Also it should be mentioned (for those that are not aware) that the superficial appearance of the TARDIS being a police box was simply a cloaking device that the TARDIS utilized to blend in with the environment it was in (i.e., the first episode of Dr. Who, the Doctor was in England in the 1960s.) Then after the TARDIS went to its next location, it retained the appearance of a police box (i.e., the cloaking device malfunctioned, or something like that) and that is why Dr. Who travels around in a police box.

Of course, being a kid in the USA when I first saw Dr. Who, I had no idea what a police box was. So anytime I saw a police box (in Dr. Who or not) I would equate the object as being a TARDIS and not a police box.

I think the members of the younger generation in Britain have the same problem, since police boxes have been obsolete over there for some years now.

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Actually I recall one episode where they got the cloaking device "working" again and the Tardis started randoming transforming, appearing as a number of rather unusual items, including an Grand Piano, before getting stuck on Police Box again.

Of course the funniest was when they landed in an art gallery and arrived back as several critics were discussing the "artist's meaning" of the "work." Needless to say the Doctor and his compainion didn't bpther staying for the review which left a pair of rather bemused critics staring at the now empty space.

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Howling from the Shadows

It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. --- JayUtah

You can't reason an irrational person out of an irrational belief. --- Noclevername

Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran

There's an antique shop in Salt Lake City that has a police box for sale, but the price is astronomical; it might as well be a real TARDIS. I don't know if it's original or one of the replicas.

There was speculation in the Star Trek community that Guinan was a Time Lord and her TARDIS was her hat.

As for pepper shakers, the doo-dad that Dr. McCoy waved over his patients -- the remote sensor for the medical tricorder -- was a salt shaker.

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As I recall, they initially got that doo-dad to be a futuristic salt-shaker, but it was so futuristic they were afraid no one would recognize it as such. So it ended up being a medical instrument instead.

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Oddly enough I was in Glasgow on Saturday and saw the blue 'Tardis' Police Box in Buchanan Street. Link.

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LOL

While we're on about pedantry, the Gallifreyan term for the device is "chameleon circuit"

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And I believe it was a pipe organ the TARDIS turned into, not a piano. 8)

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Thanks everyone for the clarification on the police box and its color (colour?). Back when I watched the Doctor we only had a B&W TV, and based on how the thing looked in very low definition, I guessed it was a typical red English phone booth. Now I know better, at least in this dimension.

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Did anyone see the Doctor on the Eurostar last night?

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I saw those guys. That was pretty funny.

What's wrong with a little obsession?

Why is it that I could walk around all day in a basketball jersey that says Yao on the back and nobody would bat an eye, but if I wear a Star Trek jacket I'm suddenly a trekkie loser who can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality? So what if I decorate my car to look like a futuristic space ship and call it a B-wing fighter? This is Houston with the Art Car parade. I regularly see a car decorated like the Space Shuttle for crying out loud. Some guy at NASA fixed up his car with a bit tail fin and painted it black and white and drives it around. I think he's an astronaut. I've seen a jeep decorated as a cow (black and white spots) complete with a pair of horns on the bumper. A little obsession can be fun.

You know, I wouldn't want a model of the enterprise, and the sliding doors are a tad too noisy, but the overall decor on the more recent shows wasn't that bad. Lots of big windows and plants. What's not to like?

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Anyone who believes in the warning of the bible (prophecies concerning the end time which is now) shall be benefited from my invention. Because they won't be stupid enough to pass this! -Alex Chiu

Modern Western society likes having things in neat little packages. Part of that is that some things are considered "children's activities" while others are "adult activities." And, to go with that, the idea that children should be children and adults should be adults.

Sports are considered a thing for (primarily male) adults. "Dress-up" is considered a children's activity.

So, some guy wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, body paint and a clown wig outdoors in freezing temperatures is "normal adult activity" because it's for a sporting event. While dressing up as a character for a TV show is considered childish and thus reviled by most "normal" adults.

It's pretty rediculous, but it's difficult to change society...

No. I consider these guys to be nutcases, too.

Too? I consider them to be the only nutcases who've been mentioned in this discussion.

I think the the point is one of connection to reality. Not many people who wear a Chicago Bulls basketball singlet think of themselves as Micheal Jordan or as a player in the team, however when someone lives, eats and breathes ST, including calling themselves Commander/Lt/Ensign Whoever, then one does have to wonder if they understand where the fictional world ends and the real world begins.

I'd consider it the same if someone walked about every day dressed in a full 49's uniform including the helmet and kept calling the for skrimages.

Dressing insanely for a sports event is similar to dressing insanely for a con. When the event is on it's fine, but carry it past the celebrating and you're getting into the wierdo zone.

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Howling from the Shadows

It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. --- JayUtah

You can't reason an irrational person out of an irrational belief. --- Noclevername

Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran

PhantomWolf, that's an important distinction to make. Is it something you do for fun, or is it a reflection of a lack of demarkation between reality and fantasy?