It’s here again! The most wonderful time of the year, Gallifrey One, is back in swing. This year one of my daughters has come along, which is lending an extra special something to the experience.

We arrived Wednesday evening and crashed early. Thursday morning we slept in a lot (for us), and got up early (for the time zone). The Lobby was still filled with a slight majority of non-Gally folx, but as the morning wore on, there were more of us here.

It was a nice, slow, ramping-up day. The rest of my close Gally friends arrived (some with significant others who are now my new acquaintances), we got our badges (and Diamond Passes! I’ve learned the hard way that I don’t want to wait in a line as long as I’d have to without those), went to dinner at my traditional Thursday-night place (Aliki’s Greek Taverna is fabulous; both the food and the service are top-notch, in my book), and attended the ice cream social (I got a new folding fan!).

Friday morning rolled around, and Kiddo and I were up (local) early again. Bonnie Langford went through Starbucks as we were finishing our own coffee, which set a Gally tone for the day. She was also the first one we saw in the Dealers Room for autographs. We managed to get Bonnie, Katy Manning, and Sophie Aldred all checked off our list early in the day, and wander the Dealers Room for a casual Friday morning.

After some lunch back in the hotel room, we went to the “Adventuring with Sarah Jane” panel with guests Anthony Daniel (series regular Clyde Langer), Katy (series guest Jo Grant Jones), production designer Arwel Wyn Jones, and writers Joseph Lister and Gary Russell (interviewed by Deborah Stanish of Verity! Podcast).

We had another little break between that panel and the rest of our afternoon, which consisted of two interview panels in Program A followed by two comedy panels in Program B. First up was the Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford reunion panel. It was a delight to see them together, as they obviously have a very good working relationship and a strong respect for each other. Colin kept commenting on what a clever interviewer Matthew Sweet was, drawing unintentional stories out of them rather than asking the same old questions. I agree with that assessment; it was a really good panel.

Next came outgoing show runner Chris Chibnall. It was interesting to learn at the top of the interview that he hadn’t been to a con since I was my kids’ age. Hopefully his first experience as a guest will be a good one; Gally is usually adept at that.

In person, I found Chibnall to be incredibly personable, and much less… haughty? self-involved? I don’t know how to describe my impression of him from the televised interview snippets (and archival findings) I’ve previously seen, but it hasn’t been particularly flattering. I have a much better opinion of him now than I did before.

Then it was time to move into Program B. First up was the Verity! Podcast audience participation game “In Defense Of,” which is always a hoot. There was the usual mix of weird concepts to defend (like the perennial “the Marriott’s decision to change the carpet”), and plenty of good attempts to come up with something viable on the fly. One of our favorites was the one written—and eventually defended—by someone who submitted it as something that would be indefensible: the decision to bring Doctor Who back in 2005.

The contestant who won that round came at it from the perspective that, since bringing Doctor Who back in the first place was clearly the right decision, the issue must be with the timing. “What do you have against 2005?” It was, as always, a great time.

Our final panel for the day was also the only panel I am on this year: “Doctor Who Deathmatch: Tag, You’re It Edition.” In order to fill the brackets up to 16 contenders, along with Doctors regenerating into their ordinally sequential counterparts, there was also Ten into the Handy Doctor, Eighth into War, and a Big Finish entry that most of us had never even heard of (aside from Lizbeth Miles, who had suggested it to Paul Cornell in the first place).

I’m pretty sure I never ended up on the losing side of a vote, which is frankly a little weird. (Or maybe it just means All My Opinions Are Correct…) There were several 8-1 votes, but there were also a fair few 5-4 votes, which essentially came down to some very sketchy discussions about, uh, milk. (All I can say is, if there is not a “Newts are not mammals!” ribbon next year, I’ll be sorely disappointed.) I haven’t laughed so hard in a very long time.

My friends and I took a break for dinner, and then some of us went to the Masquerade. They were trying something different with the Masquerade this year, doing away with the contest part of the equation. It was nice to see people enjoying sharing their work, but… it was very much not the experience I had been hoping for. I think if they format the Masquerade this way again next year, I won’t bother.

Kiddo retired for the night after that, and the rest of us went outside to have a drink and chat for a while. Some of them were waiting up to go to “The Cornell Collective,” but that has never been my thing. With nothing else to do, I soon followed Kiddo to get some rest.

Saturday is Jodie day!