It’s her Blackpool…
To make up for the lack of updates this week (while we record and edit a video commentary for Serial RRR), here’s a quick summary of our recent trip to The Doctor Who Experience.
After spending the morning at 221B Baker Street, we made it to Earls Court with time to spare. And then we decided to walk in the opposite direction to where we needed to go.
With time rapidly running out, Sue threw herself in front of a taxi, which had to swerve to avoid her. Incredibly, she still managed to charm the driver into taking us to the Olympia 2, and we arrived a few minutes before our allotted time slot expired.
There were approximately 50 people on our tour, and about a third of them were children aged between 8-12 years old. And thank God for that.
I believe that you can choose to go on tours where only adults are present. Why would anyone elect to do that? Surely the thrill comes from watching the kids reacting to every mad word Matt Smith says, and every threat the Daleks make. Sue spent most of the tour grinning madly at the kids as they gasped and screamed and laughed, and she turned to me several times to give a nod of approval or a quick thumbs up. Our only problem came when we sat down to watch the video montage at the beginning of the tour. Within seconds of the video starting, Sue began to talk out loud about what she was seeing. I had to remind her that I didn’t have my notebook with me and this wasn’t part of the experiment.
After we concluded the interactive section of the experience, Sue agreed to have her photo taken in the official green screen studio. I thought a photo of her stuck in the Pandorica would be an amusing image for the website; I could pretend that this is how I make her watch Doctor Who every night. When she placed herself in the chair, the photographer told her to smile.
“I can’t. I’m supposed to look bored.”
“What?”
“Yeah, I’m supposed to look really bored and fed up. Sorry.”
“Because you’ve been trapped in a box for untold millennia?”
“No, because my husband is making me watch Jon Pertwee six-parters.”
With that safely out-of-the-way, we headed for the museum, where there were quite a few spoilers for Sue to wade through (“What the hell is that?”). This was compounded by an over-eager steward who wouldn’t stop banging on about the bloody Zygons to her. In the end, she walked off with her fingers planted firmly in her ears.
I was most proud of her when we reached The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe display. “Is that a Yeti sphere?” she asked, pointing to a giant Christmas tree ornament. “No,” I said. “But I don’t half love you for saying that”.
I took a great deal of photos that day. And they all came out badly. Thankfully, we were joined by Simon, the Wife in Space’s official photographer, and he saved my bacon. Thanks, mate.
Please click on the photos below to see larger images and captions:
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- Lovely carpentry…
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- Isn’t she lovely? Sue looks nice, too.
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- “I can’t get that excited about a replica…”
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- “Not you lot again…”
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- “What the hell is THAT?” Sue is unimpressed with the Special Weapons Dalek
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- Sue’s re-telling of the Ice Warrior Drink Holder gag goes down like a lead balloon.
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- “I don’t want to go”. But I took her anyway.
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- “Work it, love…”
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- This is how I make Sue watch Doctor Who…
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- “Where’s the green one?”
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- “I don’t know what this is, but it’s MASSIVE!”
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- “Isn’t that…?”
There are many more images on our Facebook page. PLUS: there’s your chance to win a signed copy of Sue stuck in the Pandorica in a very special caption competition. Please Like our page to enter.
The Final Score
Sue’s initial instinct was to give the Experience ten out of ten. But after consulting with some children and their parents, she came to the conclusion that it wasn’t quite perfect.
Sue: That was great; it was much better than I thought it would be. I really enjoyed it. You can tell that a lot of thought and effort went into it. But I have to take a mark off for the shop. Where are the women’s T-shirts? I couldn’t find a single T-shirt that would fit me; and I had my eye on a nice Bessie shirt, too. I’m joking, of course, but the option would have been nice. Some of the exhibits were falling apart, too; Captain Jack’s coat was full of holes and I don’t think anyone’s ever dusted Kylie Minogue’s dress; it was filthy. I felt sorry for the kid’s not being allowed to touch the exhibits, too. Like the TARDIS consoles, for example.
Me: You’re only saying that because you were told off for touching the exhibits on three separate occasions. I thought they were going to throw you out when you tried to dry hump that Cyberman. And children were watching, too. I can’t take you anywhere.
Sue: I hardly touched him.
9/10
The experiment continues…
Our RRR commentary has now been scheduled for Wednesday, so if you have any questions for Sue (or Gary), there’s still time to take part; please use this Contact Form.
JAN
Glad you had a good time, and love the photos – Sue actually does a pretty good approximation of the Pond pout in that Pandorica one! Hopefully, the advance peak at some of the antagonists she has yet to encounter will whet her appetite for future stories…
Sue trying to explain the plot of serial RRR to herself: “Okay kid, this is where it gets complicated.”
I wonder if a young undergraduate will turn my photos into another slightly alarming musical tribute to Sue…?
Are You Experienced, perhaps?
“If you can just get your mind together
then come across to me
We’ll hold hands and watch some daleks
then reverse the polariteee.
But first…”
Seems like yesterday with our primary school teacher (on a trip to the Longleat Dr Who Exhibition) telling us kids off for clambering under the railings to the console… in order to nip back to the start and examine the Lunar Lander model (well, I didn’t recognise it from Who and wanted a closer look!). Silurians and Spiders, jumpers for goalposts… 1974?
“I believe that you can choose to go on tours where only adults are present. Why would anyone elect to do that?”
Have you MET Doctor Who fans?
Isn’t that… the Master? And hanging on to Sue…?
I saw the exhibition while it was in Glasgow Kelvingrove Museum. Won’t quibble about the price of entry then (excessive) as it was a birthday treat!
Loved the audio commentary you did a while back for Mind Robbers and looking forward to a video installment. I’ll crack open a bottle when you get to The Tree Doctors.
Sue is a Star!
Neil, did Sue have anything to say about any of the monsters she saw that hasnt “seen” yet? Or is she just willing to roll with it and blame budgets and the 70′s/80′s?
You’re dead right – it’s the reactions of the kids around you – and not a few of the adults – that make the Doctor Who Experience so great.
I’ve been hoping madly for a picture of the Wife in Space alongside the Doctor’s Wife (or her costume at least). Although I suppose that having her beside the console amounts to the same thing!