The whole stairs thing is ridiculous, I find it hard to be believe a race as advanced as the Daleks wouldn't find a way to get themselves up stairs. That's just way to simple of a thing for a race that is supposed to be terrifying killing machines.
BBC & Big Finish team-up for 'Time Lord Victorious' project
- Thread starter StCoop
- Start date
This week's DWM detailed how Nine/Rose fit into Time Lord Victorious. In the upcoming three-part comic strip Monstrous Beauty:
"The Ninth Doctor and Rose find themselves in a place no TARDIS is ever supposed to go - the Dark Times, an ancient era forbidden to all Time Lords. They're soon swept up in a war with one of the greatest enemies of the Doctor's people: the Great Vampires. The Doctor discovers that not all the stories surrounding Time Lord history match up with reality - but some of the dangers are actually worse than the myths. Rose was the last human in 'The End of the World', but (now) she's the first human - and that turns out to be a very bad thing..."
"The Ninth Doctor and Rose find themselves in a place no TARDIS is ever supposed to go - the Dark Times, an ancient era forbidden to all Time Lords. They're soon swept up in a war with one of the greatest enemies of the Doctor's people: the Great Vampires. The Doctor discovers that not all the stories surrounding Time Lord history match up with reality - but some of the dangers are actually worse than the myths. Rose was the last human in 'The End of the World', but (now) she's the first human - and that turns out to be a very bad thing..."
Sure.
For Time Lord Victorious, I suspect that Panini will collect it as a separate magazine or a comic-sized prestige format one-shot. Their whole story's going to be 32 pages long, after all, and I don't know that it makes sense in any of their upcoming trade paperback collections.
Not trying to splash cold water on this or anything, but I can't help but wonder, as the current Doctor shouldn't the Thirteenth be the one involved in this sort of big cross-media event? I mean I can see reasons why they wouldn't, complications of having to coordinate with Chibnall while he's trying to write and produce the show (which has likely become even more complicated given current events) and Big Finish doesn't get the rights to the current Doctor until their term as incumbent ends. Plus with the show essentially on a gap year with the possibility of new companions whenever it returns, there are limits on what tie-ins can do in the interim, so doing something like this is a way to have tie-in product still available.
Still, it does seem rather odd that one of the most ambitious tie-in projects in the franchise's history is one that does not involve the current Doctor, but rather three Doctors who haven't been current for a decade or two.
Or maybe I'm just irritated that Whittaker's Doctor has such bad representation in the tie-ins with just four novels, and both her comic runs in DWM and from Titan seem to be on hiatus. Then again representation of the current Doctor in tie-ins seems to be in decline since Tennant left, with Smith not getting as much as him, Capaldi not getting as much as Smith and now Whittaker getting less than Capaldi. I guess Moffat and Chibnall just aren't as into tie-ins as RTD was.
Still, it does seem rather odd that one of the most ambitious tie-in projects in the franchise's history is one that does not involve the current Doctor, but rather three Doctors who haven't been current for a decade or two.
Or maybe I'm just irritated that Whittaker's Doctor has such bad representation in the tie-ins with just four novels, and both her comic runs in DWM and from Titan seem to be on hiatus. Then again representation of the current Doctor in tie-ins seems to be in decline since Tennant left, with Smith not getting as much as him, Capaldi not getting as much as Smith and now Whittaker getting less than Capaldi. I guess Moffat and Chibnall just aren't as into tie-ins as RTD was.
I think Moffat was open about not being a huge fan of tie-ins. Not being against BF necessarily, just that he's a fan of oversatured exposure or something. Definitely not like the RTD/Tennant era.
As I understand it, Time Lord Victorious has been in development since 2016. Jodie wasn't even the Doctor when the discussions started.
You touch on the basic reason why she's not involved -- approvals in the production office. Involving Thirteen adds another layer of approvals and scrutiny. It seems silly that that's the reason, but tie-ins can be a silly business.
I thought things would get better with Chinball in relation to the tie-in novels. I didn't imagine they would get worse. And yet, here we are...
I'm also disappointed with how little tie-in fiction we've seen for Jodie's Doctor. Having new books on the shelves every six or nine months would keep interest up, even when the series is off the air.
It's not clear to me why we can't have a minimum of three NSAs a year with the current Doctor, whether there's a series on the air or not. There's either a business issue (sales are lower in the off-years), a contractual issue (the licensing contract specifies a window in relation to broadcast), or an approvals issue. In the Moffat years, I always leaned toward the latter explanation based on things I've heard in the industry, some second-hand, some first-hand. In the Chinball era, I don't know. Maybe there's a business issue. Maybe the staff at BBC Books doesn't like Doctor Who. I don't know.
But, yeah, it's a disappointment, missed opportunity, whatever you want to call it. Deep down, I feel like there should be more fiction with the current Doctor on the shelves, not less.
The schedule for Titan's comics has been affected by COVID shutting down the industry. Issues #5 and #6 of Season Two were intended, pre-COVID, to come out in July, The reason for doubling up was, as I understand it, to keep the ending of issue #4 a surprise. Now they're holding the second story arc for after Time Lord Victorious. That's all I can really say about that.
Big Finish’s final contribution to TLV has been announced; a double sided vinyl LP with two interlinked stories, one featuring McGann, one featuring David Tennant. There will also be a digital download version (but not, apparently, a CD release).
https://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/da...cgann-star-in-doctor-who-time-lord-victorious
https://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/da...cgann-star-in-doctor-who-time-lord-victorious
Sounds fascinating! Weird they're not doing a CD option but I'm not bothered since I switched to digital only years ago.
The two-sided nature of it reminds me of Flip-Flop but I'm guessing it's just two separate stories. Or maybe not considering Paul McGann's confusion over the story structure.
The two-sided nature of it reminds me of Flip-Flop but I'm guessing it's just two separate stories. Or maybe not considering Paul McGann's confusion over the story structure.
Big Finish seems to do that a lot -- bring in veteran actors to play different characters. I recently listened to an early one, The Sandman, where Anneke Wills (Polly) played an alien matriarch from a reptilian species. And there was one where Katy Manning had a brief cameo as a party guest.
In the early days Big Finish cast classic companion actors in new roles quite a lot because the producers at the time wanted to feature the performers but didn’t like to use companions alongside different Doctors than they’d had on TV. (Things have changed on that front since Gary Russell left.)
In this case I would guess they wanted the wow factor (such as it is) of new-era cast members alongside Tennant but didn’t want to shoehorn Owen and Rory into the plot. This release was recorded remotely, which may have limited their casting options.
In this case I would guess they wanted the wow factor (such as it is) of new-era cast members alongside Tennant but didn’t want to shoehorn Owen and Rory into the plot. This release was recorded remotely, which may have limited their casting options.
BF were commissioned to make this by Demon Records specifically to be a vinyl release, so we're actually lucky that there is a download option.
It's still a weird commission. I get that vinyl has made a big comeback and all, but it's far, far from mainstream.
No weirder than any other niche collectible merchandise, I'd say. Not everything is about appealing to the mass audience. A lot of merchandising is targeted at completists and specialty collectors.
And I assume this whole Victorious project is designed so that the individual parts can stand on their own and you don't need to read/watch/listen to every installment to get a satisfying experience.
