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London 2008: Travels with the Doctor
Apr. 12th, 2008 10:06 amSo, I went to the Doctor Who Exhibition at Earl's Court yesterday. First off, despite what Time Out might tell you, you shouldn't get off at Earl's Court Station... and not just because the proper exit is not Earl's Court Road, but Warick Road on the other end of the station. It's because even once you go out via the Warick Road exit, and see the Earl's Court Exhibition Centre in front of you... you can't go in that way. Noooo, they've closed off traffic, so you have to walk to the other side of the Exhibition Centre (which is actually opposite the West Brompton Tube).
Once there, though, it's not necessarily easy to find the entrance. It's not as if the hottest series in recent British television history has huge signs pointing you the way to the exhibition: the entrance is a pretty pathetic looking side door that has steps leading down to the bowels of the centre where the exhibits are held. Ros and I went completely the wrong way until we backtracked to this location, which (if facing Earl's Court One from West Brompton Tube, is on your right).
After they check your tickets, you walk down a corridor with pictures of the various Doctors and a short descriptor as to who they were. Old-time fans take note: this is pretty much all you'll hear of the past of the series prior to 2005. Once you hit a general introduction wall and walk through a corridor of creaky Autons, everything is new series from this point.
They say there are washrooms somewhere in the first room, but if there were, we didn't find any. Still, the centrepiece there is the TARDIS, with a Tenth Doctor dummy. You can't tell from the photos, but they project Tennant's face rather unconvincingly onto the dummy so he can rattle on about space time rifts and Cybermen while everyone ignores the narration and takes pictures with the TARDIS instead.
The exhibition, ultimately, is a collection of props, and the kiddies are most excited just taking pictures next to the TARDIS, or the Cybermen, or the Daleks. The most popular of course, was taking a shot beneath the Weeping Angel.
There's one interactive display I spotted in the exhibition proper, and it was busted (thank you, Bill Gates). There's also a small feature on how they created the Ood faces, but the bit where you can manipulate the eyes and tentacles on an Ood prosthetic was also broken. There's also a dodgy blue-screen demonstration where you can be placed inside the TARDIS console room, but it evidently doesn't go well with my outfit, as you can see here... on the other hand, it's a suitably creepy effect (maybe I'm an Emergency Hologram). The "Dalek Experience" basically consists of a couple of Daleks shifting about, one very shakily levitating and several pin-point lasers zapping through a mist. Of course, later there's the obligatory "control a Dalek" exhibit where you rattle levers and use the voice changer to show what a sad fanboy you are. Kid size of course, but that doesn't stop me!
And finally, the gift shop. I have a few more photographs, and you can see the whole set here — in the end, I'm sure the kiddies were delighted, but I was mildly disappointed because I wish they'd had more material on the old series. Yeah, I know, I know, people are more about the new series, but still. It says something (more about me, probably) the exhibit I was most excited to see was K-9. Ros, as a non-fan was probably bored and uncomprehending but too polite to say so. At least she got some pictures out of it.
And that was it; all in all, took about an hour to wind our way through. After that, we made our way to Charing Cross Road to have some tea (and a lovely slice of cake at this Italian café called Amato's) and later went down to see Oriental City in Colindale. This shopping centre is a dying one, and basically while it was supposedly a centre for the Asian community, aside from the food court which showcases lots of Asian food - still dodgy by my standards but a step up from your standard take out fare... to be honest though, you can get better dim sum in Chinatown — it's not commercially viable and right now it's a bit run down because it's closing. In June, the new owners will clear it to make way for residences, a B&Q (Home Depot type DIY store) and a school.
And that was my Friday. Today, if the weather holds out, I'll be going down to Kensington Gardens to enjoy the flowers coming out for spring and taking pictures.
Once there, though, it's not necessarily easy to find the entrance. It's not as if the hottest series in recent British television history has huge signs pointing you the way to the exhibition: the entrance is a pretty pathetic looking side door that has steps leading down to the bowels of the centre where the exhibits are held. Ros and I went completely the wrong way until we backtracked to this location, which (if facing Earl's Court One from West Brompton Tube, is on your right).
After they check your tickets, you walk down a corridor with pictures of the various Doctors and a short descriptor as to who they were. Old-time fans take note: this is pretty much all you'll hear of the past of the series prior to 2005. Once you hit a general introduction wall and walk through a corridor of creaky Autons, everything is new series from this point.
They say there are washrooms somewhere in the first room, but if there were, we didn't find any. Still, the centrepiece there is the TARDIS, with a Tenth Doctor dummy. You can't tell from the photos, but they project Tennant's face rather unconvincingly onto the dummy so he can rattle on about space time rifts and Cybermen while everyone ignores the narration and takes pictures with the TARDIS instead.
The exhibition, ultimately, is a collection of props, and the kiddies are most excited just taking pictures next to the TARDIS, or the Cybermen, or the Daleks. The most popular of course, was taking a shot beneath the Weeping Angel.
There's one interactive display I spotted in the exhibition proper, and it was busted (thank you, Bill Gates). There's also a small feature on how they created the Ood faces, but the bit where you can manipulate the eyes and tentacles on an Ood prosthetic was also broken. There's also a dodgy blue-screen demonstration where you can be placed inside the TARDIS console room, but it evidently doesn't go well with my outfit, as you can see here... on the other hand, it's a suitably creepy effect (maybe I'm an Emergency Hologram). The "Dalek Experience" basically consists of a couple of Daleks shifting about, one very shakily levitating and several pin-point lasers zapping through a mist. Of course, later there's the obligatory "control a Dalek" exhibit where you rattle levers and use the voice changer to show what a sad fanboy you are. Kid size of course, but that doesn't stop me!
And finally, the gift shop. I have a few more photographs, and you can see the whole set here — in the end, I'm sure the kiddies were delighted, but I was mildly disappointed because I wish they'd had more material on the old series. Yeah, I know, I know, people are more about the new series, but still. It says something (more about me, probably) the exhibit I was most excited to see was K-9. Ros, as a non-fan was probably bored and uncomprehending but too polite to say so. At least she got some pictures out of it.
And that was it; all in all, took about an hour to wind our way through. After that, we made our way to Charing Cross Road to have some tea (and a lovely slice of cake at this Italian café called Amato's) and later went down to see Oriental City in Colindale. This shopping centre is a dying one, and basically while it was supposedly a centre for the Asian community, aside from the food court which showcases lots of Asian food - still dodgy by my standards but a step up from your standard take out fare... to be honest though, you can get better dim sum in Chinatown — it's not commercially viable and right now it's a bit run down because it's closing. In June, the new owners will clear it to make way for residences, a B&Q (Home Depot type DIY store) and a school.
And that was my Friday. Today, if the weather holds out, I'll be going down to Kensington Gardens to enjoy the flowers coming out for spring and taking pictures.
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