For the next year, the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park is the first U.S. destination for Whovians to see “Doctor Who Worlds of Wonder: Where Science Meets Fiction,” an exhibit celebrating the world’s longest-running sci-fi show.
It opened to the public on Saturday, March 15 to much fanfare. Costumed fans grew tearful as they viewed props from the show’s 62-year history alongside scientific explanations about whether some of the topics in the show might reflect reality, from alien life to wormholes.
U.K. ambassador Paul Rennie, who is based in Los Angeles, spoke at a reception on March 14 about how excited he is the fandom has spread beyond the U.K. Once a niche BBC show, then a British national pastime like “I Love Lucy,” it now reaches people globally thanks to streaming services like Disney+. “This passion has really lit up so many hearts across the world, and here in San Diego,” said the British Consul General.
Like many of the other British speakers, Rennie joked he brought England’s weather with him to the event as it rained outside. Councilmember Stephen Whitburn also spoke at the reception before a long line formed to see the exhibit, “It’s very rare when San Diegans venture out in this kind of weather. It speaks to the event that we’re at, that everybody made the trek despite the rain and the wind and the cold.”
Worlds of Wonder already toured England, Scotland and New Zealand after the success of the popular stationary Doctor Who Experience based in Cardiff and London for years. This time, the curators added scientific narration to make it suitable for science centers and museums, rather than the focus being on an immersive experience, according to curator Steven Swaby.
Step through the doors of the TARDIS and into the original console, surrounded by every Doctor costume. (Photos by Drew Sitton)
The exhibit takes up almost the entire main floor of the museum. Visitors cross the bridge, weave through a hallway, then step through doors of a police public call box, the TARDIS’ iconic disguise, to see the exhibit, which is in fact, bigger on the inside. The original console of the famous time and space machine greets them.
“From a narrative point of view, it was really important to start in the console room, because that’s where it all began, back in 1963,” Swaby said. It might make sense for an exhibit about a time-traveling alien to be told in chronological order, but like the show, it jumps through time and location wildly. Instead, the exhibit is broken up into zones about certain scientific topics like technology, astrophysics, the frontiers of humanity, and life beyond earth. These topics are simplified and woven into descriptions of the show props, with more focus on exciting areas like the Monster Vault than on learning.
For its U.S. debut, curators ensured it had up-to-date props from “Doctor Who’s” latest season, including the costume of villain Maestro who premiered in Episode 306: “The Devil’s Chord” on May 11, 2024. More significantly, the costumes from the three latest Doctors were added, so fans can see Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor, David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor and Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor. It is the first time all 17 Doctor costumes have been seen together.
The curators raided the BBC Prop Studio warehouse for historic props to include and received loans from private collectors. Since the show started on a small budget with alien costumes meant to be used for a few days of shooting then discarded, many of the original costumes from the 1960s did not survive. Still, curators included older props alongside new.
Curators were excited Actor Zoe Wanamaker reprised her role as Lady Cassandra to record a monologue for the traveling exhibit. Cassandra is the last remaining human in the universe in a 2005 episode of “Doctor Who,” yet she is unrecognizable as human due to the many plastic surgeries she has undergone.
The massive interior of the Comic-Con Museum could fit even more alien adversaries, but curators brought the important ones: Cybermen, Daleks, Weeping Angels. The exhibit concludes with two important characters in the episode “The End of the World,” with the giant Face of Boe plus the last remaining human, Lady Cassandra.
Actor Zoë Wanamaker reprised her role as Cassandra to record a voice-over monologue from the self-absorbed character, excited to share her latest beauty treatment that has left her little more than a sheet of skin with eyes and a mouth. Her projected eyes and mouth moves as guests interact with her and listen to her monologue. The 2005 episode examined what it is to be human. Does it take a body? Because Cassandra does not have much of one. A soul? Because she might not have one of those either. Cassandraserved as a demonstration of the philosophical questions posed by the trailblazing show as it explored cutting-edge technology and scientific ideas while saving the universe.
“’Doctor Who’ is just so much more than a TV show; it really is. It’s a lens through which we examine our humanity, our relationship with technology, and our place in this huge and wonderful universe,” said Claire Strong, who emceed the opening reception.
With worries about AI and space colonization abounding, The Doctor’s exploration through time and space is as relevant for today’s audience as it was in 1963. To see the exhibit, tickets can be purchased at comic-con.org/museum or at the door, and include admission to the entire museum.
Comic-Con Museum is open Thursday through Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Top photo: Don’t blink while inside the Monster vault.