Doctor Who Experience

[llywela]

So, the back to work blues are kicking in - first day comes as a bit of a shock to the system after two weeks off! So to compensate, I'm going to indulge myself in a bit of nostalgia for what I got up to on my holidays. Which was not a lot, overall, since it was more of a laze around relaxing at home type holiday, but last Friday I went with a group of miscellaneous family members to the new Doctor Who Experience, which opened last month about three miles down the road in Cardiff Bay. It poured down with rain, so we were all a bit on the soggy side by the time we got there, but such is the Great British Summer. I've been to Doctor Who exhibitions before, but what the heck, this is a new collection so I'm going to picspam the hell out of it anyway. *G*

First off, it absolutely kills me that my hometown now has street signs with Daleks on them. Who'd have imagined, ten years ago, that that would ever happen?


The DW Experience is a bit on the pricey side – but then, I remember when the Doctor Who exhibition in the Red Dragon Centre was free entry! This exhibition is much bigger and before you reach the exhibits there's the interactive tour to get through, which is a hoot and a half. You get to see the TARDIS materialise right before your eyes (very nifty trick, that one) and stand on the gantry around the Eleventh Doctor's console with the floor shaking beneath your feet as if the TARDIS is in flight, and all sorts – I won't say too much about it, so as not to spoil the fun for anyone else who might mosey along there some day!

And then there's the exhibition, which sprawls across two levels, housing props and costumes from both the classic and rebooted show.

Here's The Not-So-Small One alongside a suspiciously plastic-looking Eleventh Doctor (or an auton version thereof?) and his TARDIS


This TARDIS, though, is the Fourth Doctor's actual TARDIS (and Five-Seven's) – the prop used throughout the 1970s and 80s.


And look! The Fifth Doctor's's console! (Okay, and the Sixth and Seventh, too - this is the '80s console)


Melkur! The Fourth Doctor encountered this strange creature (really the Master's TARDIS in disguise) in The Keeper of Traken. That was 1981, so he's looking good for his age


The Not-So-Small One peers over the gantry at the Eleventh Doctor's console and poses alongside the TARDIS


Idris and the Doctor's cobbled-together console from the last series


The Face of Boe


An Ice Warrior! I'd love it if the new show brought them back, they were fab.


There was a Zygon stood alongside the Ice Warrior (another classic monster that's due a revisit, especially since there should be a whole fleet of 'em due to arrive around about now *G*) but silly me forgot to take a picture of it. I made up for it, though, by snapping the K1 Robot from Tom Baker's inaugural adventure. You'd never guess that this costume is 38 years old now!


Sontarans through the ages, from 1970s regular-sized to modern midgets


Cybermen, looking butch. I love the one with the visible brain. There also is a whole display of Cyber-heads through the ages, charting their development from the '60s through to the present day version


I think my favourite Cyberman exhibit, though, is this face peering out of a conversion chamber…very creepy!


There is also a collection of Daleks through the ages, including the bazooka Dalek from Remembrance


There's also an open-backed Dalek that you can crawl into and operate the eyestalk and gun, with a voice-changer so you can do a proper Dalek voice! You might want to tiptoe past Davros, though…


There are loads of props and costumes from the most recent adventures, including the Doctor's crib


Plus a fine collection of very grand Time Lord costumes


K9! With one of Sarah Jane's costumes alongside him


Don't look now, but I think I've been spotted…


Bessie! The Third Doctor (and Jon Pertwee) adored this car

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Oh, and there's loads more – if you enjoy the show and get the chance, do pop along and see for yourself!

Just outside, the centre has its own dedicated spot along the waterbus route – including a TARDIS, just so you know you're in the right place, as if the giant blue building isn't enough of a clue. And if you want, you can pose like The Not-So-Small One, calling after the departing TARDIS not to leave you…*G*

(p.s. this picture was taken earlier in the week, when the sun actually came out!)

And just across the Bay at Mermaid Quay, the Torchwood shrine is still going strong, I see. That kills me even more than the Dalek street signs! It's been so much fun, over the last few years, watching this grow and seeing how visitors react to it - you can always tell which ones are fandom-types already In The Know and which ones haven't a clue!

Comments

[iamrman82.livejournal.com]

Special Weapons Dalek! Yay! You did know it's coming back in the next series, right?

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Spoilers!

Ahem. Yes. Along with every other Dalek ever. I've never felt quite the same way about Daleks since having driving lessons with a Dalek head rolling around under the seat - my old instructor is part of the team that builds and operates them...*G*

[iamrman82.livejournal.com]

Nuts to the rest of the Dalek, I'm just happy to see the Special Weapons Dalek again. Remembrance of the Daleks is the best Dalek story ever. In my opinion at least.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

My favourites tend to change with the wind. Remembrance wins all kinds of nostalgia points because I have such clear memories of seeing it when it originally aired - Ace jumping through windows, smacking a Dalek with her baseball bat and blowing up another one with a bazooka made a big impression on 11-year-old me! But I also adore Genesis, for the characters, and Dalek Invasion of Earth, also for the characters...

[iamrman82.livejournal.com]

I've got a lot of love for Dalek Invasion of Earth. I always thought that genesis was rather overrated. Then again, I like Silver Nemesis. Does that make me a bad person?

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Heh, we're all entitled to our own opinions! I haven't seen Silver Nemesis in donkey's years so can't comment. Genesis I adore more for the characters than for the main reasons it is considered a classic, I suspect, although I do love the story as well.

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, what great pics! And Bessie! ♥

It looks like you had fun. And there is something eerie about seeing some of the DW monsters up close. I remember going to MOMI in London when I was 17, and there was a random Cyberman positioned by one of the stairways, and I had to keep going back to look at it warily.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Bessie is right by the door, so you can see her without having to pay a penny! There is definitely something very cool and very eerie about seeing all those monsters gathered together in one place. *G*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, oddly enough I have The Keeper of Traken out of storage and on my one-day-I'll-watch-this-again video shelf - maybe the time should come sooner!

And ohhhh for the shrine - when I think of the size of it when I saw it! Love the Wanted posters - Alive... *g*

See, I knew there were good reasons for needing to visit Cardiff again one of these days! *vbg* Brilliant pics, and kind of double-nostalgia bonus, too! *g*

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Heh. When I visited the Bay in July 2009 just a couple of weeks after Ianto's demise, the shrine looked like this:
(http://pics.livejournal.com/llywela13/pic/000g2xd6/)

Then again, I remember what that wall looked like when there was no fandom stuff there at all.*G*

You should totally visit Cardiff again one of these days, preferably while I still have a spare room (unless of course you have someone else to visit). And if you do, and visit the Experience and I go with you, you must remind me to take a picture of the Zygon...

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee - I promise I'm not hinting when I say that, just that I do like Cardiff... *g* (Mind you, I thoroughly enjoyed your spare room last time, so... *g*)

I meant to say too - I adore the Dalek signs! I need to come back for those alone... well, and perhaps Welsh rarebit in the Norwegian church... and the ice cream... and the water... And the company, obviously! *g*

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Oh, but I always welcome guests of any flavour - I have to make the most of my spare room while I still have it! This time next year, I expect I shall be either moved already or on the hunt for affordable accommodation, alas, so please do take advantage of it while it's still there. I would endeavour not to come down with migraine, this time. *G*

[(Anonymous)]

Oh that all looks so much fun. I went with my sister and nephews to the DW Exhibtion at Earl's Court a few years ago. Hard to say which of us enjoyed it more :)

Sue

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

It's very handy to be able to borrow kids for that kind of thing, no? Not that an excuse is necessarily needed...

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Oh, that looks great! Cardiff has officially become the Doctor's hometown. LOL

I can't believe that damn Torchwood shrine is still there! It's what? Three years now?

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Yep, three years. It has become a Thing.

[rosely.livejournal.com]

I know nothing about DW, but looks like you had loads of fun!! :D

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Watch it! Go on, you know you want to *G*

[ehlwyen.livejournal.com]

Dalek road signs?!!?!!! I'm dying here! So ridiculously awesome! I have to wonder if they will get stolen? Kids steal street signs frequently around here.

Ooooh! Face of Bo! And a Dalek to play in!!! (I think I would have to hide from the cybermen section, they creep me out) :err:

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

I know, right! Street signs do occasionally get stolen, but not all that often, as far as I know, so hopefully these ones will last.

[kelzies.livejournal.com]

Wow, looks great and like so much fun! LOL at the dalek on the road sign. Awesome.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

'Twas a lot of fun, yes, ta!

[femsc.livejournal.com]

Excellent stuff! I haven't been to the exhibition yet, but it's on the List of Things To Do when the youngerlings come back from their holiday with a local church group.

When - and why? - did the Tardis acquire the St John Ambulance badge? It's been baffling me for ages, has that.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

According to my hasty google-fu, when the show first started, way back in the dim and distant mists of time, there was a St John Ambulance badge on the TARDIS door just as there would have been on a real police box. It was removed at some point for reasons unknown but reappeared for the Matt Smith revamp - someone clearly thought it would be a good idea to reinstate it!