Whilst it's not a complete pain to get to, it is worth noting that it seems to be based near some sort of college or something, and thus to approach it we were forced to wade through legions of students.
Like this, only far less entertaining.
Quite why they were coating the streets like a human slime mold and not off studying something (or better yet GETTING JOBS) is not something I'm really sure of, and in any case is rather outside the scope of this article.
Once free of the yattering horde we finally approached the building proper, which I must admit seemed a bit... odd. I mean, it's like an office building or something. You go in, and are directed upstairs. And in the lift there is a dedicated hapless drone to push the buttons for you.
Seriously. There were actual lift attendants. I was FREAKING OUT. Clearly this area is far too posh for the likes of me.
Well, apart from the students.
Anyway, what of the actual show?
Well, we go in and buy are tickets which then allow us access to a sort of holding area before the interactive portion. There are a few exhibits from the new series, but basically this is for a queuing system in between groups. I would imagine that it gets quite busy on the weekends, but then that's why we came on a Friday. After a bit of waiting around we are then let in to the actual experience. And I have to say that the whole thing was simply FANTASTIC.
Obviously, this bit may contain some SPOILERS.
So, after a short video presentation we are led through a crack in time into a museum vault on the Starship UK.
You heard me.
The level of detail in this room is awesome. There's all kinds of stuff scattered around to spot, and whilst a couple of things are highlighted, there's plenty more to look for. I mean, screens from Magpie Electricals, a Clockwork Droid head, the sign from the pub from The Daemons... All kinds of awesome hidden away. I didn't even notice until I was looking through the pictures in the program afterwards that one of the Ranis' T-Rex foetuses was sitting on a shelf. Great stuff.
After a short presentation we receive a transmission from the Doctor, and the the TARDIS materialises and we all go aboard.
You heard me.
We lurch through time and space a little, before materialising on Dalek saucer. In the middle of a Dalek civil war.
You heard me.
After narrowly avoiding extermination we dash down a time corridor, through a ruined landscape of Weeping Angels, and into, strangely enough, a 3D cinema for the finale. Now I've gone on record about not being particularly enthused with the whole 3D thing before, but I have to say that this was pretty good. The 3D effects were actually well realized, giving an actual sense of depth and reach, and it was short enough that it didn't completely do my head in or make my eyes bleed.
To say that I proceeded through these various stages with a giant shit eating grin is, in all fairness, fairly accurate. I mean, seriously, how cool was all that? I can only imagine what it's like to be a 12 year old boy seeing that.
Lower down I would guess.
But seriously, awesome stuff. Kids don't know how lucky they are with all this.
After all that excitement we THEN get out into the exhibition area. Now, I must confess that in the grand scale of Doctor Who exhibitions this wasn't the largest or widest ranging collection. But the I HAVE been to most of the shows in the past few years. What we have here is, however, a bloody good display of a wide ranging history of the show. There's modern stuff, there's older stuff. Some replicas, some restored, some original. And this is a first. Previously we've had shows from all new series stuff, and before it closed there was the museum in Blackpool which had a all classic stuff. But never have they been presented as one before. So we have modern Cybermen along with a display of Cyber heads from history. Or a timeline of Daleks from the Dead Planet all the way up to the new paradigm behemoths. Ood, Hath, Ice Warriors, Zygons and a full spectrum of Sontarans.
Notable by their absence were the Hoix and a Vashta Nerada suit. Out for repair? or out for something else? Only time will tell, but why let that get in the way of a good rumor?
An interesting diversion in here is the green screen photo stand, where you can buy photographs of yourself badly photoshopped into a limited choice of backgrounds. Whilst I didn't really rate most of them, the Pandorica interior one was actually pretty good. Though mostly that's because you got to sit in a replica of the chair from the Pandorica. No doubt if I was bale to have a facebook this would be added to my profile. I would put it up here, but it's got me in it. So just be grateful I'm sparing you that particular misfortune.
After the exhibition there is then, off course, the little shop. Personally I wasn't as impressed by this as I would have liked. Whilst the offerings were okay the selection and pricing wasn't particularly breathtaking. Although that may just be that nowhere ever seems to have Dalek Sec figures these days, and that's the main one I'm after.
Really, is it so much to ask?
But that's neither here nor there. The point is that this is a great exhibition. The whole interactive experience idea stands out and really makes it, with the exhibition like the icing on the top. If icing was made of TARDISes and wobots (yes, WOBOT).
Would I go again? Hell yeah. I'm going to. The only question is when. After all, it's been said that the exhibits will be updated with the new series. So come the mid season break I'd imagine there'll be all manner of interesting new things to see.
If you're a fan of Doctor Who you should undoubtedly go. And if you're not a fan of Doctor Who you should undoubtedly sort your life out as there's something wrong with you.
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