Thetelepathic circuitry, (AUDIO:The Wrong Doctors^[+]Loading...["The Wrong Doctors (audio story)"]) usually referred astelepathic circuits (TV:The Time Monster^[+]Loading...["The Time Monster (TV story)"] onwards) ortelepathic induction circuits, (PROSE:State of Change^[+]Loading...["State of Change (novel)"],Shadowmind^[+]Loading...["Shadowmind (novel)"]) was aTARDIS component with multiple functions.

Communication[[edit] |[edit source]]

The telepathic circuits could be used to send messages telepathically to other people. TheThird Doctor once used them to send theTime Lords a message aboutthe Master's alliance with theDaleks when both sides tried to trigger a war betweenEarth andDraconia. (TV:Frontier in Space^[+]Loading...["Frontier in Space (TV story)"],Planet of the Daleks^[+]Loading...["Planet of the Daleks (TV story)"]) WhenCharlie Francis was turned into a telepath with telekinetic abilities after he was paralysed in an accident, he was able to use his abilities to communicate withJo Grant by projecting himself into the Monk's TARDIS via its telepathic circuits. (AUDIO:The Rise of the New Humans^[+]Loading...["The Rise of the New Humans (audio story)"]) the Matrix ofthe Doctor's TARDIS, while possesingIdris used this function to leadRory to an archived TARDIS control room, letting him drop the shields and allow theJunk TARDIS to land inside the archived room. (TV:The Doctor's Wife^[+]Loading...["The Doctor's Wife (TV story)"]) It was also somehow connected to the Doctor's use of theTARDIS phone, and could be accessed externally by powerful beings such asthe Beast. (COMIC:The Beast Is Back In Town^[+]Loading...["The Beast Is Back In Town (comic story)"])

Translation[[edit] |[edit source]]

Main article:Translation circuit

Additionally, this element of the TARDIS systems allowed its occupants to understand and speak languages other than their own. The TARDIS'spilot seemed to be an integral part of the telepathic circuits; if the Time Lord were unconscious or severely injured, the translation effect might not work correctly. (TV:The Christmas Invasion^[+]Loading...["The Christmas Invasion (TV story)"])

While the Doctor's companions heard and spoke their native languages and did not perceive the translation effect, the Doctor himself was aware of the translation and whatever local language was being spoken. (TV:The Fires of Pompeii^[+]Loading...["The Fires of Pompeii (TV story)"],The Girl in the Fireplace^[+]Loading...["The Girl in the Fireplace (TV story)"])

Should someone benefiting from the translation effect attempt to override it and deliberately speak the local language, it came across to the locals as garbled. It also seemed the listener (at least on Earth) heard something similar to the language of the speaker's native culture in that time period. (TV:The Fires of Pompeii^[+]Loading...["The Fires of Pompeii (TV story)"])

The translation circuits translated writing as well as speech. (TV:The Fires of Pompeii^[+]Loading...["The Fires of Pompeii (TV story)"],A Good Man Goes to War^[+]Loading...["A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)"]) They did not work on languages that the Time Lords themselves don't know, suggesting it acted like a translator for a vast number of languages. (TV:Four to Doomsday^[+]Loading...["Four to Doomsday (TV story)"],The Impossible Planet^[+]Loading...["The Impossible Planet (TV story)"]) The translation circuits could translate all text in an area to show one specific message, as when the TARDIS translated all text onShan Shen to "Bad Wolf". (TV:Turn Left^[+]Loading...["Turn Left (TV story)"])

Memory[[edit] |[edit source]]

Navigation[[edit] |[edit source]]

Immediately after apsychic attack on the TARDIS, theFifth Doctor used the telepathic circuits to pinpoint the source of the attack and findAdric, who had been kidnapped during the attack. Using the circuits took the Doctor,Nyssa andTegan toZaltys. (AUDIO:Zaltys^[+]Loading...["Zaltys (audio story)"])

TheEleventh Doctor used the circuits to pinpoint the saddest memory inAmy's life. Even if the memory seemed too ridiculous to be her saddest memory, Amy was encouraged by the Doctor to replace theice cream she lost in1994 to make her past self happy. (HOMEVID:Good Night^[+]Loading...["Good Night (home video)"]) The Eleventh Doctor linkedClara Oswald to the circuitry in order to retrieve from her mind the visual coordinates ofTrenzalore. (TV:The Name of the Doctor^[+]Loading...["The Name of the Doctor (TV story)"])

TheTwelfth Doctor, trying to find out what the creature that he believed followed him was, hooked Clara up to the telepathic circuits, taking the form of a gel-like substance she could put her hands in and used them to extrapolate her timeline from birth to death. By focusing on a moment in her past, she could then effectively control the TARDIS to visit it. As Clara got distracted by a phone call fromDanny Pink, she inadvertently took them into his past instead of hers. Later, the Doctor used a trace left in the circuits to try again while Clara wasn't there and metOrson Pink, someone from about a century into Clara's future trapped at the end of the universe. When the Doctor was knocked out and they seemed to be under threat, Clara tried to use the telepathic circuits to fly them to safety once more. Clara succeeded in flying the TARDIS in this manner, but, due to her focusing on the Doctor, it took them far into the Doctor's past to when theFirst Doctor was a boy. (TV:Listen^[+]Loading...["Listen (TV story)"])

After the loss ofDanny Pink, the Twelfth Doctor invited Clara to link again to the circuits, question about the location of her lover, in order to retrieve him. They were brought to3W, an organisation led byMissy. Indeed, theconsciousness of Danny was trapped there, in theNethersphere. (TV:Dark Water^[+]Loading...["Dark Water (TV story)"])

Clara Oswald managed to use on her own the telepathic circuits to drive the TARDIS to a specific fixed point in time. (COMIC:Four Doctors^[+]Loading...["Four Doctors (comic story)"])

Grant used the telepathic circuits in conjuction with theHazandra to help the Doctor find the othergemstones. (COMIC:Ghost Stories^[+]Loading...["Ghost Stories (comic story)"])

TheThirteenth Doctor used the telepathic circuits to focus on awatch thatYaz received fromher grandmother. The TARDIS thus took the Doctor and her companions to the day before her grandmother received the watch during her firstwedding. The telepathic circuit took the form of a knob, due to the steampunk-ish controls of the console. (TV:Demons of the Punjab^[+]Loading...["Demons of the Punjab (TV story)"]) The telepathic circuits could be extended from the console via a cord. (TV:The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos^[+]Loading...["The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (TV story)"])

Other functions and effects[[edit] |[edit source]]

While recovering fromregenerative collapse within his TARDIS, theSixth Doctor used the TARDIS's telepathic circuits, combined with his ownsymbiotic nuclei, to construct asynaptic interface. (AUDIO:Piece of Mind^[+]Loading...["Piece of Mind (audio story)"])

In analternate future, the circuits of a dying Doctor's TARDIS awakened in Clara Oswald's mind the memories from an aborted timeline. (TV:The Name of the Doctor^[+]Loading...["The Name of the Doctor (TV story)"])

The telepathic circuits could also be used to alter minds in other ways. TheSeventh Doctor usedhis TARDIS's telepathic circuits to erase some of his useless memories, accidentally erasingAce's memory as well. Soon after, the Doctor used the circuits to bring forth the personality of histhird incarnation when he had to disarm acobalt bomb and was uncertain of his present self's expertise in handling a delicate piece of machinery. (PROSE:Timewyrm: Genesys^[+]Loading...["Timewyrm: Genesys (novel)"]) When the Seventh Doctor restored Ace's memories to her, he accidentally gave her some ofMelanie Bush's also, allowing her to rememberParadise Towers. (PROSE:Timewyrm: Revelation^[+]Loading...["Timewyrm: Revelation (novel)"]) On another occasion, the Seventh Doctor transferred his entire conscious mind into the TARDIS telepathic circuits, erasing his own memories while protecting his mind from a telepathic assault that was trying to provoke him into killing Ace. This left him an amnesiac until he made contact with the circuit again, restoring his memory while using the circuit as a "barrier" to preventthe Valeyard from attacking him again. (PROSE:Matrix^[+]Loading...["Matrix (novel)"])

When the Eleventh Doctor became trapped outside time after he was forced to make a trip in aType 1 TARDIS, he attempted to guide the ship back to reality by linking himself to its telepathic circuits when the conventional controls were unresponsive, but the TARDIS reacted by trying to unleash anti-time energies across the universe, only able to perceive the evil that the Doctor had witnessed in his travels despite his efforts to focus on other details. The first nine Doctors also became trapped in the rift as it created greater distortions in reality, but eventually the Eighth Doctor was able to escape and alert the Ninth, Tenth and Twelfth Doctors to what was happening. Once these three Doctors made contact with the Eleventh, they were able to help their other selves link their TARDISes' telepathic circuits to the Type 1's, convincing the Type 1 to end its efforts to destroy the universe. (COMIC:The Lost Dimension^[+]Loading...["The Lost Dimension (comic story)"])

In the opening stages of theLast Great Time War, the Daleks seized control of aBattle TARDIS and used it to drain power from theEye of Harmony. Unable to remotely take control of the ship via technological means, the Time Lords, onSusan Foreman's advice, sought the aid of theSensorites who used their telepathic circuits to trigger the stolen TARDIS'sself-destruct via its telepathic circuits. (AUDIO:Sphere of Influence^[+]Loading...["Sphere of Influence (audio story)"])

Behind the scenes[[edit] |[edit source]]

References in invalid sources[[edit] |[edit source]]

Christel Dee mentioning that she 'really shouldn't have poked those telepathic circuits'. (WC:Doctor Who Minecraft)

Whenthe TARDIS was crashing,Christel Dee mentioned that she 'really shouldn't have poked those telepathic circuits'. (WC:Doctor Who Minecraft)