Favorite Big Finish stories?

[Cutter John]

A good friend recently lent the first hundred or so of the Big Finish adventures and I've been slowly working my way through them one Doctor at a time. Eight's adventures with Charlie have been downright amazing, and listening to Six has completely changed my opinion of Colin's Doctor.

Haven't found Seven or Five all that good, though to be fair I've only listened to a couple of random ones so far. The exception though was Davison's adventure "Spare Parts", which is sort of a Genesis of the Cybermen story. Its a really sad tale of a doomest species struggle to survive at all costs, and really brings across how truly creepy these creatures are. The sound design is amazing and the early style cyber voices just make your skin crawl at times. Really makes me wish the Rise of the Cybermen tv two-parter has been anywhere near as good.

So which are you guys favorite audios and why?

 

[Methos]

i really enjoyed season 1-4 of the Gallifrey series...

Was the first full set i bought and listened to all the way through, loved it... nice to hear Romana II and Leela back in the Doctor Who universe

M

 

[Sindatur]

i really enjoyed season 1-4 of the Gallifrey series...

Was the first full set i bought and listened to all the way through, loved it... nice to hear Romana II and Leela back in the Doctor Who universe

M

Yup, that was going to be my suggestion, it's my largest experience with the Audios.

The Unbounds are great too (Though, I don't particularly care for the Arabella Weir Doctor story, which is a shame, because I was so looking forward to experiencing a Female Doctor Story)

Other than those, mostly all I've listened to is 7 or 8 Eight/Charley Stories (I especially like Neverland and Zagreus, which are kind of a prequel to the Gallifrey Adventures)

I'm getting close to finishing The Chronicles Of Amber Audio Books (Only 2 books left), so when I finish those, I have Iris Wildthyme and Companion Chronicles Compilation next up on list, waiting in the wings. So, I will likely get Spare Parts to listen to after those

 

[Lonemagpie]

Pretty much anything with Sixie - Jubilee, The Pirates, etc.

The BF version of Shada, and the 8th Doctor with Lucie series.

Bang Bang A Boom - and I say that as someone who fucking *hates* season 24 and that era's campness...

 

[sidious618]

I really love "Spare Parts." I'm planning on getting back into BF a little now. I recently bought "Cobwebs" but I was less than impressed with it to be honest.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

There are so many great stories that I have to break it down by Doctor. I'm still doing the Great Catch-Up (I didn't start listening until three years ago) but I've listened to nearly 200 audios so far. In no particular order:

First Doctor

Farewell, Great Macedon (told by Ian and Susan)
Home Truths (told by Sara Kingdom)
The Rocket Men (told by Ian)
The Suffering (told by Steven and Vicki)

The entirety of the Sara Kingdom trilogy is pretty damn awesome, but Home Truths is by far the best of the three. Peter Purves' performance as The First Doctor is uncanny.


Second Doctor

The Forbidden Time (told by Polly and Jamie)
Resistance (told by Polly)
Echoes of Grey (told by Zoe)

Frazer Hines' performance as The Second Doctor is also uncanny.


Third Doctor

Old Soldier (told by The Brigadier)
The Doll of Death (told by Jo)

I haven't listened to many of The Third Doctor Companion Chronicles so far but those two are incredible. I normally can't stand Jo (seriously, I think Omaha is the only person who dislikes her more than me) but The Doll of Death goes a long way in making me actually like her.


Fourth Doctor

The Time Vampire (told by Leela)
The Foe from the Future
The Wrath of the Iceni

The entirety of the Leela trilogy is fantastic but The Time Vampire drives the whole thing home. Hearing Tom and Louise together again is fantastic, but so far only The Foe from the Future and The Wrath of the Iceni have really stood out.


Fifth Doctor

Spare Parts
Cobwebs
The Elite
The Rat Trap
The Emerald Tiger
Omega
Circular Time
The Destroyer of Delights

The Fifth Doctor/Tegan/Turlough/Nyssa trilogies have been a complete success but the ones I list above are the highlights. A lot of people didn't like the Key 2 Time trilogy but I thought it was a lot of fun.


The Sixth Doctor

The Marian Conspiracy
The Spectre of Lanyon Moor
The Holy Terror
...ish
The Nowhere Place


The Seventh Doctor

Colditz
Flip-Flop
Master
The Harvest
Night Thoughts
LIVE 34
Thin Ice


The Eighth Doctor
Shada
Storm Warning
The Chimes of Midnight
Seasons of Fear
Embrace the Darkness
Neverland
Zagreus
Scherzo
The Natural History of Fear
The Silver Turk
Blood of the Daleks

I've heard the fourth Eighth Doctor series is fantastic but I'm still on the second one.


In addition to all of the individual Doctor stories, I also highly recommend checking out I, Davros (Davros' history done in the style of I, Claudius), Jago & Litefoot, Gallifrey, Short Trips, and Unbound (at least the brilliant Sympathy of the Devil).

*whew*

I'm sure I've forgotten something since I don't have access to my ranking list right now, but this should give you a good start.

 

[Brendan Moody]

Jubilee is great- does most everything that Shearman's loose TV adaptation "Dalek" does, and more besides. Shearman's eighth Doctor audios are also good, though they depend for fullest effect on knowledge of the arcs running through the early eighth Doctor seasons, which are uneven at best.

Also from the fortieth anniversary year is the "Villains Trilogy," three unconnected stories featuring major antagonists: Omega with the fifth Doctor, Davros with the sixth, and Master with the seventh. Omega is quite funny with some clever plotting, Davros has a great Terry Molloy performance, and Master is, despite some ponderous thematic mumbo-jumbo, well-acted and spooky.

The seventh Doctor has some stories that aren't quite great but work pretty well: The Fearmonger, The Fires of Vulcan, and Flip-Flop come to mind (though the latter's gimmick means it doesn't hold up well on repeat listening).

The Kingmaker is an endearingly bonkers fifth Doctor story-- very funny, from the author of Omega.

The Reaping and The Gathering by Joe Lidster are a linked pair with some interesting character stuff going on: in one, Peri and the sixth Doctor meet the family she left behind, while in the other the fifth Doctor meets post-travels Tegan. Sounds like a redux of "Aliens of London" and "School Reunion," maybe, but Lidster's better than that. The two stories are also obliquely connected to Lidster's seventh Doctor story The Harvest, but that isn't necessary listening, and it isn't particularly exciting either.

 

[Worf2DS9]

I've really only listened to the Eighth Doctor adventures, and they're awesome, especially the Charlie years. It's been well over a year since I last listened to one, however, and as such I've only gotten through the first season with Lucie. I thought about trying one of the Mary Shelley ones to get back into the groove, but I haven't done so yet.

 

[Cutter John]

Decided to listen to a couple of Six's adventures and have really become a fan of Evelyn. How refreshing to have a grown up companion for a change instead of the usual 'plucky young girl'. I wish the tv version would take a stab at it.

 

[Pindar]

Any by 8 and 6 are my faves.

Daleks Empire though is fantastic.

I'm quite fond of the 2David Warner adventures with a washed up Brig.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

"Davros" is terrifyingly powerful, especially in Davros' opening speech. "I will not die! I will not die! This is not the end! This is only... the beginning!"

"Colditz" is some of the most clever use of time travel in the entire history of the franchise. (Plus, a pre-Doctor David Tennant shows up as the SS officer that keeps threatening to rape Ace.)

All of McGann's Divergent Universe stories are great, especially "Scherzo" & "The Natural History of Fear."

 

[Pindar]

Yes I Davros is very good.

 

[Cutter John]

Just finished "The Reaping" last night. Holy crap, talk about a tear-jerker.

Having Peri run off to marry Brian Blessed always bugged the hell out of me. After listening to this, it doesn't seem like such a bad thing after all.

 

[Sindatur]

Just finished "The Reaping" last night. Holy crap, talk about a tear-jerker.

Having Peri run off to marry Brian Blessed always bugged the hell out of me. After listening to this, it doesn't seem like such a bad thing after all.

Ooh, I have my own thread asking for recommendations, and just picked up The Reaping about a week ago, due to recommendations (Along with Spare Parts and The Marian Conspiracy), so, I'll be listening to them next week, and looking forward to them greatly. Spare Parts (Peter Davison and Cybermen) is one of the most recommended, so, grab it, if you haven't heard it.

 

[Cutter John]

Having Peri run off to marry Brian Blessed always bugged the hell out of me. After listening to this, it doesn't seem like such a bad thing after all.

Ooh, I have my own thread asking for recommendations, and just picked up The Reaping about a week ago, due to recommendations (Along with Spare Parts and The Marian Conspiracy), so, I'll be listening to them next week, and looking forward to them greatly. Spare Parts (Peter Davison and Cybermen) is one of the most recommended, so, grab it, if you haven't heard it.[/QUOTE]


I have the first hundred or so episodes on loan, and yes, I've listened to Spare Parts. Amazing story. The scenes with the partially converted character returning home just made my skin crawl.

Right now I'm working through all of Sixes adventures, then plan on going back and finishing up Eight. I've listened to a couple of Five and Seven's, but I have to admit I've been less than impressed with the ones I've heard.