Saturday 13 October 2007

Dr Who - Close Up

We got up and got out early(ish) today, to take the Hobbits, dressed in their new Dr Who shirts, to the Dr Who Up Close Exhibition at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry

We didn't tell them where we were going. Samwise started to get excited when he saw a poster on a building as we approached, and by the time we got to pay the entrance fee both boys were literally jumping for joy.

As well as the usual static displays, there was a real live Ood, a Cat-person and a Scarecrow. We got to meet all three. Samwise shook hands with the Cat-person and the Scarecrow, but was a little more wary of the Ood who was "holding his ball".

Frodo kept his distance, and just waved. They both had a go at operating a Dalek.

When we got to the end we went back in for a second look, before heading out through the inevitable shopping area. The toys on sale there are about 3 quid more than they are in Toys-R-Us, and they only had one new thing there (a Dalek-Sek voice changer mask). We bought a couple of posters and some badges.

Eventually we had to leave. The BBC were holding an event in a small circus tent, with loads of free swag designed to encourage parents and children to read together, so we wandered around this and watched some of the show.

We also had a quick look around the rest of the museum. An old ICL valve computer caught my eye - I took a photo and hope to sneakily add it to the Technology Refresh knowledge base at work.

There was a shed full of locomotives and steam engines, and another full of aircraft. I spotted a Japanese Kamikaze flying bomb (which for some reason hadn't been labelled?).

Here's some photos of the Dr Who exhibition.


Big Ben - after being hit by a Slitheen Spaceship



The Face of Boe



Cyber-Controller



"Daddy, Daddy - the Cyberman Talks!"



Cyberman



The Empress of Racnoss



The face of the Sycorax (Mask in a props-box)



The Lazarus Machine



Daddy tries the Lazarus Machine. "My name is DarkDwarf and I am 43 years old!"



Samwise at the controls of a Dalek



Exterminate!



Don't Touch!



Judoon



Clockwork Robot



Samwise Meets The Ood



Scarecrow



Samwise meets the Cat-Person



Samwise meets the Scarecrow



Don't open the airlock!



Burn with me!



Frodo and the Face of Boe

3 comments:

cha0tic said...

How cool is that? I wish I still got to go on surprise days out like that.

impwork said...

Sounds and looks like a cool day out. Also conveniently saves me sending you an e-mail to say the cheap book shop in St John's has wheel barrow load of Dr Who books going cheap. May be a bit too old for the hobbits yet but like clothes that are too big they could grow into them.

darkdwarf said...

I always wanted to go to see the Dr Who Exhibition in Blackpool when I was a kid - but we never went there.

We've already got a few books that we want to read, with the excuse that the hobbits will read them when they're older. I might have to pay that book shop a visit (with a large swag bag).