Galaxion

We promised our son that he would get to be a Dalek for Halloween, and here is the final result! His verdict: an awesome costume to rival last year’s Ghostbusters uniform (which was a big success all around).

When his heart first became set on this notion, I tried to caution him about a Dalek’s traditional… limitations. He insisted he’d be fine, so we forged ahead, collecting cardboard and styrofoam balls and spray paint. But sure enough, when the day came to put the costume through its paces (Friday’s Halloween parade at school), he discovered what most of us have known for a long time– Daleks really can’t go up and down stairs. Yes, it’s a shame we weren’t able to build one of those newfangled Daleks with the hover option!

There were only a handful of people at his school who had ever watched Doctor Who, and were able to identify what he was dressed up as. At least one person asked if he was supposed to be a cheese grater. But those who knew were suitably impressed. During our trick-or-treating trip around the neighborhood he garnered a lot of puzzled looks from people who obviously don’t appreciate good TV series, but there were enough people who did murmur “Doctor Who!” or “Dalek!” as we passed to make us all feel good about our efforts. One lady who was handing out candy did a double take and almost screamed in delight, announced she was a huge Doctor Who fan, and then genuflected (seriously!) at us for bringing the delightful nerdy goodness to her Halloween evening.

I had to assist him at all the houses that had stairs leading up to the front door (“Trick or treat! I’m holding this bag here for my son the Dalek, down there, who can’t negotiate your stairs. Happy Halloween!”). There are lots of these in our neighborhood. He had to move at a much slower pace than his typical racing-to-the-next-house marathon, and a few bits fell off along the way, but he still came home with an enormous bag of loot. I’d say it was a successful night.