: Castrovalva [+]Christopher H. Bidmead, Doctor Who season 19 (BBC1, 1982).)

Sarah Jane Smith discovered the Doctor's recorder in the TARDIS' secondary control room while travelling with the Fourth Doctor. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora [+]Louis Marks, Doctor Who season 14 (BBC1, 1976).)

The newly regenerated Fifth Doctor tried playing the recorder, but realised that it was not for him. (TV: Castrovalva [+]Christopher H. Bidmead, Doctor Who season 19 (BBC1, 1982).)

The Eleventh Doctor left a recorder in his TARDIS drawing room. (GAME: TARDIS [+]James Moran, Phil Ford and Sean Millard, The Adventure Games (BBC Wales Interactive, 2010).)

After being lured into the Celestial Toyroom, the Twelfth Doctor summoned his recorder to tame the snakes of Snakes and ladders. The fact that he was able to summon it alerted the Doctor that something was amiss with the Toyroom. (COMIC: Relative Dimensions [+]George Mann and Cavan Scott, Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor (Titan Comics, 2015).)

Shortly before being sent back to his own time after an encounter with his five next incarnations, the First Doctor caught a glimpse of the Father of Time's attire beneath his robes, which included a scarf and a recorder ā€” leading the Doctor to wonder just who the Father really was. (COMIC: The Test of Time [+]Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett, The Doctor Who Fun Book stories (Target Books, 1987).)

Following the Thirteenth Doctor's forced regeneration, the Spy Master played a slow tune on the recorder. (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who Centenary Special 2022 (BBC One, 2022).)

References[]

The Sixth Doctor, confused by a time-slip with the affected Second Doctor, tried to remember a musical instrument important to him. He mentioned a clarinet and a flute, before recalling it was a recorder. (TV: The Two Doctors [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 22 (BBC1, 1985).)

When Jamie met Katarina, he mentioned the Doctor's habit of playing the recorder as proof that the Time Lord was not a god, but the reference was lost on Katarina, as the First Doctor had yet to pick up the habit. (AUDIO: Daughter of the Gods [+]David K Barnes, The Early Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2019).)

Behind the scenes[]

  • In The Masque of Mandragora, the recorder seems to be slightly, but only slightly, different from its original appearance, while it appears to be a completely different prop in Castrovalva.
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