Well, how is
this for tardy? It was back in *2005* when
I posted this proclaimation of excitement...was visiting the (then rather small, stretching to the pub half way up the front) Brighton Breeze (now *very* large, stretching almost from Brighton Pier to the marina!), had seen everything there was to see and then decided to go and have a nose around the other attractions -
- spotted this upon coming out of an "Olde English Drinking Establishment" hovering over the sea -
- and was helpless but to pay my money and wander around - had a camera, obviously, and fortunately only one bored looking memeber of staff seemed to be in attendence in the entire place, standing on the door, chewing gum and issuing tickets (with half closed eyes) only expressing any sort of sign of quickness by occasionally raising an eyebrow in the direction of pretty ladies passing by)...I shrugged, suprised he had even managed put out a hand to collect my money, and then walked into the gloom...finding I had the whole place to myself, and no-one to tell me I wasn't allowed to shoot...excellent... ;)
Believe it or not, I even got so far as posting the pictures onto Flickr, didn't catalogue them, or put them in a group though, so they kind of got forgotten and never made it as far as the blog...(well, until now anyway)...wonder how many others are lurking, forgotten (time to spend some time in the organiser, perhaps)! Oh well...It wasn't a huge place, and I'd say at least one sixth of it was taken up by a store selling merchandise (which although now *inescapable*, was fairly uncommon at the time)...anyway, turning right at the entrance, the first thing to greet me was this solitary "classic" Dalek -
- (sorry for the low-light shots, these were taken way back in the Fuji A201 days when low-light and digital cameras were fierce enemies, and I owned nothing in the way of a tripod) some Robots from (I think) the episode "
Bad Wolf" -
- although it's a while ago now(!) then we walked into a *partial* replica of the interior of the Tardis housing an original concept model from the (slightly defaced) Art Department -
- and the Doctor and Rose's costumes -
- then along a walkway, past displays talking about the Doctor's various enemies, noticing a leering threat from way up on the ceiling -
- more Autons (on the rampage) -
- and then the very prop bin (although of course it changed to CG when it actually *did* anything) that ate Rose's other half (complete with suspicious stains on the carpet) -
- and his (highly unimpressive) decapitated head (really didn't work in real life, and thus probably wouldn't work in HD either), all from the pilot episode "
Rose" -
- next it was through a doorway and into an ancient tomb where the recently departed were laying on the cold slab from the episode "
The Unquiet Dead", threatening (at any moment) to rise from the grave and attack! Quite spooky actually... ;)
- next into probably the largest area in the exhibition, a large number of aliens of various species (along with make-up) -
- lots of spectacular modern
Dalek props -
- including this one which was "flying", well suspended in some mysterious fashion (walked all round it and couldn't see quite how, but that doesn't mean it was a "Dalek Levitation beam" or anything) -
- and an absolute classic, from the first Dalek motion picture, which looked rather like it had been stored at the back of someone's garden shed (under the mower) since that time though -
- and then it was into the last of the rooms, past some Slitheen from "
Aliens of London", looking a bit fat and stupid -
- and the transformation skin casts used -
- and then finally some special effect models, like this one that was taken to bits when the aliens crash landed in London -
- and some full size props from "
The Empty Child" (another really spooky episode)...
...and then it was into the shop, and back out into the sun...
So there we go, better late than never...just wish I had been there at the opening, apparently they had Daleks all over Brighton frightening people! ;)
