Topic: Doctor Who - Audio Adventures

[daf]

A 'sideways' thread for any Audio Who stuff.

Get cracking!

[purlieu]

There are a lot of early Big Finishes on Spotify, so they're obviously a good place to start for a taster. I'll be doing this after I've finished all the novels. I've also noted down a few recommendations from here and Ganymede & Titan:

There are some quite good Tom audios: The Foe from the Future for Hinchcliffe-style horror, The Auntie Matter for Williams-style fun, The Paradox Planet/Legacy of Death and The Trouble with Drax for something more Douglas Adams-esque, The Skin of the Sleek/The Thief Who Stole Time for something more Season 18.

Anything by Rob Shearman

Dalek Empire

Spare Parts, Jubilee, Doctor Who and the Pirates, Psychodrome, Whispers of Terror and City of Spires/Wreck of the Titan/Legend of the Cybermen are all good.

Anyway(!), yeah – re. Big Finish: I’d recommend the Klein trilogy (A Thousand Tiny Wings, Survival of the Fittest and The Architects of History) as essential listening.

I always hear really good things about the Jago & Litefoot spinoff.

I'll probably be listening to all the Eighth Doctors in order, too, because even though I'll have been through 70+ novels featuring him by that point, it'll be nice to actually hear McGann in the role. There are plenty to go at there.

Monthly Adventures
Storm Warning
Sword of Orion
The Stones of Venice
Minuet in Hell
Invaders from Mars
The Chimes of Midnight
Seasons of Fear
Embrace the Darkness
The Time of the Daleks [part of the Dalek Empire series - probably worth listening to other volumes]
Neverland
[Zagreus - multi-Doctor story featuring 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8. And probably a cardboard cutout of 4]
Scherzo
The Creed of the Kromon
The Natural History of Fear
The Twilight Kingdom
Faith Stealer
The Last
Caerdroia
The Next Life
Terror Firma
Scaredy Cat
Other Lives
Time Works
Something Inside
Memory Lane
Absolution

EDA Series 1
The Blood of the Daleks [pt 1 & 2]
Horror of Glam Rock
Immortal Beloved
Phobos
No More Lies
Human Resources [pt 1 & 2]

EDA Series 2
Dead London
Max Warp
Brave New Town
The Skull of Sobek
Grand Theft Cosmos
The Zygon Who Fell to Earth
Sisters of the Flame / Vengeance of Morbius

EDA Series 3
Orbis
Hothouse
The Beast of Orlok
Wirrn Dawn
The Scapegoat
The Cannibalists
The Eight Truths / Worldwide Web

EDA Series 4
Death in Blackpool
Situation Vacant
Nevermore
The Book of Kells
Deimos / The Resurrection of Mars
Relative Dimensions
Prisoner of the Sun
Lucie Miller / To the Death

Dark Eyes
Dark Eyes 1
Dark Eyes 2
Dark Eyes 3
Dark Eyes 4

Doom Coalition
Doom Coalition 1
Doom Coalition 2
Doom Coalition 3
Doom Coalition 4

Ravenous
Ravenous 1
Ravenous 2-4 [forthcoming]

The Eighth Doctor: The Time War
Series 1
Series 2
Series 3-4 [forthcoming]

Various other bits:
Classic Doctors, New Monsters
The Sontaran Oreal
Day of the Vasha Nerada

Destiny of the Doctor
Enemy Aliens

The Diary of River Song
The Rulers of the Universe

That's really quite a long list, isn't it?

[daf]

There are a lot of early Big Finishes on Spotify, so they're obviously a good place to start for a taster. I'll be doing this after I've finished all the novels.

Good lad!

I always hear really good things about the Jago & Litefoot spinoff.

I'm wary of praising these TOO much - as that sort of thing might lead to a bit of "I'll be the judge of that - Harumph!" defensive backlash, and put you off . . . but Yeah, it's pretty much ALL solid gold.

60+ stories including a couple with the 6th and 4th Doctors, and a two disc special with Strax.

Mostly set in the Victorian Era, but series 5 finds them in the swinging sixties (after being whisked off in the Tardis for a couple of one-off Adventures with the Sixth Doctor - including a cracker set on a steam-punk Venus).

[Replies From View]

I've heard that the Sixth Doctor's era is redeemed by his audio adventures but wouldn't know where to start.  Can anyone offer some hints please?

Also, where should I begin in order to flesh out the Eighth Doctor's era?

[Malcy]

For the 8th I listened to The Chimes Of Midnight and a couple of others first then The 8th Doctor Adventures with Sheridan Smith as the companion.

Might not have been Chimes. Had the Brig in it. I just listen to random stories mostly. Can be a pain when you start one and realise it's full of references to an arc you know nothing about.

[Camp Tramp]

Creed of the Kromon and Minuet In Hell are considered to be the worst of any of the audio novels. Having listened to both, I can confirm.

[daf]

I've heard that the Sixth Doctor's era is redeemed by his audio adventures but wouldn't know where to start.  Can anyone offer some hints please?

Yes, forget the garbage TV stories - Big Finish really managed to save Colin's Doctor by giving him some decent stories and an older companion that would mellow him out : Dr Evelyn Smythe.



Here's an article about her and some of the standout stories : https://docohobigfinish.blogspot.com/2013/02/why-i-love-evelyn-smythe.html

Give these a try (all up on Spotify) :
THE MARIAN CONSPIRACY

The Doctor must travel back to Tudor times to stabilise the nexus and save Evelyn's life. But there he meets the Queen of England and use all his skills of diplomacy to avoid ending up on the headman's block.

JUBILEE

Hurrah! The deadly Daleks are back! Yes, those loveable tinpot tyrants have another plan to invade our world. Maybe this time because they want to drill to the Earth's core. Or maybe because they just feel like it.

And when those pesky pepperpots are in town, there is one thing you can be sure of. There will be non-stop, high octane mayhem in store. And plenty of exterminations!

But never fear. The Doctor is on hand to sort them out. Defender of the Earth, saviour of us all. With his beautiful assistant, Evelyn Smythe, by his side, he will fight once again to uphold the beliefs of the English Empire. All hail the glorious English Empire!

DOCTOR WHO AND THE PIRATES

All aboard, me hearties, for a rip-roaring tale of adventure on the high seas! There'll be rum for all and sea shanties galore as we travel back in time to join the valiant crew of the good ship Sea Eagle, braving perils, pirates and a peripatetic old sea-dog known only as the Doctor!

Gasp as our Gallifreyan buccaneer crosses swords with the fearsome Red Jasper, scourge of the seven seas and possessor of at least one wooden leg! Thrill as Evil Evelyn the Pirate Queen sets sail in search of buried treasure, with only a foppish ship's captain and an innocent young cabin boy by her side! Marvel at the melodious mayhem which ensues as we sail the ocean blue!

This softer side to six then fed into his stories with Peri and Mel, plus new companions Charley (borrowed from the 8th), and Flick - so even without Evelyn, Big Finish's 6th is a GREAT Doctor!

This article gives also gives some good suggestions for 6th Doctor stories worth hearing :
http://www.warpedfactor.com/2015/01/where-to-start-with-big-finish-sixth.html

[JamesTC]

The first 50 stories are on Spotify. In terms of the Sixth Doctor I'd say all his stories in the first 50 are great. The Peri stories are just okay (he does some far better ones with her later down the line).

You can listen to all the following for free right now on Spotify:

Sixth Doctor and Evelyn
The Marian Conspiracy
The Spectre of Lanyon Moor
The Apocalypse Element
Bloodtide
Project Twilight
The Sandman
Jubilee
Doctor Who and the Pirates
Project Lazarus

Sixth Doctor Alone
Davros

Sixth Doctor and Frobisher
The Holy Terror

The Sixth Doctor and Mel
The One Doctor

Sadly there aren't many more great Sixth Doctor and Evelyn stories after that initial strong run. Arrangements for War and Medicinal Purposes are great but everything else is downhill. Evelyn gets a great story with the Seventh Doctor though.

[notjosh]

As a casual, sometimes self-loathing, Who fan I find the audio adventures as patchy as the TV series, but I absolutely loved The Chimes of Midnight and Spare Parts.

[Shaky]

Creed of the Kromon and Minuet In Hell are considered to be the worst of any of the audio novels. Having listened to both, I can confirm.

I couldn't even finish Minuet and Kromon is one of the worst episodes of the intriguing but ultimately pretty unsatisfying "Divergent Universe" arc. Eight's new companion C'rizz is useless - to hammer home the fact the new Universe supposedly lacks time as we understand it, he constantly says silly on the nose things like, "What is this 'Time' you speak of, Doctor?" Earlier C'rizz-less episode Scherzo is brilliant and terrifying, though.

Re decent audios involving the Sixth Doctor & Evelyn, I'd chuck The Nowhere Place in there too. Really quite unnerving.

[Malcy]

Spectre of Lanyon Moore is one of the few stories with Evelyn I've heard. Really enjoyed it and it has The Brigadier as well.

The Diary Of River Song & UNIT series are worth a listen as well.

[The Boston Crab]

Macra Terror

[purlieu]

Spotted this afternoon:

Here’s a great chance to fill all the gaps in your CD collection. We’ve special offers on tales from the Doctor Who Main Range titles 51–100 so make sure you grab them whilst the CDs are still in stock…

Head to page www.bigfinish.com and use offer code WOLFGANG to get releases in the Doctor Who Main Range from numbers 51 (The Wormery) to 100 (100) at just £3 each on CD whilst available (downloads will remain at £2.99 each). This offer expires at 23:59 (UK time) on 06/08/2018 so don’t miss out!

[daf]

Great offer - I've got most of the ones I want from those, but might pick up a few more 5th Doctor ones.

Tip :  if you order over £50 you get 10% off * (postage builds up gradually but is then fixed at a maximum of £4)

- - -
* eg - 16 CD x £3 = £48 + £4 postage = £52 - minus 10% (£5.20). So the final total for 16 CDs would be £46.80

[Replies From View]

I keep seeing Big Finish releases being advertised with recent Doctors (eg the Tenth and Eleventh) being played by an impersonator.  Doesn't that irritate?

[daf]

Yeah, I wouldn't bother with those myself - all seems a bit pointless (see also Nick Briggs' toe-curling take on Eccleston - check out the trailer on this page!)

That said, If you want to hear any 11th Doctor audios, this is probably the best it's ever going to get, as Matt's got ZERO interest in doing them, unlike Tennant - who has done two box sets so far as the Tenth Doctor :
Volume 1 with Catherine Tate
and Volume 2 with Billie Piper

Listening to the trailer, it seems his Smith voice is much stronger than Tennant too, which is why it's TOTALLY BARMY to get a soundalike for Tennant when the REAL ONE was actually willing to do them himself!

I wouldn't be surprised if he told them to go shove any future plans for more box-sets from him up their space-time vortex!
- - - - -
btw - Those 'real' ones are called 'Adventures' and the impersonator ones (with Jacob Dudman) are called 'Chronicles' - so they're technically a separate range.

[Replies From View]

btw - Those 'real' ones are called 'Adventures' and the impersonator ones (with Jacob Dudman) are called 'Chronicles' - so they're technically a separate range.

I don't know how they would expect anyone to know that.

[purlieu]

Yeah, I'm not going near them. Just seems really, really bad. His Eccleston impression is fucking appalling.

[daf]

I don't know how they would expect anyone to know that.

There's nothing in the images to tip you off - It's almost like they're hoping to trick fans into buying both :

             DAVID TENNANT                         IMPERSONATOR


They should have 'dimmed down' his image on the Chronicles to make it clear Tennant's not in them - like they did with the 3rd Doctor sets :

[Replies From View]

There's nothing in the images to tip you off - It's almost like they're hoping to trick fans into buying both :

             DAVID TENNANT                         IMPERSONATOR

Hmm.  Even though it doesn't mention David Tennant's name on the 'chronicles' cover, it also doesn't state that the Doctor is played by Jacob Dudman - it simply says "narrated by" him.  I think that's a bit naughty.  They're not explicitly lying, but they should be balancing out the fact that a photo of the Tenth Doctor is a picture of David Tennant by not partially withholding the fact that somebody else is playing the role.  It feels like a conscious misdirection to trick customers, as you say.

[Shaky]

(see also Nick Briggs' toe-curling take on Eccleston - check out the trailer on this page!)

Holy fuck, that's appalling. Briggs is one of the big guns in Big Finish so presumably nobody had the guts to tell him to knock that on the head. The guy doing 11 is actually very good but Smith will be back at some point. They all come back in the end...

I have zero interest in listening to any of the post-2005 Doctor audios but I guess it's good if they're drawing in new listeners and keeping the range going overall.

[Alternative Carpark]

Arthur Darvill's worked with them before, though admittedly not as Rory so far.  Perhaps a Companion Chronicle-style thing narrated by him could be one way of getting some Eleventh Doctor stuff done without recasting.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Yeah, I wouldn't bother with those myself - all seems a bit pointless (see also Nick Briggs' toe-curling take on Eccleston - check out the trailer on this page!)

Fucking hell that's horrendous, absolutely pissed myself laughing throughout but jesus someone should have shot stopped him. The writing is awful too, god knows why anyone involved thought it was releasable.

[gatchamandave]

They're doin' Mr Callan now. That's out of bleedin' order, that is...

[daf]

Arthur Darvill's worked with them before, though admittedly not as Rory so far.  Perhaps a Companion Chronicle-style thing narrated by him could be one way of getting some Eleventh Doctor stuff done without recasting.

Yeah - that's be fine - no problem with that at all.

It'd be like Fraser Hines doing Troughton, or William Russell & Peter Purves as Hartnell - they were part of the team, knew the actors personally, and somehow manage to convey the 'spirit' of Doctors 1 & 2 if not their exact sound (though Frazer often comes spookily close).

The Companion Chronicles are one of my favourites (I love Maureen O' Brien doing Hartnell - even though it sounds barely like him - she is incredible in recreating her young Vicki voice though - which is quite different to her lower narration/natural style)

[Man With No Sheds]

I stopped listening to them five years ago. I became fed up with the same old 'self-sacrifice' ending and other repeated memes in terms of story-telling. They get a new franchise - say Star Cops - and it is the same old story telling.

[daf]

I remember Jo doing that sort of thing in The Dæmons (& The Time Monster one season later) but I've not noticed it cropping up much (if at all?) in Big Finish.

I may have missed them though - as I've not heard any McGann or McCoys yet, and only a handful of Davisons.

[purlieu]

In series nine of The Fourth Doctor Adventures, Tom Baker’s Doctor is reunited with Time-Lady Romanadvoratrelundar II (Romana to us humans), played by Lalla Ward. And joining them will be Adric, played by Matthew Waterhouse, in his first adventures back with Tom since his regeneration in 1981. John Leeson also reprises K9, the Doctor’s faithful robo-canine companion.

These stories are set in the beginning of Tom Baker’s last television series as the Doctor, season 18, in between the stories State of Decay and Warrior’s Gate. Trapped in E-Space, a pocket universe next to our own (N-Space), the Doctor acquires a new companion Adric, a 15 year old mathematical genius, who begins to travel with the Doctor and Romana.

So hold on tight for four more adventures in E-Space! Volume 1 of Series 9 of The Fourth Doctor Adventures is out for release in January 2020:

9.1 Purgatory 12 by Marc Platt
9.2 Chase the Night by Jonathan Morris

And Volume 2 of Series 9 follows in February 2020:

9.3 The Planet of Witches by Alan Barnes
9.4 The Quest of the Engineer by Andrew Smith

Matthew Waterhouse told us about travelling with the Fourth Doctor again: “I’ve always found that when recording a Doctor Who on audio, it felt like coming home. I absolutely loved it, and this (new series) is another development of that. I love the idea of E-Space with the Fourth Doctor, Romana, Adric and K9 travelling together.”

David Richardson, producer of The Fourth Doctor Adventures on audio, explains what mystical escapades this TARDIS team will encounter in a universe very different to our own: “We’re returning to another much-loved era in Season 9, as the E-Space trilogy gets a massive extension on audio and we explore strange and wonderful worlds in another universe with the genius team of the Doctor, Romana, Adric and K-9.

“It’s been such fun recreating the tone and high-concept style of that era, as the travellers begin the search for a CVE (Charged Vacuum Emboitment) which can take them (or at least most of them) home.”

Hmm.

[Replies From View]

From Doctor Who Magazine issue 340:

LALLA WARD:  "Matthew was a little brat.  He threw his weight around, because he thought that playing a so-called second lead-ish type part in Doctor Who was a big thing to have got, therefore he must be wonderful.  Well, he wasn't.  He was obnoxious.  He was rude to people like wardrobe mistresses and the make-up girls, and I can't be doing with that from anybody.  I can't bear it.  I mean, why do it?  Especially when you're a new boy.  You don't behave like that.  On top of that, God knows he had no cause to behave that way, cos he couldn't act his way out of a cardboard box.  You may have guessed by now that there wasn't much in the way of love lost for Matthew Waterhouse."

[Norton Canes]

The only audio I've ever listened to all the way through is the one with the Fourth Doctor, Leela and the Iceni (unfortunately not called 'The Iceni Warriors'). It's pretty good - Louise Jameson is excellent, as ever.