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locker_monsterI am tired. It's 1:00 in the morning here and I should be asleep but it's been a busy two days.
So got into London yesterday, about an 8 hour flight, and right after we got to the hotel we went out again. We probably should have taken a nap before going sightseeing, but hey, we didn't have much time so might as well make the most of it. Saw all the usual stuff: the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, etc. It's crazy busy here. The weather's nice so I guess it brings out all of the tourists.
But so far, the highlight of the trip has definitely got to be the Doctor Who Experience. :-) The only thing that I can compare it to is the Star Trek: the Experience that used to be in Las Vegas. An interactive bit with a museum section
No ride, but I still loved it. So geeky. No pictures right now, but damn, we took a lot. I'll give a quick rundown of the interactive bit. So when you first walk in, you get to watch, like, a highlight reel of the Eleventh Doctor. I suppose it kind of explains who the Doctor is, too, just in case you don't know or something. The whole time I was watching this thing, I noticed this crack in the screen and I thought to myself, "Jeez, there's a crack; can't they fix that?" Well, the film ends with the Doctor talking about The Crack and lo and behold, The Crack turns sideways and it matches the crack in the screen. And then the screen opens! Awesome.
The crack then leads to the Starship UK where it's now a museum or something. There's a node and it points out some old props, like the exploding TARDIS painting and the telescope from "Tooth and Claw". Then the screen goes all staticy and you can guess who pops up. The Doctor! He's stuck in the Pandorica again, the Pandorica 2, and he's a little cross that it's exactly the same as the original Pandorica. The Alliance didn't even bother to paint it another colour. Anyway, he was looking for Amy and the TARDIS but he got us instead.
Now here's my favourite part. Using the sonic screwdriver, he summons the TARDIS. And it appears! You hear the sound and there she appears. They use that old stage effect by hiding the ship behind a nylon screen and when you light the screen you can see behind it. The Doctor needs us to pilot the TARDIS to him so he can escape. So... the doors open and you walk into the TARDIS. :-) There was some young kids in the group, but I didn't see their reaction. I know how I reacted though. I literally starting jumping. I mean, this is everyone's dream. Opening those blue doors and walking inside. A little slice of geek heaven right there.
Naturally, you end up in the TARDIS. It's smaller than the real set I'm sure, but it looks exactly the same. Shame you can't touch it though. There's a railing around it, but there are stations around the railing and you can help "pilot" the ship with those. The time rotor moves and everything. For some strange reason, a blackhole knocks the TARDIS off course. The set shakes and rumbles a bit, and I loved that, too. It wouldn't be a Doctor Who Experience without some TARDIS turbulance.
Anyway, the ship lands and of course it lands on a Dalek ship. You running along the corridor and you can hear the Daleks as you turn the corner. You eventually make it to the bridge where some Daleks taunt you and threaten to kill you. They wouldn't be Daleks if they didn't. ;-) The Doctor hacks his way into the video system and, naturally, he manages to talk his way through the confrontation until another problem pops up to distract the Daleks. In this case, more Daleks. It's Skittle!Daleks versus old school Daleks. As strange as that seems, that's actually canon. I had to explain it to my sister because she thought it was a bit strange.
So, fighting Daleks. Somehow, the Doctor makes a time corridor so you can hightail it out of there. Only, the time corridor runs through a really dark room. And what's in the room? Weeping Angels. Sadly, they missed a grand opportunity here. The place is dimly light so you can make out the odd Angel here and there, but I thought it would have been more awesome if they had flashes of lights going off and suddenly, bam! there's a Weeping Angel ready to kill you. Alas, no. Maybe they thought it was too scary. The time corridor then exits out into a dig around Stonehenge. This bit was 3D. The Doctor manages to escape the Pandorica 2 but he also opens the Crack and all sorts of monsters come out. With the 3D nonsense, it's like the monsters are reaching out and trying to kill you. The Doctor manages to close the Crack and that's that really. The world is saved, the Doctor is free, and we humans can go back to our business.
I say the interactive bit was about 10 minutes. It could have been longer, but they would have needed more space. For what you got, I think it was pretty good. A trip in the TARDIS, some iconic monsters, and some running through corridors. I think it would have been cool if they let you go through the interactive bit as many times as you want, but with the timed entry thing they have, maybe that makes it difficult.
So after that, you're free to wander around the museum bit and take all the pictures you want. The first thing you see is a display of all the costumes worn by the Doctors. It was almost like that panel out of the Doctor Who comic "The Forgotten". They even had a replica of the latest TARDIS and a very creepy wax figure of Eleven, though I find all wax figures creepy. The one touristy thing they do have is you can get photoshopped into the TARDIS or into the Time Vortex. It's kinda cheesy and something anyone with Photoshop could do at home, but hey, if you want a souvenir, there you go.
The exhibit had Nine/Ten's console room and Five's console room. The thing said it was the actual Nine/Ten TARDIS set, which made me wonder if it disappeared for a bit so they could film those scenes from "The Doctor's Wife". Sadly, you can't touch the consoles here either, but you can get pretty close to see how rundown Nine/Ten's console was. It's peeling and covered with dust. Still, it's so awesome to see. Five's console even lit up and the time rotor went up and down at random intervals. They also had a 1980s era TARDIS exterior and you can see how beat up it looks. The rest was all costumes. Companion costumes and monster costumes. I like that none of it was behind glass. You could get pretty close and see a lot of the details.
Near the end there's a Dalek you can get inside and you can move around the sucker and the blaster. I was the only small enough to fit inside so we goofed around, shouted "Exterminate!" and whatnot. :-)
And Ten would have liked this: there's a little shop at the end. Full of Doctor Who merchandise. There was a lot of stuff, but I was limited to things easily transportable, so I settled on a fridge magnet. Incidentally, the only magnets they sold were of Four. I think they missed out on a great opportunity here. Where were the TARDIS magnets? And the sonic screwdriver magnets? And the fez shaped magnets? My sister said they should have sold fezzes, too. Oh well. As part of my ticket package, I also got a voucher for a free t-shirt so that was nice. It's actually not half bad. It has the TARDIS in the Time Vortex on the front and it "Doctor Who Experience" on the sleeve. I had to get a large youth's t-shirt since I'm so short, but at least it won't be too long on me.
All in all, it was a fun little detour. I mean, I came all this way, might as well spend the money and have some fun. Tomorrow, new Doctor Who! Oh, and some wandering around Edinburgh, too.
So got into London yesterday, about an 8 hour flight, and right after we got to the hotel we went out again. We probably should have taken a nap before going sightseeing, but hey, we didn't have much time so might as well make the most of it. Saw all the usual stuff: the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, etc. It's crazy busy here. The weather's nice so I guess it brings out all of the tourists.
But so far, the highlight of the trip has definitely got to be the Doctor Who Experience. :-) The only thing that I can compare it to is the Star Trek: the Experience that used to be in Las Vegas. An interactive bit with a museum section
No ride, but I still loved it. So geeky. No pictures right now, but damn, we took a lot. I'll give a quick rundown of the interactive bit. So when you first walk in, you get to watch, like, a highlight reel of the Eleventh Doctor. I suppose it kind of explains who the Doctor is, too, just in case you don't know or something. The whole time I was watching this thing, I noticed this crack in the screen and I thought to myself, "Jeez, there's a crack; can't they fix that?" Well, the film ends with the Doctor talking about The Crack and lo and behold, The Crack turns sideways and it matches the crack in the screen. And then the screen opens! Awesome.
The crack then leads to the Starship UK where it's now a museum or something. There's a node and it points out some old props, like the exploding TARDIS painting and the telescope from "Tooth and Claw". Then the screen goes all staticy and you can guess who pops up. The Doctor! He's stuck in the Pandorica again, the Pandorica 2, and he's a little cross that it's exactly the same as the original Pandorica. The Alliance didn't even bother to paint it another colour. Anyway, he was looking for Amy and the TARDIS but he got us instead.
Now here's my favourite part. Using the sonic screwdriver, he summons the TARDIS. And it appears! You hear the sound and there she appears. They use that old stage effect by hiding the ship behind a nylon screen and when you light the screen you can see behind it. The Doctor needs us to pilot the TARDIS to him so he can escape. So... the doors open and you walk into the TARDIS. :-) There was some young kids in the group, but I didn't see their reaction. I know how I reacted though. I literally starting jumping. I mean, this is everyone's dream. Opening those blue doors and walking inside. A little slice of geek heaven right there.
Naturally, you end up in the TARDIS. It's smaller than the real set I'm sure, but it looks exactly the same. Shame you can't touch it though. There's a railing around it, but there are stations around the railing and you can help "pilot" the ship with those. The time rotor moves and everything. For some strange reason, a blackhole knocks the TARDIS off course. The set shakes and rumbles a bit, and I loved that, too. It wouldn't be a Doctor Who Experience without some TARDIS turbulance.
Anyway, the ship lands and of course it lands on a Dalek ship. You running along the corridor and you can hear the Daleks as you turn the corner. You eventually make it to the bridge where some Daleks taunt you and threaten to kill you. They wouldn't be Daleks if they didn't. ;-) The Doctor hacks his way into the video system and, naturally, he manages to talk his way through the confrontation until another problem pops up to distract the Daleks. In this case, more Daleks. It's Skittle!Daleks versus old school Daleks. As strange as that seems, that's actually canon. I had to explain it to my sister because she thought it was a bit strange.
So, fighting Daleks. Somehow, the Doctor makes a time corridor so you can hightail it out of there. Only, the time corridor runs through a really dark room. And what's in the room? Weeping Angels. Sadly, they missed a grand opportunity here. The place is dimly light so you can make out the odd Angel here and there, but I thought it would have been more awesome if they had flashes of lights going off and suddenly, bam! there's a Weeping Angel ready to kill you. Alas, no. Maybe they thought it was too scary. The time corridor then exits out into a dig around Stonehenge. This bit was 3D. The Doctor manages to escape the Pandorica 2 but he also opens the Crack and all sorts of monsters come out. With the 3D nonsense, it's like the monsters are reaching out and trying to kill you. The Doctor manages to close the Crack and that's that really. The world is saved, the Doctor is free, and we humans can go back to our business.
I say the interactive bit was about 10 minutes. It could have been longer, but they would have needed more space. For what you got, I think it was pretty good. A trip in the TARDIS, some iconic monsters, and some running through corridors. I think it would have been cool if they let you go through the interactive bit as many times as you want, but with the timed entry thing they have, maybe that makes it difficult.
So after that, you're free to wander around the museum bit and take all the pictures you want. The first thing you see is a display of all the costumes worn by the Doctors. It was almost like that panel out of the Doctor Who comic "The Forgotten". They even had a replica of the latest TARDIS and a very creepy wax figure of Eleven, though I find all wax figures creepy. The one touristy thing they do have is you can get photoshopped into the TARDIS or into the Time Vortex. It's kinda cheesy and something anyone with Photoshop could do at home, but hey, if you want a souvenir, there you go.
The exhibit had Nine/Ten's console room and Five's console room. The thing said it was the actual Nine/Ten TARDIS set, which made me wonder if it disappeared for a bit so they could film those scenes from "The Doctor's Wife". Sadly, you can't touch the consoles here either, but you can get pretty close to see how rundown Nine/Ten's console was. It's peeling and covered with dust. Still, it's so awesome to see. Five's console even lit up and the time rotor went up and down at random intervals. They also had a 1980s era TARDIS exterior and you can see how beat up it looks. The rest was all costumes. Companion costumes and monster costumes. I like that none of it was behind glass. You could get pretty close and see a lot of the details.
Near the end there's a Dalek you can get inside and you can move around the sucker and the blaster. I was the only small enough to fit inside so we goofed around, shouted "Exterminate!" and whatnot. :-)
And Ten would have liked this: there's a little shop at the end. Full of Doctor Who merchandise. There was a lot of stuff, but I was limited to things easily transportable, so I settled on a fridge magnet. Incidentally, the only magnets they sold were of Four. I think they missed out on a great opportunity here. Where were the TARDIS magnets? And the sonic screwdriver magnets? And the fez shaped magnets? My sister said they should have sold fezzes, too. Oh well. As part of my ticket package, I also got a voucher for a free t-shirt so that was nice. It's actually not half bad. It has the TARDIS in the Time Vortex on the front and it "Doctor Who Experience" on the sleeve. I had to get a large youth's t-shirt since I'm so short, but at least it won't be too long on me.
All in all, it was a fun little detour. I mean, I came all this way, might as well spend the money and have some fun. Tomorrow, new Doctor Who! Oh, and some wandering around Edinburgh, too.
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