The Doctor Who Experience: Secretary Takes On Daleks and Weeping Angels – And Lives To Tell The Tale0

by Secretary

I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’m a massive Doctor Who fan. The longest running science fiction series in the world, it was first broadcast in 1964. It’s an idiosyncratically British institution, whose longevity is cleverly assured by one of the fundamental principals of our protagonist, the Doctor. He is able to ‘regenerate’ his physical form to cheat death – and to keep the show fresh and give writers wiggle-space, allowing the character to develop and change.

The program went on hiatus between 1989 and 2005 (with the exception of a movie, released in 1996), and when Russell T Davis revived it (with Christopher Eccleston and then David Tennant in the role of the Doctor), he was quick to say that it was the enduring affection of fans that helped convince the BBC to give it another shot.

Current writer Steven Moffat, who produced some of the most memorable shows of the Tennant era, has gone one further; he has actively sought to bring the fans into the experience with somewhat of a stylistic flourish. Late last year we were treated to Doctor Who Live, a stage-show big on audience participation, where monsters such as the Scarecrows, clockwork androids and Cybermen roamed the floors of the O2 Arena in London, terrifying small children and delighting older Who fans in equal measure.

The Doctor Who Experience, currently showing at London’s Olympia, is another gift to fans young and old; the audience become the story, and who was I to resist? I grabbed my Tom Baker scarf and my faithful companion, and prepared to indulge in some hardcore Who-dom (if you’re planning on seeing the show and are sensitive to spoilers, I’d discourage you from reading any further).

The whole thing is split into two parts – the actual “Experience” is experienced first, followed by a museum-like exhibit of Who past and present. The Experience is an interactive walk-through piece, which feeds heavily back into the most recent series of Who. A small group of us gather in a room where there’s a large, glowing crack in the wall – two parts of space and time that should never have touched. The crack grows wider and wider, and begins to open. We’re eventually invited to step through it, and find ourselves in the National Museum of Starship UK.

The museum is full of quirky treasures – including a Van Gogh. It’s here that Matt Smith’s Doctor first makes contact with us ‘shoppers’ via a video link. What’s happened? He’s stuck in the Pandorica. Again. Turns out the evil Alliance had a spare, and it wasn’t even a different color. The eleventh Doctor isn’t very happy about that, and he needs our help to return him to the Tardis, which has just materialized in the corner of the room.

It’s bigger on the inside than the outside you know.

So we enter the Tardis (our group included a fan who is dressed as an exact replica of David Tennant’s 10th Doctor). Gathered around the central console, we are instructed by the on-screen Doctor as to how to pilot it. As we “take-off” and “land,” the floor moves in such a way that it does feel a little like you’re been thrown around just like Rose Tyler and Amy Pond would have been the first time they traveled through space and time.

Except that the Tardis lands right in the middle of Dalek command. Typical. We try and creep down the corridor, so as not to attract any attention from these homicidal condiment look-a-likes, but all in vain. Soon we are accosted by three seven-foot tall Daleks, appearing backlit in a cloud of smoke like some sort of camp rock act, threatening to exterminate us all. Fortunately the Dalek ship comes under attack, and we are left to make our escape… right into the Forest of Angels.

The Weeping Angels that inhabit it are probably one of the most terrifying monsters ever to have appeared on a family show. Quantum locked, when you look at them they are statues, covering their faces with their hands as if they are crying. But then you look away, you blink, and the moment you stop perceiving them they move, faster than you can imagine, their faces now revealed to be fanged and terrible.

It the Forest of Angels we were handed 3D glasses, and for the last part of the experience we got to watch the spectacle of these monsters reaching out towards us, trying to get close enough to touch us, so they could zap us back into the past and feed on the potential energy we would leave behind. Cybermen also appeared before our eyes, trying to shoot at us before the Doctor pulled some of his jiggery-pokery and managed to suck them all into a time vortex.

After the Doctor thanked us for helping him to save the day, we were then free to explore the exhibit, a museum of Who through the ages, from costumes to monsters to special effects.

Television series rarely give back as much as this, and for a Doctor Who fan such as myself it really was an unmissable experience.

The Doctor Who Experience runs at London’s Olympia until 29th May.

If you have a thing for Doctors and/or Daleks, you may want to join SuicideGirls’ Doctor Who Group (for members only).