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Crazy Man posted:Is that a good place to start with the audios? I tried Storm Warning once, and I just couldn't get into it... I find Storm Warning fairly boring. I think a lot of people mostly recommend it just for the context it provides for 8/Charley. I'd say a better starting point would be Jubilee, Chimes of Midnight, or Spare Parts, just to see what the format is capable of. (I can't speak to Gallifrey being a good starting point or not, though.)
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Sep 10, 2014 06:16
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Crazy Man posted:Is that a good place to start with the audios? I tried Storm Warning once, and I just couldn't get into it... Gallifrey is about as far from a good starting point as is possible. You wanna start with The Marian Conspiracy or The Holy Terror.
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Sep 10, 2014 06:45
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Loups-Garoux or Singularity are awesome starters too. The dream team of the Fifth and Turlough are perfectly matched for these radio stories. Or just listen to Dark Eyes and enjoy.
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Sep 10, 2014 07:21
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DoctorWhat posted:Well about that... there's reason to believe that the Sixth Doctor's temporal relationship to Gallifrey is twisted in this story, and that based on the usually linear Doctor/Gallifrey timestream, it should have been the Eighth Doctor showing up instead. See I find that kind of thing silly. I've always felt the Doctor's own personal timeline (and ANY Time Lord's, for that matter) should be locked to Gallifrey's, which I always figured existed outside of the regular flow of time itself. Plavski posted:Loups-Garoux or Singularity are awesome starters too. The dream team of the Fifth and Turlough are perfectly matched for these radio stories. Or just listen to Dark Eyes and enjoy. Loups-Garoux I found very underwhelming (and I didn't like the unexplained supernatural elements). I'd recommend The Fearmonger on the proviso that it works best if you're familiar with the Sylvester McCoy era of the show. Then follow that up with The Marian Conspiracy. Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 07:25 on Sep 10, 2014 |
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Sep 10, 2014 07:22
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Jerusalem posted:See I find that kind of thing silly. I've always felt the Doctor's own personal timeline (and ANY Time Lord's, for that matter) should be locked to Gallifrey's, which I always figured existed outside of the regular flow of time itself. Well, it normally is - the Sixth Doctor's arrival is presented as an aberration.
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Sep 10, 2014 07:26
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Crazy Man posted:Is that a good place to start with the audios? I tried Storm Warning once, and I just couldn't get into it... Like folks are saying, definitely not. It's essentially a spin-off of the fantastic audio Neverland, which is the culmination of the Eighth Doctor's second season arc... which is why everyone suggests Storm Warning as a starting place. You've probably heard it before on here, but in the year between Storm Warning and Chimes of Midnight Big Finish really got their poo poo together. I have a soft spot for Invaders From Mars (Eight's second season "premiere") mostly because of Gatiss' genuine love for old radio shows and the kind of silliness that he had on display in the most recent episode. You could probably do worse than to run through Six/Evelyn stories up to Apocalypse Element, then jump back on the Eight Train if you're not a crazy person like me and try to listen to all of Big Finish in release date order.
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Sep 10, 2014 13:56
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DoctorWhat posted:Gallifrey is about as far from a good starting point as is possible. You wanna start with The Marian Conspiracy or The Holy Terror. I agree with this. Gallifrey is about some backstabbing Time Lord politics. While it's one of the few Doctor Who stories that works for me, and it sort of blends the terrifying Troughton Time Lords with the foppish bureaucrats of the Four through Six era and manages to make them menacing, it's complicated, borrows from a lot of other Big Finish stories and isn't exactly a light romp to get you used to the medium of radio plays. It's a great story, but don't start with it. I should also clarify while recommending it that I'm only at the end of season 2 and it has six seasons; it's possible the quality declines, but knowing Big Finish, it's more likely that it has a lull at some point but continues to improve, for the most part. edit: After The War posted:You could probably do worse than to run through Six/Evelyn stories up to Apocalypse Element, then jump back on the Eight Train if you're not a crazy person like me and try to listen to all of Big Finish in release date order. Hey, me too! I don't recommend it unless you are, in fact crazy and can't do otherwise, but it does provide an interesting perspective on how Big Finish develops as the years pass. Bicyclops fucked around with this message at 14:01 on Sep 10, 2014 |
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Sep 10, 2014 13:59
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Bicyclops posted:I should also clarify while recommending it that I'm only at the end of season 2 and it has six seasons; it's possible the quality declines, but knowing Big Finish, it's more likely that it has a lull at some point but continues to improve, for the most part. This does indeed happen. Series 4 is the low point for me, but it gets better again once the next series starts.
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Sep 10, 2014 14:08
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On the other hand, back to the "Six in the wrong era" discussion, at that point Big Finish was writing with more expectation people would be listening as they came out. It helps to see things from Romana's viewpoint: Apocalypse Element, Eight's second season culminating with Neverland and Zagreus, then Gallifrey. The creators said they were going for a "West Wing" feel, but since I didn't watch that, I'll compare it more to Babylon 5: backstabbing politics in the foreground, but something massively powerful and beyond comprehension just beyond the edges. It's a good way of combining the Lovecraftian scope of War Games with the Gormenghast stasis of Deadly Assassin (you listening, JaKiri?) Aside from the plotting, it (like Neverland, and unlike Zagreus) Gallifrey does a great job of seeing all of Doctor Who as a massive toybox, pulling in bits and bobs from different televised stories and having fun with them without seeming fanwanky. Plus lots of old-fashioned 70s ham thrown in the mix.
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Sep 10, 2014 14:14
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Yeah, I definitely wouldn't compare it to the West Wing. There's a lot of obvious commentary in it with regard to immigration, imperialism, xenophobia as a response to terrorism and whatnot, but it's coded within a science fiction story, which really makes it a departure from the naked commentary that is Soorkin writing. I guess if one wanted to draw comparisons, on a character level Gallifrey is often about Romana learning to be a good leader and compromise without giving up her ideals.
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Sep 10, 2014 14:28
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Well, Night of the Doctor has piqued my curiosity about the rest of 8's run...so I think I'll start with Invaders, and see where I want to go from there afterwards...
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Sep 10, 2014 14:33
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If you’re looking to try some other Big Finish, and even I admit Storm Warning is both a good and a tough starting place… Five/Turlough – Phantsamagoria and Loups-Garoux. Both deal with the supernatural in a sense, and while the stories themselves are a bit thin, Davison and Strickson have an absolute ball together. Loups-Garoux is a personal favorite of mine, even if werewolves aren’t exactly a strong staple of the series. Five/Nyssa – Spare Parts. The origins of the Cybermen and absolutely chilling. Five/Peri/Erimem – The Eye of the Scorpion and The Church and the Crown. More action oriented, both are solid historical stories. Six/Evelyn – The Marian Conspiracy, The Spectre of Lanyon Moor, and Jubilee. Evelyn is just amazing, and around these parts, Jubilee is considered THE Big Finish story along with a certain Eight story. Six/Mel – The One Doctor. It’s pure comedy, farce, slapstick, and panto. Langford has never been better. Seven/Mel – The Fires of Vulcan. Maybe, just maybe, she’s better here, as Seven comes to grips with the fact that he can’t outrun history this time. Seven/Ace – The Fearmonger, Colditz, The Harvest. Ace becomes Dorothy, grown up and more of a teaching assistant than a student to the “Professor.” Also introduces Hex in The Harvest, who becomes a pretty solid companion in his own right. Eight/Charley – Storm Warning, The Chimes of Midnight, and Neverland. The first one sets up the last one, but the middle one is, to me, the best Big Finish story they’ve done yet, and well worth getting through Storm Warning. If you want to dive into Eight a little more, try the ones I listed above, but add Sword of Orion, Invaders from Mars, and my pick of this latter bunch, Seasons of Fear. For the most part, Big Finish grows during this time period. Of the first fifty, the only ones that I think are absolutely, by all costs, for the love of all that is holy avoids, are Nekromanteia and The Rapture. All the others are worth at least one listen if you want to forgo a pint of bitter and download them. Edit - so what you guys have been saying is I should give Gallifrey a listen? CobiWann fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Sep 10, 2014 |
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Sep 10, 2014 14:41
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Republican Vampire posted:Continuing a discussion from the Oxxipation thread: It's probably also got something to do with the BBC's charter requiring a certain amount of that other content. And there's enough of an archive of it sitting about that a 24/7 archive station in the form of 4Extra can happily exist as well. CobiWann posted:
In fairness The Rapture is notable for how hilariously bad it manages to get, in particular the 40 year old Aldred trying to play a still teenaged Ace clubbing in Ibiza. Fil5000 fucked around with this message at 14:58 on Sep 10, 2014 |
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Sep 10, 2014 14:53
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I was about to disagree with your Five and Turlough recommendations, but then I realized that there's actually only one other Five and Turlough story and it's the one I'm only halfway through and can't in good faith recommend, so I guess go with those ones.
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Sep 10, 2014 14:55
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Five and Turlough is my favourite partnership and it's a pain to me that there are only three stories with just the two of them. The fact that all three are really great is a good bonus, but it's a real pity there aren't more. There's something about Five's optimism and Turlough's irritability that helps drive the plot on fantastically. Five is constantly battling with Turlough's natural negative instincts and the two have a great rapport.
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Sep 10, 2014 15:26
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Has anyone assembled a document that places Big Finish in chronological order from the Doctor's perspective (with the TV stories in between)? I don't care enough to make an attempt at it myself, but it would be interesting to glance at before listening to a story. Someone must have done the thinking behind it because the wikipedia pages for each of them says "set between."
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Sep 10, 2014 15:33
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Bicyclops posted:Has anyone assembled a document that places Big Finish in chronological order from the Doctor's perspective (with the TV stories in between)? I don't care enough to make an attempt at it myself, but it would be interesting to glance at before listening to a story. Well, Big Finish used to try to use their production codes to explicate those relationships, but since those codes are obscure to begin with, and since there have been complaints about them not parsing correctly anyway in recent times, who the heck knows?
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Sep 10, 2014 15:35
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Bicyclops posted:Has anyone assembled a document that places Big Finish in chronological order from the Doctor's perspective (with the TV stories in between)? I don't care enough to make an attempt at it myself, but it would be interesting to glance at before listening to a story. It’s a bit out of date, but the Doctor Who Reference Guide (Google it, don’t have the URL handy) has the audios, TV show, and most of the novels in order… And I agree that it’s a shame there’s only a handful of stories where it’s just Five and Turlough. Turlough is a great example of how to do a “humans aren’t THAT special” companion without coming off like a total dickwad. No one does condescension and reluctant heroism better than Mark Strickson. (same how there are too drat few Big Finish audios with Mel, words I never thought I’d be typing.)
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Sep 10, 2014 15:37
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CobiWann posted:It’s a bit out of date, but the Doctor Who Reference Guide (Google it, don’t have the URL handy) has the audios, TV show, and most of the novels in order… At least they're correcting that a bit. In one of the commentaries (I think for The Wrong Doctors?) they establish that Nick Briggs thought Bonnie Langford didn't want to do them any more and that Langford though that Big Finish had been snubbing her and DID want to do more, so they've sorted that out now. That little run with Six (Wrong Doctors through to Seeds of War) is pretty good fun.
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Sep 10, 2014 15:54
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Just as a fun thought experiment, I was wondering what Old Who stories people would like to see remade for a New Series Doctor (and which one)? I ask because I had a pretty intense and weird dream which revolved around the production of a new version of Earthshock featuring the 11th Doctor and... Mickey, presumably in the Adric role. More seriously, I'd love to see 9, 11 or 12 in a remake of Enemy of the World. I love the conceit of having the actor play the villain, too.
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Sep 10, 2014 17:24
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The Twin Dilemma with 11.
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Sep 10, 2014 17:26
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Heck, Big Finish managed to get both Janet Fielding and Matthew Waterhouse to come back, as well as keeping Paul McGann interested AND convincing Tom Baker to take a spin one more time. For a small niche company, it strikes me that they’re doing something right to keep so many Who alumni coming back for more. (I think Fielding only did it so she could make fun of Peter Davison…) Rat Flavoured Rats posted:Just as a fun thought experiment, I was wondering what Old Who stories people would like to see remade for a New Series Doctor (and which one)? I ask because I had a pretty intense and weird dream which revolved around the production of a new version of Earthshock featuring the 11th Doctor and... Mickey, presumably in the Adric role. I know there are already a few people on this forum who are writing “classic” Doctors into the new episodes…but I like this idea. The Talons of Weng-Chiang with Nine, and Magnus Greel as a butcher during the Time War. Vengence on Varos with Ten and Donna. I can’t explain why, but I’d just like to see just how pissed off Donna gets as a child of the Reality TV era. The Power of the Daleks with Eleven, because…well, one, I want to see the drat story, and two, I’d love to see Matt Smith get a top-notch, no bones about it, good Dalek story. Inferno with Twelve, because he’s already cosplaying Three!
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Sep 10, 2014 17:30
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Rat Flavoured Rats posted:Just as a fun thought experiment, I was wondering what Old Who stories people would like to see remade for a New Series Doctor (and which one)? I ask because I had a pretty intense and weird dream which revolved around the production of a new version of Earthshock featuring the 11th Doctor and... Mickey, presumably in the Adric role. I'd love to see Capaldi in the Time Meddler with Craig Ferguson as the Monk.
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Sep 10, 2014 17:31
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After The War posted:The creators said they were going for a "West Wing" feel, but since I didn't watch that, I'll compare it more to Babylon 5: backstabbing politics in the foreground, but something massively powerful and beyond comprehension just beyond the edges. It's a good way of combining the Lovecraftian scope of War Games with the Gormenghast stasis of Deadly Assassin (you listening, JaKiri?) No, I'm not
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Sep 10, 2014 17:33
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CobiWann posted:The Power of the Daleks with Eleven, because…well, one, I want to see the drat story, and two, I’d love to see Matt Smith get a top-notch, no bones about it, good Dalek story. They already did this, it was bad
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Sep 10, 2014 17:36
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MrL_JaKiri posted:They already did this, it was bad That episode wouldn't have been great no matter what, but to be fair, part of what made it bad was stuffing Winston Churchill into it as the Doctor's lovable ol' buddy and using the World War II setting.
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Sep 10, 2014 17:47
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Bicyclops posted:Has anyone assembled a document that places Big Finish in chronological order from the Doctor's perspective (with the TV stories in between)? I don't care enough to make an attempt at it myself, but it would be interesting to glance at before listening to a story. I tried doing this quickly because the Doctor Who reference guide is so loaded with novels that it was even more confusing. It is surprisingly easy for the Fifth Doctor but Once you hit the Sixth Doctor, it's very confusing to figure out when the hell they want the Peri stories to take place so I gave up on it, although it seems like everything else takes place after the trial portions of Trial of Timelord but before the Mel episodes.
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Sep 10, 2014 17:54
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CobiWann posted:Heck, Big Finish managed to get both Janet Fielding and Matthew Waterhouse to come back, as well as keeping Paul McGann interested AND convincing Tom Baker to take a spin one more time. For a small niche company, it strikes me that they’re doing something right to keep so many Who alumni coming back for more. Yes, I believe we'll still all working on our stories! http://targetregenerated.wordpress.com/ The reverse concept already came up with someone (was it you, even?). If anyone wants to do this as part of this project I would have no objections. They do sound pretty cool! As always I can let anyone know about the details via PM or email if they don't want to go through the Wordpress.
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Sep 10, 2014 18:11
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Jakiri is right though, they basically half-did Power with Matt Smith already in his first season.
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Sep 10, 2014 18:19
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My Target Revisited has a future companion, but I'm not sure what one yet. I might have to write 2 versions.
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Sep 10, 2014 18:33
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Rat Flavoured Rats posted:Just as a fun thought experiment, I was wondering what Old Who stories people would like to see remade for a New Series Doctor (and which one)? I ask because I had a pretty intense and weird dream which revolved around the production of a new version of Earthshock featuring the 11th Doctor and... Mickey, presumably in the Adric role. 11 seems to do best in the "dark 'n' spooky" stories, so I'd imagine he'd fit right at home in something like "Horror of Fang Rock". I also wouldn't argue with a pretty much shot-for-shot remake of "Spearhead From Space" with 12 either. Edit: I was avoiding this thread since I wasn't going to get to watch the episode over the weekend, but thanks so much to The_Doctor for the  haul! Also holy poo poo check out late 80s hip hop cybermen here: 
Tim Burns Effect fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Sep 10, 2014 |
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Sep 10, 2014 18:36
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9 and 'Remembrance of the Daleks', just got how horribly incongrous the characterisation and plot would be.
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Sep 10, 2014 19:05
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Oh man please post a closeup of the chrome cover.
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Sep 10, 2014 19:15
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Rat Flavoured Rats posted:9 and 'Remembrance of the Daleks', just got how horribly incongrous the characterisation and plot would be. I'm actually imagining it as some mash-up of Remembrance, Parting of the Ways and Journey's End. "And for my next trick..!" <pulls lever> "O-MEG-A DEV-ICE HEAD-ED FOR HOME PLA-NET SKA-RO!" EDIT: oh man, I want to write that too. Bagsy that for the Target Revisited... Thing. The_Doctor fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Sep 10, 2014 |
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Sep 10, 2014 19:27
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"Everybody dies! Just like always Rose, everybody dies!"
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Sep 10, 2014 19:31
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"Unlimited Yorkshire puddings."
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Sep 10, 2014 19:48
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"Right, just gimme some sugar and you'll get no poncey metaphors from me, aye?"
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Sep 10, 2014 20:08
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Big Mean Jerk posted:Oh man please post a closeup of the 
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Sep 10, 2014 20:26
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Crazy Man posted:Well, Night of the Doctor has piqued my curiosity about the rest of 8's run...so I think I'll start with Invaders, and see where I want to go from there afterwards... Even if you end up hating Invaders from Mars, I would listen to The Chimes of Midnight before moving on. That story is every bit as awesome as people make it out to be.
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Sep 10, 2014 20:45
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Either 11 or 12's Dalek Invasion of Earth Or WarDocs War Games
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Sep 10, 2014 21:16
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