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Post by ollychops on Sept 15, 2017 12:16:45 GMT
I'm not really sure how I feel about this. I'm not really sure why they need to do this when we have the Early Adventures, and why recast Susan and Ian?
Yeah, mixed feelings about this one.
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Post by acousticwolf on Sept 15, 2017 12:17:43 GMT
I'm hoping this isn't the end of the Early Adventures, or First Doctor CC Boxsets as they are superb recreations of the era and instant pre-orders for me but there should also be room for these as well for those who want them.
Cheers
Tony
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aztec
Chancellery Guard
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Post by aztec on Sept 15, 2017 12:21:13 GMT
William Hartnell is my favourite Doctor (along with MS) however I don't get the point of this really. It seems unnecessary. Especially the re-cast companions. I'm more than happy for Bradley to portray Hartnell because I think he's quite good but on audio it seems pointless. This one just looks like a money making racket to me I'm afraid. Ok, my rambling initial reaction follows: Hartnell is my favourite of the first seven Doctors, and honestly I agree, my initial reaction is a mixture of curiosity and disappointment, what was wrong with the Early Adventures/Companion Chronicles format? Those ranges do a great job of capturing the spirit of the era by working around the absence of Hartnell and still retaining the original actors where possible, a large part of why I like Big Finish is the nostalgia factor using the original actors and voices all these years later, recasting the parts when some of the original actors are still living (with actors who might not even sound that similar) strikes me as a little...odd, if they are recasting these roles now, where do they stop? Will we see a recast 9th Doctor next? Full recast 2nd adventures? There's a very fine between paying tribute to an era and capturing its spirit, and needlessly plugging on a gap in the market, obviously BF have a license to pay for, and time is sadly marching on more of the original actors will retire or pass on in future years. On the one hand David Bradley is a fantastic actor and really captured the spirit of Hartnell's personality in AAITAS, on the other he didn't sound or act much like the 1st Doctor in the classic serial clips in that (to be fair those clips were so brief it's hard to judge how much time he was given to research the part...perhaps he will come closer in the Xmas special) and we already have tonnes of 1st Doctor audio stories with the original cast, so this doesn't immediately strike me as a necessary or exciting idea, I guess it boils down to whether you view the character of the 1st Doctor, or Hartnell's performance as more important to evoke. Then again, it's always interesting to see BF push forward with new ideas and characters and perhaps it will bring some new listeners into the BF fold and provide a entry point to the 1st Doctor on TV (though it does make you wonder if they will semi-reboot the 1st Doctor's character for a new audience But personally I'm always opposed to recasting if possible, something about it just doesn't appeal to me, let's say David Bradley proves popular and ends up recording lots of audios as the 1st Doctor, would he end up being thought of as the more definite or popular take on the 1st Doctor? I'm probably once again waffling on and jumping to conclusions...
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Post by mark687 on Sept 15, 2017 12:21:47 GMT
Why do this? Were getting the Early Adventures that feature most of the original actors playing there roles so why do a complete recast of Ian & Susan when those actor's still perform there roles in Big Finish audios? This sounds a bit of a cash cow to me & one box set to many & will actually be one Doctor Who range i shall not be purchasing. Its been heavily implied recently that Age is starting to affect William Russell so Glover's probably a more practical option , not sure why they're not including Carol Ann Ford.
I have asked what this means for the EAs.
Regards
mark687
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Post by DavidHogan on Sept 15, 2017 12:23:12 GMT
I don't know if I'll jump on board... Never been a big fan of the First Doctor's earliest era anyway, and to have even the companions be "different interpretations of the same characters" I think is a step too far for me.
I'm also annoyed that the First Doctor Adventures has already got two boxsets within their first year, yet we still only get one Third Doctor set a year... (Not that I'm surprised they think David Bradley is a bigger draw than Tim Treloar, because he obviously is!)
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Post by number13 on Sept 15, 2017 12:25:11 GMT
And I think that puts it very well. The website temporarily stalling is what I'd call a 'New Series' reaction - it happens when a Tenth Doctor set or similar is announced. Today's short 'freeze' should be a reminder to us classic series fans that there's a legion of primarily new series fans out there who only dimly know who Ian, Barbara and Susan are, and probably have never heard of the actors who play/played them. And maybe some are even hazy about who William Hartnell was. The Christmas episode will no doubt introduce many new viewers to the classic series at its (recast) roots and these sets will then hope to draw them into BF and exploring the classic Doctors, a good result. (None of which means I have to like the idea of the Total Recast because instinctively I really don't.) I'm in the New series fan group you just pointed out.. so I'm curious.. Exactly; the buzz around this particular regeneration episode will be massive and with Polly and Ben as well as the First Doctor it's going to introduce a lot of new series fans to classic series characters - so it does make good commercial sense for BF to tie in with that. And exploring the classic era is always to be strongly encouraged. (I had a horrible thought - surely they wouldn't even think of doing something similar with the Second Doctor and his companions ('Polly and Ben - as seen on TV'). Those audio roles are filled, brilliantly, and in practice Frazer Hines IS the recast audio Second Doctor and a better choice than any other could possibly be.)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2017 12:25:15 GMT
Recasting companions who are still with us and, as far as I'm aware, still willing and able to work, and replacing them with performers who were far from convincing in An Adventure in Space and Time to begin with is where I draw the line, personally, I'm afraid. Replacing William Russell and Carole Ann Ford really rubs me the wrong way pretty severely. Seems both unnecessary and disrespectful. And while I'm not sure how William Russell's health is these days, I've heard no indication of any reasons why Ford wouldn't be able to return as Susan, at the very least. So this just feels very mercenary to me on Big Finish's part.
Bradley with some of the original companions would have been interesting. Bradley with a bunch of faux companions I can personally muster no excitement nor interest in whatsoever. I also don't like the precedent of replacing original cast members who are still with us and willing to play the roles still. I'm sure there are people who are happy with this turn of events, but I find it a very bitter pill to swallow indeed. And one that has me seriously reassessing how much I support Big Finish in future. I always supported Big Finish largely because they supported the original cast members, their loyalty to the original cast in turn bought my loyalty to Big Finish, but I'm really having a hard time with this latest turn of events. I'm sure some will think I'm overreacting, but this really doesn't sit well with me, even more so than I might have expected.
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Post by dasmaniac on Sept 15, 2017 12:26:45 GMT
Wow! David Bradley! Pre Delgado Master!
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
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Post by lidar2 on Sept 15, 2017 12:28:00 GMT
Hopefully this is a success and there are more and they don't restrict it to the original Season 1 line-up. For as long as Peter Purves is willing and able to work with BF I'd be happy for Steven/Vicki and Steven/Sara stories to be done in EA format with Purves voicing the Doctor. However, if BF wanted to use Anneke Wills and Eliot Chapman then I'd be up for Bradley joining them.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2017 12:28:28 GMT
I'm in the New series fan group you just pointed out.. so I'm curious.. Exactly; the buzz around this particular regeneration episode will be massive and with Polly and Ben as well as the First Doctor it's going to introduce a lot of new series fans to classic series characters - so it does make good commercial sense for BF to tie in with that. And exploring the classic era is always to be strongly encouraged. (I had a horrible thought - surely they wouldn't even think of doing something similar with the Second Doctor and his companions ('Polly and Ben - as seen on TV'). Those audio roles are filled, brilliantly, and in practice Frazer Hines IS the recast audio Second Doctor and a better choice than any other could possibly be.) I'm a good example for BF tapping the New series fans. I had zero TV background for doctors 4-8, got introduced to them thru BF. And now here I am
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2017 12:33:42 GMT
Exactly; the buzz around this particular regeneration episode will be massive and with Polly and Ben as well as the First Doctor it's going to introduce a lot of new series fans to classic series characters - so it does make good commercial sense for BF to tie in with that. And exploring the classic era is always to be strongly encouraged. (I had a horrible thought - surely they wouldn't even think of doing something similar with the Second Doctor and his companions ('Polly and Ben - as seen on TV'). Those audio roles are filled, brilliantly, and in practice Frazer Hines IS the recast audio Second Doctor and a better choice than any other could possibly be.) I'm a good example for BF tapping the New series fans. I had zero TV background for doctors 4-8, got introduced to them thru BF. And now here I am Nice and straightforward. Mine was a lot more like a game of ping-pong. Found out about Doctor Who through a rerun of The Daleks, made an effort to watch the show when it was revived a couple years later, got a Ninth Doctor annual that mentioned "the Etra Prime incident" and Dalek invasion of Gallifrey, linked to TARDIS wikia and through that found Big Finish. What a marvellous thing the internet is.
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Post by ollychops on Sept 15, 2017 12:35:18 GMT
With the way that BF are describing him as a "reimagined First Doctor" and they've completely recast the entire main cast, it feels less "canon" and more of an AU kind of thing.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2017 12:43:21 GMT
With the way that BF are describing him as a "reimagined First Doctor" and they've completely recast the entire main cast, it feels less "canon" and more of an AU kind of thing. Now that could be rather interesting.
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Post by Whovitt on Sept 15, 2017 12:56:41 GMT
Who's the other face on the cover - ie the actor, I assume the character is the Master Do we know which of the 4 stories the Master is in? Given that he is on the cover of Volume 1 and The Great White Hurricane is highly likely to be a pure historical (and there are two spread across both box sets as stated in the news article), I would assume that he will be appearing in The Destination Wars, the first story in the first volume
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Post by theother on Sept 15, 2017 12:58:12 GMT
I'm in.
Somehow the fact that it's an entirely new Tardis crew makes this more doable for me. A new First Doctor and an original crew would make me hesitant. (That being said, I think the Third Doctor Adventures with T.T. are quite good but I was wary of those at first too)
To me Doctor Who is and always has been about "Renewal" (Going all the way back to Troughton taking over the role). Whether is is the novels that saw us through the wilderness years. The Bug Finish and other audios (That many still do not consider "Proper Who") Even the New Series is a reinvention of the Classic Series and all involved have bridged the two eras wonderfully.
And one of the gifts of being a fan of Doctor Who right now is that we have so much media to choose from that we can pick and choose what we want to read/watch/listen to!
For me, Worst case scenario with these sets:
My Head Canon makes them into a Divergent Universe TARDIS Crew.
I am grateful to be spoiled for choice.
I understand and respect anyone's choice to buy our not like anything Big Finish offers. I am just so glad that they do offer so many options for us.
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aztec
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,849
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Post by aztec on Sept 15, 2017 13:00:21 GMT
I think the everthing ends speech by the 12th Doctor: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tlsd8TuzWYIs oddly appropriate to this announcement, I personally don't agree with recasts (especially when the 1st Doctor already has many stories released each year, very uneasy as to where this may lead in future years...I hope they never recast The War Doctor) so will not be purchasing this, but I certainly don't question the talent and hard work that has gone into this release, it's certainly interesting to see BF move forward in new directions with risky ideas like this and I hope others will get some enjoyment out of this, hopefully it will bring some more listeners into the BF fold and introduce others to the very underrated 1st Doctor.
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Post by newt5996 on Sept 15, 2017 13:01:34 GMT
I just went ahead and preordered this based on the announcement because I feel a different take could be interesting.
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Post by andrewmcg on Sept 15, 2017 13:04:54 GMT
Woah.
I think I'll wait until the happy thread comes along.
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guyadams
Big Finish Creative Team
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Post by guyadams on Sept 15, 2017 13:22:35 GMT
Oh shush, you're Scottish, you don't know the meaning of the word happy.
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Post by mark687 on Sept 15, 2017 13:28:20 GMT
Oh shush, you're Scottish, you don't know the meaning of the word happy. LOL
Regards
mark687
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