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Audio Adventures: The Big Finish Years

SnideAsides

By SnideAsides
in Doctor Who

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Joe

Joe

Yeah, I've listened to a bunch. Jubilee is a good one, it even inspired a TV ep Dalek. A lot of Fourth Doctor/Leela stories are very good. There was a run of Fourth Doctor/Roman 1 stories, but I only liked the first one. The Benny stories... they tend to run into Benny's parent issues and not really live up to the premise. However, Love and War is good, it's based on the Paul Cornell novel so of course it's going to be a ripper. The Faction Paradox ones are good, but weird. I believe the Dalek Empire stories are good, but Dalek voices tend to grate after a while. There are more, I'll post as I remember them.

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Llywela

Llywela

I've heard of them, but that's it. Are they free? Where can I get them?

The Big Finish audios are not free, no - they cost money to make and are produced for a very niche market so rely on sales for the range to continue. They can be purchased from the Big Finish website or via amazon or other secondary sellers. They aren't cheap but if you keep an eye on the sales page you can get some good bargains. I've only purchased and listened to a handful so far, but I've enjoyed every single one I've heard - and I never thought I'd take to audio.

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Mr. Simpatico

Mr. Simpatico

(edited)

Big Finish also has a SoundCloud page where they've posted trailers and clips from the audios (and if you scroll down far enough - they've posted a few free full-length audios ). That should give a good taste to see if you'd like it.

 

I only own a few (cause of money) but I love the Eight Doctor Adventures and the Sixth Doctor Adventures because Paul McGann and Colin Baker both got the shaft during their tenure as Doctor (McGann didn't even get that) and yet here they are given better stories than present day Who. Six is given a lot of good companions (including of course Frobisher, the talking penguin) in addition to Peri and Mel and develops away from the obnoxious Doctor of his TV tenure. McGann (who has a voice made for audio) has some of the best Who stories written today with Lucie Miller, Tamsin Drew, granddaughter Susan Foreman (as played again by Carole Ann Ford), Susan's son (played by Paul McGann's son, Jake) and Molly O'Sullivan (the current audio companion). Moffat acknowledged Eight's Big Finish companions in "Night of the Doctor", I just wish he would employ some of the BF storytelling (which is much more subtle and character driven) in his own.

Edited by Mr. Simpatico
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benteen

benteen

(edited)

Big announcement from Big Finish yesterday.  They will be doing a Kate Stewart series entitled UNIT Extinction.  This will mark Big Finish's first (ongoing) foray into NuWho.  Jemma Redgrave will reprise her role as Kate and other cast members will be revealed at a later date.  The Autons will be the threat of the first series.

 

http://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/unit---extinction

 

That's a pretty big step for Big Finish and it'll be interesting to see what else from NuWho.  2015 is shaping up to be a big year for them.  In October, Colin Baker is going to do his regeneration story entitled "The Sixth Doctor The Last Adventure."

Edited by benteen
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Llywela

Llywela

A very big step indeed - it's the first New Who character they've been granted a license for. Very interesting to see what they do with it.

 

I'm just sad Nicholas Courtney is no longer around to provide a direct link to the UNIT of old as he did in the last UNIT series. And they can't have Harry Sullivan taking part but just off-stage this time as he was pretty much confirmed dead in the Sarah Jane Adventures. Ah well.

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benteen

benteen

Definitely sad.

 

My guess is if there is a direct link, it will come in the form of Mike Yates.  Richard Franklin has been a long-time contributor to Big Finish, reprising the Yates role many times.  As a matter of fact, him and Katy Manning will be reprising their roles as Yates and Jo Grant for the October release of The Third Doctor Adventures for Big Finish.

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SnideAsides

SnideAsides

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Apparently Big Finish has had their licence extended until 2020. And not to be rude, but... Tom is 81, and Colin and Sylvester are both 71, so could this be a precursor to them getting the rights to the newer Doctors? As much as I like them I can't imagine all three will still be alive and/or working in five years.

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Joe

Joe

I'm sure BF wants to get the new Doctors, and I'm sure Tennant would be happy to do audios. I have this mental image. The day after the deal goes through, Nick Briggs wakes up to find that Tennant has pitched a tent and is camping on his front lawn.

 

I know that there have been audiobooks read by various of the new actors. BF would probably be fine to do those as well. And doesn't it make sense to have all the audio licences with one company? What I don't know is why this hasn't happened yet.

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MDKNIGHT

MDKNIGHT

The first 50 DW stories of the main line are priced low and they recently had a sale of 50% off the stories 51 to 100  so I bought the first 100 and am working my way through them.  (BF also does Dark Shadows and I have a few of those) .  I have enjoyed most of them a whole lot and they tend to have little call backs in the dialogue to the original tv series that make them even more enjoyable.  Like in one the Doctor says something to another time lord regarding -Remember what happened to Barusa- which if you've seen the Five Doctors you appreciate.  I have also been following the Gallifrey series and get a kick out of Romana and Leela working together.  If you keep an eye out for sales and bundles and if you stick to the downloads it isn't that expensive. 

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benteen

benteen

(edited)

River and Eight are a great pairing. 

 

I'll be very interested to see how the Weeping Angels are adapted to audio.

 

I wonder if the Churchill stories will be in the vein of the Companion Chronicles when dealing with 9, 10 and 11.  EDIT: In response to a FB question, Big Finish said the Churchill series will be more in the vain of The Early Adventures.  Ian McNiece narration with full cast scenes.

 

The Fourth Doctor is not in any of these audios but I have to admit, I'd love to see (or in this case HEAR) him interact with the Judoon.  He dealt with them in the Dimensions in Time comic.  But hearing the Fourth Doctor repeatdly insult the stern, no-nonsense, law and order Judoon and refuse to take them seriously would be a treat.

Edited by benteen
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MadMouse

MadMouse

I like River but never thought she was the most important person in the Doctor's life or his great love.

 

I didn't either but that seemed to be the narrative Moffat kept pushing. I admit I'm biased though Series six ruined her character for me. I was so sick of her by end that nothing could make me like her.

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HauntedBathroom

HauntedBathroom

The thing about Big Finish is that they are the ambulance chasers supreme. They know that they have a tiny market, and they mine it to death, but they never put out anything that they don't believe will sell. Whatever Nick Briggs and Jason Huge-Salary might personally think about River Song, the fact thay are placing her so front and centre in the range tells me they know those audios will fly off the shelves.

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Joe

Joe

Last I heard, BF didn't have the licence to use the new Doctors yet. They'll get it eventually. The next day, Briggs will wake up to find David Tennant camped out on his lawn. In costume.

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SnideAsides

SnideAsides

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Their original contract banned them from using anything that turned up in the new version. There were apparently loopholes that let them use Daleks and Cybermen (I'm guessing "Terry Nation's estate controls them" and "the Lumic retcon makes them different", respectively), but the BBC seem to have slowly relented (they got to use the Sontarans again in 2011 and Davros in 2012, after both were used by the New Series in 2008), and now that AudioGo (which used to do New Series audios) is in administration I guess they figured it makes sense to just give Big Finish everything instead of having to deal with two separate companies.

 

Thus why we're getting spinoff audios for Kate Stewart (and I guess UNIT too, who had five spinoff audios in 2005 but have never appeared in the main series) and River Song.

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HauntedBathroom

HauntedBathroom

Not to mention Strax is soon to appear in the next Jago and Lightfoot series. The barriers at the BBC are slowly tumbling, in less than five years, BF will be using the current Doctor and Companion, if they can find time in their filming schedules.

 

I'd love it if we could get Eccles or Matt to come back to the series, both of them left too early. And if the very timid McGann could be lured back, there's no reason why Eccles couldn't, if only to stop people camping outside his door and crying that he didn't come back for the fiftieth.

 

But the idea of more Temnnant/Tate bollocks sickens me. They've fouled Who enough, do we need to brick up the doors to stop them doing more harm?

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Joe

Joe

They're both very visual actors. It'll be interesting to hear what they can do without pictures to convey their actions. But BF has good directors, I'm confident they'll pull this off. And Tennant has done audio before.

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DeeJayKay

DeeJayKay

(edited)

They're both very visual actors. It'll be interesting to hear what they can do without pictures to convey their actions. But BF has good directors, I'm confident they'll pull this off. And Tennant has done audio before.

Tennant is an accomplished voice actor.  He has worked with Big Finish before, and has done both drama and comedy for BBC Radio.  He has also done some marvelous audiobooks (I am personally waiting for the next Dragon book).  He has voiced several cartoon characters and won an Emmy for that skill.  As for Catherine Tate, I know she read somel Doctor Who audiobooks, but am not familiar with other audio work.

 

I am not concerned with their abilities.

Edited by DeeJayKay
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SnideAsides

SnideAsides

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Just based on her sketch comedy show, I think Catherine Tate will acquit herself well. There's quite an impressive vocal range between her sketch characters (and between them and Donna) that suggests to me she'll be pretty good with audio compared to, say, the stars of Little Britain, where most of the differences between characters were visual.

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