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locker_monsterCardiff vacation was a blast. Spent my birthday at the Doctor Who Experience and I even got to explore a tiny slice of North Wales. I'll write up these posts in parts as I download the pictures from my camera.
It's actually kind of crazy how many people are visiting the Doctor Who Experience before it shuts down. When I was last there, it was November 2013 and it was really slow, even though it was the 50th anniversary. This time around, there was a constant stream of people coming and going. I hope this makes the BBC think twice about shutting it down for good. If the lease is up in Cardiff, they could at least set it up somewhere else.
Ever since they did a overhaul of the Experience, swapping out the Eleven's interactive adventure with a new adventure with Twelve, I had wanted to go back. The bare bones of the original set-up are still there but it's just different enough that you don't care that some of the sets are the same. In fact, I have to say that I enjoyed Twelve's adventure a lot more. With Eleven, he was locked up in the Pandorica again, so all of his cut scenes are done from one place. While Twelve may be stuck in the TARDIS for his cut scenes, the adventure takes advantage of the replica TARDIS sets at the Experience, so for the first bit, Twelve is bouncing around the various console rooms. It was so weird, but so cool, to see Twelve on One's, Five's, Ten's, and Eleven's old sets. Twelve admits that he likes Five's set-up because it has proper buttons to press. :-) I like to think that Peter Capaldi had a blast filming on these sets.
The set-up premise this time around is that you're a visitor at the Gallifrey Museum. Yes, that's right; the Time Lords are running a museum. I guess those flowing robes aren't cheap. The new set-up isn't vitally important to the plot of the interactive adventure, but it does introduce a new video about the Doctor (since I guess the Experience expects fans to drag non-fans along and the video is needed to explain who the Doctor is). I absolutely loved it since it was Romana narrating the video and they got Lalla Ward to record it. Actually, the whole adventure works in various pieces of the show's legacy, which was really nice.
I won't go on too much about the interactive bit. Basically, the TARDIS is being attacked by some space squid and you get stuck on the TARDIS and you have to help the Doctor out in order to break free from said space squid. A lot of the set pieces from Eleven's adventures are still there, but re-designed so they fit in with the new plot. So you still get to pilot the TARDIS and you still enter a room full of Daleks and you still have to walk through a forest of Weeping Angels. Actually, they made this bit creepier. Before, you ran through the room with Weeping Angels, so you didn't really get to see them. Now, you walk slowly through the dimly lit room and it's pretty disconcerting suddenly coming upon a Weeping Angel in the gloom.
Brief aside; there were quite a few kids in my group, probably aged between 6 and 14. You have to regroup before entering the Weeping Angel forest, giving you a chance to glimpse into the room before you actually step in and there's conveniently a Weeping Angel that's just visible. It was at this point that a young boy promptly freaked out. He clung to his mother and started shouting "No!" over and over. As an adult watching the show, I'm not freaked out by Weeping Angels, so it's easy to forget how scary they can be to kids. Thankfully, the Experience has various exits for situations such as these, so the mother and son quietly left to head back to the safety of the foyer.
The adventure ends at I.M. Foreman's junk yard at 76 Totter's Lane. I was smiling pretty hard at this point. I don't know if the set was the one used in An Adventure in Space and Time or the replica they had set up during the 50th anniversary con, but it was still pretty damn cool to walk through those familiar blue doors. After a 3D bit, the Doctor defeats the space squid. He also just strands you in 1963 without offering to take you home. The Experience staff member who walks through with you jokes, "I hope you like 1963." Now, they could have just left the joke like that and you just walk into the rest of the Experience without another thought, but the stuff immediately outside the exit is set up to look like the BBC circa 1963. So the replica console from An Adventure in Space and Time is right there, along with a recreation of the Radiophonic Workshop, and a few props from the docudrama. Nice work, the Experience.
All of the consoles and police box props are on the ground floor while the costumes and other props are upstairs (click to enlarge).
I ran into some cosplayers while wandering around; they were also in my group for the TARDIS set tour:
Later, the Ten cosplayer changed into a Twelve cosplay for the set tour. Actually, there were quite a few cosplayers at the Experience. Had I had room in my luggage, I wouldn't have minded taking along a cosplay for the day.
The upstairs was absolutely packed with costumes. A lot of it is stuff from recent seasons, but there are some Classic Who stuff, too. I wish I could show you all of the photos I took, but here are some highlights (click to enlarge):
I'm still learning how the panoramic function works on the camera, so this shot isn't the best, but it turned out okay:
Oh, and something I noticed in the "The Zygon Invasion"/"The Zygon Inversion" section. So they have the Companion boards from "The Day of the Doctor". Since they aren't on screen for very long, most of the little details are lost (click to enlarge):
Like, the typed reports for some of the older Companions. Also, some not so great photoshopped photos... But one thing that really caught my eye was Rory's report.
Unlike Amy's, Rory's is covered with a frosted piece of plastic and says "Classified". Hmm... Someone obviously thought about this, even if it never appeared on screen. Maybe UNIT knows about Rory's extensive history as the Lone Centurion?
My one gripe is how there wasn't something from The Sarah Jane Adventures. The attic set was at the 50th anniversary con. It wouldn't have been that hard to set it up in a corner.
I could have spent hours at the Experience, just taking it all in, but I had to leave to make it for my TARDIS set tour, which I will cover in my next post.
It's actually kind of crazy how many people are visiting the Doctor Who Experience before it shuts down. When I was last there, it was November 2013 and it was really slow, even though it was the 50th anniversary. This time around, there was a constant stream of people coming and going. I hope this makes the BBC think twice about shutting it down for good. If the lease is up in Cardiff, they could at least set it up somewhere else.
Ever since they did a overhaul of the Experience, swapping out the Eleven's interactive adventure with a new adventure with Twelve, I had wanted to go back. The bare bones of the original set-up are still there but it's just different enough that you don't care that some of the sets are the same. In fact, I have to say that I enjoyed Twelve's adventure a lot more. With Eleven, he was locked up in the Pandorica again, so all of his cut scenes are done from one place. While Twelve may be stuck in the TARDIS for his cut scenes, the adventure takes advantage of the replica TARDIS sets at the Experience, so for the first bit, Twelve is bouncing around the various console rooms. It was so weird, but so cool, to see Twelve on One's, Five's, Ten's, and Eleven's old sets. Twelve admits that he likes Five's set-up because it has proper buttons to press. :-) I like to think that Peter Capaldi had a blast filming on these sets.
The set-up premise this time around is that you're a visitor at the Gallifrey Museum. Yes, that's right; the Time Lords are running a museum. I guess those flowing robes aren't cheap. The new set-up isn't vitally important to the plot of the interactive adventure, but it does introduce a new video about the Doctor (since I guess the Experience expects fans to drag non-fans along and the video is needed to explain who the Doctor is). I absolutely loved it since it was Romana narrating the video and they got Lalla Ward to record it. Actually, the whole adventure works in various pieces of the show's legacy, which was really nice.
I won't go on too much about the interactive bit. Basically, the TARDIS is being attacked by some space squid and you get stuck on the TARDIS and you have to help the Doctor out in order to break free from said space squid. A lot of the set pieces from Eleven's adventures are still there, but re-designed so they fit in with the new plot. So you still get to pilot the TARDIS and you still enter a room full of Daleks and you still have to walk through a forest of Weeping Angels. Actually, they made this bit creepier. Before, you ran through the room with Weeping Angels, so you didn't really get to see them. Now, you walk slowly through the dimly lit room and it's pretty disconcerting suddenly coming upon a Weeping Angel in the gloom.
Brief aside; there were quite a few kids in my group, probably aged between 6 and 14. You have to regroup before entering the Weeping Angel forest, giving you a chance to glimpse into the room before you actually step in and there's conveniently a Weeping Angel that's just visible. It was at this point that a young boy promptly freaked out. He clung to his mother and started shouting "No!" over and over. As an adult watching the show, I'm not freaked out by Weeping Angels, so it's easy to forget how scary they can be to kids. Thankfully, the Experience has various exits for situations such as these, so the mother and son quietly left to head back to the safety of the foyer.
The adventure ends at I.M. Foreman's junk yard at 76 Totter's Lane. I was smiling pretty hard at this point. I don't know if the set was the one used in An Adventure in Space and Time or the replica they had set up during the 50th anniversary con, but it was still pretty damn cool to walk through those familiar blue doors. After a 3D bit, the Doctor defeats the space squid. He also just strands you in 1963 without offering to take you home. The Experience staff member who walks through with you jokes, "I hope you like 1963." Now, they could have just left the joke like that and you just walk into the rest of the Experience without another thought, but the stuff immediately outside the exit is set up to look like the BBC circa 1963. So the replica console from An Adventure in Space and Time is right there, along with a recreation of the Radiophonic Workshop, and a few props from the docudrama. Nice work, the Experience.
All of the consoles and police box props are on the ground floor while the costumes and other props are upstairs (click to enlarge).
I ran into some cosplayers while wandering around; they were also in my group for the TARDIS set tour:
Later, the Ten cosplayer changed into a Twelve cosplay for the set tour. Actually, there were quite a few cosplayers at the Experience. Had I had room in my luggage, I wouldn't have minded taking along a cosplay for the day.
The upstairs was absolutely packed with costumes. A lot of it is stuff from recent seasons, but there are some Classic Who stuff, too. I wish I could show you all of the photos I took, but here are some highlights (click to enlarge):
I'm still learning how the panoramic function works on the camera, so this shot isn't the best, but it turned out okay:
Oh, and something I noticed in the "The Zygon Invasion"/"The Zygon Inversion" section. So they have the Companion boards from "The Day of the Doctor". Since they aren't on screen for very long, most of the little details are lost (click to enlarge):
Like, the typed reports for some of the older Companions. Also, some not so great photoshopped photos... But one thing that really caught my eye was Rory's report.
Unlike Amy's, Rory's is covered with a frosted piece of plastic and says "Classified". Hmm... Someone obviously thought about this, even if it never appeared on screen. Maybe UNIT knows about Rory's extensive history as the Lone Centurion?
My one gripe is how there wasn't something from The Sarah Jane Adventures. The attic set was at the 50th anniversary con. It wouldn't have been that hard to set it up in a corner.
I could have spent hours at the Experience, just taking it all in, but I had to leave to make it for my TARDIS set tour, which I will cover in my next post.
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