Big Finish Announce Future Releases

[Si Hunt]

Valhalla (Marc Platt, Seventh Doctor) in June 2007.

The Wishing Beast and Vanity Box (Paul Mgrs, Sixth Doctor) in July.

Frozen Time (Nick Briggs!, Seventh Doctor) in August.

Son of the Dragon (Steve Lyons, Fifth Doctor) for early September.

The centinary story will be a Sixth Doctor adventure called Earthstorm by Stephen Baxter, released late September.

This seems a bit low key. No huge epic 3-CD Multi-Doctor release to celebrate the anniversary release this time!

Also, spot that March's release, "Renaissance of the Daleks" is now credited to "from a story by Christopher Bidmead". Do we think something went wrong in the writing "process"?

Si.

[Logo Polish]

Someone quoted this post from John Ainsworth (not sure where from) on Roobarbs the other day:

Regarding Chris Bidmead and 'Renaissance of the Daleks', here's the story:

Big Finish has produced literally hundreds of audio dramas over the last few years. In very few cases, if indeed any, has the script remained entirely the work of the author. Drama is a collaborative affair which means that scripts will often include the work of the script-editor, producer and director as well as the credited author. The involvement of these others can range from minor dialogue changes to quite major re-writes of the entire script - all with the intention of making the play as good as it can be while still conforming to practical requirements (length, number of actors required etc). Despite all these other hands, most authors are happy to allow the play to go out with their name attached to it, even if sometimes substantial parts of the script have not been written by themselves.

‘Renaissance of the Daleks’ was subjected to the same script-editing process as all scripts. This, like others, did require some re-writing and editing to take place. Once Chris Bidmead was made aware that changes had been made, he requested that his name be taken off it as he felt he could no longer lay claim to it being his work. Chris's request was made quite amicably and does not appear to have been based on a critical judgement of the quality of the final script. In fact, as far as we are aware, Chris has only read the first few pages of episode one of the script-edited version.

Of course, we were disappointed that Chris felt he could no longer be credited as the author as we strongly believed that 'Renaissance of the Daleks' was still very much his script. Having talked to him about this, Chris kindly agreed to allow the 'from a story by' credit to be appended to his name.

It's a bit like the Robin Bland business.

[Si Hunt]

He's emerging as a bit of an unpredictable and precocious character really isn't he?

Si.

[Wayne]

Considering he's wriiten at least 2 of what i consider to be two of the dullest Who stories ever, then i'm glad people are altering it & hopefully snazzing it up a bit.
Mind you, as it's a Dalek story, i'd still get it anyway.

[Si Hunt]

On the subject of the remaining 2007 releases, there doesn't seem much here to get excited about. Let's hope the Cybermen or something are in "Earthstorm" (no more wretched Daleks please) to jazz it up. And what's happened to Evelyn? Even if she appears in this years July release (the next chance she will) it'll still be a year since her last play.

Si.

[Wayne]

On the subject of the remaining 2007 releases, there doesn't seem much here to get excited about. Let's hope the Cybermen or something are in "Earthstorm" (no more wretched Daleks please) to jazz it up. And what's happened to Evelyn? Even if she appears in this years July release (the next chance she will) it'll still be a year since her last play.

Si.

I'd forgotten about Evelyn! Good point about the Cybermen, - Much as i thought The Reaping/Gathering were amongst the best of last year's offerings, there hasn't been a real good, full on Cybermen story for ages.
Mind you, at the risk of saying this once again, I'm afraid my love affair with Big Finish is all but over. I just can't seem to get into the audios anymore like i used to. Even the better ones. They've just been swamped by far too many bland/average/crappy ones over the last 2yrs, & it's killed my enthusiasm. To be honest, the prospect of repeat listening to some of the old classics holds far more appeal for me than wading through new ones.
I'll be keeping an eye on things & doing some cherry picking, & also watching the spin-off output with some interest, as i always seem to enjoy the spin-offs a bit more, for some reason. (I'll finally be starting 'I Davros' very soon)
Anyway, i'll be insterested to see what the general consencus of this year's BF output is. Maybe it will improve now with different folk at the helm. It needs some classics. I can't remember a classic since 'Catch 1782'.

[Si Hunt]

I think last months was a bit of a classic. You'll enjoy "I, Davros" I think, although bits of it are quite traditional Doctor Who (one in the middle is reasonably dull too) it's a stunningly acurate recreation of the setting of "Genesis of the Daleks".

My listening environment means I find it very easy to listen to even the worst ones, and there are few, possibly no, releases that I've not been able to re-hear. Apart from "Minuet in Hell" perhaps.

Si.

[Wayne]

I think last months was a bit of a classic. Si.

'Circular Time'? You see for me, whilst i thought it was one of the better ones, i think a lot of people hailed it more than it deserved, just by virtue of the fact that it wasn't yet another crap one. I think if it had been released 3 or 4 years ago, i don't think it would've received some of the plaudits that i read.
I dunno, maybe i'm wrong. Perhaps i'm just a bit too 'not into' Big Finish at the moment.

[Si Hunt]

Possibly not. I wouldn't hail it as an instant classic, but I like to try and guess the ones that will mature over time.

Then again, we don't want to fall into the trap of forever comparing everything against the best releases ever, or we'll end up like a late-seventies Doctor Who fan, forgetting that every era has/had its fair share of dross and not being able to appreciate the present for rose-tinted comparisons with a bygone golden age that never was.

Si.

[Wayne]

Then again, we don't want to fall into the trap of forever comparing everything against the best releases ever, or we'll end up like a late-seventies Doctor Who fan, forgetting that every era has/had its fair share of dross and not being able to appreciate the present for rose-tinted comparisons with a bygone golden age that never was.

Si.

Fair point. We musn't forget the likes of '...Ish' & 'Time of the Daleks'. (Yes, even Dalek stories are sometimes crap)

[Si Hunt]

And never forget the dreaded "Nekky"/"Dark Flame" era!

Si.

[Raston]

Or the Current Small McGann run-i real step down in quality for big finish. I'm glad i've listened to them 'live' rather than waste money on them!

I still don't see what you two don't like about BF at the moment-the last 2 years have been IMO the strongest run of stories we have had-where BF have offered up material for every taste.

'Circular Time' seems to have been popular-its been illegally downloaded by almost 7000 people from just one bit-torrent site alone. i bet BF would love to up their sales by that number, Nick Briggs could buy a solid gold ring modulator!

[Si Hunt]

Well all those people are gradually destroying the range and will one day lead to no more Big Finish for any of us.

I'm not going to go back over every release with my opinion on it - you can see my personal views and reasoned arguments for and against the merits and flaws of the audios on The Vervoid, Andrew. But frequently the stories of late have been derivitive, dull or flawed - to take a couple of examples, "Red" was a wordy, tedious "...Ish" clone and "The Nowhere Place" started well only to have a nonsensical ending.

Si.

[Paul Monk]

I'm starting to get a slight interest in them again but as I'm poor I don't think I can afford them.
I still think my subscription syndicate was a good idea.

[Wayne]

Or the Current Small McGann run-i real step down in quality for big finish. I'm glad i've listened to them 'live' rather than waste money on them!

I can't even muster up enough interest to listen to them for free. I'm really off audio plays at the moment.

[SiHart]

Chris Bidmead being script edited out of his story is rather ironic really, since that's what he did to many of his writers. However, I'm still looking forward to that release, being a big fan of his work. I think he;s a great ideas man, and while not everyone will agree of course, I think he worked on a very strong set of stories.

I also think people are generally underestimating what a big thing it is having Stephen Baxter writing for the range. This a man who has collaborated with Arthur C. Clarke, and who has written some very fine and highly regarded SF novels. This is a big coup for BF.

Si xx

[Raston]

Chris Bidmead being script edited out of his story is rather ironic really, since that's what he did to many of his writers. However, I'm still looking forward to that release, being a big fan of his work. I think he;s a great ideas man, and while not everyone will agree of course, I think he worked on a very strong set of stories.

I also think people are generally underestimating what a big thing it is having Stephen Baxter writing for the range. This a man who has collaborated with Arthur C. Clarke, and who has written some very fine and highly regarded SF novels. This is a big coup for BF.

Si xx

I didn't think it was much of a coup-mainly because i had never heard of him. I'm not vastly into sci-fi writers so perhaps thats why? Seems like a wasted opertunity to have some niche sci-fi writer writing their big aniversary story rather than making something special out of it.

I think it would have been better if they had got say a classic who writer who has not yet written for BF to pen one-for a start people like me would at least know who they were! Or maybe asked RTD really nicely to do one?

[Si Hunt]

If nothing else, that would give him a really good laugh.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Niche? Niche?!?! NICHE???!!!
Dear oh dear.

I think it would have been better if they had got say a classic who writer

They've tracked down Glen McCoy already! If you want to keep the same old TV hacks working on the show, brilliant as they may be, then that's fine

I appreciate you've never heard of him, but I've not heard of every bestselling author either Iain Banks? Anne McCaffery? Margaret Attwood? Who are they? Doctor Who is a sci-fi show, sometimes, so it's sometimes good to get a sci-fi writer working on it

[Raston]

Niche? Niche?!?! NICHE???!!!
Dear oh dear.

They've tracked down Glen McCoy already! If you want to keep the same old TV hacks working on the show, brilliant as they may be, then that's fine

I appreciate you've never heard of him, but I've not heard of every bestselling author either Iain Banks? Anne McCaffery? Margaret Attwood? Who are they? Doctor Who is a sci-fi show, sometimes, so it's sometimes good to get a sci-fi writer working on it

Its not them using him that i mind-its that personally i don't see that there is anything specially about using him, they would have been better keeping him for a regular release. The 100th could have been either treated like an aniversary story either 4 doctors or getting in the earliest surviving who writer to pen one or something.

I don't see anything special in them using him as a writer any more than when they got for example 'Peter Jurasik' to be a guest star. And i certainly don't see why we should be impressed by a sci-fi award winning writer, after all even Steven Moffat is one of those.

[Rob McCow]

And i certainly don't see why we should be impressed by a sci-fi award winning writer

All I'll say is that if you enjoy the Stephen Baxter BF, then perhaps you could have a read of some of his books. If you don't read sci-fi at all, then you probably wouldn't find it exciting.
Let me assure you that he is popular, he's shifted tonnes of books and frequently gets critical acclaim. It's surprising because the BF range up till now has consisted of a mix of Who Book authors and new writers. Getting anyone outside of those two brackets is a coup!

after all even Steven Moffat is one of those.

And a lot of people think he's very good! Even though he's not a bestselling author, like Baxter.

Or maybe asked RTD really nicely to do one?

I think he'd rather do Who on TV I believe they did approach him in 2003, but he was working on some undisclosed 'Special project'. He is fond of BF, taking a couple of their best writers and plays, plus he wrote the intro for their big BF book on the making of the first 50 plays.
Multi-Doctor stories have been done - so have triple CD mega-stories. 100 is only a number, after all

[SiHart]

The 100th could have been either treated like an aniversary story either 4 doctors

The last thing we need is yet another spurious multi-Doctor story. Remember the last time... not many people liked that one.

Si xx

[Raston]

The last thing we need is yet another spurious multi-Doctor story. Remember the last time... not many people liked that one.

Si xx

What 'Sirens of Time'-that was 100 realeases ago, and was obviously liked enough for BF to do as well as it has! Zagreus wasn't a traditional multi-doctor story, neither was project laz.


On another note, i googled Baxter, and i now see even fewer reasons to be impressed; his C.V is not exactly thrilling is it, and his 'critical acclaim' seemed to be based on a pretty poor selection of so called awards! The more i read about him, the more i think we'd be better with a Nick Briggs story.

[SiHart]

He won a couple of Hugos- the same award as Steven Moffat won for his SF writing. How poor is that?

Anyway. I'm looking forward to his story. And I haven't actually read any of his stuff either!

Si xx

[Rob McCow]

So, out of all the authors alive today, who would impress you?