Tag Archives: BBC

Art & Craft, Doctor Who, Personal, science fiction, Television

TARDIS Tales: K9 and me.. many X’masses ago

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DrWho: K9 robotic dog - full scale model - made by Mani
DrWho: K9 robotic dog – full scale model – made by Mani

I am a big Doctor Who fan..  and have been since I landed on the shores of UK back in 1985, and started reading the old Target novels, and watching Trial of a Time Lord (Collin Baker…6th Doctor final season in 1986).  Doctor Who is the BBC TV’s science fiction drama series, that has been going on now for 49 years (50 years in 2013!!) and charts the the adventures of a Time Lord who travels in Time & Space in an old London Police Box – ie his time machine disguised (TARDIS – Time and Relative Dimensions in Space).

My K9 & incomplete TARDIS in the garden
My K9 & incomplete TARDIS in the garden

And it has – next to Star Trek & Blakes-7 – been the biggest TV sci-fi series to make the biggest impact in my life..  inspirations, motivations, and at times, even solace. Oh yes! How? well, all that in blogs to come..  (Why you ask? well, it’s my blog  and I can talk about my life.. any and all facets of it 🙂  Go on start your own blog, and talk about anything you like..   !)

So to kick off my Doctor Whovian blogs, I’m  starting with K9 and me  (am not making that word up at all..  In fan circles and even in published magazines, `Whovian’ is a real word that’s used!!)..

Few years ago, I started doing special Christmas projects – based on Doctor Who…just for my own fun..  making art & craft stuff.  K9 – the robot dog that Tom Baker’s 4th Doctor had for quite a while (from the `Invisible Enemy’ story on wards) was my first `big’ Doctor Who project.

I’ll dig out the actual `making of K9′ photos another time (it’s in an external drive..)  but here’s the finished item..   (with  a part of the TARDIS door that I started to make behind)…and a photo of me sitting on K9   (it’s a wood & hardboard full scale model..that can take my full weight. I posed this way as I recall Peter Davison (5th Doctor) being seated on k9 in a publicity photo for the 20th anniversary special `Doctor Who: Five Doctors’.  So I figured if I can’t build a motorised model, it should at least be strong enough to support my weight. (and no reason why I can’t motorise it one day).

In fact,one of these days – I may take `my’ K9 out for a walk around London…yes, in the real trains & tubes..  (I can just lift `him’ into buses and trains 🙂

Mani seated on K9
Me (Mani) seated on my K9 (4-5 years ago)

So anyway,

I’ve lost touch with fellow Whovians..   and would welcome contact from you all.   `Who’ knows..  perhaps to build a few Daleks..  complete a TARDIS… make a few short videos ….just for fun  (plenty of woods and historic sites about in London.. )

-Mani Navasothy

Link

Trial of a Time Lord: Kangaroo Court & me

Sonic screw drive too far?

Ultra sound : Mouse repellent to Muscle warmer

Personal, Psychology, Society, Television

Robin Hood & Roj Blake- Rebels against The Sheriff & The Federation

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Question: What do the Following things have in common?

  • Robin Hood
  • Roj Blake (of TV prog Blake’s 7)
  • Doctor Who
Robin Hood, Roj Blake & the Rebel Time Lord.. with a guest appearance from Mani

 

Have you figured out the link yet?

Oh come on..  it’s obvious, right?  No..no..I am not the link..(well, I suppose I could be..)

But really,  they are all mythical or TV characters that are rebels, challenging the norm, attacking atrocities, fighting intergalactic injustices, protecting the innocent, defending the weak!

Robin Hood is said to have fought the Sheriff of Nottingham (a nasty power indulging feudal Lord), and Rob stole from the rich and gave it to the poor. He lived in the Sherwood Forest with his band of loyal rebels!

The Doctor – tv character from the BBC (and one about to celebrate 50th anniversary in 2013) is a rebellious Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, who stole a time machine that was ready to be scraped…an old type-40 TRADIS, and ran away from his people…to roam time & space. The Dotor has `always fought evil, where ever he has come across it..’

Roj Blake – another tv character from BBC (Blake’s 7).  Blake was a political idealist, who was arrested, put on trial by the government (The Federation) and brain washed to be a model citizen. The Federation thought bu showing him this way, they’ll destroy the morale of the rebel movement, who fought for freedom.  But Blake’s memories re-surfaced, and he escaped in an alien spaceship nicknamed `The Liberator’, and with a band of (initially reluctant) oulaws, started fighting The Federation.  Their ship’s computer was called `Zen’ and they also had a super intelligent small computer (their equivalent of a laptop I guess) called `Orac’  (short for Oracle!).   Blake was killed by one of his own men…but it was a tragedy of misunderstandings, set up by the Federation machinery!

and then we have…me!

Mani Navasothy – Following the racial riots  in Sri Lanka where my Tamil people were getting killed in thousands by the corrupt government army, I came to UK as a refugee and started again at the age of 15. I have dodged army trucks & tanks in streets, been out on a refugee ship in sea for 3 days (going from Colombo to Jaffna), and survived a midnight attack on our train.   And here in England, as an empowered pagan and a rebel, I am outspoken, challenge whatever system that oppresses people and just keep going..  (started Hern’s Tribe as a rebellious outdoor group for rejects from other pagan groups!)  I have served as an elected Union Officer for 2 years full time in the Home Office, years ago, and fought many civil servants’ cases of bullying and harassment by managers.  In the end, it was a fellow Union rep who bullied & attacked me,and that led to …well..that’s another big story for another blog 🙂

-Mani Navasothy