Daleks at the MCG?!

Picture courtesy of BBC website

COMPLETELY off-topic, but it was such a cool event that I just have to share it with you all!

Last Saturday Junior Rosbif #1 and I went to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Dr. Who Spectacular at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre. The show was a performance of the music composed by Murray Gold from the last 2 series and conducted by Ben Foster, who also conducted the BBC Orchestra for the series. But it wasn't just music!

It was based on the Dr Who Proms of 2010, and was hosted by Mark Sheppard, who played the character FBI Agent Canton Everett Delaware III from the Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon episodes. It even featured a pre-recorded address by Matt Smith, who plays the present Doctor (complete with: "Helloooo Melbourne!" Audience goes nuts."I can't hear you; I said, HELLLOOOO MELBOURNE!!!" Audience goes completely bonkers.).

The music was played to the accompaniment of images on the big screens from the episodes they came from, including the last Christmas special that also included the dialogue from big chunks of the relevant scenes. A full choir and soloists accompanied the orchestra, too, giving a amazing aural rendition of the most spectacular moments of the series. Amusingly, there were some technical difficulties with the Christmas special where the AV equipment kept breaking down. The concert hall rang to the sound of hundreds of sonic screwdrivers while the auditorium was lit by the sparkle of blue and green screwdriver tips as the fans did their best to help fix the problem!

During the performace some of the monsters from the show made an appearance including the vampires from the 'Vampires in Venice' episode, Cybermen, Silurians, the Silence, the Ood, the Judoon, and the crowd favourite, the Daleks! ("Slave orchestra! You will play! You will play", while the conductor battle the Dalek with his baton).

Luckily, we hung around after the show in a vain attempt to reach the merchandise stand, because suddenly all the creatures from the show made an appearance in the lobby to pose for pictures with the audience! How cool is that?! I only had my phone, so not many are worth putting on the blog.

And no, there were no Daleks at the MCG; it's just the promotional shot ;-)