CLINTON — The extraterrestrial doctor is nowhere to be seen, but his time machine has been spotted in Clinton.
The structure, a blue police-telephone kiosk, is a replica of the one seen in Doctor Who, the BBC science-fiction television series that started in 1963. The kiosk is a TARDIS machine, which stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space.
Jason Hayes, executive director of the Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce, suggested that the prop be constructed to bring attention to chamber members and city events. Hayes said he got the idea from a young woman he knows who is a “big Doctor Who fan.”
“I learned Doctor Who has a pretty big following, and their fans will travel,” he said.
Hayes asked Charles Wilson, street foreman for the Clinton Road Department, to build the TARDIS machine.
Wilson said he was “somewhat familiar” with the fictional structure, and when Hayes said it was featured in Doctor Who, Wilson knew exactly what he meant.
“He was like, ‘Can you build one?’ I said, ‘I can build anything,’” Wilson said. The time machine was built with 1-by-4-inch boards and luan plywood. It’s an 8-foot-tall, 48-square-foot box, Wilson said, and it was painted white first to seal and protect the luan; then it was painted blue.
Wilson said his 11-year-old daughter, Jancey, helped him.
“She helped me screw stuff together,” he said. “She’s pretty slick; she’s like me — she’s an adventurer.”
He said Jancey had never heard of a TARDIS machine.
“She kept asking me what it was; I told her a time machine. We sat down and watched a couple of the shows,” Wilson said of Doctor Who.
Wilson said they worked on the project for about eight weekends.
“It’s a pretty awesome-looking thing,” he said.
Hayes said the time machine was placed in the historic former bus station at U.S. 65-B and Yellowjacket Lane late Sunday night into Monday morning.
“We had quite a bit of selfies taken in the short time we had it out. I would say it is going to be a big hit,” he said.
Camille Murphree and Jenny Dunham, title agents at Cannaday Abstract & Title Co., toured the little building.
“I went in it, and I took pictures,” Murphree said. “I had no idea what that thing is. Jenny had to inform me. I just knew there was a TARDIS on the square, and we walked down and explored it. It’s a pretty cool little building,” she said. “Don’t know where it came from; don’t know how it got there.”
Dunham said she knew what it was.
“I’m not a huge follower of the show, but I knew what it was. I heard rumors about it,” she said. “I think they did a really good job building it. I think it’s a fun way for the community to interact with each other. It reaches out to a demographic that doesn’t get reached out to in a small town.”
“Mom watched [Doctor Who] as a kid, and it’s had a resurgence in the past few years,” Dunham said. “They get a younger doctor every time. The doctor that just finished is in his 30s; the new doctor is a woman. It’s pulling in people from all over the place.”
Dunham said she saw Facebook posts about “things falling from the sky, so to speak,” which was an allusion to the TARDIS. She said she was asked by someone involved with the project to post a message about hearing “like a sonic boom.”
“I was sworn to secrecy,” she said. “It was funny.”
Hayes said the TARDIS will house information about the city and chamber members.
“Basically, every chamber member who has a flyer or brochure, we’ll get it in the TARDIS,” he said. It has a light in it, and shelves will be placed inside the structure, Wilson said.
The time machine was put back in storage until Friday, when Hayes said the plan is to put it in an open field on U.S. 65, north of KFC, “and see if anybody notices it.”
“Hopefully, people will turn around and visit and educate themselves on what else to do in this area,” Hayes said.
Wilson said that could include canoe rentals, the natural bridge, Greers Ferry Lake and more.
He said the chamber may also add geocaches and change them out every couple of months. Participants in geocaching use a GPS or mobile device to hide and find containers, called “geocaches” or “caches,” at specific locations marked by coordinates around the world.
Hayes said the coordinates would be uploaded to a website, and the caches would be hidden in the TARDIS.
The TARDIS won’t stay in the same location, though.
“We’ll move it around. If we have an event coming up, we’ll probably take it to the event,” Hayes said. “We’ll pick and choose places we think need some foot traffic and drive it on social media.”
That probably won’t be a problem. Word of mouth, like time on Doctor Who, travels.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.