The Doctor Who Experience offers an immersive walk-through adventure followed by a dynamic exhibition, featuring props dating back to the successful BBC TV first series in 1963. It includes authentic Tardis (police box) sets, never-before-seen costumes and re-creations of iconic recent sets, including the Pandorica as well as monsters spanning the generations from Daleks and Cybermen to Silurians, an Ice Warrior and a Zygon.
Visitors are invited to step through a crack in time allowing them to join the Doctor, currently played by Matt Smith, on a journey through time and space, encountering some of the best-loved and scariest monsters from the hit international television series. Special scenes filmed with Matt Smith combine with amazing special effects, and visitors have the chance to enter a re-creation of the modern Tardis.
The experience was conceived and constructed by leading international creative design and AV installation company, Sarner, and features powerful production sequences and spectacular set design brought to life by AV technology (including HD and 3D projection).
It was Sarner who introduced Bob Bryan to the project. As visitors are grouped together and walk through spectacular sets in the adventure, the suspense is enhanced by the vast catalogue of SGM LED and conventional moving heads, all cues triggered by two AVStumpfl DMX output units.
Passing the entrance and 'batching room' under a pair of SGM's Idea Spot 150s, visitors enter the Starship UK where a further 18 PAR 18 Idea PAR LED Zoom RGBs and a pair of Idea Spot 250s maintain a constant colour change.
As they enter the Tardis - the holy grail for Doctor Who lovers - the environment is brought to life by 50 further Idea Par LED Zoom RGBs, with a number of Ribalta 3 low-profile LED's providing groundrow effects and Idea LED Bar 100's underlighting the opaque Perspex floor at the Tardis control platform.
By the time they arrive in the Dalek Spaceship visitors have become prisoners, caged inside a cyclorama, washed from the outside by SGM's popular Palco 3s.
Throughout the excursion visitors are guided along the walkways by vertical battens housing many of the 80 Idea LED Bar 100 battens.
In summary Bob Bryan said, "The decision to take the LED route was led by power consumption issues. We then reviewed a number of brands and elected to go with SGM - and I am very pleased with the way the fixtures are performing."
The exhibition will run at Olympia Two until November before moving to a permanent home in Cardiff.
(Jim Evans)
