Doctor Who Comes to Vivid

Overview

Vivid Sydney will add a little more British — or Time Lord, depending on your level of devotion — flavour to its 18-day run this year with a celebration of all things Doctor Who lined up for June 1, as the iconic BBC series has its 50th anniversary.

The Spinifex Group, whom you may remember from the Beijing Games Opening Ceremony and who will be lighting the sails this year, have been brought on board to cover Customs House with a 3D-mapped projection of the Doctor in action. The Australian innovators have gone to town playing with a cast of licensed characters and polishing their time-travel animation effects for the occasion.

Accompanied by some of the show's unmissable music, these special projections will run six times over the night with the first screening set to go just after dusk at 6.50. They'll be interspersed with the main Customs House light attraction, Move Your Building, which is the first interactive projection to grace the structure. Simultaneously, and at 48 other cinemas across the country, Dendy Opera Quays will run two episodes from series seven. But, what is sci-fi without a costume competition? Squat. Something our friends at Vivid clearly had in mind when they brainstormed the photo costume competition, also announced today.

In other news, and assuming that Gallifrey is within the zodiac (it's not), being born on June 1 would make the doctor a Gemini. Which makes a lot of sense, right?

The BBC publicity unit is showering Sydney in attention for this 50th anniversary; there's also a pop-up shop in Newtown until mid-June.