“To the Northeast you spot a police box.”— In-game description
Unusual Call Box is a special encounter in Fallout.
Overview[]
When the Vault Dweller enters the map, all that can be seen (beyond the usual desert dust) is a large blue police call box. When the Vault Dweller approaches this unusually-located object, the light on top starts spinning, and the box slowly vanishes into thin air with a whooshing sound, leaving behind only a motion sensor.
Behind the scenes[]
- This encounter is a reference to the British sci-fi show Doctor Who, and the blue box is the Doctor's time travel machine, the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space), which is bigger on the inside.
- The white panel, indicating the front of the machine and in the show read "Pull to Open," is incorrectly on the right side of the box as opposed to the left, which did happen on Doctor Who between 1966 and 1968. Additionally, the sound the TARDIS makes while vanishing is quite different from the distinctive sound effect the show uses.
- Police call boxes were a common sight on the island of Great Britain. This style of police box designed by Gilbert Mackenzie Trench in 1929, but often associated with the mid 20th century (although some in use until the 1990s). They were useful in an era before mobile telephones were available widely adopted by the public and before hand held radios were available for police officers on patrol. Nearly all were blue, but in Glasgow it was common for them to be red. Many of those that remain are heritage listed and can be found still in some UK cities (albeit deactivated or converted to other uses).[citation needed]
Gallery[]
