Watching Doctor Who

(I’m away on vacation, so DaveP of Pop Buzz UK was kind enough to write a guest post for me. Enjoy!)

Dr Who Up Close Exhibition
by DaveP of http://www.popbuzzuk.com

I recently holidayed in Cornwall, right down in the southwest corner of the UK. As everyone who goes to Cornwall does, we took a trip to Land’s End one day, the most Westerly point in Britain. To be honest, there’s not much there, just an end to the land and that’s about it. But no, not this time. We walked in to the visitors centre and the first thing to catch my eye was a huge tardis shaped building. My mouth gaped open and I was excited already. About 3 months ago, your local Dr Who junkie and expert Elisa had mentioned the Dr Who exhibition that had opened in Manchester, and I tried to get tickets but there’s a waiting list. Now I find out, I’ve travelled halfway across the UK, and there’s a similar (although admittedly smaller) version in Cornwall. So I paid my money and had a look around.

On the way up the stairs, they have all the doctors in order from William Hartnell on, just to get you in the mood. The actual exhibition is like a maze, with a new creature or gadget from the series around every corner. There are aliens, or rather full-scale models and costumes used on the show, video screens playing classic clips, and stage models and props. The exhibition is obviously a year or two old as it was mainly focussed on the first season of this new incarnation, with the Eccleston episodes prominent. The creatures seemed to improve as I moved through the exhibition with no sign of the big, notorious aliens until right at the end. I saw Cassandra, the face of Boe, and a member of the Ood, which was impressively big and scary. I knew we were reaching the end when I turned a corner to be faced with a cyberman. They have always been the creatures from the Dr Who universe that have frightened me the most. Whether it’s the fact they are almost human but without the personality (think Matt Damon) or that their only aim in life is to make more cybermen, a bit like the Borg from Star Trek. Coming face to face with one is something I’ll never forget, even if it wasn’t real. So there was only really one place to go from there, no not the exit, but to the Daleks. Sure enough, I clicked a button, and a door slowly opened to reveal a full-scale dalek. The sounds of “Exterminate, exterminate” played loudly through the speakers, and I admit, I was more frightened than the 6 year old girl who was behind me.

Overall, it was a great exhibition and I’d recommend it to any Who fans. It’s a fraction of the size of the Manchester exhibition and I’m now even more determined to get tickets for that.

Pop Buzz UK, Dr Who, Up Close Exhibition