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Post by omega on Jan 25, 2019 10:45:05 GMT
Also: 20 years of the Doctor Who licence The Stage Plays, for adapting material from another medium, and which paved the way for the Lost Stories (which in turn was where Big Finish developed the format that would be used for the Early Adventures) Company or Friends, for embracing the Eighth Doctor as he was represented in other media and having the first story to unambiguously have the comics, novels and audios in the same continuity
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Tony Jones
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Post by Tony Jones on Jan 25, 2019 10:55:00 GMT
Also: 20 years of the Doctor Who licence The Stage Plays, for adapting material from another medium, and which paved the way for the Lost Stories (which in turn was where Big Finish developed the format that would be used for the Early Adventures) Company or Friends, for embracing the Eighth Doctor as he was represented in other media and having the first story to unambiguously have the comics, novels and audios in the same continuity I like the line of connection from Stage Plays -> Lost Stories -> Early Adventures. No idea if it was deliberate or chance though!
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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 Jan 25, 2019 11:10:40 GMT
Hi all, I'm planning an article to mark the 20th anniversary of Big Finish getting the Doctor Who licence. I wondered what are people's memories of important milestones? My list of ideas is (so far): Paul McGann first release Sheridan Smith first release Tom Baker joins Companion Chronicles first release New Who announced Torchwood first release River Song first release Tenth Doctor first release Licence extensions John Hurst first release Derek Jacobi first release It's not very exciting and as I wasn't around at the beginning, I thought I'd ask help. I can get dates for most of this from the website, but I was also after: - Last release on cassette
- First release on download
Really I want anything to make it more interesting and looking back over 20 years rather than focussed on the past few.
All ideas welcome!
Looking at your original list, only 3 of your bullet points are from the first 10 years (not counting license extensions), I would say whatever list you end up with should be evenly balanced across the 2 years. The tendency in anything of this nature is always to give undue weighting to more recent things - look at any best story poll in DWM and recent stories always score disproportionately well, before falling down the rankings in the next poll.
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Post by omega on Jan 25, 2019 11:15:18 GMT
Also: 20 years of the Doctor Who licence The Stage Plays, for adapting material from another medium, and which paved the way for the Lost Stories (which in turn was where Big Finish developed the format that would be used for the Early Adventures) Company or Friends, for embracing the Eighth Doctor as he was represented in other media and having the first story to unambiguously have the comics, novels and audios in the same continuity I like the line of connection from Stage Plays -> Lost Stories -> Early Adventures. No idea if it was deliberate or chance though! In the extras for an early Lost Story David Richardson or someone says they knew they could adapt pre-exisiting material because they’d done the stage plays. We know that the Lost Stories evolved the enhanced audiobook format that is standard for the Early Adventures, and the Early Adventures were designed to feel like soundtracks from the First and Second Doctor eras. Lords of the Red Planet is where that format is first clearly seen, with a full cast (the previous First and Second Doctor Lost Stories tended to have one guest actor and the companion actors performing the other roles) and linking narration for situational context and the more visual aspects of the story. The Stage Plays were released late 2008, and the Early Adventures would have been conceived in seriousness in 2013, so I doubt the Early Adventures would have been a planned eventuality. It sounds like the Lost Stories weren’t a planned eventuality when the Stage Plays were in production. Also for the list, perhaps the debut of Big Finish original incarnations of various Time Lords and Ladies, like the Alex Macqueen Master. The introduction of the Side Steps as well, stories set within the Virgin and DWM continuities which are coming full circle with the Novel Adaptations as well as the upcoming Fourth Doctor comic strip adaptions.
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Tony Jones
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Professor Chronotis
Still rockin' along!
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Post by Tony Jones on Jan 25, 2019 11:15:48 GMT
Hi all, I'm planning an article to mark the 20th anniversary of Big Finish getting the Doctor Who licence. I wondered what are people's memories of important milestones? My list of ideas is (so far): Paul McGann first release Sheridan Smith first release Tom Baker joins Companion Chronicles first release New Who announced Torchwood first release River Song first release Tenth Doctor first release Licence extensions John Hurst first release Derek Jacobi first release It's not very exciting and as I wasn't around at the beginning, I thought I'd ask help. I can get dates for most of this from the website, but I was also after: - Last release on cassette
- First release on download
Really I want anything to make it more interesting and looking back over 20 years rather than focussed on the past few.
All ideas welcome!
Looking at your original list, only 3 of your bullet points are from the first 10 years (not counting license extensions), I would say whatever list you end up with should be evenly balanced across the 2 years. The tendency in anything of this nature is always to give undue weighting to more recent things - look at any best story poll in DWM and recent stories always score disproportionately well, before falling down the rankings in the next poll. Absolutely, hence why I started this thread. I suspect I'll summarise a lot;-)
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Post by omega on Jan 25, 2019 11:22:35 GMT
The 2012 specials bundle. It was the first time box sets for high profile releases had been done and started the Eighth Doctor’s ongoing story in box sets, which is halfway through the third story arc at the moment. Box sets had been used for other releases already, like Jago & Litefoot, but UNIT Dominion and Dark Eyes were the first really big ones to get attention, helped by the cheap prices. Dark Eyes got enough hype that it crashed the website! Also in that bundle were the adaptation of Love and War, which lead to the well received but not adequately sold Novel Adaptions and the two Voyage releases with Jago and Litefoot joining the Sixth Doctor in the TARDIS for a couple of adventures.
The Companion Chronicles. It was the first time Big Finish had been able to use Doctors 1-4 in performed media and it’s a range that is still going strong eleven and a half years since it started. It’s the first time Big Finish really shook up the presentation style from regular audio drama to first person perspective from the POV of the companions, giving us great insight into how they thought of the world around the, the adventures they had and how they felt about the Doctor and the other companions. It also proved a range of variety, giving us clever, intimate and innovative stories.
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Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
Still rockin' along!
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Post by Tony Jones on Jan 25, 2019 11:24:58 GMT
The 2012 specials bundle. It was the first time box sets for high profile releases had been done and started the Eighth Doctor’s ongoing story in box sets, which is halfway through the third story arc at the moment. Box sets had been used for other releases already, like Jago & Litefoot, but UNIT Dominion and Dark Eyes were the first really big ones to get attention, helped by the cheap prices. Dark Eyes got enough hype that it crashed the website! Also in that bundle were the adaptation of Love and War, which lead to the well received but not adequately sold Novel Adaptions and the two Voyage releases with Jago and Litefoot joining the Sixth Doctor in the TARDIS for a couple of adventures. I definitely want the Dark Eyes crashes website story - well remembered, I had completely forgotten!
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Post by omega on Jan 25, 2019 11:30:25 GMT
The 2012 specials bundle. It was the first time box sets for high profile releases had been done and started the Eighth Doctor’s ongoing story in box sets, which is halfway through the third story arc at the moment. Box sets had been used for other releases already, like Jago & Litefoot, but UNIT Dominion and Dark Eyes were the first really big ones to get attention, helped by the cheap prices. Dark Eyes got enough hype that it crashed the website! Also in that bundle were the adaptation of Love and War, which lead to the well received but not adequately sold Novel Adaptions and the two Voyage releases with Jago and Litefoot joining the Sixth Doctor in the TARDIS for a couple of adventures. I definitely want the Dark Eyes crashes website story - well remembered, I had completely forgotten! The resolution to the highly emotional finale of the Eighth Doctor Adventures, and at a very attractive price? No wonder it attracted so much interest people brought the server down trying to download it! Dark Eyes also won an award, which makes it even more notable in Big Finish’s history.
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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 Jan 25, 2019 11:43:51 GMT
Sixie meets the Brig in Lanyon Moor
(Yes, I know, but it seemed like a big deal at the time)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2019 12:45:53 GMT
I definitely would like the announcement of The Tenth Doctor Adventures Volume 1 to be touched upon, as well as UNIT: Extinction being the first ever New Series release.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2019 18:48:54 GMT
I know the last cassette release was The Mutant Phase and I believe the first download release was The Condemned. I know it happened sometime in 2008. Does anyone still have the cassettes? Pics? Me! I would be really interested in seeing them Best I can do...
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Jan 25, 2019 21:21:27 GMT
Does anyone still have the cassettes? Pics? Me! I would be really interested in seeing them Best I can do... WOW, they look awesome ! thanks . You have all 15! May I ask do they have all the info printed inside much like the cds?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2019 21:50:28 GMT
WOW, they look awesome ! thanks . You have all 15! May I ask do they have all the info printed inside much like the cds? Yes, they all have the info on the inside of the inlay card.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2019 22:59:07 GMT
Nice to see the cassettes by the way - I have the BBC Pertwee ones (Paradise and Ghosts) but should have bought Phantasmagoria when I saw it in Oxfam a few years back.
Milestones - well for me it was firstly McGann getting on-board. The chance to experience his Doctor again (Storm Warning persuaded me that this was not mere afternoon Radio Play stuff). Following that was Tom Bakers first series. Two events that got me looking to the website where i discovered the first 50 MR on £2.99 DL about 5 years ago. That opened the floodgates so three distinct stages for me whereby I was a very occasional listener for 15 years.
For the most part, releases and ranges, it was a case of occasionally checking out the releases and new ranges in DWM and thinking 'I can't afford to get into this stuff!!'
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Jan 25, 2019 23:26:44 GMT
Perhaps the first Big Finish mention of Torchwood in their adaptation of Damaged Goods is worthy of mention.
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Post by eric009 on Jan 26, 2019 0:50:13 GMT
how about the fact all the hard work BF put in, DOCTOR WHO came back on TV 2005
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Post by fantasticalice on Jan 27, 2019 10:06:10 GMT
The return of Janet Fielding was a huge coup. And that of course greased the wheels for the amazing releaseas she has been on with Sarah, Mark, Matthew, and now Jon Culshaw.
Also "Oh No It Isn't" should be mentioned in any retrospective and you should listen to it if u havent yet.
I would also say the War Master series and BF originals are also major milestones.
The War Master is such a stark departure from our traditional hero tales.
I also find myself hopeful for a Box O Beevers.
But I digress.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2019 10:12:04 GMT
Does anyone still have the cassettes? Pics? Me! I would be really interested in seeing them Best I can do... "So treasured were these great archives that they were guarded, without fail, by the most deadliest and decorated Dalek officers the Empire could afford to spare." Thanks for sharing this. It's fascinating to see how technology's rolled on in such a short amount of time.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2019 13:25:51 GMT
Thanks for sharing this. It's fascinating to see how technology's rolled on in such a short amount of time. Yeah, and unfortunately today's download/streaming generation won't be able to share their collection the same way in 20 years time!
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Post by shallacatop on Jan 27, 2019 19:29:47 GMT
Dark Eyes and The Night of the Doctor are the two that came to my mind straight away.
Dark Eyes is probably the first real high profile release from Big Finish. It was a brand new jumping on point and far cheaper than any other Doctor Who releases, which made it instantly more accessible to new fans. The effort went in to give Paul McGann a new image and it was something he’d been personally involved in and promoted. The fact it continued from the Lucie stories is a bonus to the fans who’d been listening prior. It was very well promoted too. It almost came across as an official spin-off of sorts, something that put Big Finish beyond any perceptions of being purely niche and fannish.
Then The Night of the Doctor came along out of nowhere and reinforced all of the above. Steven Moffat put it best: “Recently, on TV, we saw how the Paul McGann Doctor died - now it's time to find out how he lived.” It’s the best promotion Big Finish could’ve gotten. They were involved in the anniversary celebrations through this minisode, which in itself is a significant milestone in the history of Doctor Who. It didn’t mark the end of the association either, with the first UNIT set being released at the same time as the two leads were on telly, the first River set released straight after The Husbands of River Song (and being set around the time of that story too!) and most recently the First Doctor Adventures and Twice Upon a Time.
As an aside, I’d say Classic Doctors, New Monsters is a bit of a milestone that’s rather overlooked. It combines the two eras of the televised show together in two accessible sets that cover the Doctors Big Finish have. I’d recommend them to new fans before anything else, I think. To be honest, I think I’d take the risk and reduce the price of them both permanently as a proper jumping on point. Or bundle them with volume one of the War and Tenth Doctor sets.
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