The Doctor Whos that could have been (Big Finish)

[23skidoo]

Big Finish is launching a rather cool series of audios later this month called The Lost Stories. These are audio adaptations of scripts that were planned for the TV show, but for one reason or another never produced.

The first 8 Lost Stories, being released over the coming months, feature Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant performing Sixth Doctor stories that were either cancelled because of the 1985 hiatus, or were planned for the Trial of a Time Lord arc, but replaced by other storylines. Diehards will recognize a few of them like The Nightmare Fair, which was actually novelised by Target Books, but there are a few the existence of which was not known until recently.

But then in late 2010 Big Finish is doing something even cooler -- the second set of Lost Stories will consist of special adaptations of scripts made for William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton, but never produced (these will be "enhanced audiobook"-style readings by surviving cast members rather than full dramas since Big Finish does not recast Doctor or Companion roles if the original actor is deceased). This includes the recently-published Moris Farhi scripts Farewell Great Macedon and The Yellow Arc of Fragrance.

Nick Briggs, meanwhile, is mounting a full-cast production of The Destroyers, Terry Nation's original script for a planned US spin-off series featuring the Daleks that was never made. (Elements such as the character Sara Kingdom were later reused in The Daleks Masterplan).

The Lost Stories will also include a pair of scripts planned for Season 27 in 1990, including the story that would have introduced the companion that was scheduled to replace Ace.

Details:
http://www.bigfinish.com/news/More-Lost-Stories-Found!

(Note: you need to make sure the ! is in the URL or the link won't work)

I've said this before, but I wish Paramount would allow a company to mount audios like this for Star Trek. Imagine getting Shatner, Nimoy and the others together to recreate scripts that were planned but never made - such as David Gerrold's Galactic Whirlpool or Roddenberry's never-filmed Trek movie script, The God Thing.

Alex

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I'm definitely looking forward to these, especially now that I'm finally venturing into the audio plays. You didn't mention it but I believe William Russell and Carole Ann Ford are doing the William Hartnell story while Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury are doing the Patrick Troughton story. This is particularly exciting because the Companion Chronicles usually feature just one companion per story.

 

[danjamesb]

Big Finish is launching a rather cool series of audios later this month called The Lost Stories.

They launched in the middle of November, actually. The second one's just been released.

EDIT: And there's a five-page behind-the-scenes article in Doctor Who Magazine #415 which I heavily recommend. *ahem*

The Lost Stories will also include a pair of scripts planned for Season 27 in 1990, including the story that would have introduced the companion that was scheduled to replace Ace.

Four, not two.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Nick Briggs, meanwhile, is mounting a full-cast production of The Destroyers, Terry Nation's original script for a planned US spin-off series featuring the Daleks that was never made. (Elements such as the character Sara Kingdom were later reused in The Daleks Masterplan).

You have that backwards. Sara Kingdom was reused in "The Destroyers," as "Master-Plan" came first for Nation. The series would have been a variation on the theme of Doctor Who, much like the Cushing movies, rather than a spin-off of Doctor Who like, say, K-9 and Company or the modern spin-offs. Thus, I wonder if Big Finish is going to try to make the story "fit," or if they will allow it to be its own thing. An "Unbound," basically.

I've sometimes tried to imagine the alt-history where NBC airs Star Trek and Daleks: The Destroyers back-to-back in the late '60s.

And as for The God-Thing, Pocket Books couldn't get a novelization of the script to fly in the early-90s. The issue wasn't Paramount. The issue was Roddenberry's estate. They had their own concerns that didn't line up with Pocket's. Perhaps, now that Majel is gone, it's possible to revisit The God-Thing. Yet, I think, given its content, that it's best to let it lie. Do we really want The God-Thing to stand, for all intents as purposes, as Roddenberry's last word on Star Trek? I'm thinking not. (And I'm saying this as someone who wants to see the idolatry of Roddenberry torn down. But even as a self-inflicted wound, I'd wince.)

 

[Tomalak]

I'm a very infrequent Big Finish listener - I've always been put off by the internal continuity and the companions I've never heard of.

But these look worth investigating. I love Colin in Big Finish, and there's nothing to worry about with something like The Nightmare Fair or Mission to Magnus - they should just pick up from the TV series.

 

[23skidoo]

You have that backwards. Sara Kingdom was reused in "The Destroyers," as "Master-Plan" came first for Nation.

Not according to The Official Doctor Who and the Daleks Books by Terry Nation and John Peel. It says The Destroyers was written "three years before Star Trek appeared in England" (a comment related to the presence of a character named Mark Seven). Star Trek debuted in England in July 1969, which means The Destroyers would have been written in 1966, a full year after Daleks Master Plan.

And as for The God-Thing, Pocket Books couldn't get a novelization of the script to fly in the early-90s. The issue wasn't Paramount. The issue was Roddenberry's estate. They had their own concerns that didn't line up with Pocket's. Perhaps, now that Majel is gone, it's possible to revisit The God-Thing. Yet, I think, given its content, that it's best to let it lie. Do we really want The God-Thing to stand, for all intents as purposes, as Roddenberry's last word on Star Trek? I'm thinking not. (And I'm saying this as someone who wants to see the idolatry of Roddenberry torn down. But even as a self-inflicted wound, I'd wince.)

I'm not very familiar with The God Thing. Is it considered garbage?

EDIT: And there's a five-page behind-the-scenes article in Doctor Who Magazine #415 which I heavily recommend. *ahem*

I'm not quite sure why the "ahem". 415 isn't available in Canada yet. We're usually a month behind on getting DWM - the last issue we got was the one with Sarah Jane on the cover and the free cards and that's 414. 415 is probably available this week, but I usually don't get to the comic shop till the weekend. And as Big Finish only just announced the second set of audios (or at least within the last month), I'm assuming the article is only about the Colin Baker stories, no?

Alex

 

[23skidoo]

DELETED - double post by accident

 

[Tomalak]

You have that backwards. Sara Kingdom was reused in "The Destroyers," as "Master-Plan" came first for Nation.

Not according to The Official Doctor Who and the Daleks Books by Terry Nation and John Peel. It says The Destroyers was written "three years before Star Trek appeared in England" (a comment related to the presence of a character named Mark Seven). Star Trek debuted in England in July 1969, which means The Destroyers would have been written in 1966, a full year after Daleks Master Plan.

Yes, so DMP came first. You are in agreement.

 

[Stevil2001]

EDIT: And there's a five-page behind-the-scenes article in Doctor Who Magazine #415 which I heavily recommend. *ahem*

I'm not quite sure why the "ahem". 415 isn't available in Canada yet. We're usually a month behind on getting DWM - the last issue we got was the one with Sarah Jane on the cover and the free cards and that's 414. 415 is probably available this week, but I usually don't get to the comic shop till the weekend. And as Big Finish only just announced the second set of audios (or at least within the last month), I'm assuming the article is only about the Colin Baker stories, no?

Dan wrote the article.

 

[Marc]

I'm a very infrequent Big Finish listener - I've always been put off by the internal continuity and the companions I've never heard of.

Does these extra companions really matter - it's alwasy been implied that we see just a fraction of the Doctor's adventures and nothing that he can't have had companions we've never seen - that's the nice thing about time travel.

Plus when Big Finish began their audios, the series was off the air, the telemovie at best mediocre and Christopher Eccleston as the 9th Doctor was 6 years off.

 

[Tomalak]

Probably not, I'm sure I'd pick it up. I just feel I'd have to invest time on their back-stories so I know who they are.

I never listened to them when the show was off-air, but I'm sure if I had they would have been great.