Can a TARDIS imitate a vehicles function?

[senko]

I was watching the traffic go by and it got me thinking can a TARDIS imitate a vehicles function. That is take the form of a spaceship and fly like a normal one. Sure you could rely on the hover function or perception filter for a parked ship. Lets say though its an advanced society which tracks ships in and outbound so a timelord wants them to see them coming or going "Shuttle X your payments cleared and your free to depart. Engage FTL then enter the vortex once they're convinced you've flown away as a normal ship would.

[daemos]

Colony In Space - The Master's TARDIS is disguised as an Adjudicator's spaceship.

[Catsmate]

Oct 31, 2019 9:24:52 GMT daemos said:

Colony In Space - The Master's TARDIS is disguised as an Adjudicator's spaceship.

That was my first thought. Didn't the Master disguise it as a car during one of the UNIT stories? In his first appearance it camouflaged itself as a caravan/mobile home, though I don't remember if it moved in that form. His Melkur form TARDIS could walk around.

Certainly in the EU a TARIDIS can act as a vehicle.

[Stormcrow]

It was a horsebox in Terror of the Autons, but I don't recall it moving on camera or containing horses, but it does appear that the Master parked it between scenes.

[senko]

I remember the spaceship and caravan too but I couldn't recall if they moved normally for what they are. That is did the spaceship imitation fly like a spaceship or like a hovering TARDIS, did he drive the caravan or teleport with it. Could have had his adjudicators spaceship go FTL like that type of spaceship would or would he need to dematerialise/rematerialise to get where he's going?

[Catsmate]

Oct 31, 2019 19:43:53 GMT senko said:

I remember the spaceship and caravan too but I couldn't recall if they moved normally for what they are. That is did the spaceship imitation fly like a spaceship or like a hovering TARDIS, did he drive the caravan or teleport with it. Could have had his adjudicators spaceship go FTL like that type of spaceship would or would he need to dematerialise/rematerialise to get where he's going?

From the script archive:

There is a sound overhead. They up look out of a hole in the wall.
ASHE: It must be the Adjudicator.
The aircraft flies to an open area, then hovers before tilting its nose up to the sky and landing.

From the novelisation:
...the thunderclap roar of a spaceship in flight. Instinctively, they both looked up. Racing across the morning sky was a spaceship similar to the IMC one but much smaller. It was coloured a brilliant scarlet. 

So it would seem to be a fully functional disguise.

[senko]

Hmmmm interesting so the hover function we see the doctor use is probbaly for forms that shouldn't fly like a phonebox but a working chameleon circuit creates a working object. I can use this thanks.

[Stormcrow]

I have no doubt that the Master could make his TARDIS hover even when it is shaped like a horsebox. That would blow the disguise. A TARDIS isn't generally intended to hover or fly, but they can be made to do so.

[Catsmate]

Nov 1, 2019 13:57:16 GMT Stormcrow said:

I have no doubt that the Master could make his TARDIS hover even when it is shaped like a horsebox. That would blow the disguise. A TARDIS isn't generally intended to hover or fly, but they can be made to do so.

Doctor⁵ did it in The Visitation.

[senko]

Nov 1, 2019 13:57:16 GMT Stormcrow said:

I have no doubt that the Master could make his TARDIS hover even when it is shaped like a horsebox. That would blow the disguise. A TARDIS isn't generally intended to hover or fly, but they can be made to do so.

Oh I know you can make it hover when its not intended to I was wondering if it imitated a vehicle would it work like that vehicle e.g. could you drive the horsebox around or would the wheels refuse to turn for example. Then again I vaguely recall the doctors could be played when it was a pipe organ now that I think about it.

[Catsmate]

Talking this over with my gaming group a couple of points came up.
Is there a limit on the size of the assumed shape? Perhaps after a while it reverts bad (as in A Device of Death).
Can a TARDIS disguise have working weapons? Could a tank fire actual shells?

[senko]

I don't think there's a size limit based on what I've seen and I'd imagine it could have working weapons given the bow ships fired giant stakes at vampires and the war tardis's had a range of them.

[Stormcrow]

Nov 3, 2019 11:16:34 GMT senko said:

I don't think there's a size limit based on what I've seen and I'd imagine it could have working weapons given the bow ships fired giant stakes at vampires and the war tardis's had a range of them.

I also don't think there's a size limit. The whole point of the physical configuration of a TARDIS is to mess around with its dimensions, and the thing is powered by a black hole. I think, however, that I'd balk at a player trying to disguise their TARDIS as a planet or large asteroid. We've seen the energy limitations of a TARDIS; those sizes seem to go way beyond them. I'd say a large building at the absolute outside would be acceptable, and of course it would be impossible to disguise from the locals.

I don't think we've ever seen any evidence on screen that bow ships were TARDISes. War TARDISes do not appear and are not mentioned on screen as far as I know.

[misterharry]

In the novels, the Doctor once materialised the TARDIS around the entire planet Earth - but that's different from configuring the external shell to be the size of a planet.

Also in the novels, the Time Lords did indeed construct ships the size of planets. But they would have been purpose built, not standard TARDISes.