Big Finish Audios > Likes and Comments

I've been an avid listener to the Big Finish Who audios (and some of their spin-offs) for a few years now, almost as soon as I became a fan in fact. As I've only seen a couple of related discussions to them on here, does anyone else listen to them? Any favorites?

I've listened to them. I'm particularly a fan of the Eighth Doctor, Companion Chronicles, Jago & Litefoot and Gallifrey. (Big Leela fan here!) Though, unfortunately, I'm not current with any of my fave series. I haven't listened to any of the Tom Baker stuff either yet, but hope to someday.

Hubby has finally convinced me to give audiobooks a try. He has an Audible membership. I've tried looking for Big Finish there, but it doesn't seem that I can sort by publisher. There are some DW titles, but I can't tell who made them. Does anyone know if Audible offers them?

Big Finish hasn't got any of their stuff on Audible (there appears to be some kind of licensing issue in that regard). The Who titles on Audible are BBC ones ranging from audiobooks to the Who audio dramas they've made (including the two Pertwee ones, The Paradise Of Death and The Ghosts On N-Space).

Thanks, Matthew. Are those titles any good?

A question on the Big Finish audios - what order should I listen in? I just found out that one of my libraries that I have access to has about 150 or 200 of them. I hadn't an earthly clue where I should start. They were from all eras.

Head to the Big Finish site.
They have the stories numbered and mapped out, so you'll have an idea of what order you should listen to.

I've only listen to a half dozen or so, as I don't have a ton of petty cash, but have enjoyed them all.

Liz wrote: "Thanks, Matthew. Are those titles any good?"

Some of them are. Paradise Of Death in particular is a very good pastiche of the late third Doctor era. I haven't heard a lot of the proper audio books so I'm afraid I can't help you there.

As for which Big Finish audios to listen to...

Spare Parts, which is a fifth Doctor and Nyssa story, tells the origins of the Cybermen on Mondas and is one of the best things Big Finish has ever done. Master, which is a seventh Doctor audio, is a haunting tale that explores the Master and his character as well as his relationship with the Doctor and touches upon the themes of good and evil in a fascinating way (it’s also kind of an origin story for the Master that beats the “sound of drums” business any day). From the sixth Doctor I recommend The Holy Terror and Jubilee which are both written by Robert Shearman, the latter being a Dalek story that inspired Shearman’s New Series episode Dalek. If you want to try a single eighth Doctor audio then go towards the beginning with Storm Warning and/or Sword Of Orion which are both strong stories with Storm Warning being a re-launch for the eighth Doctor while Sword Of Orion is a quite traditional Who story with the Cybermen in it.

Jenni wrote: "A question on the Big Finish audios - what order should I listen in? I just found out that one of my libraries that I have access to has about 150 or 200 of them. I hadn't an earthly clue where I s..."

Yeag, I am sort of in the same boat as you.

You could pick them based on your preferences? Such as your favourite doctor, companion, writer, era and then choose accordingly audios featuring these? So for instance if you like Robert Shearmen as a writer you could for Jubilee? Or if you prefer First Doctor easy and quirky stories you could go for The Rocket Men?
This way could be risky though, as ones that you think "sound good" might not always equal "good", and if you don't like it it could be £11.39 or whatever it is down the drain. :/ (shrug)

Or you could try and find lists on the internet of what are generally considered the "best" audios. Here are some I used:
http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk...

Or Amazon lists like these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Au...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Finish-Cr...

I still really need to get into them more. So far I've listened to Master, Spare Parts and Earth Aid. Master and Spare Parts were both brilliant (Spare Parts though is quite spectacularly bleak, if you're going to listen to it make sure you have say some Teletubbies on hand afterwards to cheer you up).

I'm hoping to get more in the future. At the moment it's just trying to scrape enough money to buy some more.

I've listened to all of Eight's audios up to The Last and a few with six and a few with five :)

I'm currently going through the Destiny of the Doctor stories. The ones Big Finish made partnered with AudioGo :) They're all fantastic! And since they're partnered with AudioGo they've a right to use stuff from the new series and so basically the Eleventh Doctor sends messages to all his past selves. I'm just starting the seventh one, Shockwave :)

I'm really enjoying the Destiny of the Doctors series as well. Just finished the Fifth Doctor story and about to move on to the Sixth. I wish AudioGo would partner with Big Finish for all of there audiobooks, these are turning out so much better than AudioGo's usual output (not that those are awful, but I find them somewhat forgettable much of the time).

If I may be allowed to make a quick plug:

Alongside two of my co-hosts at the 20mb Doctor Who Podcast, I've launched in the last couple of months a podcast focusing on the Big Finish audios. It's called Stories From The Vortex and you can find it via iTunes or our website which is http://storiesfromthevortex.blogspot....

Matthew wrote: "If I may be allowed to make a quick plug: Alongside two of my co-hosts at the 20mb Doctor Who Podcast, I've launched in the last couple of months a podcast focusing on the Big Finish audios."

Sweet I'll def check it out!

I recently did a list of the top five McGann audios for the Warped Factor site.

http://www.warpedfactor.com/2014/04/d...

Very interested in how they are getting David Bradley to do some first Doctor stories and not just a couple.
They are doing an entire 'Lost season'.

Could be very cool.

Hadn’t heard that. I’ve really enjoyed the David Bradley stuff so far. It’s not Hartnell it’s more an approximation of the First Doctor character but it seems to work. Loved the Christmas episode last year as well.

Travis wrote: "Very interested in how they are getting David Bradley to do some first Doctor stories and not just a couple.
They are doing an entire 'Lost season'.

Could be very cool."

I'd like to start picking those up, I also want to get the War Doctor ones with John Hurt. I've got the first one, but haven't listened to it yet.

I am so far behind on Big Finish and really no hope of catching up, as I just don't have enough storage space

Travis wrote: "I am so far behind on Big Finish and really no hope of catching up, as I just don't have enough storage space"

I've run into that problem, too. Which is why I've gone the download route(that and the expense). I'd love to have the physical CDs, but it's just not going to happen. At least for a while.

Big Finish is having a nice sale on downloads, some as little as $1.49.

You know there’s that theory of a “missing season” between Troughton’s last episode and Pertwee’s first episode? A span of time where Two and Jamie can still be together and events from The Three Doctors, The Five Doctors, The Two Doctors and perhaps more would take place? A season 6B if you will? Well, Big Finish just announced Doctor Who: Beyond War Games as the launch of their initial release for The Second Doctor Adventures. Personally I’m hoping for Frazer Hines doing the voice of both The Doctor and Jamie, but they’ve not made any cast announcements yet. Hines does a brilliant turn as The Doctor in the Big Finish audios he’s done so far. There are moments that it sound just like Patrick Troughton.

Rick wrote: "You know there’s that theory of a “missing season” between Troughton’s last episode and Pertwee’s first episode? A span of time where Two and Jamie can still be together and events from The Three D..."

I had heard the 6b fan theory and even had an idea where the Troughton Doctor is sent around on jobs by the time lords and had new companions, his own version of a Romana.

Also, I've heard Frasier Hines second Doctor and he is pretty great.

Big Finish is already doing a Season 1B with these
The First Doctor Adventures: Volume 1
The First Doctor Adventures: Volume 2
The First Doctor Adventures: Volume 3
The First Doctor Adventures: Volume 4
The First Doctor Adventures: Volume 5

They fall after the events of The Reign of Terror and before Planet of Giants. I’ve listened to the first three twice already and they’re even better the second time through.

Rick wrote: "Big Finish is already doing a Season 1B with these
The First Doctor Adventures: Volume 1
The First Doctor Adventures: Volume 2
[book:The First Doctor Adventures: Vo..."

I've not heard Volume 5 yet, but can vouch for the first four and the first two especially. I reviewed One and Two for Vocal's Futurism page when I was contributing to them frequently.

Matthew wrote: "I've not heard Volume 5 yet ..."

I just finished Vol. 5 today. First story was okay, nothing really grabbed me, but the second one (featuring Shakespeare) was wonderful. Loved it.

Just read that with the new 3rd Doctor box set, there are no actors from the show involved.

Feels weird, not bad, but having BF become the thing that reminds me that we are getting old and things change, and how many Who actors we've lost, gives me a weird feeling.

Travis wrote: "Just read that with the new 3rd Doctor box set, there are no actors from the show involved.

Feels weird, not bad, but having BF become the thing that reminds me that we are getting old and things ..."

In some ways, I think it's been something rather inevitable, especially since the 18 months or so in 2011-12 where we lost Nicholas Courtney, Elisabeth Sladen, and Caroline John. As much as I love Katy Manning and enjoy hearing Richard Franklin (plus to some extent John Levene) reprising their roles, there's only so much middle-era Third Doctor one can keep on doing, especially avoiding the gapping hole left by not having the Brigadier in stories. The only options, as I wrote about in my very first piece for Warped Factor in 2014, are either to re-cast or not do those eras at all. While there's definitely folks in the latter camp (as I see every single time one of these sets or something similar gets announced on social media), I think the majority would rather have something done respectfully than not at all.

I will say, having heard the latest 3DA set, BF have done a smashing job in terms of casting and recreating those first and last Third Doctor season main casts and eras. Would definitely recommend those two stories,

I haven’t done much with the Third Doctor with Big Finish as yet, just a couple. But they’ve done such a good job on recasting with the First Doctor that I’m sure it will be in good hands.
But yes, as well remembered actors pass away it does remind us that not even those immortalized on film will live forever. And neither will we.

I don't think I shared it in the group, but I listened to and reviewed Scourge of the Cybermen earlier this month. As the first of the Big Finish "Audio Novels" it's pretty good, though perhaps a tad long for my tastes.

Matthew wrote: "I don't think I shared it in the group, but I listened to and reviewed Scourge of the Cybermen ..."

I didn’t pick that one up, but I did preorder Doctor Who: Watchers. Written and read by Matthew Waterhouse (aka Adric) - I just had too. 😼

Gosh damn I have no where near amount of money for all the stuff Big Finish produces these days. I think the last big purchase I made from them was the first of those post-Companion Chronicles box sets for Patrick Troughton. But also, judging from reviews on places like Docohosreviews, their current quality of output is dogshit, so it seems like I'm not missing much (shrug)

I have been a bit disappointed with a lot of recent productions, I keep thinking it’s because they’re doing remotely recorded productions and stuff where actors aren’t giving performances where they react to actors.

Andrew wrote: "But also, judging from reviews on places like Docohosreviews, their current quality of output is dogshit, so it seems like I'm not missing much (shrug)"

I don't know which of Doc Oho's Reviews you're reading because the recent ones I've seen are all 8 or 9 out of 10. The sole exception being the Lost Stories release The Ultimate Evil that is based more of its original eighties TV script (which judging from having read the Target version of it was pretty atrocious) rather than the actual production itself.

Rick wrote: "I have been a bit disappointed with a lot of recent productions, I keep thinking it’s because they’re doing remotely recorded productions and stuff where actors aren’t giving performances where the..."

But Big Finish have often recorded members of the cast separately from everyone else throughout their history. Anthony Stewart Head recorded all of his scenes for the Excelis trilogy in a day away from everyone else (with Mark Gatiss reading in EVERYONE ELSE), Paul McGann recorded his entire second season of Main Range audios and his lines for Zagerus that way, and so did Derek Jacobi when he did his Unbound story Deadline. Personally, I can't tell the difference and wouldn't have known that most of the stuff recorded in lockdown was if someone hadn't mentioned it. Like with some of the recasting's, I do sometimes wonder if people knowing even subconsciously how things are made can have an effect upon enjoyment or makes someone pick up on things they might otherwise have noticed.

I will say, though, that I felt the same disappointment you did about a lot of their productions from 2014-16. Indeed, I went through two or three months toward the end of 2016 where I listened to not a single thing that Big Finish put out because I was utterly burned out on what they were doing. Something that was in part my own fault since, doing a podcast squarely focused on the audios, I was trying to listen to everything rather than just what interested me. These days, in part because of time but also because of money, I'm more choosy about what I listen to.

For me, the quality has picked up again in the the last couple of years especially, partly because the Main Range (which had long stagnated) has been let go and there's new writing talent coming in. But YMMV, as the kids say.

In most cases, I’m not aware of the remotely recorded status until I’ve listened to the production and then listen to the behind-the-scenes stuff. Although it has become all too common with recent releases. But as good as the actors are, and they are quite good, there is nothing to compare to actors feeding and responding to actors and not someone simply reading lines.

That's the thing: They are responding to each other as Big Finish has them recording together via a service like Skype or Zoom but recording their audio tracks separately. You can hear it especially on the Dalek Universe and Time Lord Victorious audios where they play in the start of takes where everyone does a "scene X, page Y" before going into things. There's been the odd exception to that (such as Sylvester McCoy recording his cameo for End of the Beginning separately from everyone else due to almost not being in it as he now lives in a small French village without great WiFi or a recording studio, which is also why we're getting next to nothing with his Doctor this year as they couldn't record much with him at all), but most of the time everyone is bouncing off another performer. They're just not doing the mingling in the green room or having lunches like they did pre-spring 2020.

In either case, the chemistry, the synergy is completely a different animal.

Maybe I’m just becoming jaded by such a long string of brilliant productions.

Okay, I've said, I'm most likely not getting into BF, but the 'Lives of Captain Jack' trailer with him and Colin Baker trying to out overact each other is crazy tempting.

Other thought: If you are going to have River Song meet every Doctor ( not an idea I love) It needs to have Tom Baker saying 'Hello, Sweetie" and it needs to have a First Doctor story where River is full on trying to bang the Hartnell Doctor, every bits as much as she is the other 12.

Having a big chunk of fandom lose their freaking minds will be worth it.

Travis wrote: "Other thought: If you are going to have River Song meet every Doctor ( not an idea I love) It needs to have Tom Baker saying 'Hello, Sweetie" and it needs to have a First Doctor story where River i..."

This all sounds good to me.

Travis wrote: "Okay, I've said, I'm most likely not getting into BF, but the 'Lives of Captain Jack' trailer with him and Colin Baker trying to out overact each other is crazy tempting."

Yeah. 😼
I haven’t gotten to that one yet.

Big Finish has got a renewal on their license to do Doctor Who audio adventures at least until the end of March 2030! 😸😸😸

https://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/doct...

Good to see Nick Briggs has gainful employment for the rest of the decade.

He said it’s past his retirement date, but hat he has no plans to retire.

It also means that anyone who was on either Classic Who or the current series (at least up through Peter Capaldi’s era) can probably find employment at Big Finish.

I’m wondering if the new contract will allow them access to the Jodi Whittaker era now.

Have to say, listen ing to the trailer for the new 5th Doctor box set, that Peter Davidson has really grown into his Doctor.

He never needed 'saving' like the 6th did, but aside from being the 'original cute Doctor" (at least according to my wife and her friends), was a bit bland and could get lost in the crowd.

Well, isn’t being “a bit bland and could get lost in the crowd” a little bit like embodying psychic paper or personifying a psychic filter?

Think about it. 😼

I just listened to Doctor Who - Short Trips: The Lichyrwick Abomination. It’s free to download from the Big Finish website and it’s BRILLIANT. At least I thought so. Gave it 5/5.

News flash: Big Finish has snuck a brand new short audiobook as a bonus feature into the download of Doctor Who: Forty 1. It’s called Doctor Who: Interludes: I, Kamelion. Sneaky. Sneaky.

Rick wrote: "News flash: Big Finish has snuck a brand new short audiobook as a bonus feature into the download of Doctor Who: Forty 1. It’s called [book:Doctor Who: Interludes: I, Kamelion|60032..."

Always nice to see Kamelion get some attention.

Wish that crew of 5th, Turlough and Kamelion had gotten more screen time.