After being swallowed by a crack in time we’re taken to a museum on Starship UK (crammed full of all sorts of props – I spotted the ‘Schlechter Wolf’ bomb, a life belt from the SS Bernice, Yeti control spheres and a Dalek trooper helmet as well as the headline items pointed out in the dialogue). Whilst in the museum the Doctor contacts us, in specially recorded Matt Smith video clips, and reveals that he’s been trapped in the Pandorica again and needs our help to escape.

The TARDIS materialises and we (or rather any children in the group – once again, little blighters get all the best things) pilot it to the Doctor’s rescue. Until we crash on a Dalek ship. Ooops. Surrounded by new paradigm Daleks ready to exterminate us all. Rescue comes in the unlikely form of some old style Daleks – “The Children of Davros” – which may point at a new Dalek civil war in the forthcoming series.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire as the escape from the Dalek ship takes us through a corridor (lots of corridors in this, which is very appropriate) containing Weeping Angels. Rushing onwards we reach the Pandorica itself and the Doctor does something sonic to teleport himself into the TARDIS. There’s a cool 3D sequence of Daleks, Cybermen and Angels flying at us from the time vortex before the Doctor saves the day.

The second half is more conventional and packed with more goodies than any previous Doctor Who exhibit (certainly more than Earls Court a few years ago or Longleat a lot of years ago) – costumes from all eleven Doctors and all the twenty first century companions. 1980s and 2010 TARDIS exteriors, 1980s and 2005 TARDIS control rooms, six different models of Daleks from 1963 to 2010, three different Sontarans, the Giant Robot, the Face of Boe, and more and more.

It’s not cheap, £20 for adult tickets  and an eye watering £12 for a photo of yourself in the Pandorica chair (I passed on that), but if you’re as much of a Doctor Who fan as me you’ll love every moment of it.

Via the Forbidden Planet Blog.

Then I went out and bought another two graphic novels… But it must be said that most of the comics I’ve read this year came from West Norwood library, and now that I’ve exhausted most of their good ones, and some of their bad ones, I think 2010 may be slightly less weighted towards graphic novels.

How many of my 2009 books have you read?

Available as a poll over on Live Journal (you don’t need an LJ account to vote, just an OpenID account which means an account from WordPress.com, Google, Yahoo, Blogger, etc.)

Any of these Doctor Who books?

• Doctor Who: Bunker Soldiers
• Doctor Who: The Sleep Of Reason
• Doctor Who: The Tomorrow Windows
• Doctor Who: More Short Trips
• Doctor Who: The Iron Legion
• Doctor Who: The Tides of Time
• Doctor Who: A Cold Day in Hell
• Doctor Who: The Forgotten
• Faction Paradox: Warring States
• Faction Paradox: Warlords Of Utopia
• Faction Paradox: Of the City of the Saved…
• Time, Unincorporated 1: The Doctor Who Fanzine Archives

Any of these Star Wars books?

• Star Wars: Agents Of Chaos 1 – Hero’s Trial
• Star Wars: Agents of Chaos 2 – Jedi Eclipse
• Star Wars: Balance Point
• Star Wars: Edge of Victory I: Conquest
• Star Wars: Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
• Star Wars Tales: Volume 4
• Star Wars: Crimson Empire

Any of these Fables graphic novels?

• Fables: Legends in Exile
• Fables: Animal Farm
• Fables: Storybook Love
• Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers
• Fables: The Mean Seasons
• Fables: Homelands
• Fables: Arabian Nights (and Days)
• Fables: Wolves
• Fables: The Mean Seasons
• Fables: The Mean Seasons
• Fables: War and Pieces
• Fables: Dark Ages

How about a bit of Alan Moore?

• Saga of the Swamp Thing
• Promethea Book One
• Promethea Book Two
• Promethea Book Three
• Promethea Book Four
• Promethea Book Five
• Skizz
• DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1910
• Captain Britain

Have you read these DC Superheroes?

• Superman and Batman Vs. Aliens and Predator
• Superman: For Tomorrow v. 1
• The Kingdom
• Kingdom Come
• JLA: Riddle of the Beast
• All Star Superman: Vol 1
• Batman: Year One

Or these Marvel Superheroes?

• Captain Britain and MI13: Secret Invasion
• Captain Britain and MI13: Hell Comes to Birmingham
• Captain Britain And MI13: Vampire State
• Civil War: Iron Man
• Iron Man: Haunted
• Iron Man: Director of SHIELD
• Heroes Reborn: Captain America
• Marvels (Kurt Busiek)
• Mighty Avengers Volume 2: Venom Bomb
• New Avengers Volume 1
• New Avengers Volume 2
• Spider-Man, Peter Parker: Back in Black
• Thor (J. Michael Straczynski)
• Thor: Ages Of Thunder
• Ultimate Origins
• House Of M Prelude: Excalibur
• House Of M
• X-Men: Messiah Complex
• X-Force/Cable: Messiah War
• X-Men: Original Sin
• X-Men: Fairy Tales
• Wolverine: Get Mystique
• Wolverine: The Death of Wolverine

Other Superheroes

• Astro City: Life in the Big City
• Astro City: Local Heroes
• Astro City: Confession
• Brit: Old Soldier
• Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days
• Ex Machina: Tag
• Ex Machina: Fact V. Fiction
• Planetary Vol. 1: All Over the World and Other Stories
• Planetary Vol. 2: The Fourth Man
• The Authority : Under New Management
• The Authority: Earth Inferno and Other Stories
• The Authority: Harsh Realities
• The Authority: The Magnificent Kevin
• Sleeper: Season One
• The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite
• The Boys Vol. 1: The Name of the Game
• The Boys Volume 2: Get Some
• The Boys Volume 3: Good for the Soul
• The Boys Volume 4: We Gotta Go Now

Random assortment of graphic novels

• John Constantine Hellblazer: The Roots of Coincidence
• John Constantine Hellblazer: Scab
• John Constantine Hellblazer: Chas The Knowledge
• Midnight Nation
• Ocean (Warren Ellis)
• Scarlet Traces
• Scarlet Traces: Great Game
• The Dreaming: Through the Gates of Horn and Ivory
• Y: The Last Man – Unmanned

• The Walking Dead Book 1
• The Walking Dead Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars
• The Walking Dead Volume 4: The Heart’s Desire
• The Walking Dead Volume 5: Best Defense
• Negima!: Magister Negi Magi Volumes 1-10 (‘cos I can’t be bothered listing them all)
• Angel: After the Fall, Vol. 1
• Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 4: Time Of Your Life
• Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 5: Predators And Prey

Some Novels

• Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett
• The Folklore of Discworld by Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Simpson
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• Cartomancy by Mary Gentle
• Microserfs by Douglas Coupland
• Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
• Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
• Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay

Historical Novels

• Outlaw by Angus Donald
• Sharpe’s Devil by Bernard Cornwell
• The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell
• The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
• Clarissa Oakes by Patrick O’Brian
• The Wine-dark Sea by Patrick O’Brian
• The Commodore by Patrick O’Brian
• The Yellow Admiral by Patrick O’Brian
• The Hundred Days by Patrick O’Brian
• Blue at the Mizzen by Patrick O’Brian

And finally, have you read any of these?

• The Book of Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley
• Barcelona (Lonely Planet City Guide)
• Barcelona and Catalonia (DK Eyewitness Travel)
• Belching Out the Devil by Mark Thomas
• How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World by Francis Wheen
• Thank You for the Days by Mark Radcliffe
• Even Faster Web Sites by Steve Souders
• The Big Book of "Top Gear" 2009
• The Big Book of “Top Gear” 2010
• Socks’ Feline Miscellany

Now you’ve seen what I’ve read in 2009, recommend one book that I should read in 2010 in the comments.

I’ve been passing the time between parts one and two by dipping into the festering mire of DW fandom to see what crackpot speculation people have come up.

( Spoilers and Speculation )

So there you go, I’ve proved that almost everything that could happen in part two has already been done in the novels, and that I’m as anal and crackpot as any other fan.

I suspect that the reality of part two will be even more sane/crazy, predictable/unpredictable, clichéd/original than the above.

Very True Mood:  cranky

Well mostly Lettice and I will be spending it buying a house. Or trying to. The other day we took a tame civil engineer to have a look round the place we’re hoping to buy (in a sort of “look for the massive faults before paying a surveyor” kind of way) and he could only see one potential problem. Fingers crossed that it isn’t.

Like last year, I’ll be taking part in NaBloPoMo as a form of half-hearted solidarity with the people who are attempting NoNoWriMo.

And I’ll be growing a moustache. Some banter in the office on Friday has somehow led to me agreeing at the last minute to take part in Movember. Now, despite having a silly name and being an Australian import, this is a very good cause so please make a donation. I promise to only post very occasional photos of the mo’s progress.

Finally I’ll be hiding from the bad weather and watching telly, not least Doctor Who which is back for a special on the 15th.

The Beeb have released details of Doctor Who 2010 – Karen Gillan’s character is called Amy Pond and we have a first look at Matt Smith’s costume.

The Time Lord’s new look consists of tweed jacket, bow tie, rolled up trousers and black boots.

Maybe it’s just the picture but that doesn’t look very good to me. I think the problem is that the sort of look that would suit Smith best is … the sort of look that Tennant has been doing for the last four years.

… but the prize goes to Jack, who technically was naked for very, very nearly the entire hour.

Not quite as good as yesterday. Just 8/10 instead of 9/10.

Oh, and did anyone else stop to wonder whether the out-of-the-way military base was the same place that Connie used to manage in Spooks?

First up was the Robot Zoo at the Horniman Museum. Did you know that it took three people to drive a chameleon?

Then we did a bit of shopping. Lettice bought beads and I bought Doctor Who books.(About Time 3 2nd edition is 500 pages long and has an end note about the Chuckle Brothers, how can you not want it?)

If you missed James May’s plasticine garden at Chelsea you can now see it at the Royal Festival Hall.

Then we went on the London Eye. Yes, we live in London. Yes, we work in London tourism. Yes, it’s been open for nine years. No, we hadn’t been on it before.

Then there was yarn shopping. Followed by Yo! Sushi (between you and me, the County Hall branch is always nice and quiet in the evenings and only a short walk from the heaving, 45 minute wait to be seated, restaurants along the Southbank).

Anyway, I’ll do a proper image post either tomorrow or on Monday, in the meantime there are pictures on Flickr.

Very True Mood:  content

Bring on the Daleks, bugger can’t use them, make something up quick, um, how about crystal men?

Which will make sense to the handful of other people in world who read the EDAs and watch Primeval.