Weird and wonderful props from the world of Doctor Who...

I'm as a much a fan as the next person as the sleek futuristic world of Star Trek, but what I've always loved about Doctor Who is that a lot of the contraptions the eccentric Time Lord invents are made of cobbled together parts and everyday objects (and we're not talking about the wobbly sets of the classic episodes).

Original animatronics and props used in Doctor Who

Here's a final collection of screen-used Whoniverse props, including TARDIS keys and destroyed Dalek eyestalks, from visiting the Doctor Who Experience exhibit in Cardiff Bay, Wales on May 20 and December 9, 2013.

Original screen-used Doctor Who props

Some of the other creations of the Doctor's on display included his Video Device from 2006's 'The Idoit's Lantern' in which in 1950's England David Tennant's Tenth Doctor trapped the 'Wire' creature in Betamax video cassette.

In 2010's fifth season episode 'Amy's Choice', Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor creates the whisk device to generate enough power for the TARDIS scanner.

Plus in another fifth season episode from 2010, 'Vincent and the Doctor', which featured an adventure with the famous troubled painter, Vincent van Gogh, the Doctor created this Monster Viewing Device to be able to see the invisible 'Krafayis' creature.

Doctor Who Dinosaurs on a Spaceship poster

One thing you can always count on in Doctor Who is the weird and the absurd, so it was pretty cool to see the animatronic Triceratops used in the seventh series episode, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (who was quite partial to chasing golf balls).

Animatronic Triceratops from Doctor Who's Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

If you're a dinosaur fan, be sure to also check out this baby animatronic Triceratops and more original models and props from the Jurassic Park movies.

Plus if you're a fellow Whovian, take a look at all the fantastic costumes and props on display at the Doctor Who Experience.

Personally I can't wait to return to the U.K. for another visit to see what new delights from the 50-year-old show are part of the ever-changing exhibit.

Doctor Who Nightmare in Silver Cyberman costume, props and more on display...

As it's been announced that the Cybermen will be rearing their iconic metallic heads to plague Peter Capaldi's new Doctor Who, I thought it was an appropriate time to look back at the latest Cyberman design introduced in season seven's Nightmare in Silver episode.

Original Cyberman from Doctor Who's Nightmare in Silver episode

These original costumes and props were featured in the episode where the Cybermen tried to convert the Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor into the 'Cyber-Doctor' and were photographed on display at the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff Bay, Wales on December 9, 2013.

Doctor Who Nightmare in Silver TV poster

Not only is the episode noteworthy for featuring the latest suit upgrade for one of the Doctor's arch-foes (which really feels like it's been given a very Hollywood makeover), but it also features the Star Wars and Harry Potter actor Warwick Davis ('Wicket' the Ewok, 'Professor Filius Flitwick') as 'Porridge'.

Costume worn by Warwick Davis as Porridge 

in Doctor Who's Nightmare in Silver episode

Porridge is the operator of a chess game featuring a deactivated Cyberman in the intergalactic theme park, Hedgewick's World of Wonders (which has seen better days), but he's also hiding the secret that he's actually an Emperor who gave up his empire because of the pressures of the role.

Cyberman from Doctor Who's Closing Time episode

Another Cyberman-themed prop on display at the exhibit was this chamber from the sixth season episode Closing Time, which featured a crashed Cyberman spaceship buried beneath a department store.

Cybershade costume from The Next Doctor 2008 Christmas Special

Also on display at the Doctor Who Experience was this 'Cybershade', which were beast-like Cyber-creatures with bronze heads that appeared in the 2008 Christmas Special, The Next Doctor, set in London at Christmas in 1851.

If you're a fan of the humanoid cyborgs, be sure to check out these different Cybermen designs that have appeared through the ages on Doctor Who.

Buy a season seven Cyberman figure: Doctor Who Series 7 Cyberman 3.75" Variant Figure

Creature costumes from Matt Smith's Doctor Who incarnation on display...

As the air date for the new Doctor Who is fast approaching on August 23, 2014, I've been rewatching Matt Smith's seasons and specials as the 'Doctor' with my husband (who has never seen them before, but still prefers the David Tennant era) in preparation. Here are selection of the alien creature costumes from the Eleventh Doctor's adventures in time and space on display at the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff Bay, Wales in May and December 2013.

Original Doctor Who costumes and props on display

The great thing about Doctor Who being filmed in Wales is that after they've done filming an episode a selection of costumes and props can be easily transferred to the ever-changing exhibition space nearby, rather than simply ending up unseen and getting dusty in some archive storage somewhere.

Winder costume from Doctor Who's The Beast Below episode

This Winder costume was featured in the second episode of the fifth season, 'The Beast Below', which saw the Doctor and his new Companion 'Amy Pond' exploring Starship UK in the 33rd century. Winders were cyborgs and the police force on board the futuristic home of Britain's population and with their large keys they could operate the clockwork lights and machinery aboard the spaceship.

The two-part episode 'The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood' in season five reintroduced a new generation of Doctor Who enthusiasts to the cold-blooded reptilian bipedal species, the Silurians, who lived below the Earth and are awakened from hibernation by a human drilling operation in the year 2020.

Restac costume worn by Neve McIntosh in Doctor Who

Neve McIntosh played the Silurian military commander 'Restac', who was the twin sister of the captured 'Alaya', and had a hatred for the apes from the surface world. 

The actress later went on to play the recurring role of the Victoria Era detective 'Madam Vastra', so be sure to also check out Madam Vastra's costume from The Snowmen Doctor Who 2012 Christmas special.

Doctor Who season six USA billboard

Teselecta Antibodies from Doctor Who's Let's Kill Hitler episode

In the sixth season episode 'Let's Kill Hitler', these robotic antibodies are jellyfish-like guards aboard the humanoid starship/time machine, the Teselecta, which was a Justice Department machine from the future which had returned from the past to kill Adolf Hitler. They attack anyone not wearing a properly encoded wristband.

The Peg Dolls from Doctor Who's Night Terrors episode

These creepy Peg Dolls appear in the sixth season episode 'Night Terrors' and live in a toy doll house in a frightened boy's bedroom cupboard on Earth.

When the Doctor, Amy and her husband 'Rory' answer a distress call from 'George' they discover all is not as it seems and the married couple get transported and miniaturised inside the doll's house, resulting in Amy being turned into a living wooden doll with their sinister touch and haunting laugh.

Handbot from Doctor Who's The Girl Who Waited episode

The Handbots of the Two Streams Facility on Apalapucia were medical drones which administered medicine to their patients. They could see through their fingers and put people to sleep with a touch of their anesthetic hands.

In the sixth season episode 'The Girl Who Waited', Amy Pond is separated in time from Rory and the Doctor and must fend off these white robots, who are simply trying to do their job, for thirty-six years until they arrive in her timeline.

If you like this selection of alien and robot costumes and props, be sure to take a look at more authentic Doctor Who memorabilia on display at the Doctor Who Experience, and let's hope the forthcoming regeneration of the Time Lord played by Peter Capaldi brings with him many new monsters, aliens and fantastical creatures.