In commemoration of tonight's U.S. broadcast of the Series One finale of Doctor Who, today we have Who Shop International's TARDIS key pendant--which, should you buy it, brings with it a certificate of authencity.  That means, I guess, you're guaranteed to have no problem getting into a TARDIS should you ever come across one.

What does this have to do with the Blingdom of God?

Glad you asked!

The key pictured above first appeared (sans the fractal origami & network images printed on the sides) in the serial Planet of the Spiders, in which the Third Doctor, John Pertwee, regenerated into the Fourth.  While previous regenerations had been tacked onto the end of a mostly unrelated adventure, the director of Planet used it to present Buddhist teachings on death and life.

Really.  The director, Barry Letts, himself a Buddhist, set the adventure in a Buddhist monastery presided over by a monk who, like the Doctor, was a Time Lord, albeit one who left the Planet Gallifrey to explore the inner worlds of the soul.  The monk counsels our Doctor on the need to face his fear and to accept that true life can come only from total self-negation.  It is no coincidence, it seems, that this examination of the spiritual key to life is the first in which the audience sees the physical key to Time And Relative Dimension in Space.

Thirty years later, Barry Letts is still using Doctor Who as a medium for spiritual themes--here, for instance, is a link The Tao Connection, a recent audio adventure of everyone's favorite Doctor companion, Sarah Jane Smith.

ERUDITION EXTRA:

The good folks at Oxford English Dictionary recognize "Tardis" as a real word, along with "Jedi" and "Klingon."

BELOW THE FOLD EXTRA:

Origami is also used as a metaphor for the nature of time in Grant Morrison's Invisibles.

BAD JOKE EXTRA:

Q:  Why do all the aliens on Doctor Who speak with a British accent?

A:  Because the suns never set on the British empire!