Results 1 to 25 of 41
-
7th Feb 2007, 10:44 AM #1
Big Finish Announce Future Releases
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.
-
7th Feb 2007, 10:58 AM #2
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.Last edited by Logo Polish; 7th Feb 2007 at 11:00 AM.
-
7th Feb 2007, 11:21 AM #3
He's emerging as a bit of an unpredictable and precocious character really isn't he?
Si.
-
7th Feb 2007, 11:37 AM #4Wayne Guest
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.
-
7th Feb 2007, 11:52 AM #5
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.
-
7th Feb 2007, 12:09 PM #6Wayne Guest
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'.
-
7th Feb 2007, 12:16 PM #7
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.
-
7th Feb 2007, 12:24 PM #8Wayne Guest
'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.
-
7th Feb 2007, 12:35 PM #9
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.
-
7th Feb 2007, 12:46 PM #10Wayne Guest
-
7th Feb 2007, 1:25 PM #11
And never forget the dreaded "Nekky"/"Dark Flame" era!
Si.
-
7th Feb 2007, 3:43 PM #12
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!
-
7th Feb 2007, 3:50 PM #13
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.
-
7th Feb 2007, 4:09 PM #14
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.
-
7th Feb 2007, 4:43 PM #15Wayne Guest
-
7th Feb 2007, 6:58 PM #16
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've just got my handcuffs and my truncheon and that's enough.
-
7th Feb 2007, 7:27 PM #17
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?
-
7th Feb 2007, 7:43 PM #18
If nothing else, that would give him a really good laugh.
Si.
-
7th Feb 2007, 8:05 PM #19
Niche? Niche?!?! NICHE???!!!
Dear oh dear.
I think it would have been better if they had got say a classic who writer
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 itPity. I have no understanding of the word. It is not registered in my vocabulary bank. EXTERMINATE!
-
7th Feb 2007, 9:18 PM #20
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.Last edited by Raston; 7th Feb 2007 at 9:22 PM.
-
7th Feb 2007, 10:30 PM #21And i certainly don't see why we should be impressed by a sci-fi award winning writer
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.
Or maybe asked RTD really nicely to do one?
Multi-Doctor stories have been done - so have triple CD mega-stories. 100 is only a number, after allPity. I have no understanding of the word. It is not registered in my vocabulary bank. EXTERMINATE!
-
8th Feb 2007, 8:08 AM #22The 100th could have been either treated like an aniversary story either 4 doctors
Si xx
I've just got my handcuffs and my truncheon and that's enough.
-
8th Feb 2007, 9:32 AM #23
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.
-
8th Feb 2007, 9:42 AM #24
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 xxLast edited by SiHart; 8th Feb 2007 at 9:43 AM.
I've just got my handcuffs and my truncheon and that's enough.
-
8th Feb 2007, 11:59 AM #25
So, out of all the authors alive today, who would impress you?
Pity. I have no understanding of the word. It is not registered in my vocabulary bank. EXTERMINATE!
Similar Threads
-
Big Finish announce COMPANION CHRONICLES day~!
By Anthony Williams in forum Big Finish and BBC AudiosReplies: 27Last Post: 8th Nov 2011, 3:23 PM -
Which CD Releases Are You Keeping Up With?
By Rob McCow in forum Big Finish and BBC AudiosReplies: 31Last Post: 23rd Sep 2011, 1:11 PM -
DVD Re-releases
By Lord President in forum DVD and Blu-rayReplies: 30Last Post: 21st Jun 2007, 2:15 PM -
The Beautiful South Announce Split
By Si Hunt in forum MusicReplies: 10Last Post: 15th Apr 2007, 9:55 PM -
Next 2 DVD Releases...
By Matthew T in forum DVD and Blu-rayReplies: 58Last Post: 2nd Mar 2007, 3:55 PM
PSAudios 6.1. Bless You Doctor Who
[/URL] (Click for large version) Doctor Who A thrilling two-part adventure starring Brendan Jones & Paul Monk & Paul Monk Bless You,...
23rd Nov 2020, 3:02 PM