Dr Who Pilgrimage to the UK

As many of you know, I have been a Dr Who fan since I was probably 8. Now, a couple months away from 40, Dr Who has become an obsession with me. There always felt like there was something missing with my fandom. I have been to many Dr Who Conventions and have met and interviewed many of the actors, but something was always missing. What was missing was a pilgrimage to the UK to see where Dr Who was filmed and the home country of the show.  I planned on spending 6 days in London and 3 days in Cardiff Wales.

One of the first things I did was attend a Dr Who Walking Tour in London by Brit Movies Tour and was hosted by Jeremiah. Jeremiah took us through London to show use where many key scenes from classic to new Who were filmed. He also gave us some behind the scene information about the filming of the show and could basically act out any Dr Who episode on demand. His knowledge of the show actually put my knowledge of the show to shame. He was defiantly the highlight of the tour.

The next place on my list was to check out the Tardis in front of Earl's Court Tube Station. As soon as you leave the tube station there it is on the sidewalk. It was put there for the 50th Anniversary celebration and it has been kept there since. Lots of people are walking by and not even givingit a second look, while I'm standing there staring at it like it's the Holy Grail. I have seen lots of Tardis's in my time at conventions, but there's something special like seeing a Tardis in the middle of a busy London street.

The last stop on the London part of my pilgrimage was a stop at the Who Shop. The Who Shop opened in 1984 and is still in business today. Great selection of Dr Who merchandise and some hard to find items. The highlight of the store is their own Dr Who Museum. It's not a large museum, but it's packed full of costume's and props. They have spent a lifetime collecting some one of a kind items. One of the employees actually told me that a person from the show had stopped in before I got there to see if they could use any of the props in the upcoming filming.

The next leg of my journey took me to Cardiff Wales to visit where Dr Who is filmed today. My first day there, I went over to Eddie's Diner, where they filmed scenes for the "Impossible Astronaut". Make sure you sit at booth #11, because that's where Matt Smith sat during the episode. It's a neat diner that has pictures on the wall of the filming of the episode.

Next stop in my trip was to visit Torchwood Tower in Cardiff Bay. Such an iconic image with the Millennium Center right across from the tower just like on the show. Just a few yards away is the Ianto Jones Memorial. This memorial was created by the fans of the character, Ianto Jones, from Torchwood who perished in the Children of Earth special. The memorial started when fans started posting pictures and well wishes to the fallen character. The city kept taking it down, but then finally gave up and allowed the fans to post their well wishes. The city even enacted a plaque in his honor at the memorial.

My last full day in Cardiff was the day I will always remember. I got to visit the Dr Who Experience. I didn't know what to expect from the experience. I had high hopes, but sometimes museums can be a let down. Let me tell you, there was no let down. The Dr Who Experience was better then my expectations. The first part of the experience is an interactive adventure with the Doctor himself. Peter Capaldi actually filmed scenes for this interactive adventure. Your tour guide interacts beautifully with the Doctor on screen and makes the adventure very believable. I don't want to give away the plot, but you will take a ride on the Tardis and meet some of the Doctor's deadliest enemies.

After the interactive experience, then you are on your own to explore the rest of the museum. They have a lot to see and they change it every couple months. They have multiple Tardis console rooms from different Doctors and era's. The museum is filled with costumes from all the Doctors, lots of companions and from every episode of this past season. Every classic villain is represented from Daleks to Cybermen and to even more obscure villains like Morbius. It's a great mixture of classic and new Who. When you are done at looking at all the costumes and props, you will end your visit in the gift shop. The Dr Who Experience gift shop has some exclusive items that can only be found at their shop. I would recommend when you buy your ticket to also purchase the merchandise package. You get an exclusive t-shirt, cloth bag, Dr Who Experience program, your very own Tardis key, certificate and a special ticket. It's definitely worth it.

Later on that day, I did join the Cardiff Bay Dr Who walking tour hosted by the Dr Who Experience. I was kind of disappointed with this walking tour. Most of the places I already knew about and visited the previous day. The tour guides were nice, but not overly entertaining. They take us to some sites away from Cardiff Bay. I guess if you hadn't already visited the locations yet, it would have been more enjoyable.

This Dr Who pilgrimage that I went on was a once in a lifetime experience that I would recommend to any Dr Who fan. I think I was able to visit much of the major Dr Who attractions in the UK, but there's always more that I could have done, but just ran out of time or transportation. If any of my fans are planning their own Dr Who pilgrimage to the UK and wants some ideas or tips, please email reach out to me. Please see more pictures of my trip on myFacebook page

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Matthew Dow Smith ~ Awesome Con 2016 Interview

So after having some technical difficulties, I finally got the Matthew Dow Smith Interview ready for your enjoyment from Awesome Con 2016. Matthew and I discuss how he got started in comics and of course we talk lots of Dr Who. I would like to thank Matthew for sitting down with us. He's always a fun person to interview. Follow him on Twitter.

Awesome Con 2016 Review

Awesome Con 2016 wrapped up about 3 weeks ago and I'm finally getting around to writing about it. I would have written this earlier, but I came down with a bad cold that I started to get Sunday evening after meeting Peter Capaldi. I think the Doctor gave me a space virus. My immune system is not used to Gallifreyan viruses.

This year I did something different, I actually paid for the VIP pass and tried to experience everything as a VIP. As always, I like to look at a convention just in terms of Dr Who (guests, programing, vendors and overall  feel of the con). Let's get right to it.

Pictures from Awesome Con 2016

Pictures from Awesome Con 2016 are on our Facebook page. Also, check out our video of John Barrowman's crazy entrance at Awesome Con.


https://www.facebook.com/eastcoastwho/photos

Review "Sleep No More"

We finally get back to a single part story. I kind of missed them and was sure glad this was not a 2 part story. Talk about a snooze fest, which is kind of funny since this episode is about sleep. Leave it to Dr Who to take eye gunk and turn it into a monster. Which I have to admit kind of looked cool, but the idea that these creatures are made out of sand in the corner of your eye, left me wondering if Steven Moffat ran out of ideas. This whole episode kind of felt like a filler after the Zygon episodes.

Review "The Zygon Invasion" & "The Zygon Inversion"

Finally getting caught up with Series 9 and have just finished watching, "The Zygon Invasion" & "The Zygon Inversion". I picked the perfect time to watch these 2 episodes, because it was alarming the similarity between these  2 episodes and what is going on in real life with ISIS and the Paris attacks. If I had watched these when they first came out, this review would totally be different. This review is not going to be like my normal reviews, instead I want to show you the similarities between these Dr Who episodes and our real world crisis.

I try not to be political at all on this page. I have seen politics ruin long time friendships on Facebook and other platforms. With that being said, I apologize in advance if this seems political, but after watching these 2 Zygon episodes, I couldn't get this out of my head. I want you to look at all the Zygons as Muslims here on Earth and the rebel faction of Zygons as ISIS (or radical/extremist Muslims).

Review "The Girl who Died" & "The Woman who Lived"

After two pretty good serials and with the much hyped appearance of Maisie Williams to Dr Who, I expected a pretty good serial. I couldn't have been more wrong. This was "Bad", not historically bad, but bad none the less.

I can't even really discuss the actually villains, because they were never really explored as characters. I can't even remember their names at all, it was that underdeveloped. I know the point of both episodes was to show Lady Me, or whatever she calls , but it would have been nice to know a little bit about the villains. Then again, it didn't really think there was much to these villains. One of them looked like a space pirate and the other looked like the beast from "Beauty and the Beast".