Since I went to Madame Tussauds today, I decided to put up the pictures in this thread since it's already here and already picture heavy...find it after the Doctor Who Experience.
The Doctor Who Experience Well I've been to the Doctor Who experience and have just returned! So I thought I'd share the experience and the photo's! I did consider just putting this into the Doctor Who thread, but since this is going to be rather image heavy, and I'm not completely sure if images still load even if you don't open the spoiler tags, I thought it might be better to put it in it's own thread with a warning about images. Last thing I wanted was people complaining that they went into a thread and didn't expect so many images draining away their usage.
A little warning, this whole post is pretty much a big spoiler for the experience. I've put the description in Spoilers, along with the images.
Anyway I digress. I went for a Saturday afternoon 2pm showing when I pre-booked my ticket on-line. In the end I decided to opt for the Silver Package ticket, which comes with a little goody bag of extras when you exit. This included a Doctor Who Experience program, which has some rather nice photo's inside of it, a poster, an 'I flew the Tardis' certificate, a Lanyard with some little fact cards, and a card that gives you 5% of any purchases in the gift shop at the end. This cost an extra £10 on top of the normal ticket (and the programme alone costs £10 to buy) so I figured it would be worth it to satisfy my inner geek. It's also worth it if you intend on buying merchandise at the end, though I suspect most, if not all of it, can probably be purchased cheaper on-line.
So, on to the experience itself. On entering you go into a little waiting area which has a few little exhibits dotted around, though really not much,
This guy really needs to get laid.
My soldier? Yeah right....
Did someone landscape my garden when I wasn't looking?
Below is a description of the walk-through section of the experience. Skip this if you plan on going yourself.
Pretty much bang on the hour and half past the hour, one of the staff will gather everyone together and announce that you're to begin the interactive experience. There's no photography allowed during the walk-through, which is a shame really as there's some pretty nice stuff to take pictures of, including an interior set of the current tardis, the interior of a Dalek spacecraft and a museum room aboard the Starship UK. The first part of the experience sees everyone brought into a room to watch a video which basically shows the highlights of Series 5, preceeded by a welcome voiceover from Matt Smith. After the Promo video ends, a 'crack in time' begins to form on the screen, rotating around until the screen splits and slides open. It's rather neat since the projected image actually splits as well rather than just being projected through onto the floor beyond. At this point everyone is ushered through to the next room, which is the aforementioned museum room aboard the Starship UK. Once aboard you're given an alert message that a solar flare has just rendered the Earth uninhabitable. Good thing I just stepped through that crack in time otherwise I'd have been done for. Eventually Matt Smith manages to interrupt the display and appears on the big screen, at first expecting either Amy or Rory, though rather disappointed that he's got a bunch of 'shoppers' whom he quickly declares to be rather rubbish. (Well gee thanks Doc!). Turns out he's been trapped in a second Pandorica (which is cheating as it's not even a different colour) and needs their help to escape. Unfortunately, he's stuck with us wether he likes it or not, so decides to bring the Tardis along. The appearance of the Tardis is a cool little special effect, using some creative lighting, smoke effects and a gradually withdrawn semi-transparent screen. If you had looked where the Tardis entrance is carefully, you might have seen it in the dark, but if you're just casually looking you wouldn't spot it, and it is rather cool to see it start appearing, even if you do know how the trick is done.
You're then ushered through to an interior model of the Tardis and there are some interactive controls dotted around. Sadly they aren't on the console itself, they're just attached to a metal barrier around the console. This is a bit of a shame as it would be rather cool to have worked with the actual insane controls on the tardis console, rather than just some black plastic joysticks. There's a bit more exposition from Smith, along with a minute or so of the floor moving, a panicked delcaration that the Tardis is landing somewhere, before we're all ushered out of the Tardis' newly created back door through a corridor and straight onto the bridge of a Dalek spaceship. Again, thanks Doc. There's also a warning for any bald people to check for feathers.
As you'd expect, the Dalek's (The new Dalek's) make an appearance pretty sharpish. Unfortunately, they appear to have allied themselves with the Mysterons from Mars who when they scan you, until The Doctor hacks in on their screens again. Despite getting cut off, his signal has alerted the Children of Davros Dalek's to the Paradigm Dalek's position, and the groups proceed to laser the gooseberry fool out of each other, allowing the 'sub-species of humans called Shoppers' to escape, straight through a forest inhabited by Weeping Angels. Doc, I love you and all but please, let's try to get out of this one alive.
This eventually brings you into the final part of the walkthrough experience. On your way in you're given a pair of 3D glasses, then moved into the set of an archeological dig. Once everyone's in place a 3D movie starts up, with The Doctor managing to get free of the Pandorica and into the Tardis (I notice he didn't have to go through a creepy forest and a Dalek spaceship to get there!), unfortunately this has the side effect of pissing off everyone who put him there, with a rip in time opening up and a 3D movie of a journey through the Time Vortex begins, with Dalek's flying at you, Weeping Angels reaching out of the screen for you and some Cybermen popping up to shoot at you for good measure! Fortunately, The Doctor is able to reverse everything, sucking everyone back through the crack and sealing it off, bidding you farewell, before you leave and enter the exhibit part of the experience.
All in all, the walk-through part is rather fun, but is aimed more towards kids than adults, with the children being the ones encouraged to operate the Tardis controls (Screw that, I paid £30 for my ticket, I'm damn well having a go!). Whilst the moving floor part is rather cool, with the accompanying light and smoke effects, I did feel it was a bit too tame. The floor could have moved a little faster, a little more jerkily, or even just a little more. Again, I think this was aimed more towards kids so for Health and Safety reasons they had to keep it quite subdued. The 3D movie is again rather cool. I know some people dismiss 3D as a gimmick, but for this little 2 minute movie it works rather well and is a nice ending to the little mini-story that the walkthrough provides. I suppose the main problem with the walkthrough is that it's a bit too short. It could have had some more sections, and perhaps some parts with real actors to make things a little more exciting. It would have been cool to be chased down a corridor by people in Cybermen costumes trying to convert you.
Once you leave the walkthrough area, you get a large open exhibit area, containing props and costumes from Who over the ages. Most of it is geared around the new series, but there's still some classic Who to please the older fans, or those who started with the newer series but have gone back to watch some of the older stuff.
Just plonked on its own more or less right outside of the walkthrough exit.
As you leave you get treated to a few Radio Times Dr Who covers from the ages.
A classic Cybermen cover.
I still haven't seen The Five Doctors. Infact I've seen very little Classic Who at all.
The next section is a bit of a timeline of the Doctors through the ages, with all of his outfits on display.
As you'd imagine, the main stage is given to the current Doctor in his 11th incarnation.
Am I the only one who thinks he looks like a vampire?
I don't really know anything about the sixth Doctor, but apparently he was either completely mental or colour blind.
Seventh Doctor? Or The Riddler in a clever disguise?
I don't care what people say. Paul McGann was a great Doctor and would've been great in his own series. I really need to invest in some of the 8th Doctor audio adventues. Do any of them cover parts of the Time War?
The next section was a little props cabinet. Apologies that these images might not be great. The lighting in the cabinet was very low, almost as if designed to discourage photo taking, and the use of flash just reflected off the glass and made pictures nothing more than a bright white blur.
The first, and current, key to The Tardis.
I'd much rather have seen this one the other way up for the diagram of Gallifrey's solar system.
Looks more like a Sonic Socket Wrench to me.
Actual prop of the ruined screwdriver.
My personal favourite of the bunch
Round the corner there's some larger exhibits of creatures and sets from the series across tha ages, classic and new mixed together in no particular order.
I don't remember taking a picture of these guys.....
Unfortunately the only full size Cybermen on display were of the Cybus Industries variety.
Is displaying your brain as a sign of rank really the best idea? Kind of screams "Kill me first, oh, and shoot right here!"
Sadly, like all the exhibits, the Tardis console sets were fenced off with big "Do not touch signs" everywhere. Just once I'd love to play with the controls on the Tardis console.
Apparently Time Lord attire is taken from 19th Century London, then run through an EXTREME filter.
Not really readable, but a cool little sum up of the Tardis interior through the various series.
If you don't know who this is, then what are you doing here?
The only other Tardis set in the exhibit. Again, sadly out of reach.
If you know who/what this is, then Kudos to you.
For some reason, this made me giggle.
Sadly I think another oppertunity was missed with the Tardis exhibits. Had these been interactive I think the ticket price would be a little more justified. I know that they're kept out of reach like this to avoid kids breaking things, but it still would have been very cool. The next part of the exhibit is actually two green screen photo areas. The first has a seat which allows you to have your picture taken with you being trapped inside the Pandorica. The second allows you to take a picture of yourself looking out of the Tardis whilst flying through the Time Vortex. Whilst these are cool, at £12 for a photo it's much too steep. You can get two photo's for £15, but even this is again too steep for me, especially when a normal adult ticket already costs about £20. One of these photo's really should be included in the price of an adult ticket.
Up next is a purely Classic Who exhibit, with the various Cybermen heads (real, Mondas Cybermen!) on display, much like in van Statten's vault.
I'm sure at the time these were scary. But let's face it, today they look just a tad silly
Next up we got a little Dalek exhibition, with the various Dalek's throughout the ages.
I didn't know they made an actual model for the Dalek Emperor, I always thought it was entirely CG.
Oh Davros, we'll find a nursing home you can't escape from one of these days.
The original Dalek. I didn't know the bumps were blue. I'm guessing this was to make them stand out more on Black & White TV.
Darker blue, and the addition of some vents above the gun cluster.
A darker colouration, perhaps indicative of the growing threat the Daleks posed.
He doesn't just exterminate you, he exterminates your entire house!
The Dalek's as first seen in the new series. Not only the extension of the small head lights, but the removal of the grills added in their second iteration, covered once more with metal panels.
Probably as close to the original Dalek's as they've been since then. Fitting seeing as how these Dalek's are supposed to be more 'pure' than most of their predecessors.
The rest of the exhibit wasn't particularly dedicated to one group (beyond a few similar displays) or time period. There was a "Learn to walk like a monster" area, which basically consisted of a warped mirror and a video of a woman explaining how to basically walk like a modern day Cyberman. There was also a section where you could record your voice, and it would then be run through a synthesizer to make it sound like either a Dalek or a Cyberman. Sounds cool, but it's no better than those toy voice changers you can get at Toys r Us.
Sontaran's used to look like this? I seriously doubt this would make it past anyone checking a program for racism these days
A definite improvement.
He's smiling under there I'm sure.
Another classic Who villain. Do you know who it is? Kind of looks like a lego man with those hands doesn't he?
No clue what the fudge this guy is supposed to be. Did an episode of Doctor Who get written by someone involved in the production of Hentai?
Danger Will Robinson, Danger! Oops, wrong series.
I think the exhibitions long run is taking it's toll on the Face of Boe. He was cooler before it was implied he's the future Captain Jack.
Those Hath love their sprite.
The posing of this exhibit seems a bit lazy. It also would've been cool to be able to see a skull inside.
Somebody get this guy a higher SPF sunscreen!
Should've gone to specsavers.
This is the only thing Peter Kay has done that I liked. Much like Ricky Gervais, I don't find Peter Kay's stuff at all funny.
This was from a re-creation of the writing department. The significance of it is totally lost on me however.
Awwwwww, he just wants to be loved really. Look at that face! Ignore the claws, just look at that face. Awwwwww!
The only interactive prop in the entire exhibit. This Dalek was open at the back so you could get inside and move the plunger arm and gun stalk. Sadly it was sized with children in mind.
Another rather lazy prop. The costume is there, but they could have at least modelled an actual ganger inside rather than a typical mannequin.
That's the last time I go shopping at Ted's discount Tardis warehouse.
I've helped fly the Tardis. Have you?
All in all, it was a fun hour and a half or so. Was it worth the ticket money? Well as a Who fan yes. But I couldn't help feeling I could have and should have got a little more for my money. A little more interaction in the exhibit part of things, and a longer walk through would have made the ticket price absolutely spot on. Whilst I went on a Saturday afternoon and was pleasently surprised that it wasn't overly busy, if you plan on going I would suggest perhaps going on a weekday when there wont be as many children about. This will likely give you a little more room to move around, a little less noise and, most importantly, less kids hogging the Tardis controls!
Madame Tussauds Well today it was off to Madame Tussauds! I had planned on going to The London Dungeons as well, but the main thing I wanted to go for, the 5D Laser Experience ride, is closed for maintenance. Still, Madame Tussauds currently have a 4D Marvel Superhero attraction which was open, so I decided to pop on down to Baker Street and check it out. The queues outside were a little long even in the advance ticket booking queue, but I found this was actually because everyone with a bag has to have it searched before entry, and there's only a single perosn to check everybody's bag, leading to a bit of a delay in getting through. Still, once you're inside it's straight into the A-List Celebrity section. The first thing that will get you about the place is just how incredibly crowded it is at weekends. Making your way through the crowds is difficult, and getting photo's of the exhibits without someone either walking across you or just walking over to stand next to one of the exhibits, despite clearly looking at you holding up a camera.
Morgan Freeman approves of Neon Pink shirts.
Bond was just on his way to see God, so I caught him just in time.
Bruce is looking slightly annoyed and confused.
Patrick Stewart was taking a break from running the CIA and the Starship Enterprise to do a little tourism.
I have a sudden urge to burn things....
Andy Worhol looks cold and scared.
Tony Stark's been at the bottle again....
Whoopeee!
I'll be back. But only through the careful use of CGI.
Robin Williams was begging passers by for a movie role.
Again with the pink shirts.
Boo!
A walk, or more fight, through some crowded stairs and you can eventually reach the hall of sportsmen, royals, musicians and politicians.
There was a group of women just out of shot, I was kind of tempted to warn them not to get too close.
I made it through a game of the longest, most boring sport in existance! Truly an achievement worth celebrating!
Johnny was ready for his colonic irrigation.
Shhhh! Don't tell the Terrorists my name!
One demands more tax money for sitting on her bony ass all day long.
Think I could sell this one to the Daily Express?
One demands more pie!
Ha! Where's your precious theory of relativity now Al?
I thought it was rather cruel of them to just unplug Professor Hawking's battery and dump him in the middle of the room.
That urge to burn things is rising again.....
Sorry lady, you're about 20 years too old for him. Unfortunately getting a solo picture of the MJ exhibit was quite literally impossible.
Love me! LOVE ME!
I didn't know sound could trigger an orgasm until now....
I'ma Nelson Mandela, and these are Nelson Mandela's alco-pops.
Many dogs went deaf in the attempt to get the Archbishop into the waxworks.
Y'know it's a good thing for Tussauds that I don't carry a lighter around with me or this would be a wax puddle on the floor.
I'm not entirely convinced that this was a waxwork. I suspect Boris may have wandered in and gotten confused, so was just waiting for help.
In Soviet Russia, wazwork photographs you!
Oddly enough, George here was just tucked away in a corner in the same area as the African and Middle Eastern ditators.....
Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom!
After this was the "Scream" section, a live actor inhabited walkthrough dedicated to criminals and serial killers. Sadly, photography wasn't allowed in this section. After emerging there's a little section on how they make the waxworks, then it's on to the Marvel Superhero's section.
What're you doing on the roof Spidey? You crazy!
Hulk smash puny guard rail!
Only Hugh Jackman could look sillier as Wolverine without his blue and yellow costume.
Well hello Susan....
A nice little touch to the Marvel area are some classic comicbook covers from various characters solo debut's
Yes Spidey, the world will marvel at your awesome might. Or that guy you've got might just go and tell everyone your secret identity since you can't seem to help blabbing it.
Iron Man smash!
Y'know everyone else gets their own solo cover. Why does Cap have to share?
Ah Hulk, adorable as ever.
I gotta admit I prefer her new costume
......Is that Wolverine's rape face....?
Now we have a few more lifesize wax works from the recent Marvel movies
Y'know I don't think Cap's shield should be able to be dented like that from regular bullets.
Let's get these mummy strawberry floating supervillians off this mummy strawberry floating helli-carrier.
Sherlock Holmes' latest invention!
After this was the aforementioned 4D experience. This consits of a 3D movie, but along with this are some rather nifty pressurised air and water spray effects, and even some little prods that nudge into your back from the seat. The movie itself is a rather fun little mini-adventure with some great voice acting. My on-line ticket included entry to the attraction, but some tickets require you to pay at the entrance for an upgrade. However it's only £2.70 and for that price I'd highly recommend it.
These next two were actually taken in the front entrance of Ripley's Believe it or Not. I had planned on going in, but when I saw that entry was £25.95 a ticket I felt that was rather too steep.
Apparently this model is built entirely from car parts. Impressive.
What's worse than sitting through a rendition of Numa Numa? Sitting through a rendition of Numa Numa with animatronics!
Last edited by Lagamorph on Mon Oct 03, 2011 8:51 am, edited 2 times in total.
Wow, those Madame Tussaud's models aren't quite as good as I thought they were. Boris Johnson aside, they're not that great. Not saying I could do any better, but some of them are pretty shoddy.
Lotus wrote:Wow, those Madame Tussaud's models aren't quite as good as I thought they were. Boris Johnson aside, they're not that great. Not saying I could do any better, but some of them are pretty shoddy.
Yeah I expected them to be a little more realistic given the big deal everyone makes of the place. Some of them are good but some of the older ones are definately starting to show their age I think.
Zenigame wrote:Why weren't you allowed to take photos of the models of killers?
The models you can, it's the live actor walkthrough section you can't take pictures in, they don't tell you why, just that you can't. The wax models however are in an area that's so poorly lit that you'd need the flash from an SLR camera to get any kind of decent image.
~Earl Grey~ wrote:Bab, the Doctor Who Experience should be in Cardiff...
But then nobody would want to go
Also, fixed the very last image in the Ripleys believe it or not part. I accidentally put the thumbnail only version in Now you can see the Numa Numa singing animatronics in all their freaky glory.
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