Today, Saturday the 9th of September 2017, was the day all Doctor Who fans secretly wished wouldn’t arrive, the final day of The Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff Bay, South Wales. The Gallifreyan Newsroom attended, together with three very good friends to bid it a fond farewell.
A sad day? Well, yes, but also a day of celebration for an attraction that has become very much a Mecca for Doctor Who fans from right across the country and far beyond too.
Today, as you can imagine was a sell-out. It was packed with Dr Who fans of all ages from all corners of the United Kingdom. I even met two fans from Russia, who just had to be a part of this wonderful attraction on its final day, certainly nobody could accuse Doctor Who fans of not being faithful, dedicated and loyal!
Us Doctor Who fans love nothing more than to express our loyalty to the series, some take to cosplay, (and there were some wonderful examples of that today!) some just love meeting new friends and chatting but we all share a commonality, we are all fans no matter how old or young, whether we have been watching the show for years or not, it doesn’t matter, whilst we are together we all share a command understanding, our love for the series and there is something quite wonderful about that! In a word where division and hatred seems upper most, to come together in the spirit of love and optimism should be savoured and celebrated and long may it continue!
The atmosphere for this final day was just magical and the exhibition was, as always chock full of wonderful sets and costumes that represented all areas of the programme, from its earliest times right up to and including the latest series (10)
No on screen stars of the series were present but there was a good selection of creatives from behind the scenes in attendance including Neill Gorton, Mike Tucker, Howard Burden (Costume Designer)
Also from behind the scenes we were entertained by voice artist and Big Finish supremo Nicholas Briggs, who gave us a fascinating presentation on Dalek / Cybermen voices, he even brought along his ring modular to demonstrate his vocal talents much to the delight of the audience. He also gave anyone brave enough the opportunity to come forward and speak into the ring modulator microphone and thus speak like a Dalek. Nick was, as always, very entertaining and paid tribute to the original voices of the Daleks, Peter Hawkins and David Graham, who set the standard for everyone who came after.
Also on hand and dressed in a very fetching Time-Lord robe was Dr Who super fan Andrew Beech. The Gallifreyan Newsroom plucked up the courage and asked the costume designers, “Of all the Dr Who costumes that have ever been, was there one that you would have liked to have designed yourselves?” Two answers came back, one was the dolls from the story “Night Terrors” (2011) and the other notable monster they praised were The Draconians from the Jon Pertwee era (Frontier in Space) 1973.
It was just wonderful to wander down memory lane, just one more time, looking at all the marvellous sets and costumes and we hope you will enjoy some of the best images we have included for you on this page.
During our very busy day I got talking to Danny Hargreaves, who is the Special effects supervisor on Doctor Who. He confirmed that the new series of Doctor Who will start filming in the next month or so, certainly before Christmas, however there is no news as yet to when it will transmit, but he did indicate that the autumn of 2018 would be likely. When pressed for news on whether a new site had been found to re-house The Doctor Who Experience the answer was a no, not yet, so any news you might have heard is very much speculation, nothing is likely to happen for at least a year and possibly longer, however when there is confirmation it will be communicated through the usual channels, Twitter, Facebook and so forth, so stay tuned!
As the clock ticked ever nearer towards closing time there was a palpable feeling that “something” was going to happen, despite the officials telling everyone to “move along, there is nothing to see here!.. However, Doctor Who are an instinctive lot, so we didn’t believe a word of it, and sure enough our feelings were well founded a “thing” was about to occour”
Around 4.30pm the ominous sound of The Cloister Bell rang out and then a voice, stating that the museum systems have been breached, “it is coming, it has come”……
“The museum time space visualizer is emitting a signal, this signal is a warning, a warning of a catastrophic time event! A phisher in space and time, the Cardiff time rift has remerged! The museums data banks have many entry logs of time activity associated with its existence. The last entry records it as having closed, but the rift is opening again, here, now!”
“These are the last moments of The Gallifrey Museum, its transdimensional gateway cannot be closed in time, it will be dragged into the rift. “We cannot stop this, but the museums visitors must be saved, the humans still here, under our protection! There are records in the museums archives which have chronicled the events of enough energy being created to eject the humans out of harm’s way, away from this time event before the rift closes and takes the museum with it!
To create this energy we need time crystals and the humans own memory imprints. We have so very little time, our future hangs in the balance!
[There was then a command to hold your passes up, and a huge explosion took place!]
[The voice continued….]
“Our actions have opened the heart of the TARDIS, while it remains open, our protection, our safe passage from here, from The Doctor Who Experience is assured! But wait, there is one final message in our data banks, once final signal!”
[Queue a final message from The Doctor himself, Peter Capaldi who appeared on a video screen.]
“Hello, The Doctor Who Experience. I’ve had the Doctor Who Experience and it’s very very special, I’ve also been at The Doctor Who Experience many times and always loved it. It such a warm friendly place and apart from that, it’s got all these fabulous exhibits, all these bit and pieces that I just want to touch and play with and wear! In fact I have worn them, I wonder if I could have them back, would that be possible?.”
“It’s incredible to be in the streets of Cardiff and to hear someone who comes from China or someone who comes from Russia or someone who comes from America saying, “can you direct me to The Doctor Who Experience”? “And that’s actually happened! But people do come from all over the world to come and visit The Doctor Who Experience and that’s a great example of how successful it has been!”
“I’m sorry it closing, I’m sorry I’m not there, please have a wonderful, wonderful time and take the spirit of Doctor Who and The Doctor Who Experience wherever you go! Are you experienced? I am, you should be too!
[There was then a huge round of applause for Peter Capaldi as the screen faded to black.]
The sound of the TARDIS dematerialising was then heard followed by the cloister bell fading into nothing”!
Once outside The Doctor Who Experience there were hordes of people just congregating around the entrance, just taking that one last look before the doors closed for the final time. Only Doctor Who fans would spontaneously applauded a set of doors closing, but it felt the right and proper thing to do. This was our way of saying thank you, thank you to The Doctor Who Experience for the past five years!
“It’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for!”
Thank you for your very kind feedback Riley, it’s lovely to hear from you!
Thank you so much for this wonderful review. My daughter and I flew in from Dallas, Texas to visit the Doctor Who Experience for the first and last time. It was truly a wonderful place and I am saddened that it is now closed. But I am glad I was able to visit. My time there will be with me for a long time. And even though it’s been almost a year, it seems like it was just yesterday.