Doctor Who exhibition

27/03/2009

North of the border for the first time, the show lands in the grand surrounds of Kelvingrove Museum

Doctor Who exhibition
Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow
*****

Excitement is high, even among the bunch of hardened hacks that has assembled to see the press unveiling of the Doctor Who Exhibition in Scotland. Coming north of the border for the first time, the touring show has landed in the grand surrounds of Kelvingrove Museum to rub its alien shoulders with the gallery’s more usual art and history displays.

Packed with some of the best monsters, robots and aliens from across the revamped series, the show is sold out for the whole first weekend and this is the very first view of its finished state.

Ushered past the Doctor – a blank-faced mannequin in one of his suits with Tennant’s mug projected onto it that will fool no one and is the only misstep in the whole show – and the TARDIS, we are teleported into the first episode of the modern series in which the Doctor battled against the Autons. These animated shop dummies may be simple but running the gaunet between their blank faces serves as a superb mood setter and immediately puts us on edge.

Following the labyrinthine path on through the exhibition, there are plenty more opportunities to be afraid. The Cybermen, backed by mirrors that make them glitter with an infernal fury, reach out and shriek ‘Delete! Delete!’ And just when you think you’ve escaped them, a devilish stone angel is waiting with its fangs already bared and claws extended towards your neck.

For those visitors who may not know their Moxx of Balhoon from their Face of Boe, each creature is ingeniously introduced with video screens or projections at every turn showing them in their natural habit within the show. So you know exactly why you’re frightened.

Just as in the series it’s not just shocks that are available, though. Also included are interactive elements, such as a chance to play at being a Dalek and an informative display on how the tenticle-faced Ood were created. There’s even a mock up of what the office of art department on the series looks like.

In short, there’s plenty to satisfy even the most rabid Whovian but don’t worry, they haven’t skimped on the show’s megastars either. Round the corner are the most iconic of the Doctor’s enemies… the Daleks. In a screamingly exciting display – complete with lasers, dry ice and the grating barks of these emotionless mutants – a pair of the armoured aliens levitate towards the unwary. It’s an adrenaline rush that few would expect from a museum and is the crowning glory of a real coup for Glasgow.

by Laura Kelly