There seems to be considerable advantages in taking the time to attend early play sessions of an unreleased game and then setting the experience to print in a blog… you get quoted ad infinitum as just about the only reliable source of information on the ‘net. I feel this warrants a special mention in the boxed set somewhere…

Anyway – if you care for a run down of ‘what we know’ on the forthcoming Doctor Who RPG from Cubicle 7, expected in October 2009, pop over to Tech Monkey Comics.

The Doctor’s new costume has been revealed, as Matt Smith steps into the Time Lord’s shoes. While filming the 2010 series with companion actress Karen Gillan, Matt was seen to be wearing “tweed jacket, bow tie, rolled up trousers and black boots” (according to BBC News).

The official Doctor Who web site says, “It says adventure. It says laid back cool. It says Time Lord chic…”. However, what it says to me is up-tight school teacher or perhaps well-turned-out Antiques Roadshow expert. What makes this look a great deal different to the pre-shaved bow-tie sporting Eric Knowles?

It happens whenever we have a regeneration… people doubt the acting ability or the charisma of the new-comer; but, not since Colin Baker exited the TARDIS wardrobe have I doubted the Time Lord’s outfit so completely from the get-go.

While somewhat remiss in keeping deadlines and with a frustratingly uninformative web site of late, Cubicle 7 remain on target to publish the Doctor Who RPG. In an announcement on licensing from Chaosium, right at the bottom it confirms that the Who RPG will be coming this way in October – http://bit.ly/k4Fd7

On top of that I’m thoroughly intrigued by the game they plan to use the Basic Roleplaying system for… Sounds intriguing.

Well, I just sat and watched the whole of Children of Earth in a single marathon sitting. Feel the need to sum up my thoughts without being too detailed or complete.

In truth, it wasn’t bad, but it didn’t quite work in the end. You know the scenario that we’ve seen so many times before in this and other series – how do you deliver the finale that matches all the build-up? Well, when you destroy the Hub in the first episode, how do you keep ramping up the action?

Characterisation was good. Frobisher troubled, the new PM self-serving and spineless. Pushy Americans and spunky young women PAs… Check! Keeping the 456 out of sight ensured we weren’t disappointed… And it had all the temper tantrums and attacks of projectile nausea you expect from a TV drug addict extraterrestial.

Is Captain Jack becoming too tortured now? Perhaps. You have to wonder why we never heard about the Torchwood extended families before now… That sort of thing is so Russel T, after all. Wouldn’t that have been an ideal target for Jack’s enemies in the past – like Captain John?

The conclusion. Well, it worked and didn’t come across as too forced, as some Who conclusions have in the recent past. However, all the sacrifice and torment came in the same few episodes as it was established. We didn’t know Jack’s family before, so areas as traumatized by the events of the final episode as we might have been if we’d met them earlier? I don’t know. I suspect not.

In short, worth watching and still better than some of the first season dross. Hope this isn’t the last we see of Torchwood…