DOCTOR WHO BONANZA
It can’t have escaped many people’s attention that Doctor Who is a massive success on television at the moment, and with anything that’s popular comes a slew of spin off items. We sent David J Howe down the shops to see what he could find …
WALL STICKERS, ART SQUARES and LIGHTING
DECOFUN | AVAILABLE NOW FROM TOYS R US AND FROM THE MANUFACTURERS ON 01257 267006 | UPLIGHTER: £12.99, ART SQUARES: £8.99; WALL STICKERS: £9.99
Kids today don’t know they’re born … a totally Doctor Who themed bedroom is finally within reach. The Wall Stickers pack contains six sheets of plastic, stickybacked photographs. There are three designs, and the images range from the Doctor and the TARDIS to Daleks, Cyberman and Ood, together with some random sticky words of ‘Fantastic’ and of course, ‘Exterminate’. The Art Squares are three impressively detailed photographic collages of Daleks, Cybermen and a selection of TARDIS, Sycorax, Ood and K9. Like the stickers, these are plasticised and are intended to brighten up a plain painted wall. From the same company comes a sturdy Uplighter – a shade for a ceiling light – which is decorated with current Doctor Who imagery. I would guess that the stickers may be a little hard to apply without getting air bubbles under them, but as always there’s a knack to these things and kids are never too young to learn …
THE FACE OF BOE and MICKEY 5” ACTION FIGURES
CHARACTER OPTIONS | AVAILABLE NOW FROM TOYSHOPS | FACE: £14.99; MICKEY: £6.99
Character Options’ range of action figures is currently the toast of the toy industry, winning awards, selling in their millions and causing headaches for shops who just cannot keep them in stock. Joining the range is the big old Face of Boe. The Face is … well … a giant face in a mobile life-support tank, and the toy details his craggy features and dreadlocks perfectly. A button on the top allows Boe to close his mouth – for some reason it’s spring-loaded open, which lends the character a somewhat gormless air. Mickey Smith was the somewhat hapless boyfriend of Billie Piper’s Rose, and an action figure is long overdue. It’s a great likeness, and he’s flexible in all the right places. The figure has additional articulation on his arms so he can supposedly hold a big gun which comes with him. Great for posability, less effective in holding a gun.
MAGNETIC CYBERMAN
CHARACTER OPTIONS | AVAILABLE NOW FROM TOYSHOPS | £9.99
Whatever will they think of next … this cool magnetic kit in the Supermag range is a Cyberman … but a strangely anorexic one as his legs, arms and waist are jointed with sticks and metal balls. You need a degree in mechanical engineering to be able to build him, and disappointingly it’s only the arms which are held on with magnetism. The rest of the kit comprises rods which screw into the balls, and plastic joint-cups which hold the balls securely.
3D POSTER
PYRAMID POSTERS | AVAILABLE NOW FROM SPECIALIST SHOPS | £14.99
I think £14.99 is expensive for a poster … even one as good as this. It’s an awesome creation, using lenticular technology (where a layer of small plastic ridges on the surface of the poster allow the viewed image to change as you move around it) to create a very effective three dimensional image of the Doctor and a Cyberman. The effect is so real that it has to be seen to be believed, and you really do find yourself tentatively touching the poster to see if your hand will disappear into it.
FRUBES TUBES
YOPLAIT DAIRY CREST | AVAILABLE NOW FROM MOST SUPERMARKETS | £1.99 BOX
Last year we had Dalek and TARDIS cakes, and now we have yoghurt in tubes. There is a Doctor Who promotion running on cyber-strawberry flavour packs and there are 24 different designs of tube to collect, as well as nine different boxes ranging from cut-out figures and photographs to a door hanger and 3D models. The yoghurt is tasty, if a little sweet and worryingly pink, and chowing your way through at least nine boxes of the stuff may put you off it for life.
DOCTOR WHO BOOKS
THE BOOK PEOPLE | AVAILABLE NOW FROM WWW.THEBOOKPEOPLE.CO.UK | £10.00
Best bargain of the month: ten of the BBC’s original Doctor Who novels, in exclusive paperback editions, and packaged in an attractive box, for only £10! Madness. The tales cover adventures for the ninth and tenth Doctors with companion Rose tying it all together. If you are a collector then you’ll want to snap these up, and if you just fancy a set for the kids to destroy, which are cheaper than the usual £6.95 each for the normal hardback editions, then this is definitely worth getting.
