I didn’t say much about Christmas. What can I say? Katherine Jenkins – beautiful. A talented singer and a feast for the eyes. Matt Smith – sublime as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Gambon – cumudgeonly and appropriately Scrooge like, an old man tortured by the mistakes of the past. As with previous Who, the Doctor’s efforts, for a time, seemed to make things worse rather than better – his interference serving to convolute and complicate the situation. However, in the end, the spirit of Christmas won through and the Time Lord managed to save the day. Rory and Amy – well, they didn’t figure at all. Excess to requirements, they spent their time imprisoned in a ‘sinking ship’, standing around wearing cast off costumes without a reasonable explanation why – except that they’d lost their luggage.

The peek at the future seemed promising, with an American adventure complete with Greys by the looks of things, some River excitement and more promising glimpses. I’m certain all Doctor Who fans will take a keen interest in the impact of the new format, with the season split in two.

So, with the new year ahead and the prospect of two semi-seasons of Who to come, I return to the old chestnut of wanting to play a little Doctor Who role-playing. For the first time, I might have the option of playing with a completely new group, as I’ve been contacted by someone seeking to set up a new gaming group in my area. On the other hand, I still haven’t got anything going at home. The combo of two groups should be a positive thing, giving me the opportunity to try out more than one game at a time; or, I could GM with one and play in the other. However, neither’s going anywhere just yet.

I’m haunted by the Ghost of Gaming Past and reminded that I once spent long summers doing nothing but role-playing, and many years engaged in endless evenings of play-by-mail refereeing. I have committed to endless gaming before – so, why the difficulty with getting anything going now.

Is it wrong of me to really want to see more of River when we see more of River, despite the fact they’re never going to show more of River in a family show like Doctor Who?

(You need to have seen the latest ‘2011’ advert for upcoming series on the BBC or the ‘Coming Soon‘ trailer to appreciate just what I’m talking about)

Yeah… that image…

I know, I’m a grown man and not a giggling schoolboy; but seriously, Alex is a delight for the eyes at the tender age of 47.

When you see the reconstructed TARDIS for the first time in ‘The Eleventh Hour’, you hope for more. In the old days, we saw corridors, bedrooms, a reception, laboratory, garden… and the Cloister Room, of course. Now, the brevity of the episodes perhaps precludes the need to visit the rest of the TARDIS. I hoped that mention of the swimming pool and the library might lead us further into the TARDIS, especially with Moffat seeking to establish a new feel; but, alas, we saw nothing more than the top of the stairs.

I’d love to understand why we can’t see more. The rest of the TARDIS appears in written material, but that’s all we’ve seen. The Visual Dictionary pictures the Time Sceptre, a monumental construct of which the Control Room forms but a small part – and includes the miniature Eye of Harmony in the cloister room, Artron energy receptor, navigational databases, Core Service Modules and more. I love the fact that the Secondary Control Room in the current TARDIS occupies the same location as the Primary, but existing slightly out of phase. What a brilliant idea I’m almost certain we’ll never see explored!

I realise time we spend inside the TARDIS is time not spent outside, but the encounter with the Dream Lord showed you could have a story focussed inside the TARDIS. I also realise that more TARDIS means more money spent, but surely you can create something flexible and modular that might be used as more than one room throughout the course of a series (or two).

I think that a TARDIS might hold a great deal more potential in non-TV storytelling, though I haven’t come across any evidence of this myself. The comic strips and books could both have scenes within the TARDIS – and I would definitely look to use other areas in the course of a DWAITAS scenario. When budget isn’t a constraint it makes sense to do things that you could never justify on TV.