Everyone knows that I am a long term (35 yrs) fan of the BBC TV sci-fi show `Doctor Who’ – where a Time Lord called The Doctor steals a time ship called the TARDIS and runs away from his home plant / people..(Gallifrey /Time Lords). I started watching it back in Sri Lanka, when i was very little.. probably about 10 yrs of age.. And it was Jon Pertwee as The Doctor, battling strange wax dummies and even stranger alien in armor (Spearhead from Space & Time Warrior). At the time I was totally unaware of who the Doctor was..(pardon the pun).. or anything about his time ship.. I just saw a few scary stories.
It was when i was back in UK in 1985, that I picked up the thread again…to see Colin Baker as The Doctor in Trial of a Time Lord – where he was being tried for all his crimes of interfering on the affairs of other planets and people.. It was a stitch-up of course by the darker side of himself in another guise (The Valeyard) .
Stories? No…my life has reflected many of these aspects too.. I was a little refugee boy aged 15, fleeing from my native land, fearing persecution, coming to UK and settling here as an alien (much like Jon Pertwee’s Doctor did in England in `Spearhead from space’). I went on to do a B.Sc Physics degree. And in the past 20 years I’ve gotten into all sorts of scrapes with all sorts of work, esoteric and eco communities – fighting for what I feel is right, and getting support often but also vilifications at other times..
About 5 years ago I finally bit the bullet, and started filming my own Doctor Who fan video stories.. ‘cos well I had always wanted to make my own films.. and now I could, what with digital cameras, affordable editing softwares, and good old youtube and social media to screen my videos.. Oh and friends who are so loyal that they’ll (reluctantly at times) agree to star in my videos! Currently we are on our fan series#2, where we are telling the story of an ancient Time Lord called Lucifer who has fallen to Earth and has no mind or memory of his own. (sounds familiar on both personal and mythological grounds ..right?) . I also now have my own DrWho London meetup.
So when Prince Charles (next in line to be King of Great Britain! He is a radical and an environmentalist too), visited the BBC’s Doctor Who sets and they released some pictures, I was quite titillated. And few days ago when a fan group I am in had a little caption competition with Prince Charles weilding a sonic screwdriver.. I could not resist doing a full on magazine cover with him.
Prince Charles takes my fancy – in a admiration sort of way. He has been a rebel of the Royal Family for so long.. divorcing his wife Diana, marrying for love, putting his royal paws over issues that royals were supposed to stay impartial at, growing his own vegetables, speaking out about architecture of the past, being an avid environmentalist and all that. And so `Who’ knows, with a TARDIS at his disposal, he might make a bigger difference – that where he is now…forever on tow behind his mum HRM The Queen.. who really should have stepped down by now and let Charles be King.
So this special blog post goes in honour of Prince Charles – The Doctor!
-Mani Navasothy
Gallery of Charles at Doctor WHo studios (taken from google – no copyright breach intended)
Mani’s own Doctor Who link
Mani’s Doctor Who London UK Fan films (youtube channel)
meetup London Doctor Whovians
facebook page Doctor Who London
WP blog Doctor who London
QuantumPhoenix 