Big Finish get River Song (and lots more!)

[Christopher]

At first I wondered about the continuity issue of having earlier Doctors meet new-series monsters, but then I realized that the ones being featured -- Weeping Angels, Sycorax, Judoon -- are all ones that the Doctor was already familiar with when the viewers first met them. (Well, it was ambiguous with the Sycorax, but it's at least possible he'd met them before.) So maybe these will be the tales of how he first encountered them.

 

[The Wormhole]

While I certainly don't want to even expect a full account of the entire Time War, I certainly wouldn't be opposed to stories set during the Time War or related to it. In fact, I would be surprised if they didn't do any. They don't even have to feature the Doctor, of they did need a Doctor, it can simply be the Eighth. We know the War was in full swing before he regenerated in Night of the Doctor, and although he stayed out of the fighting, his line of "I help out where I can" implies he didn't completely avoid the War.

At first I wondered about the continuity issue of having earlier Doctors meet new-series monsters, but then I realized that the ones being featured -- Weeping Angels, Sycorax, Judoon -- are all ones that the Doctor was already familiar with when the viewers first met them. (Well, it was ambiguous with the Sycorax, but it's at least possible he'd met them before.) So maybe these will be the tales of how he first encountered them.

Well, in the case of the Judoon, IDW's comics have already featured two earlier Doctors encountering them, Fourth and Fifth. And the Fourth already seemed familiar with them.

And while this might be the tale of the Doctor's first encounter with the Weeping Angels, he should at least be already aware of them since even in Rassilon's time they were considered an ancient legend.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I just noticed that the teenaged Kazran Sardick (from "A Christmas Carol") is part of the Churchill series. I always thought the Doctor's annual visits to Kazran and the adventures they went on would be good Big Finish fare -- and very typical of what they do.

 

[NightJim]

This helped me make a decision on what to listen to next after finishing Charley Pollard's arc (bar her self titled series).

I'd devised an epic, Five, Six and Seven mega-arc from the monthly series, which includes all the Evelyn stuff, and starts with Five, Erimem and Peri. Figured it was about time I got stuck in.

This announcement has meant I started the Eighth Doctor Adventures instead. The Eight/River meet up has me incredibly intrigued and I need to get through all four seasons of EDA and Dark Eyes before I get there.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

While I certainly don't want to even expect a full account of the entire Time War, I certainly wouldn't be opposed to stories set during the Time War or related to it. In fact, I would be surprised if they didn't do any. They don't even have to feature the Doctor, of they did need a Doctor, it can simply be the Eighth. We know the War was in full swing before he regenerated in Night of the Doctor, and although he stayed out of the fighting, his line of "I help out where I can" implies he didn't completely avoid the War.

Yeah, to see the Eighth deal with the early outbreaks of the Time War, and have his moral dilemma played out. I'm just saying an epic "Time War" series, akin to Gallifrey, seems like a bad idea to me (though potentially profitable).

At first I wondered about the continuity issue of having earlier Doctors meet new-series monsters, but then I realized that the ones being featured -- Weeping Angels, Sycorax, Judoon -- are all ones that the Doctor was already familiar with when the viewers first met them. (Well, it was ambiguous with the Sycorax, but it's at least possible he'd met them before.) So maybe these will be the tales of how he first encountered them.

The Sycorax is no biggie for me, and I think the Doctor only met the Weeping Angels a couple of times before Eleven's time, so thus far, the Fifth meeting them doesn't seem like a bad idea at all.

 

[Kelso]

I wouldn't have thought of Kazran Sardick, but he'd be a pretty natural character for a spin-off. It would be especially nice if they could get the lady who played Abigail to come back. How many Christmas Eves did they spend together? 10 or 15? They could get loads of adventures out of that. And they've got three actors to choose from for Kazran, with the possibility of recasting for the youngest version. Yeah, a Christmas Chronicles series could be epic.

 

[NightJim]

Getting Catherine Jenkins would be a hell of a get for Big Finish. I'd be very surprised at that one. Certainly all for it, just don't see it happening. I also like the idea of seeing some of the Christmas Eve's she didn't tag along for. The Doctor was all about breathing some life into it, and Abigail was such a big part of that it'll be really interesting to see how that's done without her in tow.

 

[Turbo]

I still haven't stopped squeeing over this. Good thing I'm not an AI interface.

The Churchill story doesn't interest me greatly. If it were about the historical Churchill rather than Gatiss' caricature Churchill, I'd be more interested.

Yeah, I don't really care for this boxset so much for exactly that reason. Which is a shame because Ian McNiece has done some great work with Big Finish in the past.

He's only had one episodes in which he played a major role, and I have faith that Big Finish can turn him from a caricature, as y'all put it, into a full-fledged Churchill.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Something I forgot to mention: I've stated before that I've been sick and tired of River Song post-series 6, and I stand by it - the ridiculous retcon of her being Amy and Rory's daughter will not stop being ridiculous - but that said... I am really looking forward to Alex Kingdom's interaction with Paul McGann. She's a great actress, and McGann has proven to have an excellent raport with strong female leads, so it should be an interesting situation to listen to.

On that aspect, I can't wait!

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Something I forgot to mention: I've stated before that I've been sick and tired of River Song post-series 6, and I stand by it - the ridiculous retcon of her being Amy and Rory's daughter will not stop being ridiculous - but that said... I am really looking forward to Alex Kingdom's interaction with Paul McGann. She's a great actress, and McGann has proven to have an excellent rapport with strong female leads, so it should be an interesting situation to listen to.

On that aspect, I can't wait!

Kingston, imho, elevated some truly dire material in series 6. The problem, at least for me, is that Moffat stopped writing River Song as a character and started writing her as a series of plot points. The potential I see in Big Finish is that they can write her as a character and show us (or, rather, let us hear) what River's "normal" is. I really feel that these projects could be redemptive for River, that people who had written her off because of Moffat's excesses may discover that, in the hands of different writers, she "works."

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Kingston, imho, elevated some truly dire material in series 6. The problem, at least for me, is that Moffat stopped writing River Song as a character and started writing her as a series of plot points. The potential I see in Big Finish is that they can write her as a character and show us (or, rather, let us hear) what River's "normal" is. I really feel that these projects could be redemptive for River, that people who had written her off because of Moffat's excesses may discover that, in the hands of different writers, she "works."

Agreed. Big Finish always rose to the challenge, and this could really open new doors for the character, bringing some real depth and humanity to the part. Kingston can surely rise to the occasion, too, as she herself was never the problem - the monotome, one-dimensional writing of Moffat's has been.

Here's hoping BF improve her, Six-style!

 

[kirk55555]

I really like River, so its cool that she'll be in Big Finish stuff. I obviously don't listen to BF, but it still seems like it has potential for some great stories, which is always a good thing.

 

[mythme]

I've gave this quite a few passing thoughts in the last year or so, so now that it's happened I'm really excited to finally a full-fledged plunge into BF. I've been hesitant, because being the collector I am, once I start I will want to have ALL the stories. But at this point I'm so far behind (and so many of the stories are out of print and expensive - kinda like the DVDs are becoming) that I'll never catch up.

Word has it that Big Finish will become a streaming service so you can listen to any and all the stories. I hope that's true.

 

[NightJim]

Awesome to hear mythme. I wonder just how many people this announcement, and Torchwood before it, has picked up for Big Finish? I hope there's a spike in listeners. I know I finally took the plunge after Night of the Doctor because I wanted more Eight.

 

[Sindatur]

I've gave this quite a few passing thoughts in the last year or so, so now that it's happened I'm really excited to finally a full-fledged plunge into BF. I've been hesitant, because being the collector I am, once I start I will want to have ALL the stories. But at this point I'm so far behind (and so many of the stories are out of print and expensive - kinda like the DVDs are becoming) that I'll never catch up.

Word has it that Big Finish will become a streaming service so you can listen to any and all the stories. I hope that's true.

Even if the CDs are out of print, you can purchase the download for cheaper, so, same basic thing as streaming, except you don't need to rely upon Network connection resources to listen to it. I actually buy the downloads, and burn my own CDs.

 

[Turbo]

I've gave this quite a few passing thoughts in the last year or so, so now that it's happened I'm really excited to finally a full-fledged plunge into BF. I've been hesitant, because being the collector I am, once I start I will want to have ALL the stories. But at this point I'm so far behind (and so many of the stories are out of print and expensive - kinda like the DVDs are becoming) that I'll never catch up.

Word has it that Big Finish will become a streaming service so you can listen to any and all the stories. I hope that's true.

Even if the CDs are out of print, you can purchase the download for cheaper, so, same basic thing as streaming, except you don't need to rely upon Network connection resources to listen to it. I actually buy the downloads, and burn my own CDs.

Plus, the download prices for US users are the UK prices but in USD (instead of converted from GBP to USD like the CDs are) so it's even cheaper for those of us here in the States. (I have to imagine we're a tiny portion of Big Finish's listening base.)

 

[The Four Doctor]

I'd like Big Finish more if Padbury and Sutton didn't sound so much like Zoe and Nyssa's chain smoking grandmothers...

 

[Worf2DS9]

Eight and River? Sweet!

I'm actually way behind in my Eighth Doctor audios. I'd last finished Series 1 of his "New Adventures," with Lucie, but I've really wanted to jump ahead to Dark Eyes, since I really like Ruth Bradley, and know Nicola Walker primarily from MI-5/Spooks. But now with River on the way, I really need to catch up!

 

[TJ Sinclair]

Just please give me at least one episode with River and Jack, and I'll be happy.

 

[Turbo]

I'd like Big Finish more if Padbury and Sutton didn't sound so much like Zoe and Nyssa's chain smoking grandmothers...

They both sound quite close to the original voices when they started doing audios, especially Sarah Sutton. But, y'know, we're at over 15 years now, and folks age.

Deborah Watling, on the other hand, never sounded even close to me.