Doctor Who Experience - Revisitied

On a return visit to Wales I decided to go again to the Experience this time to take my girlfriend as she had not seen it.  Also they had apparently made some alterations with Capaldi as the new Doctor to look forward to.

Actually quite a bit has changed and been moved around, and a lot of additions have been made.  The interactive part has changed quite a lot, now with Peter Capaldi doing the interactive parts for the crowd on screen, the story that visitors go through is different and the scenes you have to pass though have changed.  It's not simply the same experience with Capaldi doing new inserts in place of Matt Smith, it is a different story.

Elsewhere lots of the props have had a move around.  The main entrance is now home to a couple of Daleks and lots of things related to the timelords.  These include the new chancellery guard, the old timelord robes, TVM Master robes, Rassilon robes and a female timelord robes that I didn't recognise but am assuming was from Day of the Doctor. 

There's now a full section covering the start of the show using props from 'An Adventure in Space and Time'.  Upstairs lots of new things have appeared and a few old.  The original Web of Fear Yeti that was absent last time has now reappeared looking very moth-eaten!

The Daleks are out in the middle of the room now as well as scattered throughout the museum.  There are also a lot more companion costumes than I recall including a couple of older ones.  Yes, that is Liz Sladen's dreadful pink outfit from the Five Doctors...

There were plenty of additions from Capaldi's last series as well as small sprops and behind-the-scenes type of displays.  We were inside 1 hour and 45 minutes so there is plenty to see as long as you don't rush.  Costumes of most monsters, every Doctor, many companions, a huge amount of stuff and well lit in most cases.  I attended a film costume display at the V&A a couple of years ago and it was expensive, clearly over-sold leading to over crowding to the point where you could barely move inside, displays were poorly lit and with a total ban on photography.  None of even these things apply to the Doctor Who Experience which comes highly recommended and worthy of a repeat visit if you have not been since the renovation for the latest series with Peter Capaldi.

Deep Breath

Right off the bat the theme music is all different and as are the titles.  They look great, I'm not so taken by the music.  Maybe it's my TV, but it seemed more tinny than ominous or deep in sound.  But between the pre-titles and opening minutes, there's plenty of excitement and interest as the new Doctor starts to show some of his new personality.  Loud, somewhat abrasive, energetic.  I think it's important that the Doctor is in contrast to his previous self.  Matt Smith's Doctor was too much like David Tennant at the beginning, he started to become his own later on but broadly there was too much similarity.  That cannot be said of Capaldi's Doctor in this.

The dinosaur seemed a bit of a waste.  It did nothing and soon died, it seems included as a gimmick to advertise the story on the TV trailers rather than serve much purpose in the story.  Also it was the size of Godzilla, it stood as tall as Big Ben and could swallow and regurgitate the Police Box with no trouble.  It was definitely identified as being from prehistoric Earth but was impossibly large.  Either they have or haven't the budget to do dinosaurs in London properly.

Moffat was indulging himself again, littered with reference to previous stories written by himself, and full of his own characters.  Vastra and company are rather superfluous, they are there to stretch out the story by half an hour and do the same jokes.  Yes, we know Strax doesn't get human biology and there is lots of inscrutable cleverness from Vastra, plus waving some swords around and a lesbian kiss.  I'm pretty bored of these characters now and Moffat insists on pushing them in continually.  Talking of Moffat rehashing old ideas and themes, this episode was 'don't breathe' instead of 'don't blink'. Really?  What next?  Monsters you have to put your fingers in your ears to overcome?

Most of these distractions got in the way of enjoying the new Doctor, who was clearly the best thing in the programme.  A smaller more personal story with Clara and the Doctor would have worked better I think, this was over long to accommodate Vastra and team not to give the Doctor more screen time.  Capaldi was hugely enjoyable in the part with his wild, but not pantomime, performance and the craziest eyes since Tom Baker.  The robot threat was pretty small potatoes it seems.  Obviously the Doctor couldn't let it go on with them murdering people for body parts, but it works as the story is giving Capaldi time to lay the groundwork for his Doctor.  The scene in the alley was my favourite, with a particularly haywire Doctor demanding the tramp hand over his coat.  Things really start to work once he meets Clara at the restaurant.  The way the characters play off each other here is at the episode's best which is why I feel the story didn't need the inclusion of so many others.

"I stole this off a tramp.  Don't smell.  You won't gag if you don't smell"

Did the Doctor push the robot or did he jump?  In an attempt to darken the series, we'll likely never know.  But it's not without precedent, if it was the 1st Doctor, he would have pushed him.  Hartnell's Doctor was a killer, see him throw an assassin from a first floor window in The Romans, or hitting a man over the head with a shovel in Reign of Terror. Tom Baker's Doctor gassed Solon with cyanide.  Also playing with cyanide was Colin Baker's Doctor when he killed Shockeye in the Two Doctors.  It's not a new thing, but I hope it doesn't become a theme as fundamentally the Doctor is a good person who kills only as a last resort and clearly finds it regrettable afterwards.

Overall, pretty good but too long given the material.  It was long because there were too many characters needing screen time, when this episode was about the Doctor and Clara rediscovering him after regeneration.  Capaldi was ace, I think we all agree on that.