I’m sorry I’ve been absent for a few days, but it turns out time can get a bit sticky when dealing with the Doctor.
This week I had the opportunity to visit The Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff, Wales. Cardiff itself is a very small but vibrant city, framed on one side by the Bay; where, in a quiet corner away from the bustle of cars and people, lives the home of The Experience.
Now I am not what you would call a Doctor Who fan. In America, Doctor Who is a rather polarizing experience. Either you watch it religiously, or you really do ask “Doctor, Who?” Where I come from, there aren’t any casual Doctor Who watchers. Except of course, me.
While I cannot claim to know everything, I couldn’t help but be enthralled with the history and unwitting danger of the Weeping Angels. I was alternatively drawn to (and very creeped out) by the 1984-esque Smilers who lived aboard the Starship UK. The non-vampire Vampires in 1500 Venice were just as mysterious and beautiful as they were deadly. As a casual observer who can admittedly enjoy just about anything as long as someone else does, I could feel the appeal of the Doctor Whoniverse.
Knowing this, I went into The Experience hopeful to augment my admittedly small knowledge base, and maybe get a picture in front of a TARDIS.
Done did it.
There are two parts to The Experience. The first is an interactive tour, the second what they call a “museum.” As you line up to enter the interactive portion, they inform you that pictures are not allowed (of course) but that as soon as you enter the museum you can take as many pictures as you like (fine.) While I do not have pictures of the tour, I will do my best to describe The Experience for you.
With a group of maybe 15 other adventures, you enter a small, dark room filled partially with smoke, and one half of a Gallifrey conference table. The tour guide himself is dressed in somewhat ill-fitting Gallifrey robes, and busily hands out lanyards upon which there is a crystal. After everyone is sorted, your guide tells you to look at the screen on one wall so you can “track” where the Doctor is in time and space at that moment. Oh look! There he is!
Not usually a skeptic, even I was feeling a bit cheated. The screen itself was cracked down the middle, as if since its grand opening in 2012, The Doctor Who Experience was beginning to fall apart.
Then, the room shakes. As it turns out, the Doctor’s TARDIS is being attacked by some breed of Space Squid, and the TARDIS has crashed. Well. Now this is interesting.
The room lights surge, and then all the power go out. Well now we’ve lost all power to the museum. Around our necks, the crystals flash a dangerous red and begin to vibrate. Then, slowly, the crack in the wall opens to a blinding white light. (Afterwards, my host sister reminds me of episodes involving a crack in the wall. The level of artistry here cannot be overstated. I wasn’t feeling cheated anymore.)
In the next room, more smoke clears away to reveal a “time link” that the Doctor’s TARDIS has made with the museum itself. Blue and green orbs hang from the ceiling and cords twist around the walls. Around everyone’s neck, our crystals begin to glow and change colors in sync. The 12th Doctor himself appears on a screen behind the orbs, all dark eyes and brooding demeanor, disgusted with the humans he sees below. He chats with our tour guide. He insults our tour guide. He insults the general intelligence level of the room, and then gets to what he really needs. Time Crystals. We need to find three Time Crystals. And then save the universe. No pressure.
More adventures follow. There is a misty, dripping forest infested with Weeping Angels, we crash once on the planet Skaro, and there is a rather electrifying Dalek attack. (A Dalek snuck up on me at one point and I screamed. Yes. I did.) And throughout these various worlds, we find three Time Crystals. (I found one and put it into the “universe-saving-machine” at one point. You’re welcome, Universe.)
I won’t give away the ending, but let me say that The Doctor Who Experience is truly, an experience. You cannot visit the United Kingdom and not take a quick train or ferry ride over to Cardiff to immerse yourself in Doctor Who lore.
After our Experience, the museum upstairs is full of props, costumes and set originals that show just how involved the process is. Many are on loan from private collections, and it is easy to see the love and dedication that prop-makers, set and costume designers put into their craft. It was also wonderful to hear my host mother tell me of her Doctor, The Fourth, and how many memories from her childhood are linked inexorably with the show itself. Doctor Who is truly an inter-generational, cultural experience that will thrill, enthrall and entertain generations to come.