Honeymoon 7: "People like us shop at Forbidden Planet"

The Birthday Trilogy, Part III

After a fascinating trip to the Tower of London and a quick late lunch, Karli and I continue my our day out with an abortive visit to the BBC, in hopes of purchasing merch for the new season of Doctor Who. Sadly, when we arrive at Broadcasting House at Portland Place, a security guard brusquely informs us that the shop had been closed for quite a while*, and directs us to "shops on the high street", a less than informative dismissal.

Fortunately, our next stop is far more rewarding: the Forbidden Planet London Megastore, conveniently located on Shaftesbury Avenue near the Tottenham Court Underground station.

Forbidden Planet, which turned 40 in July of this year, claims to be "...the world's largest and best-known science fiction, fantasy and cult entertainment retailer!" and their 10,000 square foot flagship shopping outlet does its very best to live up to that claim.  In addition to its London location, there are 25 other Forbidden Planet stores scattered around the British Isles, and an outlet at Broadway and East 12th Avenue in New York.

As one would expect, the ground floor of the London location has a full array of all the comic book/movie/video game merch that a fan could possibly desire.

(Please note that said fan may need deep pockets:  original pricing for the three items from the window display in the above photo would have set you back £1,749.97 or about three grand in Canadian dollars.  Good thing the two statuettes are on sale.)

But for me, the real prize at Forbidden Planet is their lower level, which features an impressively large offering of science fiction and fantasy, Japanese manga, comic books, reference texts, and graphic novels.

(Not to mention fandom crochet kits.)

It's safe to say that I've visited lots of non-specialty bookstores that were smaller than Forbidden Planet's genre-specific offering, which actually makes it a bit of challenge for me to shop here. In stores where there's not a lot to choose from, it doesn't take very long to make a decision, but the selection at Forbidden Planet is comprehensive to the point of being overwhelming - it would probably take me four or five days of visits just to become familiar enough with the inventory to feel that I was making an informed choice.

However, I don't have the luxury of dedicating a week of our honeymoon to one store, so when K. W. Jeter's George Dower trilogy catches my eye in the Steampunk section, I'm almost relieved that I've spotted  something of interest.  The trilogy is a suitable choice for more than one reason: it's in a letter to the editor of SF magazine Locus about Infernal Devices, the first book in the series, that Jeter coined the phrase "steampunk" to describe the particular sort of Victorian-era science fiction that he and his fellow authors Tim Powers and James Blaylock had been writing.  I'm also impressed by the trilogy's intricate and ornate cover artwork - I know, you're not supposed to judge books on this basis, but they really are well done.

 

Just for fun, I also pick up a copy of 2000 A.D., England's long-running serialized weekly comic magazine.  Most people in North America are unfamiliar with 2000 A.D. or any of the cast of characters that have appeared in the magazine since its first issue in February of 1977: Rogue Trooper, a solitary clone soldier; the robotic ABC Warriors; barbarian warrior Sláine; Johnny Alpha, mutant member of the Strontium Dog bounty hunter guild, and so on, with magazine regular Judge Dredd being the sole breakout character.

For my birthday, Karli purchases two additions to my growing collection of geek-appropriate t-shirts, one with the new Doctor Who logo, and one for the store itself, which features the unique artwork created for store advertising by English illustrator Brian Bolland in 1981.  Sadly, they don't have my preferred size for the Doctor Who t-shirt, and when Karli makes the usual pro forma "Do you have an XL in the back?" inquiry to a member of the store's staff,  she is somewhat brusquely informed that they are out of that size at ALL the stores - which, if nothing else, is probably a good sign for the reception of the new Doctor (or at least the new logo).  

Thank you, Large it is...

Karli also purchases a Dancing with Jesus figurine, which joins us in celebrating as we finish off the day with a pint at the Sherlock Holmes, an old school English pub on Northumberland Street. All in all, an excellent London birthday, and my sincere gratitude and appreciation to Karli for sharing the day with me - not to mention the new t-shirts!  Thanks again, my love!

- Sid

* If you have somehow ended up on this page because you were trying to determine the status of the BBC brick-and-mortar shop, IT IS CLOSED.  If you want to buy Doctor Who merch in person rather than online, look elsewhere - although maybe not the high street.