Doctor Who Live

My most recent geek based adventure was the Doctor Who Live show 'The Monsters Are Coming.'  Going to the Matinee performance was probably not the best decision for a group of college students (and a few lecturers) but at the time of booking the tickets we didnt really think about it.  The audience was mostly kids all keen to see the doctor vanquish his major enemies, more than one of which was dressed up as Daleks, cubermen and varing shades of Doctor (Even one hyper cute combo of a dad dressed as Tom Bakers Doctor and a little kid dressed as Matt Smiths - we debated which one of them suggested dressing up.)


I think some of the younger children might have left the show a little disapointed.  It probably wasnt really the show to go to if you arnt into the music of the show, essentially being a cross between a panto  and a BBC proms style affair - they played the music of the series, with videos on the big screen.  


There was the general plot of Vorgenson (son of Vorg -the Lurman showman from the Carnival of Monster) who creats a 'zoo' of all the doctors enemies because he was the docs biggest fan and wants the zoo as an homage to his hero.  Kidnapping Churchhill from wartime London, he hopes to get the doc to visit.  Vorgenson has a problem with the minimiser and disappears from the stage at which point the doctor appears on screen and tells the audience he has the TARDIS homing in on our location and  will be there shortly. Of course the various monster start breaking out of the zoo and attacking the audience, after a few attacks and the cyberdising of a few members, the 'police' come to investigate the disturbance, at which point several Angels appear on stage.  Of course there is a chorus of gasps and shrieks from the audience and everyone starts staring at the statues (getting into the spirit of it of course, nothing to do with the fact we are a bit freaked out).  There is an impression lighting trick that forces us to blink and duely the angels have moved!   A fairly adorable child in the row behind us (complete with bow tie, suspenders, screwdriver and fez) immediatly instructs his parents on Angel survival, quotin verbatim the Doctor's DVD message to Sally and attempting to scan the nearest angel over his dad's head with his screwdriver.  Of course the police dont have the benefit of the boy-Doctor's advice and are taken by the angels one by one as the Angels turn out the lights periodically in order to move.  


I am going to admit I was pretty freaked out! Not being a fan of the pitch dark at the best of times, I can freely admit that being within 10 feet of those aweful statues was pretty scary, since I happen to find Blink one the more sinister Doctor Who Episodes of the most recent series.  


After the angels have been dispatched back into the minimiser, the Doctor is summoned and imprisoned himself within the machine, at which point we are treated to Amy's theme and a montage of the girl who waited, who we are told is on her honeymoon with 'Mr Pond.'  It transpires that it was all orchestrated by the daleks to trap the doctor but with a little help from the sonic the doctor frees the cybermen from the minimiser and they battle, destroying one another, there was even a flying Dalek -which I have to admit was pretty nifty, before the TARDIS appears and takes out the last Dalek and sending all the monster back to their home worlds. 


The show ended as a Doctor Who show should, with the Time Lord Triumphant.  It was a pricey enough (about £40 each for 11th row, and just over £50 for rows 1-10) but I felt it was worth it due in large part to the fact that Ben Foster was conducting, who I must admit is one of my favourite conductors (yes I have a favourite conductor! Yes I listen to BBC Radio 4! Dont judge me!), so I would have spend £40 to see him conduct, the fact that he was conducting Murray Gold's amazing Doctor Who score was just a wonderful bonus!


There were scores of merchandise items available and unlike similer events I thought it was actually rather reasonable - there were some pretty cool T-shirts for about £15 and a budget cyberman mask for £3.  I got the last programme in Belfast (fist pump) for £10, and a buddy bought the backpack for £15.  


I don't know if the BBC plans to repeat  the tour next year, I know some of the reviews were not exactly sparkling but the ones I read seemed to have been written by people who didnt really seem to understand the show, or who hadnt seen the format of the proms and as such were disapointed by the set up.  I was certainly impressed,  the atmosphere at the show was electric, and the crowd on the final nights show would seemed to have enjoyed it immensly, so for the sake of those who havnt already seen it (and those of us who would rather like to see it again) I really hope this is the beginning of more new live outings for the Doctor in the future (or his past -wibbly wobbly timey wimey!)


Ood: Who were Vorgensons assisstants and tried to bribe the doc with quiche (?)
Vorgenson: Oh Come on Doctor stay! Pretty Please! 
Ood Sigma: Would the Doctor Like a Quiche?
Doctor: NO! ...What sort of Quiche....NO! 
Scarecrows: From family of blood
Satunyne: Vampires of venice, who were defeated with the help of some artificial sunlight
Weeping Angels: SCARY!
Judoon: Who catalogued several members of the audience and black marked arms like in Smith and Jones
living plastique: They batteled the scarecrows.
Clockwork robots: Who told us we were complete and then threatened to decapitate several people for parts.
Silurian: Who tried to take over the stadium to reclaim the surface
Winders/smilers: Who were defeated with the help of Liz 10
cybermen: Cyberdised 3 audience members
Daleks: Who threatened the kids in the front row who were waving, and making jokes that the belfast accent already sounded vaguely dalek which it does sometimes