TARDIS: Space, time and everything in between

Recently, the 13’th reincarnation of the Doctor took place. To the unaware, The Doctor is nothing more than the name of the physician, where-as for the legions of science fiction fans who live and breathe the magic of the scientifically possible, this name is the one that started it all.
The year was 1962 and the venue : the office’s of the BBC. A really tenacious young producer from Canada had green lighted a science fiction project that had been given a shell life of 10 episodes and it was thrust upon the inexperienced shoulders of Variety Lambert to deliver the goods – to produce a science fiction story that was going to educate the children on History and Science. It was a struggle and a climb up a hill, for she had been cast aside from the initial days of the shoot. It was common knowledge that no one really expected her to produce anything. She, however, decided to reach into her magic hat and produce a tv show that has stood the test of time. The show hit tv screens across the world one day after the President, John.F.Kennedy, was assassinated and the magic weaver C.S.Lewis bid farewell to the earthly plane. Owing to this the show was re-telecast a week later and the high ratings that the show achieved during its initial week never let go as the show coasted into the 21’st century.
The story of Doctor Who follows a humanoid from the planet Gallifrey who runs away from his home planet with his grand daughter  (who eventually gets absorbed into the human civilization ). He steals a TARDIS ( Time And Relative Dimension In Space ) the Gallifreyan equivalent for a Time-Machine/Space ship. The TARDIS works by weaving through the fabric of time that can bend according to the fancies of the Time-Lords. The TimeLords are the denizens of the planet of Gallifrey, an ancient race that has taken upon itself to preserve the sanctity of space and time, The Doctor fed with up the rigid rules of his home planet manages to run away and start an adventure that will span 4 decades. The TARDIS is set to mimic the surroundings and the TARDIS of the doctor gets permanently stuck as a police phone box, making it one of the many icons that will drive any whovian bonkers.
The doctor continues to live for 2000 years ( and counting ) by periodically rejuvenating himself, by undergoing a process called as ‘Regeneration’ ( The original authors weren’t really a clever bunch ) but this allowed for the show to continue forever uninterrupted; with new actors being brought in every few seasons to keep the audience interested, each of the new actors played to a particular side of the Doctor, some were fun loving; others serious, and there were actors who were a mix of the two and all this helped to create the living legend of the man who would walk till the end of the universe to save the people he loves, the savior of the human race since before it was a race.
The Doctor is usually helped along in his adventures by a human who usually stumbles into his path and he decides to take them on an adventure of a life time, much like winning the lottery all of a sudden, only that the winner of this lottery will be able to travel across every thing that ever was, that ever is or anything that ever will be, all of time and space opened for them, only a thug away. These companions of the doctor help out in finding himself every time he gets lost within himself and occasionally saving the entire universe as well and then in the rarest of cases that will split the entire fandom down the middle the doctor will fall in love with one of the companions and marry her, in an alternate universe.
The enemies that the Doctor face all want the same thing – to enslave every sentient creature in the universe. The doctor is very much a warrior as he is a healer. It is a long running commentary within the series that the human meaning of doctor was actually derived from the name of the Time Lord and that his real name teems with power, A clear play on the power that languages have on modern society. The show has grown in part thanks to the unique villains that the doctor encounters. Cybermen, Daleks, The Santaurans, the occasional deranged human and of course the electron to his proton : the Master, also a Time Lord who is filled with ideas of conquest who has been raised with the sole purpose of waging war against the enemies of Gallifrey.
This show talks about the human-ness in everything around the Universe. In a time when the average human feels that all is lost, at a time when every thing seems to be heading to the same inevitable conclusion; it is heartening to know that there are men and women in this world who can instill hope by creating a show that scream into your face that – you are a part of this universe and that you matter.
So what are you waiting for you, Get on board for a journey that will change your world.

Akhil Vasudev

Human.

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