Heroes of Sontar is 2.99 because it's this month's selection in The Listeners, Big Finish's "book club" for audios. There's a new discounted title in the first week of every month, with discussion encouraged on BF's forum and Facebook page.
The Worlds Of Doctor Who Announced in the new DWM - a Light At The End style release for the 15th Anniversary of BF. Basically a series of one disc stories covering the various Who ranges all facing a new villain played by Jamie Glover. Starts with Jago & Litefoot before moving onto Counter-Measures then Mike Yates teaming up with Daphne Ashbrook & Yee Jee Tso's characters from Tales From The Vault and the recent Master Companion Chronicle before ending with the 6th Doctor, Romana & Leela. Plus a disc of extras. Sounds fantastic but please Big Finish leave me with some money!!
Sounds fairly ambitious, although I'm not sure if I'll get it right away largely because I haven't gotten to Counter Measures or the Vault tales yet (and probably won't anytime soon). It's a pity they didn't bring Brigadier Bambera back again, but I guess the timelines don't quite sync up with the other characters. And while I'm thrilled we get to see the Romana/Leela team again (and might be enough to push me to get the set sooner than later anyways), I am disappointed they're teaming up with The Sixth Doctor. I've been aching for The Eighth Doctor to be reunited with Romana post-Divergent Universe for ages now. Furthermore, this was an opportune time to finally have The Seventh Doctor team-up with Romana. Alas.
This month's discounted title for The Listeners, BF's audio discussion club, is the fifth Doctor and Nyssa anthology Circular Time. Four standalone stories, each with a seasonal theme. $2.99/£2.99 for download.
I've recently got into the Big Finish range after the ones they gave away last year for the 50th. But I've managed to get myself a little overwhelmed. How much crossover is there between the different Doctors? Things like the Dalek Empire set-up and Zagreus seems to suggest that you need to be listening to them all but skimming this thread (in fear of spoilers) it seems you can concentrate on one Doctor and worry about the rest later. Because out of what I've heard I'd quite like to concentrate on either 6/Evelyn or 8/Charlie for now.
There are some that have Sequels with a Different Doctor, and one of Evelyn's stories guest Stars Seven along with Six (I think), while another one only has Seven. But, for the most part, the stories are pretty well self contained, you just get a call back here and there, but, nothing that I can think that of really damages your enjoyment of a specific story.
The Eight/Charley stories are completely self-contained; the other Doctors appear in Zagreus, but not in a way where having heard other stories with them is important. The Six/Evelyn stories are less so as they go on; plot elements in the Seven/Hex tales prove quite important to the resolution of Evelyn's story. (Which, fact fans, is the only Big Finish to make me actually cry.) But you could successfully listen to just Six/Evelyn stories, it's just that you'd get less out of it all.
Yeah, I would REALLY like for anyone around here to point out a close-to definitive timeline/guide of the Sixth/Evelyn and Seven/Hex stories? They are many and often confusing, since BF did Evelyn stories even after her demise in Death in the Family (or at least I think thats what it was called).
If you're not going to just listen to them in release order, which has its merits, this is the order I used when I listened to them with my wife: (I've put ones we didn't listen to in [brackets]. I'm sure these are good, but I'm not independently wealthy, so I had to pick and choose.) Sixth Doctor and Evelyn The Marian Conspiracy The Spectre of Lanyon Moor [The Apocalypse Element] Bloodtide Project: Twilight The Sandman Jubilee and the Pirates, or The Lass That Lost a Sailor Real Time Project: Lazarus Arrangements for War [Medicinal Purposes] [Pier Pressure] [The Nowhere Place] 100 [Assassin in the Limelight] [A Town Called Fortune] The Crimes of Thomas Brewster [The Feast of Axos] [Industrial Evolution] Cyber Trilogy* The Reaping The Gathering Seventh Doctor, Ace, and Hex The Harvest Dreamtime LIVE 34 [Night Thoughts] [The Veiled Leopard] ** The Settling No Man's Land [Nocturne] [The Dark Husband] Forty-Five The Magic Mousetrap [Enemy of the Daleks] Crossing Over Thicker Than Water The Angel of Scutari Project: Destiny A Death in the Family*** Seventh Doctor Alone Master [Robophobia] The Doomsday Quatrain House of Blue Fire Seventh Doctor, Ace, and Hex Lurkers at Sunlight's Edge Protect and Survive Black and White (pt. 1) Project: Nirvana**** Black and White (pts. 2-4) Gods and Monsters Afterlife Revenge of the Swarm The Mask of Tragedy Signs & Wonders I was pretty pleased with this; it preserves most of the spoilers and surprises, but lets you get into a nice groove with a certain lineup for a while instead of jumping around. There a lots of nice connections between the Evelyn and Hex stories, from major (the Forge) to minor (the Galyari). * Definitely inessential to the ongoing story, but there are some nice resonances. ** Part One of this story actually features Peri and Erimem. *** If you're just interested in Evelyn primarily, you can end here. If you want to continue following Ace and Hex, their story continues. **** If you think this seems silly, listen to Project: Nirvana after Black and White.
Wow that's a big help Stevil. and everyone else for clearing up how little they interact. Since I'm about as far into Evelyn as Charlie, I'm going to stick solely to Eight for now.
Thank you so much. I do prefer watching/listening story arcs in sequence. With OldWho its different, because the stories don't necessarily tie into a bigger arc like BF and NuWho do. And with Seven especially, I found it kinda hard to put together a timeline for his post-Survival adventures. Are his in chronological order btw? And what about his Lost Stories?
Listening in actual order is for wussies. If you are not a goon, you should be able to dynamically toggle the memories of every episode like a virtual Tetris Olympics until it all makes sense, no matter what order you can afford to listen.
Listening to Seven post-Survival is somewhat different: Seven and Ace during the Series 1963: The Assassination Games Destiny of the Doctor: Shockwave The Lost Stories Thin Ice Crime of the Century Animal Earth Aid Seven and Ace The Fearmonger The Genocide Machine Dust Breeding Colditz The Rapture Seven, Ace, and Benny Love and War The Highest Science The Shadow of the Scourge The Dark Flame Bernice Summerfield and the Criminal Code The Prisoner's Dilemma Seven, Ace, and Hex: SEE ABOVE Seven Alone The Sirens of Time Last of the Titans Excelis Decays Project: Lazarus Master Return of the Daleks Valhalla Frozen Time The Death Collectors Kingdom of Silver Seven and Klein A Thousand Tiny Wings Survival of the Fittest The Architects of History UNIT: Dominion Alone Again The Shadow Heart Seven, Klein, and Will Persuasion Starlight Robbery Daleks Among Us This one is harder, but that's the gist. Where the Benny stories go vs. the Hex ones is a point of contention, but this is my preference.