Jo, Mike, Benton join forces with Kate, Osgood in new Big Finish boxset

[The Nth Doctor]

Big Finish has announced that in their fourth UNIT boxset, Jo, Mike and Benton will join forces with Kate and Osgood to deal with the Silurians and Sea Devils. The set will be released in May 2017.

‘I’m so thrilled by this box set,’ says David [Richardson]. ‘It’s a great big story but full of heart and loving references to the past - little Easter Eggs that will delight everyone who has seen the era of the Third Doctor. And it was wonderful to have such legends as Katy, John and Richard with us at the recording, acting together in those roles for the first time since 1974. For everyone involved, this was very special indeed.’

Sounds like Big Finish resolved their differences with John Levene.

I haven't listened to the first three boxsets yet (although I do have the first one), but I have heard good things about them. I'm definitely looking forward to this release.

 

[StCoop]

I bought the first two but have dropped the series now as, much to my surprise, I didn't really like them.

They made (in my eyes) the bad decision to go down the UNIT as Torchwood route in terms of the way they behave. Plus they try to show them as being much weaker in power then they have been on TV as an easy way to ramp up the dramatic tension. And they're also being written on the basis that most people on Earth don't know Aliens are real, which flat out contradicts "Death In Heaven" which confirmed that the Series 5 cracks hadn't wiped all that away.

On a separate note I hope that's not the final cover as the photoshopping is doing weird things with everyone's hear-to-body proportions.

 

[Stevil2001]

The UNIT box sets have been dead boring so far. Zygon Invasion/Inversion showed that this set-up has so much potential, and Big Finish's response is to have them reenact really boring versions of Pertwee plotlines.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Damn, that's disappointing to read (especially since Matt Fitton is usually on point), but it makes me feel better for not rushing to listen to the first set. Hopefully the addition of Jo, Mike and Benton will inspire better writing.

I agree the cover art is pretty bad, especially Benton. But I wouldn't be surprised if that's the final version.

 

[The Wormhole]

A crossover between modern and classic UNIT is a cool idea anyway.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

This interests me, but as noted the novelty of hearing these voices will only go so far if there isn't any real story to back it up. I'd love to see a proper crossover, but would it simply be a past / present story broken up, or something that actually happens in 2017 and for which UNIT has to get the old band back together?

I for one wouldn't mind seeing more of Jo Jones (nee Grant). Her portrayal in SJA was fun, and showed how different someone can grow up apart from the Doctor, who wasn't Sarah-Jane. Dunno about the other two, though. :P

Mark

 

[The Nth Doctor]

This interests me, but as noted the novelty of hearing these voices will only go so far if there isn't any real story to back it up. I'd love to see a proper crossover, but would it simply be a past / present story broken up, or something that actually happens in 2017 and for which UNIT has to get the old band back together?

The official synopsis for the set:

Kate Stewart and her UNIT team investigate and confront alien attacks on the planet Earth in this new 5 disc boxset.

Something is stirring, an old foe to those in UNIT with a long memory. And fortunately, to face an old foe... There are old friends.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

That's probably the most generic synopsis I've ever read from BF. And that's saying quite a bit.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I'm sure it's just a temporary synopsis until we get closer to the release date. The press release gives a better general idea of the story.

 

[Nightowl1701]

I'm guessing these aren't just any Silurians, but THE Silurians from 1970 - the ones Kate's dad tried to blow to hell, and who would then understandably be nursing a grudge against his kin and friends. The surviving Sea Devils from 1972 are teaming up to help them, hence why Jo and Yates (who both weren't around for the Silurians) would be brought in to back up Benton (who was).

I reckon there's got to be a personal revenge element like that in there, otherwise Kate and Osgood should be read up on both species and be more than enough to deal with them (unless we're supposed to believe neither have popped up at all since the 70's).

 

[Stevil2001]

I'm guessing these aren't just any Silurians, but THE Silurians from 1970 - the ones Kate's dad tried to blow to hell, and who would then understandably be nursing a grudge against his kin and friends. The surviving Sea Devils from 1972 are teaming up to help them, hence why Jo and Yates (who both weren't around for the Silurians) would be brought in to back up Benton (who was).

I reckon there's got to be a personal revenge element like that in there, otherwise Kate and Osgood should be read up on both species and be more than enough to deal with them (unless we're supposed to believe neither have popped up at all since the 70's).

Benton wasn't in The Silurians; his first Pertwee story was The Ambassadors of Death. Though I suppose there's no reason not to believe he didn't participate in The Silurians, off-screen. We also know Mike Yates was already in UNIT at that time, since Terror of the Autons indicates he helped with cleaning up Nestene spheres after Spearhead from Space.

Big Finish's 2000s UNIT series had humans and Silurians negotiate a peace treaty with the help of the Brigadier.

Someone on GB said that at a convention, Katy Manning said there's one episode that's a team-up between Jo and Osgood. She compared it to The Death of the Doctor's Jo/Sarah team-up.