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Doctor Who - Audio Adventures

Started by daf, July 29, 2018, 12:43:56 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

purlieu

The Paradise of Death

After a couple of false starts, finally an audio story that feels like a proper Doctor Who tale. Having already read the book, it didn't grip me in the way a new story would, but the full cast audio with music, sound effects and such made it incredibly listenable. The Davison/Baker theme is an odd choice, but otherwise no faults with the production at all. Pertwee obviously sounds a lot older than he did when he had the role on screen, and the story, with flights over an alien city and a desolate wasteland, would have been too expansive to pull off in the '70s, but otherwise it really feels like it could have been a TV story. Excellent stuff.

daf

#331
Quote from: The Paradise of DeathThis was the second radio serial made by the BBC based on the Doctor Who television series. In 1986, the Sixth Doctor, played by Colin Baker, had starred in a 6-part radio serial entitled Slipback, during a break between seasons whilst he was starring as the Doctor on television.

The scriptwriter, Barry Letts, was a former BBC Producer and Director who had produced Doctor Who on television from 1969 to 1974 for almost the entire time Jon Pertwee had played the Third Doctor.

The Paradise of Death was first broadcast in five episodes on BBC Radio 5 from 27 August to 24 September 1993.

On their first broadcast, the episodes were summarised as follows –

1: The Doctor is called in to investigate a murder at Space World.
2: The Doctor is dead, and the Brigadier discovers that the Parakon Corporation has friends in high places.
3: Can the Tardis escape from war-torn Blestinu in time to save Sarah Jane from Tragan?
4: Freeth holds the Doctor captive, while Captain Rudley is to be executed for treason.
5: The Gargan monster has Sarah and Jeremy cornered in its den.

It was subsequently repeated, between 12 April and 10 May 1994, by BBC Radio 2 on FM. By mistake the episodes were aired out of order - the dozy twats!!

The Radio Collection CD releases included several "bonus" scenes which had not been included in the radio broadcasts.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart of UNIT asks the Doctor to investigate a particularly gruesome murder at a new theme park on London's Hampstead Heath, called Space World. Together with journalist Sarah Jane Smith and her photographer Jeremy Fitzoliver, they take in the incongruous exhibits, including virtual reality machines, and even seemingly living alien monstrosities – which the Brigadier immediately suspects of the killing.

The owners of the theme park are a gang of alien carpetbaggers from outer space, who are ostensibly trying to persuade the Government to begin talks on allowing interplanetary trade. Although their real motives are unclear, they have a sophisticated form of mind-control which they employ to kill anyone who threatens their plans.

When Sarah is kidnapped by the sinister Mr Tragan, and transported to the aliens' home planet, Parakon, the Doctor and the Brigadier must race to her rescue in the Tardis. On Parakon, they learn the truth about the proposed trade deal, which will mean the destruction of all life on Earth. The rapine plant is a parasite which will turn the planet into a wasteland.

Freeth and Tragan are secretly conspiring to overthrow the President and democratic government on Parakon, and fear what the visitors from Earth may accidentally disclose which might reveal their plans to Captain Rudley, the commander of the Presidential Guard. The Doctor hopes to persuade the President that rapine will harm the Earth, but Freeth and Grebber hope to have the Doctor executed before he can do so.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

daf

#332
Not sure how long this is going to be up, but the first Paternoster Gang story - The Cars that Ate London - has been put up on Youtube



Catch it while you can!

Malcy

Quote from: daf on May 04, 2020, 06:58:03 PM
Not sure how long this is going to be up, but the first Paternoster Gang story - The Cars that Ate London - has been put up on Youtube



Catch it while you can!

Just for the listen thingy tonight. There's a new introduction video been filmed for it as well.

Malcy

Big Finish are dropping the Monthly Adventures and releasing box sets for the first 12 Doctors in their place.

https://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/revamped-doctor-who-audio-ranges-from-big-finish
Quote
Senior Producer David Richardson said: "There are so many exciting new directions ahead. Where did the First Doctor and Dodo go next after leaving the planet of The Savages? What happened to the Second Doctor after The War Games? What new adventures await the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith? What happened on the Seventh Doctor's Last Day? The adventures are only just beginning..."

purlieu

Honestly, it's something they should have done a long time ago. There are so many ranges involving the main Doctors that run alongside the monthly range that it's all a bit daft. If they can get the main Doctor Who stories down to just these then it'll all be a lot easier to get one's head around.

Malcy



QuoteThe Cathedral of Contemplation is an enigma, existing outside time. It turns through history, opening its doors across the universe to offer solace to those in need.

Occasionally, the Doctor drops in – when he's avoiding his destiny, it's an ideal place to get some perspective. Only, he's already there several lives earlier, so when dimension barriers break down, his past and present collide.

And when the Daleks invade and commandeer the Cathedral, two Doctors must unite to stop them – or face extermination twice over!

mjwilson

Followed by 2 more stories with a pair of Doctors.

purlieu

Well that'll be a big seller at least.

Malcy

Time Lord Victorious audios.

https://www.bigfinish.com/ranges/v/doctor-who-time-lord-victorious

McGann & Daleks. Jon Culshaw doing 2 Short Trips featuring the Delgado & Ainley Masters.


purlieu

What's intriguing is that the sound of Arthur Darvill recording some words is unexpectedly similar to the sound of the bottom of a barrel being scraped.

Malcy

Quote from: purlieu on June 12, 2020, 08:42:58 PM
What's intriguing is that the sound of Arthur Darvill recording some words is unexpectedly similar to the sound of the bottom of a barrel being scraped.

It's the floor he would be scraping. The bottom of the barrel is long worn away.

I'd love to know how much BF make. They release really obscure bon-Who stuff all the time as well. Time slip comes to mind. I'd never heard of it. Original 60's cast back for recordings.

I know from other forums that there's people who buy EVERYTHING they release. I'm single, no kids and not many outgoings or expensive bills & unemployed. Even if the unemployed aspect was different I think I could find something better to spend that money on.

I know each to their own etc but fuck me at the rate BF fire out releases it's an expensive habit. I've always torrented the stuff I've listened too. And the reason is that I don't find the audios have any relisten value at all.

The only way I can get through an audio is by listening in bed which sometimes means it can be months before I finish a story or purposely wanting to get through something in which case I play it through my iPad and play Solitaire while listening. Hard to do that for an hour but if I do anything else more taxing on the brain I tune out

I've been stuck on whatever Diary Of River Song series I'm on for at least a year. Used a train journey to London to listen to the Rose series and enjoyed the first one and could have done the whole series in that time but needed variety

The amount that there is means I'll never hear it all. Maybe if I had known about them when they started doing them I could have had some sort of grip but no matter how hard I try or enjoy a series it always takes ages to get through.

It's a shame because a lot of what I have gave 100% attention to has been great.

purlieu

Yeah, I've torrented the entire lot and will only be purchasing those I can imagine returning to.

Some people are fortunate enough to have that amount of dispensable income - I suppose there's also the fact that the sort of fan who is inclined to buy every single one is quite possibly the sort of fan who doesn't really have anything else to spend money on.

Even so, it does amaze me just how much spare cash some people have. I check superdeluxeedition.com daily and often come across people who buy releases because they're expensive box sets, often for artists they don't know very well and sometimes even for albums they don't like very much. Sometimes you get an announcement of a new boxset someone wants and they'll joke about 'the wife taking my credit card away' because they've already got about 10 lined up that they've pre-ordered, on top of the 10 they've already bought that year. These boxes are often £100+. I can't actually fathom having that much money to spend on music, let alone being somewhat blaze about it.

So yeah, those who actually buy every BF release - especially given that a lot of them aren't cheap if you're buying the CDs - are just beyond me.

Didn't notice they're doing Time Slip ones. I tried to watch that, but although there was a lot of intriguing stuff hinted at, I just found it really tedious. It's never easy watching something where kids are the leads, to be fair.

Malcy

Quote from: purlieu on June 12, 2020, 09:28:09 PM
Yeah, I've torrented the entire lot and will only be purchasing those I can imagine returning to.

Some people are fortunate enough to have that amount of dispensable income - I suppose there's also the fact that the sort of fan who is inclined to buy every single one is quite possibly the sort of fan who doesn't really have anything else to spend money on.

Even so, it does amaze me just how much spare cash some people have. I check superdeluxeedition.com daily and often come across people who buy releases because they're expensive box sets, often for artists they don't know very well and sometimes even for albums they don't like very much. Sometimes you get an announcement of a new boxset someone wants and they'll joke about 'the wife taking my credit card away' because they've already got about 10 lined up that they've pre-ordered, on top of the 10 they've already bought that year. These boxes are often £100+. I can't actually fathom having that much money to spend on music, let alone being somewhat blaze about it.

So yeah, those who actually buy every BF release - especially given that a lot of them aren't cheap if you're buying the CDs - are just beyond me.

Didn't notice they're doing Time Slip ones. I tried to watch that, but although there was a lot of intriguing stuff hinted at, I just found it really tedious. It's never easy watching something where kids are the leads, to be fair.

Yeah I've got back into buying physical media recently. Ive spent £37 on 50 vinyls. Chas & Dave, Hip-Hop, random stuff etc. Mainly because it's so cheap and ive got the spare. Not a lot obviously but it makes me happy. Someone could have paid that for one thing from BF they will listen to once.

I often see reactors and things on YouTube with walls of stuff that probably wont ever be touched and not only think what's the point but what a waste of materials and what a lot of potentially unrecycled landfill crap. Funkopops come to mind.

There doesnt seem to be a massive difference in price between the digital and physical copies of the audios. Maybe I'm in the minority but for a price like that i'd want something to show for it. I just cant justify that amount of money for an audio. Whether i had the money to pay for it or not.

I also think they need to calm down on releases. There's far too many and i reckon a lot of people who don't know how to or want to torrent are missing out. Or feeling that they are missing out and adding pressure to them to buy as they are completists and i dunno, i just feel their biggest market is people with lots of expendable income and they are fleecing them for it.

daf

Quote from: purlieu on June 12, 2020, 09:28:09 PM
I suppose there's also the fact that the sort of fan who is inclined to buy every single one is quite possibly the sort of fan who doesn't really have anything else to spend money on.

Oi, cheeky chops - It's thanks to me they're still in business ;)

The trick is to wait for the sales - There's usually stuff at half price on each Doctor's Birthday, and they're now regularly clearing out the warehouse of CD copies - which can go down to £2.99 each (for a 2disc main range). I also got my Benny's at £1.99 each, & all the Gallifrey's at 99p each - though a few had already gone.

I am addicted though - and I probably spent more money on the 50 or so out of print CDs (as it was at that point) from e-bay than all the rest put together (over 700 CDs and counting!)

Small Man Big Horse

I can sort of understand the demand for a Rory spin-off, he was a much loved companion from an era that's fairly recent, but I was really surprised to see that Big Finish are making a Robots Of Death spin-off - https://thedoctorwhocompanion.com/2020/06/12/the-robots-volume-2-turns-the-spotlight-on-the-robots-of-deaths-toos-and-poul/ - they haven't even got any proper tv companions in them either, managing to only get some of the 8th Doctors bunch involved.

Malcy

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on June 13, 2020, 02:34:58 PM
I can sort of understand the demand for a Rory spin-off, he was a much loved companion from an era that's fairly recent, but I was really surprised to see that Big Finish are making a Robots Of Death spin-off - https://thedoctorwhocompanion.com/2020/06/12/the-robots-volume-2-turns-the-spotlight-on-the-robots-of-deaths-toos-and-poul/ - they haven't even got any proper tv companions in them either, managing to only get some of the 8th Doctors bunch involved.

There's been a spin-off set on the planet from the story in the past. Kaldor City maybe. I'm not sure.

pigamus

If I had my time again I'd definitely set up a Doctor Who shop or mail order business. Birmingham would be the perfect place for it as well.

purlieu

Quote from: daf on June 12, 2020, 11:23:14 PM
Oi, cheeky chops - It's thanks to me they're still in business ;)

The trick is to wait for the sales - There's usually stuff at half price on each Doctor's Birthday, and they're now regularly clearing out the warehouse of CD copies - which can go down to £2.99 each (for a 2disc main range). I also got my Benny's at £1.99 each, & all the Gallifrey's at 99p each - though a few had already gone.

I am addicted though - and I probably spent more money on the 50 or so out of print CDs (as it was at that point) from e-bay than all the rest put together (over 700 CDs and counting!)
One of the things that puts me off is that I really do like physical versions, and many of the out-of-print items go for stupid money, meaning there are some I'm just not going to be able to ever get. I also wonder about the sort of business that has to have frequent sales to clear out their stock - are they not pressing too many copies (and, in which case, does that not suggest that the audience is smaller than they hope)?

Quote from: Malcy on June 13, 2020, 04:41:53 PM
There's been a spin-off set on the planet from the story in the past. Kaldor City maybe. I'm not sure.
That's the one, yeah.

The BF Robots spinoffs recently are astonishing in their utter lack of relevance to the Whoniverse. I suppose there are things like Graceless, Vienna and such in the past which are similarly loose in their connections. I'll be giving them a listen, I'm sure, but I'm not sure they'll be firm favourites.

Phil_A

Quote from: Malcy on June 13, 2020, 04:41:53 PM
There's been a spin-off set on the planet from the story in the past. Kaldor City maybe. I'm not sure.

There was, it wasn't by BF though but another company publishing Who-adjacent audio plays (but not quite as prolifically).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Bullet_Productions

Malcy

Quote from: Phil_A on June 14, 2020, 10:25:31 AM
There was, it wasn't by BF though but another company publishing Who-adjacent audio plays (but not quite as prolifically).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Bullet_Productions

Ah Ok. Didn't realise that. I thought that one of McGann's companions, played by Nicola Walker, had came from one of those audios as I think the first time I saw her was on a cover  with one of the Robots.

There's so much audio content that it just merges into a blur for me!

daf

#352
Quote from: purlieu on June 13, 2020, 10:35:30 PM
One of the things that puts me off is that I really do like physical versions, and many of the out-of-print items go for stupid money, meaning there are some I'm just not going to be able to ever get.

The most I paid was £39 for Chimes of Midnight - a few more for around £38 - Spare Parts and Zagreus I think. Most of the rest were between £8 and £20 each - plus a few hard to find ones in the £25-30 range (e.g. the early McGanns).

Just had a quick look for 'out of print Big finish' on ebay, and a few seem fairly reasonable - The Wormey for £7  /  Castle of Fear for £10  /  Circular Time £11 - all good ones too!

Prices fluctuate - a few years ago Storm Warning was well over £100, now it's settled to £25. You just need to be patient, and keep an eye on the auctions, as well as the 'buy it now' offers - I got a few unexpected bargains that way, as nobody else was bidding against me.

Quote from: purlieu on June 13, 2020, 10:35:30 PM
I also wonder about the sort of business that has to have frequent sales to clear out their stock - are they not pressing too many copies (and, in which case, does that not suggest that the audience is smaller than they hope)?

I think it's more that they're getting rid of older stuff (~15-20 years) to make room for the newer stuff in their warehouse - they just don't have the room.

It's not that they press too many copies - I'm guessing they used to press up runs of a couple of thousand of each CD every few years as it sold out (I've got a couple of spare CDs that, from the covers and CD hub numbers, were from different runs) - and it's more that, from now on they won't be re-pressing up new copies for some of the older ranges.

They are definitely moving towards downloads as their main delivery model - CD's are pressed in much lower quantities (termed as 'collectors' CDs). But they have said that they will notify people if anything's going to go out of print - to give people a chance to get a CD copy if they want them.


Malcy



daf

I've noticed a few of these popping up, wondering what was going on - think it might be this :

Quote from: gib on June 27, 2019, 10:37:33 PM
Quote from: Gerald Fjord on June 27, 2019, 10:28:41 PMI'm still waiting for the moment i realise what the edit glitch actually is.

You know when a thread has new replies then an orange 'NEW' shows next to it? For examples, see here https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=unreadreplies

Well, when you post a reply you have a couple of minutes to correct any errors. After that time you can still edit your post but the system grasses you up by adding a little message at the foot of your post saying when you modified it. With me so far? What happens now is that the thread always has the orange 'NEW' next to it until someone makes a new reply. The Edit Glitch Person simply makes a reply which adds no content to speak of but because their reply is not edited then anyone who now clicks the thread won't keep seeing the orange 'NEW'.
https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,70990.msg3879382.html#msg3879382

purlieu

And as daf is king of editing posts, it happens in just about every Who thread. :D

jamiefairlie

Quote from: Malcy on June 14, 2020, 11:14:21 AM
Ah Ok. Didn't realise that. I thought that one of McGann's companions, played by Nicola Walker, had came from one of those audios as I think the first time I saw her was on a cover  with one of the Robots.

There's so much audio content that it just merges into a blur for me!

No you're right, BF are doing that spin off now.

Malcy

I thought it was just some weirdo taking the piss!