Delving into the Big Finish audio plays

[Rarewolf]

The only difference in Shadas (Shadi?) I remember is the end of one of the episodes. Skagra's ship reviews the Doctor's history. On the audio it is soundbites from other Big Finish stories (mainly ones by the same director) of earlier Doctors (5-7) whereas the visual kept it visual.

 

[Stevil2001]

^ There's another tweak along similar lines, when the Doctor's building his helmet to fight Skagra. In the animated version, it's a space helmet (it says NCC-1701 on it, as I recall), whereas in the audio, there's added dialogue where he says (to himself) that Evel Knievel gave it to him.

 

[Captain Pike]

I thought The Spectre of Lanyon Moor was pretty good. Sixth doc and the brig paired up at last.

klingonmarquis wrote:I really enjoyed the First Dalek Empire series, top notch scifi without the Doctor being involved. The 2nd was really good, the 3rd was ok but was lacking the full punch of the first 2. The fourth series though set in the first series time period was back on their A game.

Yep, the first couple were really great imo.

 

[Cutter John]

Speaking of Shada, since the BBC is probably never going to cough up the money for animation, I wonder if BF has ever looked into the possibility of finding a Hartnell/Troughton sound alike and doing audios of some of the lost episodes?

 

[Piper]

Speaking of Shada, since the BBC is probably never going to cough up the money for animation, I wonder if BF has ever looked into the possibility of finding a Hartnell/Troughton sound alike and doing audios of some of the lost episodes?

If you mean those stories which were made but which are now missing, they're already released as soundtracks on BBC CD, as all the missing episodes' audio is still in existence.

If you mean stories not made, next year they're adapting Farewell, Great Macedon and The Prison in Space, two "lost" 60's stories, as Companion Chronicles, with William Russell and Carole Ann Ford in the former and Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury in the latter, with rumours of more to come if they're successful. Back in Gary Russell's day he said he would never recast late Doctors out of respect (although he did cheekily introduce a Tom substitute, Jon Culshaw, in a cameo in The Kingmaker!) and, while I suspect the current regime is slightly more flexible in this regard, I don't think there's much appetite to do so, given that the CC's work so well.

That said, Geoffrey Bayldon made a superb alternative First Doctor in two of their Unbound plays.

 

[klingonmaquis]

If I had any complaint about BF, it's the exclusives it does, no offense, it's nice that there's folks out there who can afford a subscription but FRELL for some of us, it's too bloody expensive! Like this month a meeting of the 8th Doc, Susan and his grandson (played by McGann's real life son Jake), only way to get it is to have subscribed to the audios. You can get the cd sometime next year but really that's a heck of a wait and if you are too impatient you are at the mercy of ebay or even going the other route....torrents just to hear something.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

For right now, I don't mind that because I'm busy playing catch up (I recently ordered another eight...oi, I think I have an addiction). However, I can understand how that can be annoying. Perhaps when I catch (whenever that might be), I'll consider a subscription.

 

[Rosalind]

If I had any complaint about BF, it's the exclusives it does, no offense, it's nice that there's folks out there who can afford a subscription but FRELL for some of us, it's too bloody expensive! Like this month a meeting of the 8th Doc, Susan and his grandson (played by McGann's real life son Jake), only way to get it is to have subscribed to the audios. You can get the cd sometime next year but really that's a heck of a wait and if you are too impatient you are at the mercy of ebay or even going the other route....torrents just to hear something.

well, they have to have some way to persuade people to subscribe, some people might prefer paying one CD at a time instead of 12 in one go, for many reasons, even if the 12 CD subscription is a lot cheaper. By having these special stories, they might just get a few more subscribers who otherwise won't. I seem to recall reading somewhere that it was the subscriptions that kept BF afloat a few years back. It's not cheap to make these audio dramas, read one of those director's blogs, it takes about a whole year from when the director first got the scripts to finish the whole product. BF need their subscribers. Besides, it's not as if they are subscribers only, you can still get them a year later as a single CD, you just got to wait a bit more.

 

[Stevil2001]

I actually have a few of the subscriber freebies, but it's usually coincidental-- one happened to be in the period when I already wanted a sub (like the second Charley season). Is Return of the Krotons out as a standalone yet? It'll be nice to hear one last sixth Doctor/Charley adventure.

 

[klingonmaquis]

Yeah already mentioned wait a while bit, but it's crap for those who like the audios but again cannot afford a sub, I checked, way out of my budget unless I dropped the dvds, something I am not willing to do as the dvds are the way my kids join in with me enjoying the multi-lived fellow. I did buy the hell out of the cds when BF started up though since it was the only way to get stories with the actual actors for those Doctors again. Those incentives weren't available when they started out and I do realize that the cds are expensive to make with licensing and such, but I was buying em when most people were saying they would fold. I ordered straight from BF which was cheaper than ordering from anywhere in the States. I know they need something to keep the attention of Who fans with so many options for who items these days but we have know about the Earthly Child for a year before I was released so it somewhat blows that it'll be another year before I can hear it. That kind of crap almost encourages torrents so folks can get to hear it. I have several things to say about torrents in the positive, but will save that for another time.

 

[Rosalind]

Is Return of the Krotons out as a standalone yet? It'll be nice to hear one last sixth Doctor/Charley adventure.

yes, it is.

and they are currently offering:
# The Maltese Penguin
# Real Time
# Shada
# Her Final Flight
# Cryptobiosis
as a whole package for 20 GBP, which is a pretty good deal.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Is Return of the Krotons out as a standalone yet? It'll be nice to hear one last sixth Doctor/Charley adventure.

yes, it is.

and they are currently offering:
# The Maltese Penguin
# Real Time
# Shada
# Her Final Flight
# Cryptobiosis
as a whole package for 20 GBP, which is a pretty good deal.

Ooo...that's a pretty sweet deal. I almost bought The Maltese Penguin (to go along with The Holy Terror) on its own but now I'm glad I held off.