THE LUPARI

One of the few good things to come out of this last season of ‘Doctor Who’ (“Flux”) was the introduction of the Lupari, a sentient canine race who, for some ancient reason, was responsible for Mankind.  Each individual Lupar(?) served as a guardian for a specific human on Earth; sort of like doggie guardian angels.

From the Tardis Data Core Wiki:
The Lupari, singular Lupar, were a humanoid race that resembled Earth dogs. They were warriors with a great sense of honour.

They were species-bonded with humanity, meaning each human had a Lupar tasked to protect them. On Halloween 2021, seven billion Lupari ships approached Earth to protect it from the Flux, (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse) creating an event the humans dubbed the "Three Minute Eclipse."

However, they unknowingly allowed the Sontarans, who came to Earth before the shield took effect, to take over the Earth and blamed fellow Lupar Karvanista for proposing the idea, however he blowed all Sontaran ships and solved the problem (TV: War of the Sontarans), they continued to protect humanity from the Flux and its consequences until the Sontarans attacked Earth again and attacked and threw all the Lupari into space, appropriating the shield for themselves and leaving Karvanista as the last surviving member of the Lupari. (TV: The Vanquishers)

I don’t know how they accomplished this from the distance of space, and why haven’t they ever stepped in to prevent murders or casualties during war or traffic accidents?  Where were they during the Holocaust? The collapse of the World Trade Center?  That recent tornado event which swept through six states?

What happens when their human charges do die?  Do they get reassigned to a new human?

At any rate, I was curious about their species’ name, and if – behind the scenes – there was a reason why it was chosen.

This is what I found:

lupārī
present active infinitive of lupor

lupārī
(in earlier Latin) genitive singular of lupārius

vocative singular of lupārius

lupārius m (genitive lupāriī or lupārī); second declension

(Classical Latin) a wolf-hunter
(Medieval Latin) a wolfhound

Lupor
From lupa (“she-wolf”), in the sense of prostitute.
lupor (present infinitive lupārī, perfect active lupātus sum); first conjugation, deponent
I associate with prostitutes

Lupa
The feminine version of lupus. The sense “prostitute” is either a comparison of the prostitutes' predation on men to the wolf's rapacity, as also in Isidore's (often fanciful) opinion, or a reference to the she-wolf's uncleanliness and promiscuity (often culturally conflated), paralleled in English bitch.

I guess that serves as a philological in-joke.

AGREED

 

FROM LIPS TO EYEBROWS

 

O'BSERVATIONS ON FUTURE CASTING

 

I would like a spate of older actors as the Doctor before reverting to that youth movement again.  But when he gets older, I would like to see Tom take a swing at it.

But not Benedict.  I want to see him as the Master!

THE JOKER GOES FOURTH

 

I can see the artist finding inspiration in the visage of Tom Baker.  As a "writer" myself, I find inspiration everywhere, even in this old lady who rides my bus.

SHOW US YOUR PSYCHIC PAPERS, OLD MAN!

 

THE DOCTOR SAVES THE DAY

 

SAINT WHO 2 - "DOCTOR WHO" ACTORS AS SEEN IN "THE SAINT"

 

Here's another actor from 'The Saint' who showed up in 'Doctor Who'....

George Pravda played three roles in 'Doctor Who':

• Denes in "Enemy of the World"
• Jaeger in "The Mutants"
• Castellan Spandrell in "The Deadly Assassin"

(That last one is my personal favorite of the three.)

Meanwhile, Pravda matched that tally with his appearances in 'The Saint':

• Clinton Uckrose in "The Effete Angler"
• Inspector Glessen in "The Rhine Maiden"
• Uhrmeister in "The Helpful Pirate" (which also featured Anneke Wills)

From the IMDb:
George Pravda was born on June 19, 1918 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Prague, Czech Republic] as Jirí Pravda.  He acted on stage with the Prague Realistic Theatre Company under the name Jiri Pravda.  

By using false papers, he managed to escape from the Soviet bloc after World War II. Made his way to Australia, via France, acting on stage. Through Dame Sybil Thorndike obtained a letter of introduction to Hugh Beaumont and John Gielgud, enabling his move to England in 1956. Appeared in London at the West End and had a successful television career playing assorted Eastern and Central Europeans, with a strong line in spies, sneaks and scientists.

He was an actor, known for Thunderball (1965), Firefox (1982) and The Man in the Mirror (1966). He was married to Hana Maria Pravda. He died on April 30, 1985 in London, England.

SAINT WHO 1 - ACTORS FROM "DOCTOR WHO" & "THE SAINT"

 
A great TV series for seeing actors who also appeared in the classic run of 'Doctor Who' was 'The Saint'.  I'll be sharing a few of those through this blog-a-thon.

First up: Anneke Willis, who played Polly, one of the Companions of the Doctor....

She is seen here in the episode "The Helpful Pirate" as Fran Roeding.

A MARVEL-OUS CROSSOVER

 
If you have ever fantasized about comic book characters from different companies teaming up – more often than we got decades ago – you should check out Ross Piersall’s blog SUPER TEAM FAMILY.

Here’s an example from back in January.  And of course it’s Who-related!

Ross:

My guess is that a phone booth was first used as the exterior for Doctor Who's Tardis partly because of budgetary reasons, as those original shows were produced inexpensively.  Whatever the reason, It's always been an interesting look for the Doctor's travelling headquarters.  Now that phone booths have all but become a thing of the past, it seems even cooler that a time traveler would use such a retro design.  Doctor Who may alter his appearance every few years, but I hope the Tardis never does.

Here's another with the very popular Fourth Incarnation:

The Doctor is not the only character from the long-running series who has graced the covers of Ross' fantasy comic books.  He also put together a team called Robo-Force which often faces off against "Rival Robo-Force"....

And finally, with the introduction of Kang into the MCU via the 'Loki' series....