While the TARDIS is quite naturally the Doctor’s favourite form of transport, he occasionally finds himself using other methods during his adventures in space and time.

Ranging from exclusive to public transport, with some designed for the purpose and some disguised to conceal their true nature, this is our CultBox guide to some of the other vehicles traversing both the space lanes and the time vortex…

 

The Titanic from ‘Voyage of the Damned’

Modelled on the famously doomed Atlantic liner, and perhaps owing something in inspiration to a late 90’s Douglas Adams designed computer game, the Titanic was a Starliner that brought a bevy of alien passengers for a Christmas Day visit to Earth.

Unfortunately, it ended up in a nosedive towards the planet and only narrowly avoided hitting London thanks to the actions of the Doctor and his doomed waitress pal Astrid (Kylie Minogue).

Other notable Starliners have included the Alaska, which crashed on the Dalek Asylum planet, and the Terradon bound Starliner from ‘Full Circle’ which was home to Adric’s people.

 

The Nostalgia Tours Bus from ‘Delta and the Bannermen’

Capable of space and time flight, and powered by a Helstrom Fireball engine, this tour bus was heading for Disneyland 1959 but ended up in Shangri-la, a Welsh holiday camp.

With the Doctor wisely not trusting the reputation of the tour company, he was able to save the day when the bus struck an early American satellite. Sadly, this was its final flight as the bus was destroyed by the pesky Bannermen before the end of the story.

 

The Hyperion III from ‘Terror of the Vervoids’

Featuring in the future section of the ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’, where the Sixth Doctor presented evidence in his defence to the charge of transgressing the laws of time, the Hyperion III was a space liner on the route between Mogar and Earth.

Commanded by the Doctor’s old friend Commodore “Tonker” Travers, the ship was the setting for a murder mystery, with the Time Lord turning detective to stop the killings and uncover a new species, the plant based Vervoids.

In ‘Nightmare of Eden’ another space liner, the Empress collided with the Hecate as it emerged from hyperspace, causing the two to become fused together.

 

The Number 200 Bus from ‘Planet of the Dead’

Though not designed for interplanetary travel, this London double decker was transported by wormhole to the desert planet of San Helios with the Doctor on board.

Surviving the journey reasonably intact, it was fitted with anti-gravity clamps for the return journey, making it a handy escape vehicle for Doctor’s new jewel thief pal Lady Christina de Souza, who was evaded the waiting police.

Of course, in the wider Doctor Who universe there is another double-decker of note; the TARDIS-like No. 22 to Putney Common, piloted though the universe by the Doctor’s old friend Iris Wildthyme.

 

The Orient Express from ‘Mummy on the Orient Express’

While not the first to bear the name, the Doctor claimed this to be the only version of the famous Earth railway train to fly through space.

With hyperspace ribbons rather than rails, and distinctly larger proportions than the original, the train became the setting for a last hurrah with Clara and a series of spectral murders by a restless Mummy.

 

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