Farewell, Glorious Ponds

*Warning- Spoilers on the Pond’s departure*

My third and final post from my South Wales trip back in October contains probably one of my favourite locations, from the Series 7 Part 1 finale, ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’, where we say goodbye to Amy Pond and Rory Williams.

The Tardis was located to the left of me in the top photo, when filming The Angels Take Manhattan.
Courtesy: BBC

Amy sits on the grave located bottom right on the top pic. Courtesy: BBC

When checking out the Doctor Who Locations website for filming spots near where we were staying, I really wanted to visit a site which had something to do with the Ponds’ departure. They have been my favourite companions, who I have grown to love dearly and I have to admit, it was very upsetting to see them leave.

So when I found out that the graveyard used in the final scenes were filmed not in New York where the episode is set, but in Llanelli, 40mins down the road and near the Toby Carvery we were heading to for Sunday lunch, there was no excuse not to go.

Amy and Rory before their emotional farewell.
Courtesy: BBC

The journey down to Llanelli was pretty straight forward, and the weather was lovely! Searching for the graveyard once we popped the postcode into the sat-nav was simple to, although we did drive past it straight away as we didn’t expect the cemetery to be so easy to find.

We parked up on a housing estate and walked through the huge steel gates, where we found vehicle access and parking - for those who wish to visit. 
Out of respect, we kept our visit short and sweet, as I did feel a bit odd walking around a graveyard, but there were quite a few people cutting through on the public footpath that circled the cemetery and a number of locals walking dogs! I’ve always seen graveyards as spooky places, so I tend not to visit with family when they go to lay flowers, but this one was extremely gothic, I can see why it was chosen for such a powerful episode.

I wasn’t sure where the scene was filmed; I’d taken some screen shots with me for help but wasn’t having any luck. Whilst my partner went off for a walk around I sat on the bench for a few minutes and streamed the behind the scenes Youtube video for the episode on my phone. I glanced around but couldn’t recognise anywhere, but then as I turned and looked directly behind me everything matched up to what I could see on the screen perfectly. We took a few pictures on the grassy area near where the Tardis had stood and left.
 

After going home and watching the episode, low and behold the bench I had been sat on was included within the episode! How weird? It was an odd feeling to be there, where we see the demise of two much loved characters, but I’m sure they will go on to bigger things and become huge stars in their own right.

The Angels Take Manhattan Series 7 Part 1. Bench circled.

Sorry for how long this post has taken to go live, I'm once again up to my neck in uni work, but with deadlines next week I will soon be able to enjoy the Christmas period! Oooh, and I'm doing my dissertation on Doctor Who, how exciting!

Hope you enjoy the post:-) blog to you all soon!

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Doctor Who Experience Opening Day: Cardiff - Review and Pics!

Hello everyone, hope you’ve had a brilliant weekend. The weather has been on and off here, but I hope the weather is good wherever you are! Where is that so-called summer?!

So on Friday (20^th July) I attended the opening of The Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff. I had been looking forward to it since my brother managed to secure me and the boyfriend tickets whilst we were on holiday in June. We booked the 12 o’clock slot, which in actual fact was the time the Experience opened to the public anyway!

We headed from our hotel at 11am and reached the experience building about 5-10minutes later. It has a prime spot overlooking the Bay, you can’t miss it!

 As we got nearer, we noticed that the outside was already busy and full of fans, and not long after we arrived a Silent and Silurian were let out of the building to greet (and scare) the fans. I have to admit the Silent was particularly scary; it’s probably one of my most feared DW monsters! I kept trying to act confident, telling myself it was just a man in a suit, but the actor was really in character – the head, leg and arm movements were all choreographed to perfection! Below I’ve included some of my pictures of the Silent and Silurian, so you can see for yourself just how brilliant they were. There’s also a video I recorded whilst waiting in the queue, which I have uploaded to Youtube.

Joining them just before the Experience opened its doors was a Dalek and a Cyberman. Everyone had their cameras at the ready – I thought it was a brilliant way to get the crowd excited with what was to come.

The Experience

 Myself and my partner were part of the first group to head into the Experience. I must admit, I was slightly apprehensive with what was to come as I had no idea what I would be faced with, after never visiting the attraction when it was in London.

 From here, I was going to produce an in-depth review of the Experience itself within the blog post, but I don’t want it to contain any *spoilers* for those of you who are planning to head to the site in the future.

 So without giving too much away, I will preview some of my favourite moments-

• The first montage of the Experience gave me goosebumps.
• The special effects used within are extraordinary; in parts I really did feel like I was a million miles from home.
• The Doctor is as quick-witted as always.
• When the Doctor told me to run, I ran for my life. When he told me not to look back, I did just the opposite.
• Whatever you do, don’t blink.

 In my opinion, the Experience itself is perfect for any age. It captures your imagination, allows an escape from everyday life and plummets you into a journey where you feel as if you are running alongside the Doctor.

Exhibition

 After the Experience, we were walked into a large exhibition room which contained costumes, props and artefacts from the show, dating all the way back to when the show started in 1963.
Being the first group to enter, the room was empty, and we were lucky enough to explore each exhibit and take photos without waiting for others to do so.

Some of my favourite exhibits included the 9th and 10th doctors TARDIS (which had a clip of 10th's regeneration scene on the screen at the side), the looking glass from ‘The Girl Who Waited’, The Pandorica, River Song’s Diaries and the Silent ship, with an ACTUAL silent walking around, I just had to get a picture ;) The only downside (which was one of my own making) was that many of the exhibits were in the Prop Room at the Doctor Who Convention which I went to in March, so I had seen many of them before. However, it wasn’t at all a disappointment because I still want to go to the Experience for a second time and see them all again!! You can see my post from the Convention HERE.

I’ve included a few of my favourite pictures below to give you a little insight into the huge prop/exhibit room -

 

 In my opinion, the Exhibition part of the attraction is brilliant for any Doctor Who fan. It gives everyone a chance to stand next to their favourite props and take photos, engage with the exhibits and learn more about the programme through animated screens and displays. 

Overall

 All in all, I had a fantastic day at the Experience and would recommend it to anyone of any age. I am very grateful to have been given the chance to attend on the opening day. The atmosphere was all a buzz of excitement and curiosity which added to the day and being in the company of so many big fans of the show was just amazing. 

 To follow this post, I will blog about the day before I attended the convention, where me and my partner ventured to Caerphilly to visit the sites captured in many of the 'New Who' episodes. Along with our trip to 'Leadworth Hospital' from the Eleventh Hour. More to come ;-)

Thanks for Reading!

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Amy and Rorys Home - Filming Location - Cardiff Bay

Hello!
Hope you are all well, just a quick post to let you know I am still here! Its crrrazy times in my household at the moment, deadlines are looming at University and I have, what feels like 100000000 things to do! I'm counting down the days until the 2nd May when my final assignment will be handed in! 
However, I have got lots to post in the near future, its just finding the time to do so, I won't let you down ;)
So I thought I'd use the small amount of time I have tonight to show you the other place I went to on the weekend of the Convention, Amy and Rorys House (Series 6 + Christmas Special). It was just around the corner from Cardiff Bay so it didn't take long to walk! Note the Tardis blue door and exterior... even the car parked outside is blue!

And a still from 'The God Complex' courtesy of the BBC:

 Here is the last few minutes of the series 6 episode 'The God Complex' to refresh your memories, where the Doctor leaves Amy and Rory. *Warning: tearjerker -

 

Uploaded by danny11712

As well as this, I have uploaded one of my many videos to Youtube from the Official Doctor Who Convention last week. It features Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill talking about their life before and after Doctor Who (and Matt & Arthur get a bit animated!!) 

Give it a watch if you're interested, the sounds a bit low so you may need to turn your speakers right up!

We're also expecting a new arrival to the family in a few weeks time... a baby kitten :) Its a little dark grey male but the family are finding it hard to agree on a name. I have suggested a few Doctor Who related names such as 'Rory' and 'Smithy' but its more than likely going to be called Alfie, which is cute also :) - (and is the name character Craigs son in Closing Time, hehe)
...If you have any suggestions feel free to let me know!

Blog to you soon, have a lovely weekend! 

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Doctor Who Convention 2012, Cardiff

 Hello everyone, hope you’ve had a lovely weekend, sorry I haven’t posted in a week, I’ve been so busy, can’t wait for all these assignments to be over and done with! I've got one week left of lectures for my second year though so I suppose that's exciting, but kind of daunting!

 So like over a thousand other people, I headed down to Cardiff this weekend to attend the first ever Doctor Who Convention. It was an amazing day with so much to do; there was never a dull moment. It was held at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff, from 9-6pm on the 24^th and 25^th of March.  

 First stop of the day was the Creators and Directors panel with a writer of many episodes including ‘The Girl Who Waited’ Tom MacRae and producer Marcus Wilson. There was also a cameo from a Handbot ;)

 From here, we noticed it was incredibly busy getting into the special effects studio, so we opted for the props and costumes room instead, which I thought was awesome. The Weeping Angels were one of my favourites, along with the outfits of the doctors and his companions.

Donna Noble, River Song, Amy Pond and Rory Williams

Silence

Don't Blink.

9th, 10th and 11th Doctors Costumes

Once we had finished here, we wondered down to the main registration desk in order to meet some of the other actors from Doctor Who. Here we met Mark Sheppard who played Canton and Simon Fisher-Becker who played Dorium, both from Series 6. They were both happy to chat, pose for photos and sign things for us; they seemed like such lovely people, it was a joy to meet them. 

Mark Sheppard and myself

Simon Fisher-Becker and myself

Next, we had a little wonder but then decided on waiting for our photo opportunity with the main man himself, Matt Smith. I was shaking with nerves as I saw him walking towards the door and straight past us in the queue, waving and greeting his fans. He then took his spot and began having pictures with us lucky lot. He welcomed every person enthusiastically and he even noted the smartness of my boyfriends clothes (yes, the boyfriend wore a bowtie)!

 Next, it was my turn. He welcomed me with a huge smile, so I went in for the hand-shake. He said it was ‘lovely to meet me’ and we posed for the photo. He did his signature ‘peace-sign’ pose so I joined in, noticing how much my hand was shaking as I raised it up, and how I couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear as he put his arm round me and the camera flashed a few times. He then looked down at me as I said how lovely it was to have met him (at this point I didn’t want to let go of him haha) he thanked me for coming and rubbed my back (?!- I think he could tell I was so nervous and shaky!) I then whisked away to grab my bag! 

After phoning my mum and calming down, myself and the boyfriend headed back to the main registration desk to meet Raquel Cassidy. She played Cleaves in Series 6 ‘The Almost People’ and ‘The Rebel Flesh’. She was so lovely, and happily climbed onto the desk to have a photo with everyone! We chatted about Matt Smith, and some of her previous work. 

Next, it was the ‘Meet The Stars’ Panel, with Caroline Skinner, Steven Moffat, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill. Here, we learnt a lot about the actors and their relationships, watched clips of them in action and heard them answer the audiences questions. My photos aren't great from this section, but I have uploaded a clip to YouTube clip here:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA7rA-T0q_0 

Straight from here, we were told to remain in our seats for a special treat during the ‘Doctor Who Uncut’ session. Here we learnt interesting facts about the behind-the-scenes making of the programme. Nearing the end of the discussion, Barnaby Edwards, the conductor of the session, announced how there were some special guests in the audience. And, sure enough, Matt, Karen and Arthur had secretly joined the tier above for what was to be an exclusive sneak preview of Series 7. It looks amazing, and even more amazing was that we got to watch it twice because Matt Smith wanted to see it again! And it also looks like the Daleks are making a grand return… It was posted on the official BBC website earlier today, so here it is, let me know what you think!

Our next venture was the autograph session with Karen Gillan. She greeted me cheerfully as I said how lovely it was to meet her and how much I was going to miss her when she leaves. She let me take a beautiful photo of her as well, I wish I looked like her! Matt Smith was sat next to her, it was amazing being in front of them both! See below for a pic of me getting Karen's autograph.

My final part to the day was the Tardis Tour. It was incredible, I felt like I was in another world. I didn’t think we would be able to stand on the platform let along touch anything, but the workers were happy enough for us to have a good play around with everything, and offered to take lots of photos. I’ve included some of mine below, along with a Youtube video from inside the Tardis, here:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlTH5E2MaKI

 

And to top of the day, we headed to the Blue Box Café at the base unit and the boyfriend bought me a customised Doctor Who muffin! 

I had a fantastic weekend, and I do hope the BBC plan other Doctor Who Conventions in the future, as I believe this one was a huge success, and rightly so. I’m currently feeling down that my Doctor Who day I have been looking forward to for months is over, but I know that I have the pictures and memories to keep forever. Here's a few items I picked up throughout the day:- 

Thanks for reading and I’ll blog to you all soon x

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