Visitors to the Big Bend region are familiar with roadside art projects popping up, like the trio of miniature faux stores: Prada Marfa, Buc-ee’s Sanderson, and the now-defunct Target Marathon. But before the New Year, they were less familiar with one honoring a British TV show that debuted more than 60 years ago.
Last month, photographer Robert Miller was driving along State Highway 118 when he came across an unexpected structure standing in the open terrain. He snapped a photo of a 10-foot-tall police box, which is know by fans of BBC’s Doctor Who as a TARDIS, and posted it on Facebook. In the show, a TARDIS, which stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space, is a sentient, space-and-time-traveling spaceship. Miller’s image quickly provoked a reaction and was picked up by News West 9.
“It’s amazing how it’s taken off,” Cristina Wood says. “I never thought that would happen.”
Wood is the proprietor of Box 118 campground, located about 25 miles north of Terlingua, and where the Big Bend TARDIS greets visitors. She built it out of plywood with her husband to serve as a landmark for van lifers and self-contained campers looking for a place to camp near Big Bend National Park. Wood’s family used to frequently watch the long-running TV show, and she’d joke that one day they would build their version of the fictional time machine and spacecraft.
“I think that it’s a whimsical and magical place out here,” Wood says. “It needed one.”
They finally found themselves with the time to build it late last year. During the seven days of construction, a few neighbors and a Brewster County sheriff’s deputy stopped by to inquire about the project.
“There was a lady who stopped while we were building and she asked if we were building a TARDIS,” Wood says. “When we said ‘yes,’ she was so happy.”
The installation stands along the fence line with a backdrop of the Red Bluff and Nine Point Mesa mountains, the bright blue paint providing a stark contrast to the earthly palette that defines Far West Texas, especially during the golden hour. At night, the TARDIS glows thanks to the solar-powered lights inside and atop the structure. While there is a door sign that includes “Free for Use of Public” and “Pull to Open,” the police box is actually sealed shut. Wood says the TARDIS will keep evolving, with plans to add a QR code to book a site at Box 118 and a link to their online store, but she kindly requests that people don’t add anything to it themselves.
There wasn’t much fanfare when the installation was completed. In fact, Wood wanted to keep the TARDIS mysterious, as if it simply appeared out of thin air (She did create an Instagram account for it at @terlinguatardis118). But in an isolated area like Far West Texas, something like this is hard to ignore. She didn’t know Miller’s photo of the Tardis made the news until a friend shared it with her.
Even though the Big Bend TARDIS has only been up for two months, she says the experience has been a bit of a whirlwind.
“It’s taken me by surprise,” Wood says, “but it’s fun.”
