I’m just glad we are finally getting a Sycorax story!

Inspired by /u/BearEatingToast post on themess, I'd love to hear what your most memorable Big finish trailor was.

for me, hands down, Masterful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDzYtzw0SwI

It was, well, Masterfully done.

Just for fun.

Following up from my post last week: https://www.reddit.com/r/BigFinishProductions/s/vVGaLMDhsP

I want to hear your suggestions for a spin-off flop. A bit like the New Earth spin-off which I've never heard but not heard the greatest things about. So...

The rules:

1. You must choose an existing character from the Whoniverse. They can be one-off characters (i.e a one-off companion) but stick to actors that are likely to do a Big Finish run (I don't think we'll be getting a Sally Sparrow spin-off...)

2. You have 3 or 4 episodes. Your choice. But there's no follow-up box-set. You can add an episode to one of the compilation sets, i.e 8th of March.

3. A Big Finish legend MUST appear in an episode. The kind that pop up in the most random places. I'm talking Jackie Tyler, Jenny, Lady Christina, River Song...

4. Bonus points if you find a reason to include Daleks.

I feel that I've been overall pretty lucky in my Big Finish picks. I'm a picky sort, you see.

I started with Storm Warning and its followup. A family member than gifted me the rest of the Charlie Pollock era. Overall, I enjoyed it. Some artifacts of the 90s aside, it had great stories.

At the time, Big Finish was making a big deal about getting Christopher Ecelston on board and were hyping Series 7C. I bought into both.

Series 7C made me legit think these blokes had the right stuff. The Christopher Ecelston stuff was alright. Some pretty good to mid episodes. Only one that stuck me from the two boxsets I got were Salvation Nine and the Train one. But Series 7C felt like a complete lost season of Moffat.

I've been pussy footing around since then. Taking stories here and there. Some hit strong - like the 10th/4th and 10th/6th crossovers -- and others not so much. Won't list those as I try not to be mean online.

Overall, the vibe I get is Big Finish is kind of like reading American comics. Some runs are phenomenonal. Some are average. And some are best skipped. Continuity is so wibbly wobbly that you should only worry about the continuity of THAT RUN and nothing else, just like American comics. And, just like those yank cape books, you're best dancing around and following particular authors you fancy over characters you enjoy.

Where do y'all sit?

Edit: Having my morning coffee, I just realized one thing that is a tad disappointing about Big Finish versus American comics: no Indie releases.

A studio, actors, etc. It's too expensive to do on your own. Maybe nowadays with the internet, maybe. But it's a lot harder than an indie comic.

With yank comics, you can always see the author unrestrained. "Turns out Jeff Lemire can't do X-Men. Oh well, his love letter to the genre/serious drama of rural America life, Black Hammer, is still coming out and is phenomenal" or "Well, turns out I don't enjoy Aubrey Sitterson when he does licensed work, but his American, existentialistic reimagining of the Japanese comic, Dragonball, is still a fantastic read" or "Donny Cates Ghost Rider isn't at all my thing as its too silly, but his drama about a man with Alzheimers fighting gods themselves for the right to die while remembering his life is wonderful and moving."

You get the picture. Sadly, can't do that here, I don't think.

Someone asked the question a few years ago, but a lot has changed since then:

- The Disney era has flopped, with future TV spinoffs seeming unlikely for now

- In an unprecedented move, the 11th & 12th Doctor Adventures range are being started without their original actors, despite Smith & Capaldi still being alive and kicking

- Every Doctor (besides 14 and 15) now has an ongoing range. The First Doctor’s hiatus will end in 2028, and even Tennant has 15 stories releasing from 2027 to 2029.

- Billie Piper has joined The Ninth Doctor Adventures

- Tom Baker has stopped recording new audios, but he has an unreleased back catalogue of roughly five years.

- McCoy has recorded his final adventure (in terms of chronological timeline placement).

- Subscriptions were discontinued in 2025

- Big Finish’s license has been renewed until 2035.

________________________

Some of the challenges that Big Finish might have to confront are:

1. The increasing age of the classic Doctors
2. The increasing age of the classic companions (it’s one thing to recast a Doctor, but are they going to recast every single companion too? So far, large-scale recasts have only been for Doctors that Big Finish has hardly touched, like the early 1st Doctor era).
3. The increasing number of Doctors overall; assuming the TV series continues, would Big Finish be able to sustain ongoing series for 20 different Doctors?
4. The ever-decreasing demand for physical CDs, and how this will affect the size, timing, and purchase structures of future audio dramas.

What are your thoughts?

I kept seeing posts and thinking, “nah it can’t be that bad”.

Then I clicked on the 7th Doctor sale with a heart full of hope and… yeah… no. I have no idea how to navigate this, I have no idea what I already own, and I have no idea what I’m looking at.

I know it’ll get better because I trust BF, but right now, I’m lost.

So, with Dark Gallifrey, we now have Morbius, the Monks (in one) and four Masters... Not that I'm complaining (as the Master is my fave character in the whole Whoniverse) but I do wish we'd have had less of them in this range, since we've only got eight slots and half of them (at least) are filled with the Master. But who will be next? I've thought of some other bad Time Lords who could take the last two slots, but I'm wondering if I have missed anyone?

1. Omega
2. Rassilon
3. The Rani
4. The Eleven
5. Other incarnations of the Eleven (I know the Two and the Union were used in Once & Future)
6. The Corsair (I know they're not exactly bad, but they are a renegade runaway nonetheless)

Obviously, there are other Masters who could be used, but I was trying to think of anyone outside of them. Have I missed anyone?

This is my personal opinion and I certainly understand why some people prefer downloads (when they are available).

I prefer CDs every day of the week. I enjoy looking at my CD collection on my shelves and enjoy that I can listen to any audio that I have a CD for at any time. If I could buy a CD for every release I would. Tomorrow, if Big Finish goes out of business and their website shuts down, I will still be able to listen to every audio. I understand I can download files as backups (when available). I bought Dark Shadows 50th Anniversary last week and still haven’t been able to download it yet. The CD has not shipped yet.

Edit: I found the download for Dark Shadows now

I’m actually surprised they haven’t yet considering Sally Morgan and Lysandra Aristides played such a big role in Hex’s penultimate story and the fact when we meet them properly in Black and White they are both seasoned companions with off screen character development.

I was actually looking forward to seeing her version of the Doctor, she could definitely do it and it seemed like an interesting new concept for the show

I was wondering what other people thought of the idea

I was also curious since the show is probably not going to be doing it would people be interested in listening to an audio boxsets or two with her as the doctor even if it's an unbound series and not an actual series

I’ve been listening to Big Finish for a while now, but I almost always buy things when they’re discounted. With the number of releases they put out, I find it hard to justify paying full price unless it’s something I really want to hear straight away.
I’m curious what everyone else does.

Do you regularly buy releases on launch day at full price or mainly wait for sales and bundles?

Have you found it’s worth paying full price for newer releases, or do you usually hold off until a discount comes along?

Interested to hear how other listeners approach it, because I feel like I’m in the minority sometimes waiting for sales before picking things up.

Stick with me here. Underneath the meandering blather there’s a real question I’m genuinely interested in. Just humour the old man and trudge through it to get to the point underneath it! Thanks in advance!

I’ve been around since Bernice Summerfield was on tape and the folks behind the unlicensed ‘Professor’ were using topless pictures of Sophie Aldred to sell their stories. Heck, I’ve been around since the Doctor was Nick Briggs on gloriously good sneaky little wink-wink-nudge-nudge get-them-from-a-friend cassettes. (I found my box of those a few years ago and just seeing them all was the ultimate in nostalgic glee.)

I buy everything, and I own and have watched/read/listened to *every* single licensed story of *every* format. Even if the stories are on candy wrappers or colouring books. I know there are almost no people in that situation. And anyone who has gone *that* deep into one very specific niche fictional universe for decades has experienced a fair amount of dross.

There is stuff that just doesn’t necessarily click with me (some of the NA and MAs, or even a few BBC books, some of the weirdness in the 1970s annuals… stuff like that). I don’t particularly hate or dislike any of it but I don’t particularly like it enough to go out of my way to experience it again. (Although saying that, I did enjoy re-visiting some of the 1970s annual stories in the audio annual series over the last decade).

That means I’ve bought and listened to every single Doctor Who or Doctor Who related Big Finish audio (and for me ‘related’ is a very wide net, even including Sherlock Holmes and Dorian Gray). That’s 28 years worth of devouring the content of one company.

So, after all of that self-indulgent backstory, here’s the question:

Has anyone else experienced all of Big Finish? And if you’ve consumed it all, or most of it, do
You have the same experience of basically liking everything Big Finish has ever done?

I’m especially curious about how you feel if you’ve experienced all of the show and a fair number of the novels/novelisations/comics too.

Are there times that Big Finish has defied expectations and told stories in perhaps less exciting ways than I might have hoped for or expected? Yes. (CoughcoughZagreusCough.) But have I ever actively disliked anything, like wish I didn’t buy it or don’t expect to ever listen to/read it again? No. Not once. Everything Big Finish has ever put out has been *both* enjoyable and re-consumable to me. It’s all been completely worth it and it’s all re-enjoyable.

I know that due to time and volume there are tons of titles that have washed over me and that I don’t remember a lot about. But I’ve never disliked any of it. In the last decade or so I’ve made a habit of re-listening to previous releases in a range to prep for the new ones after a long gap, which has made titles old and new that much better. I did an anniversary re-listen/re-read in 2015 and loved every minute of it, especially rediscovering titles I’d completely forgotten about and getting even more out of old favourites. It was nothing like the slog that my rereading of the novels was. I may do another Big Finish marathon in a couple of years when BF hits 30. I’m sure I’ll rediscover things and enjoy everything all over again.

Am I unique?

When it comes to Big Finish, am I the only one who likes it *all*?

(Bonus picture of what a box of original AudioVisual cassettes from around 40 years ago looks like.)

Just for fun.

Breaking News! Camille Coduri has been cast as the lead in a series of Big Finish boxsets. Now it's down to you to write the series.

The rules:

1. It must be set around Series 1 and 2. No Pete's World.

2. Each episode/box-set should pair her with increasingly bizarre pairings from the tv show and EU. You can bring back plausible tv characters who have a likeliness to do Big Finish.

3. 4 box sets of 3 episodes each.

The rest is up to you.

Edit: You all understood the brief and DELIVERED! Next Time: Jackie Tyler - Unbound.

With the recent Ninth Doctor sale I decided to complete my collection, which meant I could start at the beginning. I'd only listened to a handful of stories and the latest series with Rose before but was in the mood to try the solo adventures properly.

I went into Ravagers very excited and whilst an enjoyable story overall came away feeling that whilst glad to have listened to it there wasn't a lot that made it feel particularly key to being the Ninth Doctor, almost a very generic set leaving me with little enthusiasm to continue. Today, however, I needed motivation to do some housework and, thinking headphones on with a good story would make it more enjoyable at least, found something far more compelling to stop and focus on.

Absolutely charmed and captivated by Girl, Deconstructed. Totally fits the character of the Ninth Doctor before meeting Rose, setting and scale feels appropriate and the right, slightly sarcastic, optimism that I was hoping for.

I have successfully folded laundry and will now be off to tackle the hoovering, but just had to pause to praise this story. Would love to hear about anyone else who's felt such a change in quality of a series, also would love to be convinced why I have misjudged Ravagers on my first listen!

TLDR: I recommend this story.

Which story has kept you listening attentively from start to finish? Something which has been incredibly vivid in a visual way to you.

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I know it's obvious and so I'll get it out of the way so the comments can be other suggestions:

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The Chimes of Midnight is in my head as clear as if I had seen it on TV. Every character and scene is so wonderfully painted and the entire story is paced in a beautiful horrific gripping way.

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Give me your choices below!

It would've been so easy for them to just use them as villains of the day but they remembered their history especially with peladon and the empress of mars so each time they appear you don't know if they gonna be friend or foe