HOA orders Doctor Who TARDIS to disappear from in front of Parrish home

WFTS Tampa Bay ^ | 01/05/15 | Chris Trenkmann

[zeugma]

For the Moders, science fiction is a family affair.

LeAnn Moder's father liked Star Wars, her mother was a Trekkie, while she and her kids are devout Doctor Who fans.

And their family has what every Who fan wished they could own: a TARDIS.  

For the uninitiated, the TARDIS is a blue police box that doubles as a time machine. On the show, it's bigger on the inside than on the outside, with a full control room that takes the Doctor and his companions through space and time.

The Moders version isn't quite so elaborate. It's made from a $1000 worth of plywood and is painted to look remarkably like the actual police box used on the TV series.

Much to the delight of her kids and many of her neighbors, this TARDIS is a rarity that few have the privilege to own.

It was built by Moder's father as a wedding set piece, and she and her husband, David, were married in front of it.

"My husband mentioned, 'Do you want to do a Doctor Who themed wedding?'" Moder said. "That could be fun."

Since then, their TARDIS has been used at sci-fi conventions and parties, and was even the focus of a Halloween haunt the Moders set up on their driveway in October.

And that's where the homeowners association came in.

The Lexington HOA sent the Moders a letter ordering them to remove the TARDIS within 15 days.

"It just struck me as a funny formal letter about a silly blue box," Moder said.

But to avoid any kind of intergalactic incident, the Moders agreed to dismantle the police box and take it out of sight. They expect it to rematerialize in their backyard.

When Moder posted the controversy on Facebook and Doctor Who blogs, she was overwhelmed with responses from Who fans offering their support.

"It's cool that there are people who love the show as much as we do and are as nerdy as we are about the show," Moder said.

The Doctor Who program started on the air in Great Britain more than 50 years ago, and despite having worldwide popularity, the Doctor's TARDIS has never been sold as a full size replica. You have to build one yourself.

"It's really amazing that it's touched so many people's lives," Moder said. "I think it's really amazing that everyone's like, 'Long live the TARDIS.'"  

UPDATE: Moder says they will hold a moving party for the TARDIS at 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday.

For information on the TARDIS moving party, visit their event page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/827865583943623/?fref=ts

 

[sten]

i’ve been in an HOA for 10+ years. all was fine... until last june when a new guy took over as president.

now they’er pushing for a legal battle because i won’t allow the HOA to be listed as additionally insured on my home owners policy.

for those that don’t know, if you receive a check from your insurance company... before you can cash it, those listed as additionally insured must sign off. which could open you up to extortion (ie: get $1000 for water damage inside your home, HOA springs $500 fees in order to cash the check)

[Kackikat]

For the record, let me state how much I hate HOAs.

[zeugma]

EXTERMINATE!

I love the episode where you saw Daleks in Germany. EXTERMINAGEN! EXTERMINAGEN!

Some day I'll build a ringtone with as many different languages as I can find.

 

[TexasGunLover]

We live in a gated community and can't imagine not having a HOA. If you don't you'll end up with people parking their cars in the grass and having window unit AC's hangout out all over the place.

As conservatives, we should support contractual rights. No one forces someone to live in a HOA community. If you do, and you sign your name, don't complain about having to keep your word.

[bgill]

No HOA here. As long as the neighbors don’t gripe about our yard then I won’t holler about the neighbor’s little 24/7 yappy dog. It all evens out.

[ican'tbelieveit]

Agreed. The problem with HOAs is “personal preference” of those in charge. If my neighbor dare think about whining about my dog - well, your dog yaps all day when you leave it outside when you are at work. Someone is always doing something someone else finds offensive. You deal with it, no need for an HOA.

[bgill]

You’re worried about a window unit? Are you sure you’re a born and raised Texan?

[Reeses]

Obviously some ,even here,are not comfortable with freedom.

The amount of freedom someone enjoys is largely a function of the population density around them. If someone highly values traditional American freedoms they need to stay away from high population density areas. Someone that chooses to live in a skyscraper has to give up owning a barbecue, stereo system, gun, a normal sized dog, and tolerate being surrounded by communists in 3 dimensions. The need for HOAs starts in higher density suburbs and gets worse from there.

[Texan5]

I think if all that evenly clipped grass, perfect shrubs and lack of individuality on every property is of primary interest to someone, then living on a city lot under HOA edicts is perfect for them-personally, I prefer the openness, tolerance and variety of the boonies-you get to know everyone, and know who to ignore if they are an ass...

I lived in a neighborhood with an HOA once, when my husband and I were just starting out-never, ever again. I returned to the country as soon as I could, where I’m free to live as I choose-as is everyone else.

I don’t give a damn how many running or non running vehicles, or whatever else you have on the front of your property-since all is acreage property, it is usually livestock or horses anyway-and I don’t care about the racket your rooster makes at 6AM as long as you don’t care if I take my Husky outside with me on Winter nights to howl at the moon with the coyotes-to each their own, and leave everyone alone...

[Texan5]

Window units bother you? You’d really go apes*** around here-those things are far more practical and economical for dwellings with rooms that are not used all the time. And paved driveways don’t exist-you drive in the gate and park the truck or SUV in the yard under the trees-garage is for storage or your workshop...

[zeugma]

As conservatives, we should support contractual rights. No one forces someone to live in a HOA community. If you do, and you sign your name, don't complain about having to keep your word.

Every homeowner in an HOA is one NAZI away from having an HOA from hell.

It's also funny how these 'contractual' relationships are compelled. The only way I know of to buy a new house any where near where I live that is not in an HOA is to build my own on my own land. As a matter f fact, in the town I live in you can't build a new house that is not a part of an HOA.

That hardly seems voluntary.

It's interesting that you can't sell a house with a "no muslims" stipulation in the deed, yet you can sell a house with a "you must associate with this group and subject yourself to their arbitary decisions" stipulation.

 

[Texan5]

I hope you don’t mind if I borrow your “one Nazi away” remark-I want to use it next time I talk to a townie friend of mine...

[ChildOfThe60s]

Understood.

But I don’t do hour after hour barking dogs. And if they keep me awake, then it gets nasty. I consider that an invasion of my privacy.

I’m considerate of my neighbors and I expect the same from them.

Although I had one Ahole who used to come home from work at 3 am every morning with his windows down and his stereo booming. It was explained to him that my wife and our friend next door had health issues that made it impossible to get back to sleep after he woke them up every night. Still did it. So I got up every morning at 6:30 and ran my leaf blower for 1/2 hour. Drove the bastard nuts.

[Albion Wilde]

When we sold recently, I made the realtor agree to fly the American flag and allow pig and dog figurines to stay on the front porch. I did not tell her why. Worked out fine.

[webstersII]

“desirable neighborhood”.

That’s the whole point. The nicer neighborhoods have HOAs. People want to live there because it looks nice, and then they move in and act like a bunch of losers.

[wally_bert]

A perception filter would work as well or some big sheets of psychic paper.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

My kids LOVE Dr. Who. I am an old Trekkie, but Dr. Who never appealed to me. What am I missing?

Regarding HOA’s - you buy the house, you agree to the covenants. I disagree with some of them in my neighborhood but I contracted to abide by them so they stand - all are reasonable tradeoffs for a good, quiet neighborhood.

[zeugma]

My kids LOVE Dr. Who. I am an old Trekkie, but Dr. Who never appealed to me. What am I missing?

The latest incarnation of Dr. Who is pretty good IMO. They sometimes try to get too cute by far in thier plot twists, but it's still worth watching. There have been some really astoundingly good individual episodes. (Blink is an awesome stand-alone episode that anyone can watch without having to know a lot of backstory).

I actually have the entire show from 1964 on my computer. It is definitely a different show now than it used to be. In the early days it was much cheesier. These days they have enough money to spend on the episodes that you get real FX as opposed to cheesy guys in rubber suits. Causality was taken a bit more serious in the old days. I still think Baker is among the best Doctors. Just the right amount of cheek.

 

[zeugma]

I hope you don’t mind if I borrow your “one Nazi away” remark-I want to use it next time I talk to a townie friend of mine...

HA! No problem. Feel free to use without attribution!

 

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

I still think Baker is among the best Doctors. Just the right amount of cheek.

* * *

My kids and I (they’re nearly 8) recently started watching both the new Dr. Who, and old Tom Baker episodes I get from Netflix. They like the new guy (I actually think he’s great — a real throwback to the irascible Doctor days of Baker and Pertwee) but they LOVE Tom Baker. They LOVE the cheesy SFX. There was one episode we watched where the monster was made of bubble wrap. Bubble wrap!!! My kids were still scared to death, in the most pleasurable way. They both got replica sonic screwdrivers for Christmas and were delighted! LOL!