The Big Finish Companion

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Volume 1 of the book I'd love to have written is finally coming out soon (allegedly before the end of this very month!) and so to encourage sales Big Finish have made available a sample pdf of a section covering The first season of Jago and Litefoot

Includes synopses for the four plays which contain some spoilers for those (like me) who've not heard them!

[Jon Masters]

I might have been more interested in getting this had I not been one of the many, many people who shelled out for the original The New Audio Adventures book. You know, the one that even had the great big "1" on the spine, suggesting that more would be forthcoming.

So while it's sort of great having details of other audio series BF have produced, it doesn't make up for paying £25 for a book which covers DW audios that I already have a book about.

[Si Hunt]

That was an odd move. In this months "Vortex Magazine" Richard Dinnick tries desperately to make out that this is a different book altogether.

For me, what I would have really liked would be for a book that was beautiful to own and look at, but sadly that PDF suggests that like the last one, this one will be black and white and printed on cheap paper.

Si.

[SiHart]

I liked the last one immensely, but I won't be getting this one because I'm not really all that interested in all the other series' they're covering.

[Lissa]

I'm tempted now they've finally said what it is and given a sample. I liked the original but I don't begrudge them starting again 8 years later. The back stories of other ranges may be interesting - we know a lot about the DW main range but how things like Jago and Litefoot came about is less well known.

One for Xmas I think.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I might wait and see if it turns up cheaper on amazon or elsewhere but I'm definitely interested especially for more info on stuff like the sadly defunct Tomorrow People range (still bitter that Fremantle withdrew the audio license for that so that a new TV version could be made which it looks like ITV have no interest in pursuing!)

[Si Hunt]

Marks off for Dinnick re-assuring us that there will be no scandal. Play the game man! At least tease behind the scenes gossip, even if you don't deliver. It's Peter Purves autobiography all over again. "Don't worry everyone, I'm not horrible about anyone and I don't give away ANY secrets!". Ooh, must pre-order at once then!

Si.

[brandynigma]

I thought Purves' book intimates that he and Jean Marsh were also intimate?

I've pre-ordered it. Can't resist a reference book, me.

At least it's not by Dave 'Tickle Torture' Rogers.

[brandynigma]

Well, at first glance... I'm rather disappointed.

I've found at least five punctuation errors in the Doctor Who section alone, as well as strange omissions. For example, The Mutant Phase and Sword of Orion are both given the trivia entry that they were Audio Visuals plays, whilst Minuet in Hell isn't! The latter does mention it in the production quote at the bottom of the page, but so does Sword- surely there should be some standardisation.

It's also been printed on quite low grade paper, which considering the amount of pictures (production photos, covers, etc.) is remarkably odd. I imagine it's a matter of cost, but it renders the covers very hard to see- and the inclusion of alternates such as the 'Emperor' Mutant Phase cover something of a moot deviation

That being said, the overall production pages are rather good, and the trivia tends to be quite interesting. I'm glad I got it for the pre-order price though- I would have felt it a bit insubstantial for £30.

[Si Hunt]

I said I feared cheap paper.

Si.

[brandynigma]

I said I feared cheap paper.

I imagine that in Louise Jameson's voice, for some reason.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I think those were there on Saturday know that I was as equally unimpressed by Volume 1 as my friend Rob who only bought it to see his name in print as he has credits for the first season of Companion Chronicles.
There are some awful large blank spaces at the bottom of some of the pages. This volume has taken a long time to finally be published so you'd think they'd have tried harder to get it right.
Plus the opening line of the back cover blurb poses the question relating to the Gallifrey series which it claims will be answered inside but guess what? Gallifrey isn't included in Volume 1. There are some bizarre ommissions from the first volume in favour of some of the more recent releases. I would have expected to find Gallifrey and The Tomorrow People in there rather than Highlander and the first season of Jago and Litefoot.
Although knowing there will be a lot of interest in the material relating to the unmade 6th-8th seasons of TTP it perhaps make some business sense to have held it back for Volume 2.
The trouble is volume 1 is really off-putting.
I shall probably get both of these in a couple of years time once they've joined the ranks of releases that are always in the Christmas and Summer sales because of low sales.

[Rob McCow]

That's a shame - the original release of the Doctor Who Big Finish Companion was rather good.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

That was a lovely book. Inevitably the other issue with the new companion volume 1 is that by featuring the first 75 main Doctor Who releases plus various other bits and bobs it's covering the same ground as the Ben Cook tome in much less detail. Such a shame we couldn't have had a second volume of that type of book. The in their own words style chatty interviews added a lot to it.

[Jon Masters]

That's a shame - the original release of the Doctor Who Big Finish Companion was rather good.

Indeed - far superior to what I saw in this when I leafed through it in FP on Saturday. Definitely a 'wait until its cheap, and possibly in paperback, or maybe not bother at all'.

The annoying thing is less than great sales will not encourage them to go back and do it as it should have been done.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Well at least they've definitely committed to publishing volume 2 which I will get at some stage because I loved The Tomorrow People audios especially the last couple of seasons which Nigel Fairs produced (I think he even out did his own work on Sapphire and Steel).
Given that Volume 2 will (I trust!) also cover releases 76-150 of the main Doctor Who range I don't imagine there will be a need to do a volume 3 for a while yet!