I couldn't resist. I had to reply to him myself. He won't see it, thankfully; he's had me blocked since I made a comment about "Doctor in Distress."
Wiped Episode Discoveries
- Thread starter Allyn Gibson
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I couldn't resist. I had to reply to him myself. He won't see it, thankfully; he's had me blocked since I made a comment about "Doctor in Distress."
YES!
Now I got this image in my head of Ian Levine glove-slapping Phillip Morris and demanding satisfaction.
Now I got this image in my head of Ian Levine glove-slapping Phillip Morris and demanding satisfaction.
Nice!
It was back in 2012, when it became apparent that there was only going to be a half-season that year in the autumn.
Levine was complaining about BBC mismanagement of the series.
I made the mistake of saying something like, "Can we expect a Doctor in Distress 2012?" and including his Twitter handle in the Tweet. To which he did an all-caps "FUCK YOU!" and he's never replied to anything else from me since.
He was personal friends with Christopher Barry, so whilst his remarks after his death may have appeared as insensitive point scoring, they were quite real, at least as far as Ian would have been concerned.
Certainly ironic, theres 100s of hours of Doctor Who actors in their roles that he has no desire to enjoy, but he simply cannot accept Doctor Who as an audio thing. And of course there's too much of it produced to try and visualise it all, even if he had dozens of people working for him.
His own need to have the Lost seasons done and dusted, is no different to fans welcoming Big Finish producing audio versions of The Nightmare Fair or Mission To Magnus, except he needed to follow the list exactly as he remembered it, whereas BF could be more flexable (which led to some great rejected stories being made as well as the better known ones)
Fans still asked for Yellow Fever, even without a script. That didn't need to stop him.
The fact that The Ultimate Evil never got adapted for audio (because the writer wanted too much money) will always eat at my wanabee completeness. So close yet so far.
I've read the novelization of The Ultimate Evil. Believe me, Big Finish not getting that was a blessing in disguise. 
Certainly, if you're not already pre-disposed, Audiobooks and Audio plays do take some training of your ears.
The First couple of Audiobooks I listened to, I had to listen to the first disk a second time to be able to properly follow it (Though I do my listening while driving). Then I discovered Doctor Who Audio Plays, and they were different yet again, I had to listen to the first disk twice on a few stories before my ear was properly trained, because there is so much more depth to an Audio Play with different actors and so many more sound effects, then there is with someone merely reading a story to you, even if they are great with using different voices.
Some of the best Doctor Who Stories ever, can be found in the Big Finish Library, it does feel a little strange to me, if he hasn't asked any friends for recommendations to animate for his personal consumption. If I had the resources, I'd definitely do it for all 6 Series of Gallifrey Adventures, Spare Parts, Jubilee, The Project: Series, The Holy Terror, Neverland, Zagreus, Davros, and Master to start with, and a couple/few of The Unbound stories, too
The First couple of Audiobooks I listened to, I had to listen to the first disk a second time to be able to properly follow it (Though I do my listening while driving). Then I discovered Doctor Who Audio Plays, and they were different yet again, I had to listen to the first disk twice on a few stories before my ear was properly trained, because there is so much more depth to an Audio Play with different actors and so many more sound effects, then there is with someone merely reading a story to you, even if they are great with using different voices.
Some of the best Doctor Who Stories ever, can be found in the Big Finish Library, it does feel a little strange to me, if he hasn't asked any friends for recommendations to animate for his personal consumption. If I had the resources, I'd definitely do it for all 6 Series of Gallifrey Adventures, Spare Parts, Jubilee, The Project: Series, The Holy Terror, Neverland, Zagreus, Davros, and Master to start with, and a couple/few of The Unbound stories, too
Kind of why I don't get involved in the audio dramas, I can not just sit and listen to something. My attention wanders far too easily without visual aid. That's probably part of the reason why I sucked in school.
I'm sure there are plenty of top quality audio dramas that maybe some of the finest Doctor Who out there, but I'll just have to miss out on it.
It is a shame, but a shit leopard can't change its spots.
I totally understand, I've tried to listen to Audio Plays I was excited for, while I had available Living Room time, and it doesn't work. But, they're awesome for 1/2 hour or longer commutes, if you're not too attached to your current commute Audio experience
Especially good for travel to "Big Cities" from the outskirts 
I've recently begun listening to the online archives of the old Adventures of Superman radio series, and I find it handy to listen to when I'm washing the dishes. Before, I would often watch videos on my computer while doing the dishes (I have line of sight from my kitchen sink to my computer if I open the doors on both sides of the cabinet between the kitchen and main room), but listening to a radio program or music instead means I don't have to keep looking back and forth between the screen and the dishes, so it doesn't slow me down as much. Also, I like to listen to the episodes while eating, since I can actually sit at the table facing away from the screen instead of eating at my desk. So there are definite advantages to audio programming. It could also work with exercising, doing chores, etc.
I've only ever heard the missing episode audios. I think I heard one of the Dalek stories by Big Finish (?) years ago (the one where they try to search the parallel universes to find the purest Dalek form) and it was ok but I never really got into them.
Oh I'm fully aware its no lost classic, right down there with the Twin Dilemma and Timelash, but I've always been partial to the clangers. But its still an officially commissioned BBC script, it deserves to be there, rather than almost there. I even have the talking book released for the blind (again so very close) read by the writer.
The last quarter is completely different in his original script compared to his later novel too. Better or worse I'm clearly the wrong person to judge, but it's certainly darker.
Funny enough I'd say its completely down to the radio Doctor Who of the 90s, and the Star Wars Radio Adaptions I'd have heard at the same time, I was able to easily get into audio drama - I already had visuals in my head I suppose. Audiobooks I do find a bit more of a strugle, but I'm not a natural reader either.
I actually think there'd be no Big Finish without them - fandom (at least legally) had no better way to experience them, and also proved we were willing to pay £12 or so for two CDs every month. It became easy to accept if you were paying that for an old story on audio, you could pay that for a new one. At least for enough of us that they could keep going 15 years and counting anyway!
There's not another TV franchise like it.
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Oh, that's excellent. You should feel quite proud, I'd say!
I think your timing's a bit out there: the Massacre was the first missing episode release, in 1999, by which point Big Finish had already negotiated their licence to make Doctor Who audios (having been trying to get it for a few years beforehand - as a company, Big Finish was there long before its Doctor Who output. In 1996 they were prepping for a Sophie Aldred-starring straight to VHS SF film/pilot which never happened, but was looking to film in late '96).
If anything, it was the money coming in from the Big Finish licence that let Justin Richards persuade the BBC to try a second missing episode release, on CD rather than tape, when the Massacre's sales were disappointing.
Actually there were a set of missing episodes released on cassette back in 1993 - Power and Evil Of The Daleks, The Macra Terror, and Tomb Of The Cybermen.
*Those* are the missing episode releases that presumably led to BF...
*Those* are the missing episode releases that presumably led to BF...
And Fury From The Deep. I think those cassette releases did very well, even getting into the Album charts.
The BBC did bring out a few other audiobooks after the TVM, but its true The Massacre was the start of the missing audios done properly. That had dual cassette and CD release, but was the last cassette release.
Big Finish had dual release too until the end of 2000.
The BBC did bring out a few other audiobooks after the TVM, but its true The Massacre was the start of the missing audios done properly. That had dual cassette and CD release, but was the last cassette release.
Big Finish had dual release too until the end of 2000.
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