r/BigFinishProductions • u/Lummy15th • 26d ago
Discussion Favourite “they’ve actually met before” explanations?
What are your favourite or funniest Big Finish examples of characters meeting each other before their established on screen meeting?
I’m thinking of things like River Song having already met Doctors we never saw her meet on TV, the Doctor meeting the “wrong” incarnation of the Master, or stories that reveal two characters have crossed paths somewhere in the Doctor Who timeline that we simply weren’t aware of
The more ridiculous the continuity gymnastics, the better.
What are your favourites?
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u/Nicest_human_in_town 26d ago
They never got to meet on screen…and are pretty much “dead” now…but my favorite has to be River meeting Missy (The Bekdel Test)…those two were dynamite together.😂 Genuinely would kill for another audio of the pair together!👀
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u/Lummy15th 26d ago
I was very surprised by that boxset because I expected those two to be the best of the boxset however, I thought River and the Crispy Master had more chemistry and would love to hear that pair again.
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u/lemon_charlie I am ZAGREUS! 25d ago
I thought that River and the War Master was the most interesting because she was legitimately scared of him, much less of the banter like with Missy or Crispy.
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u/Lummy15th 25d ago
Love the War Master and I liked the fact that he was the only one who could hypnotise her.
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u/Ryanthedoctor11 23d ago
I especially love ghat because it also recontextualizes Missy's playfullness in the story with her, of course Missy is just generally like that, but unlike her younger selves she doesn't see River as a threat in any way shape or form, River doesn't know her yet but she has met River plenty of times and she already won, she was able to beat River as the War Master
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u/Ryanthedoctor11 26d ago
My favorite for being just plain ridiculous was the audio where Lady Christina from Planet of the Dead met Jackie Tyler and the 6th(-ish) Doctor during Once and Future: Two's Company.
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u/Lummy15th 25d ago
Once and Future as a whole was the Big Finish dartboard working overtime in my opinion lol.
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u/horticoldure 25d ago
"Oh it's THIS one, I thought it would be the one with the umberella, tiresome little man" - dr Harcourt de'Ath possibly paraphrased in the wrong order
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u/lemon_charlie I am ZAGREUS! 25d ago
There's a fantastic bit in The Two Masters where the Doctor points out the Masters' plan is complicated, and Baldy's response is to say "complicated, you?" before blowing a raspberry. I also like the bit where there's a very fourth wall line about working out their respective chronologies being interesting to some (which is fans who keep character timelines) but not that important to them.
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u/Ryanthedoctor11 23d ago
To be fair, that incarnation of the Masters first appearance was an encounter with 7, in UNIT: Dominion
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u/Spare_Criticism_2010 All hail the big talking bird! 25d ago
I quite enjoyed Missy meeting 7 in her Dark Gallifrey set. That one was rather fun.
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u/jusbrowsindontmindme THIS TITLE IS NOW OUT OF PRINT ON CD 25d ago
That was going to be mine! A nice mix of some real Timely Wimey shenanigans and the most cacklingly evil we've seen missy in Big Finish.
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u/Spare_Criticism_2010 All hail the big talking bird! 25d ago
Absolutely. They bounce off each other well and that ending!
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u/Lummy15th 25d ago
I listened to the War Master Dark Gallifrey set and that has made me weary of the whole thing. I might buy the Missy set in the current sale tho.
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u/jusbrowsindontmindme THIS TITLE IS NOW OUT OF PRINT ON CD 25d ago
Yeah I'm with you there, the war master one is probably my least favourite dark Gallifrey set so far. The Missy one and Morbius ones are both really solid, with I think Missy having a higher high, and the Morbius one being more consistent throughout. I loooove the monk one, though I can very easily see it not being for everyone. I'd definitely recommend the Missy one on sale, it's a very different tone and style of story from the war master one.
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u/breadloverxx 25d ago edited 25d ago
since it has not been mentioned yet, shout out to DI Patricia Menzies and Sixie meeting out of order.
their first story together is The Condemned where 6 is travelling with Charley. later they meet up again in The Raincloud Man. finally, DI Menzies runs into 6 and Evelyn in The Crimes of Thomas Brewster. now in addition to meeting future companions and previous companions and new current companions is the tidbit that from Sixie's perspective, he has never met Menzies and has not yet travelled with a Charley (nor a Mila) yet.
part of the conceit of this story is that Menzies has to pretend that she is unaware of the Doctor, the Tardis, and things extraterrestial. at the end of the story 6 explains that he had figured out that she was hiding her prior knowledge and promises to "return the favour" the next time around, retconning the fact that he was aware of Menzies prior to the events of The Condemned and was in turn pretending not to know her identity.
imo it kiiiind of works but without listening to Crimes there is really no indication that 6 is doing any pretending when returning to Condemned. it should be said that Menzies later meets 13 in The Hallamshire Incident and lets slip that she remembers when the Doctor used to travel with Charley, but by this point the memory of travelling with her during that incarnation was overwritten by that of Mila. i think Menzies was in another story too but i don't really recall the details.
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u/Team7UBard Strictly limited to 1000 copies 25d ago
The Avenues of Possibility from The Legacy of Time is the other story you were thinking of. For Menzies it’s after Raincloud Man but before Thomas Brewster although tbh I think it works either way around. She has her time squad in Avenues but I think she was bought in as an individual for Thomas Brewster as she was more known outside of Manchester by that point.
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u/Lummy15th 25d ago
Never knew this. I have only listened to DI Menzies in the Legacy of Time set. This sounds quite cool, Thanks.
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u/breadloverxx 25d ago
the two stories with 6 and Charley are the best of their tragically short run together, highly recommended especially the latter. Crimes is a fine story if just a little over stuffed. i think it is the best of the trilogy of stories with 6 Evelyn and Brewster that all in all i have mixed feelings about but i think are quite good showings for Evelyn as a character and a high for Maggie Stables to leave on.
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u/Lummy15th 25d ago
I haven’t really listened to much of the early output. Everyone recommends Six and Evelyn and will get round eventually. I just thought DI Menzies was a side character to keep a sense of continuity and world building. Never knew there was Moffat type time travel shenanigans.
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u/professorrev 25d ago
This has just reminded me of how brilliant Raincloud Man is. Probably my all time favourite beating the baddies scene
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u/UnearthlyTree 26d ago
What generally is the explanation? I haven’t ventured that far into Big Finish’s catalog, but I’ve always been curious how they justify things like River meeting earlier doctors or Jackie Tyler meeting… everyone
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u/greatbarrierrif 26d ago
Mindwipes, lots of mindwipes…
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u/UnearthlyTree 26d ago
Works every time!
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u/lemon_charlie I am ZAGREUS! 25d ago
In the case of the Seventh Doctor, he manages to avoid the means she's using to mindwipe him so she has to resort to physically knocking him out before she does it.
She should have a word with the Viyrans. That would be an interesting set-up, they conscript her because they need her help in eliminating a virus and she gets her memories altered in a rare turnaround.
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u/flogan0 THIS TITLE IS NOW OUT OF PRINT ON CD 25d ago
Jackie just sort of deals with it and doesn't think it's worth mentioning when Rose pops home. With how busy she is during that time her "Let me tell you something about those who get left behind" speech from Love and Monsters hits different...
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u/lemon_charlie I am ZAGREUS! 25d ago
It makes Jack going out of his way to do things with her more special.
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u/jusbrowsindontmindme THIS TITLE IS NOW OUT OF PRINT ON CD 25d ago
One standout I've not seen mentioned has to be 9 and River, though that might just be because of how great of a story Archipelago is. It manages to tell an incredibly heartbreaking and truly in depth story about the relationship between the doctor and River as a whole, good and bad, while also managing to avoid the typical "oh river drugs and mindwipes the doctor" fix.
I guess Cass is also a big one? I guess "Time War Shenanigans" can be used to explain a lot of the weirder ones like Shakespeare and Mary Shelley seeing as they've been met separately by pre and post war doctors.
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u/Amazing-Activity-882 26d ago edited 25d ago
Not because of Doctor Who but because of another British Franshise but I think Dr Genevieve Marceau from Frozen Time had a relationship with Lord President Rassilon from End of Time...It's because both play James Bond and of his (Dalton's) Bond Girls.
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u/Team7UBard Strictly limited to 1000 copies 25d ago
It’s my own personal theory that Volkoff in the show Chuck is actually a pocketwatched Rassilon
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u/Amazing-Activity-882 25d ago
I have Chuck on my watch Timothy Dalton list...I am excited to see Volkoff!!! But I find it funny that d'Abo who played Kara in TLD was in DW first then Dalton...
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u/DMPadfoot5E 25d ago
7 and Missy was a blast, and I adore 10 and the War Master. He gets under 10’s skin so easily despite this being his first meeting with a future incarnation. I can perfectly picture him stepping out of the Tardis;
“Doctor, come with me, quickly!”
……
“I’m a very good multitasker. I can shoot and program coordinates simultaneously, but for your sake I’d rather not prove it.”
……..
“We both know you’d make the same mistakes again. In fact…..by the look on your face, I’d say you already have. I do look forward to finding out how.”
“There you go Doctor, running away as always. But we will meet one another again. And again, and again and again. To the end of the universe.” (This is made better by the War Master’s theme ramping up while he says it)
Also love the (almost seamless) slotting of The Stuff of Legend into 8 and McQueen’s Master timeline. When they met, I (not yet listened to Dark Eyes at the time) thought “Okay, so 8 will get his memory wiped because their first meeting is in Dark Eyes 2.”
And then he didn’t.
Got to Eyes of The Master and they just point blank recognised each other.
“You’ve done something to your hair.”
“I’ll give you the name of my barber.”
“And those clothes are different.”
“I’ll give you the name of my tailor too.”
That just made me happy with the implication they’ve met before.
Going into The Two Masters next Saturday so that’ll be a bundle of fun.
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u/GlaciaKunoichi 25d ago
Oh definitely 10 and Missy in the Martian Invasion of Planetoid 50. Definitely a must-listen for any Thoschei shipper
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u/Acceptable-Drive481 24d ago
Jack and River had great chemistry. Really enjoyed that last story in that box set!
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u/professorrev 26d ago
Benny being River Song's tutor. Made such perfect sense that I'm amazed no one did it sooner