More Tom- BBC and BF!

[Lissa]

The absurdly expensive Fourth Doctor Lost Stories Boxed Set is reduced from £55 to £36 at Amazon right now.

[SiHart]

The first 10 minutes of Destination: Nerva are now available to hear in the first podcast of 2012!

http://bigfinish.com/podcast/files/P...2012_Nerva.mp3

[SiHart]

THEY'RE OUT!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

YIKES! Action stations! Man those download accounts!

[Rob McCow]

Shall we do separate threads for these, given the obscene levels of excitement they're generating?

[Si Hunt]

Yes!

Si.

[brandynigma]

They're sitting on my iPhone, ready for the morn...

Also, for those who are keeping score of such things, the 'production codes' for the Tom stories are:

4RA- The Foe From the Future
4SA- Destination Nerva
4SB- The Renaissance Man
4SC- The Wrath of the Iceni
4SD- Energy of the Daleks
4SE- Trail of the White Worm
4SF- The Oseidon Adventure
4VA- The Valley of Death

Which slightly buggers up my Season 14A directory as The Valley of Death takes place in Season 15A, which is where I have Hornets' Nest- but bugger it, it's going in 14A anyway. So there!

[Paul Monk]

Can you buy this separately or only as a boxed set?

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

The six completely new stories are available both invidually and as a subscription. The two "Lost" stories are only available as part of the Fourth Doctor Lost stories set.

[Paul Monk]

Thanks Richard.

[SiHart]

Looks like there's more with the BBC to come from Tom and Magrs... http://merchandise.thedoctorwhosite....orld-audio-cd/

[Rob McCow]

Excellent! Strangely, the press report says:

Written by James Goss, with specially composed music and sound design.

I'm hoping that Paul Magrs will still be involved.

[Si Hunt]

Excellent! But boo for James Goss writing. I am currently just finishing Demon Quest and loving these.

Note the ignorant fan writing a comment on this article, who claims the BBC audios are "obselete" now Big Finish have come along. These are great because they cast Tom as a new version of his Doctor, in a brilliant eccentric world full of housekeepers and old houses and strange goings on.

But of course, now Big Finish have come along, forcing Tom to sound like he did in 1976 with their bog standard runarounds set on the Nerva Beacon and making sure Tom is wearing his Talons costume (spurt!) those silly BBC releases just arn't needed.

Twat.

Si.

[SiHart]

People have been desperate for him to do full cast plays. They've got what they deserve now.

[Si Hunt]

It's a typical fan stance - as long as the plays can be counted as "proper", it doesn't matter if they are actually any good or not.

Now the dust has settled, and with the caveat that there's still a few to go, it's got to be admitted that Big Finish's Tom season is pretty rubbish, really. It's just boring. As usual, they are hell bent on taking "classic" stories as a template and just copying them to produce something similar. In the BBC plays, there is a real feeling of adventure and inventiveness, and Tom sounds like he's been let loose to do what he wants to do. In Big Finish, he sounds restricted and bored, as if Nick Briggs is standing over him threatening to stab him if he says something that contradicts a 30 year old story. Big Finish just want to copy stories we already know inside out, and you know what that is? Boring, Boring, BORING!

Si.

[Anthony Williams]

That said, it also says:

Doctor Who: Grimmsworld Audio CD (4th Doctor Adventures)
Author: Paul Magrs

There's speculation on GB that Magrs is writing, and Goss is doing the production, and that the information available online is just plain wrong.

[SiHart]

It's a typical fan stance - as long as the plays can be counted as "proper", it doesn't matter if they are actually any good or not.

Too true Si. For years I've been banging on about how much I've enjoyed the BBC Tom plays, but people seemed determined to judge them for what they weren't rather than for what they were. As a sidestep into a wonderful world where anything can happen, they're brilliant. As an accurate recreation of a the Hinchcliffe era (which is what people seem to want, Yawn) they're not good.

I know what I'd rather have.

[Stuart Wallis]

I see nothing basically wrong with having at least a vague feel of a particular era, as long is the overall product is good.

Isn't that what it's all about? to do something that brings people back for more? Or are we all missing the point?

[SiHart]

Oh for usre, but trying slavishly to recreate said era is doomed to failure. By all means go for the feel, but to start using settings established in the show and all that feels to me like you're using very limited imagination and are trying to get your customers by offering them a product that is based wholly on the limited premise of an accurate recreation. I think Big Finish are playing it safe with their audios, which is a big shame.

[Anthony Williams]

Too true Si. For years I've been banging on about how much I've enjoyed the BBC Tom plays, but people seemed determined to judge them for what they weren't rather than for what they were. As a sidestep into a wonderful world where anything can happen, they're brilliant. As an accurate recreation of a the Hinchcliffe era (which is what people seem to want, Yawn) they're not good.

I know what I'd rather have.

I completely agree with you, Si - while I've enjoyed the Tom BF stories so far, they do seem to be lacking something. And while Hornet's Nest et. al. are not full-cast, they have a spark that the BF stories just don't seem to have - they're balmy, fun and overall a joy to listen to! They don't stay on safe ground, and I like that.

[SiHart]

I don't even think the not full cast thing is a liability. It gives the plays their own identity. Full cast is not the only way to go with audio stuff- narration is an equally valid form and much established- it's just not the Big Finish approach, which i fear many Who fans have taken to be the be all and end all of audio productions.

[Si Hunt]

Surely they ARE full cast - the one I'm listening to currently has the Doctor, two companions, two supporting characters and a villain. Or have I missed something? They are partly narrated, but this is a storytelling device, and works really well.

Isn't that what it's all about? to do something that brings people back for more?

I don't get why you are equating "bringing people back for more" with "being authentic to a bygone era". If the stories are intriguing and well told, isn't that what will bring people back?

Sadly if Big Finish came up with a decent story, it wouldn't matter SO much that they are playing it so safe. But Nick Briggs just isn't good enough. Sorry, but it's true. Who can remember what "Destination: Nerva" was actually about? And it was only released a few weeks ago. Time and again he's snuck in to "bagsy" key release slots, but I'm sorry to say in 10 years of plays none of his particuarly stand out as being much good. Generic, maybe, but not good.

I love how the BBC Tom plays are so eccentric and different, and they let him yell things like "Grit your teeth Wibbs!" and call enemies "cocker". Best of all, they are really well written and play gloriously with the English language. The dialogue is almost like prose. Compare that to Big Finish's frankly pathetic Dalek runaround, which is so imaginative it features an evil power company called GlobeSphere headed by a hypnotised boss called Stevens (c/f "The Green Death"?)

I don't believe the Nest/Quest/Crest plays strive for authenticity at all - to me, they are set in a Fourth Doctor era that never happened. He's a NEW fourth Doctor. Of course that makes them totally incompatible with the rest of Doctor Who, but if that stops you enjoying them then you deserve all you get!

Si.

[SiHart]

Surely they ARE full cast - the one I'm listening to currently has the Doctor, two companions, two supporting characters and a villain. Or have I missed something? They are partly narrated, but this is a storytelling device, and works really well.

I think it's the fact that they're not fully dramatised, and have the narration bits that people somehow think these are less authentic in some way. Tellingly the one full cast dramatisation they did- Tsar Wars was one of the weaker ones.

[Nyder]

I have to admit, after listening to the first 3 BFs I deffo prefer the Paul Magrs stories (I've only listened to Hornet & Demon so far - but I was far more hooked by the stories)

Out of the BF range, I enjoyed The Runny Science Man, but the rest are only average. I have enjoyed Leela's spirited performances though!

[Stuart Wallis]

I don't get why you are equating "bringing people back for more" with "being authentic to a bygone era". If the stories are intriguing and well told, isn't that what will bring people back?

I wasn't. I was saying that quality is preferable to era authentcity; if whoever's making them is going to go for the same style of storytelling that they had around the time of "set between X and Y", fair enough. Just don't end up selling a three-wheeler when you're trying to sell a Rolls.