Dear Johnny Fanboy,

In the 2006 Doctor Who episode The Impossible Planet (which I've been watching again on DVD), an entire section of the Sanctuary Base collapses, causing the TARDIS to fall down a crevasse into the heart of the planet, apparently stranding the Doctor and Rose.

However, when the Doctor finds the TARDIS in the pit in the next episode, The Satan Pit, there is no sign of debris from the base, which should have fallen down there with it. In any case, as the pit was until recently closed, there is no way that the TARDIS could have ended up down there.

Joy Brady

Johnny Fanboy replies:

Well, it is an impossible planet, after all!

Seriously, though, it's possible that the TARDIS was carried down a narrow shaft branching off from the crevasse - an access point that was either hitherto unknown or didn't exist prior to the shockwave.

More likely, the HADS (Hostile Action Displacement System - as seen in The Krotons) was activated. This system enables the TARDIS to react to external threats and dangerous local conditions by dematerialising and relocating to a safer site nearby. This would also explain the ship's upright position and the lack of wreckage from storage bays 5-8 of the base. As an intelligent and four-dimensional entity, the TARDIS might even have chosen its landing spot, to help the Doctor out of a devil of a stew.

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