It's Bigger On the Inside...
Written: Mar 06 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Sounds from the television series. Lots of nooks & crannies to explore. Console moves!
Cons: Where on Earth am I going to store this behemoth?
The Bottom Line: Awesome toy. Extremely impressive attention to detail. Sounds from the series. Central console moves up & down. Awesome!
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| mizgnomer's Full Review: Doctor Who Electronic Tardis Playset With Lights a... |
I've been a fan of Doctor Who since I was a little kid in the late 70's/early 80's, but as a Doctor Who fan in America there were no cool toys I could purchase to play with back then. Now I'm an adult and the show is back and better than ever, so to relive my childhood I felt the need to shell out the big bucks and get a playset that has absolutely delighted the little-kid in me (as well as my own little kids too).
Product Description:
The TARDIS (or Time And Relative Dimension In Space) is the Doctor's time machine in the long-running television show, Doctor Who. The TARDIS is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside -- so while the outside looks like an old 1950's English Police Box, the main room (or "console room") just inside the exterior door is a large circular room containing organic looking coral support beams, "roundel' lights, and grilled flooring around a central console.
The TARDIS playset is scaled to work with the 5-inch Doctor Who characters (also released by Character Options). As such, this playset measures roughly 24 inches (yes, that's 2 feet) wide and just over 13 inches tall.
There are some very cool features on this TARDIS playset. There are 2 levels to the flooring, including 3 lift-away panels so that the Doctor can go under the floor to make repairs or retrieve various odds & ends.
The coolest thing is definitely the console. Just like the one on the television series, it is intricately detailed and appears to be strung together with random items that the Doctor has collected on his travels in time and space. The central column is translucent and glows green when the lights & sounds are activated. You can see the column moving up and down whenever the TARDIS is "in flight". It is very impressively done.
The center console control panel is divided into 6 parts, and each part has a button that triggers a couple of sounds or does some action. For example, one of the panels opens to reveal "The Heart of the TARDIS" (as used by Rose to return to the Doctor in the episode "The Parting of the Ways"). Each panel controls 2 sounds -- including favorites like the "Dematerialization" and "Materialization" sounds (which also make the central column move up & down), the "sonic screwdriver" sound, a "stressed engine" sound, and a "circuit burnout" sound, among others. There is also a monitor that can be spun around the console (so the Doctor can see it no matter where he's standing).
There are some additional pieces as well, just as the "jump seat" that can be attached at various points around the floor, a couple of hammers (important tools for flying the TARDIS), and a hat stand.
When the toy is actively being played with the console lights will remain on and the toy will make the TARDIS "breathing" sound. If no console buttons are pressed for about 5 minutes, the toy will power down -- turning off the lights and sounds until another button is pressed. There is a "Try Me" mode as well as an off/on switch.
Although this toy can be played with from all angles, or all 360° around the console, however there are some cardboard pieces included that you can use to make up the "walls" around the TARDIS doorway -- just a small little sub-section worth of walls. On the inside the walls are covered with the "roundels" as seen on the series, and from the outside they look like outer space.
4 AA batteries are required (included).
Our Thoughts and Experiences:
Overall I am extremely impressed with this TARDIS playset! The attention to detail on the console is simply awesome, with the lights that shine through the translucent material and all of the random bits and bobs that are easy to recognize from the television series. My kids loved playing with this toy before we ever let them watch the television show. Now that they're a bit older and have become fans of the show themselves, they play with this toy A LOT! It's a very cool toy with lots to do, so I can see why they can easily spend so much time with it. It's also big enough that both of them can stay occupied playing on it together without bothering each other.
The TARDIS playset not only looks just like what you see on the television show, it also sounds just like the television show. The TARDIS has very iconic, distinct sounds, and this toy captures them exactly. My four year old loves triggering the TARDIS "breathing" sound (so much so that my husband gets a bit sick of it) -- even after he goes off to play with something else he'll come back by and trigger the sounds again so it will "breath" for another 5 minutes. My boys love exploring the buttons on the very detailed console. Each of the 6 console sub-sections looks different from the other sub-sections, and the "button" or trigger on each panel is different, so if they haven't played with it for a little while sometimes my boys have to hunt around to find the bit that triggers the action again -- it keeps them occupied and entertained and is fun and different.
There is quite a bit of construction required. We've had this toy for well over a year now and I don't recall how long it took me to put together, but I don't think it was particularly difficult to build but it was quite involved (building the flooring supports, adding the buttresses, attaching everything to the central console, etc). Our TARDIS doorframe falls off with some regularity, but it is easy enough to pop back on again.
My biggest problem with this toy is the fact that it is so large. It is big and round with a large footprint, and it doesn't collapse down for storage. There's nowhere for us to "put it away" to! Supposedly you can partially dismantel it for storage, but we haven't tried to do this (my kids would be heartbroken if I took it away).
Apart from the storage issue, my other complaint about the toy would be the "cardboard" walls. Let me start by saying you can leave these "walls" off and they don't affect the playability of the toy whatsoever. The problem is that a) they are made of cardboard and b) the walls are curved -- so without fail the walls will start coming apart if you aren't very gentle with them (and I've got 3 boys, so none of our toys are treated very gently for very long). Again, the rest of the toy is quite sturdy, and you don't need the cardboard walls really, so it isn't much of a complaint in the scheme of things.
Quickie Summary
Pros:
+) Large variety of sounds from the television series
+) Lots of buttons to push, panels to lift, things to activate
+) Neat translucent parts
+) Can lift some of the floor panels to reveal hiding places/TARDIS inner-workings
+) Very good reproduction of the console from the (new) television series
+) On/Off switch
Cons:
-) Where am I going to store this!?! Large footprint.
-) Cardboard walls aren't very sturdy
-) No action figures included
Final Thoughts:
I am very impressed with the Electronic TARDIS Playset with Lights and Sounds. It is an extremely impressive reproduction of the console room as seen on the Doctor Who television series. It has awesome lights and sounds, lots of things to do, and is just tons of fun if you are a fan of the show at all (and my kids thought it was pretty fun even before they became fans of the show). The detail on the console blows me away -- it's practically a work of art! It looks awesome and is great fun -- highly recommended!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 65
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Epinions.com ID:
mizgnomer
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Location: Tennessee
Reviews written: 306
Trusted by: 202 members
About Me:
Don't meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you're crunchy and taste good with ketchup
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