Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
Still rockin' along!
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Post by Tony Jones on Aug 23, 2019 18:21:01 GMT
I found out today that 2020 is 70 years since George Orwell passed away. (Weirdly on my head only a few years after HG Wells, yet vastly separated in terms of when they were writing). This means the copyright to his works comes available as I understand it. This led me to wonder if we might get a Big Finish version of 1984 (not sure what else of his would immediately appeal, except perhaps Animal Farm).
Thoughts? I think Nick B or Guy A could do a decent job on a script for this.
This is entirely speculation on my part, I have no inside information!
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Post by Ian McArdell on Aug 23, 2019 21:33:10 GMT
Of course, Christopher Eccleston headlined a Radio 4 adaptation in 2013 (not that I've heard it!) That makes three Doctors to have played Winston Smith - Eccleston, Troughton & Cushing. Who do you fancy of the BF regulars? Paul McGann perhaps..?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2019 21:35:47 GMT
First thought : yes please!
Second thought : Faithful adaptation or modern day retelling? To my surprise I'd happily veer towards the latter more than the former.
Third thought : John Hurt would have made a marvellous O'brien. And it would have been a nice nod to the movie (actually four Doctors Ian... 😉)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2019 21:37:52 GMT
Of course, Christopher Eccleston headlined a Radio 4 adaptation in 2013 (not that I've heard it!) That makes three Doctors to have played Winston Smith - Eccleston, Troughton & Cushing. Who do you fancy of the BF regulars? Paul McGann perhaps..? Yes that was fantastic. Can't imagine it being bettered by BF to be honest.
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Post by muckypup on Aug 23, 2019 21:44:21 GMT
First thought here was no thank you......
I have torturous memories of having to read it at school, on having a trip to local pictures to watch the film, and he’s even tried to listen to the r4 version.....but as yet nothing has made me like it....
So second thoughts if anyone can change my mind BF could.......so have a stab by all means.......
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2019 22:21:47 GMT
Of course, Christopher Eccleston headlined a Radio 4 adaptation in 2013 (not that I've heard it!) That makes three Doctors to have played Winston Smith - Eccleston, Troughton & Cushing. Who do you fancy of the BF regulars? Paul McGann perhaps..? John Hurt missing there! Winston has also been played by a Bond in David Niven. I don't know what the chances of BF doing it would be though when the copyright opens up everyone and their granny will be doing Orwell, just as all the audio companies were tripping over themselves to do M.R. James and H.G. Wells in the past decades. A mini-Orwell range like the Wells one, that was ostensibly part of the BF Classics range but kinda felt like it's own mini range, would be great. It wouldn't be as linear or lengethy as the Wells mini-range but why would Orwell be straight forward! 1984 and Animal Farm would be obvious but a BF A Clergyman's Daughter , one of the most odd, offbeat novels from a major literary figure would be terrific. I've no idea how that would work on audio but it'd be fascinating to hear. As to casting, I dunno. Smith is kinda the everyman breaking free, there are plenty of talents BF could use for it but I think a big name would be required to sell it as a new version in the sea of existing ones (and ones to come when the copyright is open). To me, O'Brien would be more interesting to cast as Winston may be our eyes into 1984 but it's through O'Brien we see the true horrors. I'd want Roger Allam as O'Brien. I've seen and heard most versions and I've yet to see a Smith/O'Brien pairing better than Peter Cushing and Andre Morell. There's a reason they both became major stars in UK film after their TV version of 1984 in the early 50s which we're lucky enough to still have. Arguably without that making them truly big names, especially Cushing, (and Nigel Kneale a bankable writer, adapting the book) then we may not have gotten Hammer Horror. It's no co-incidence they were reunited as Holmes and Watson in Hound Of The Baskervilles a few years later and a bank manager and robber in one of the best sleeper movies of the 60s in Cash On Demand. Wonderful pairing. Scareligious perhaps but to me Cushing and Morell had better chemistry than Cushing and Lee....to be even more sacreligious, I don't think the John Hurt film is anywhere near as definitive as some think and it wouldn't make my top 20 Hurt performances. Richard Burton is good though, even at the tail end of his battle with the booze he musters up something quite chilling. It also has Gregor Fisher - Rab C Nesbitt himself - as Smith's pal which ALWAYS takes me out of the movie
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Post by Digi on Aug 24, 2019 13:50:03 GMT
I love 1984. Like pretty much everyone else, I was 'forced' to read it in high school, but I reacted the opposite way that I did to most 'forced' reading - rather than reject and dislike, I fell in love. Where the teacher only wanted us to read a chapter or several chapters a day and then go over that, I skipped ahead and finished the whole book in a day or two.
I'd be all over a Big Finish adaptation; my only concern would be how to pack all that goodness into a 2 or 3 hour audio. I wouldn't want anything cut for time!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2019 21:31:21 GMT
I used to have the Rudolf Cartier/Peter Cushing BBC production and the John Hurt adaptations on VHS. As my English Teacher used to say - not the stuff to read if you are feeling a bit down. Thinking of the John Hurt version though... did he have a fancy fob watch by any chance? One could imagine that it is the War Doctor with his true identity hidden ala Human Nature. Who is O'Brien? One could even imagine Burton as an iteration of the War Master.... Fantasy Head Canon and all that, but then again where we have comic books with Matt Smiths Doctor meeting the ST:TNG crew its 'almost' plausible.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2019 22:36:49 GMT
I love 1984. Like pretty much everyone else, I was 'forced' to read it in high school, but I reacted the opposite way that I did to most 'forced' reading - rather than reject and dislike, I fell in love. Where the teacher only wanted us to read a chapter or several chapters a day and then go over that, I skipped ahead and finished the whole book in a day or two. I'd be all over a Big Finish adaptation; my only concern would be how to pack all that goodness into a 2 or 3 hour audio. I wouldn't want anything cut for time! It (Nineteen Eighty Four) wasn't on our syllabus but I had the same experience with The Great Gatsby in 3rd year when I was 14 or 15. It seemed to be a chore to all my pals but it blew my mind and I was writing up essays the teacher wasn't even asking for. When I was a kid I spent a LOT of time reading and my library would let you take only 1 book but 5 if you took British classics, so by the time I was in secondary school I'd read most of the "canon" of classics from Dickens to Stephenson, Wells, Verne and Doyle. I remember thinking it was rather odd having to read Treasure Island in school in first year (age 12-ish) as I'd read that years earlier and it was really "kiddy" stuff by then and I wanted to move onto something more advanced. I was - unbelievably to most here I imagine - even more obnoxious as a teen than I am now. This ridiculous 12 year old thinking he was too good for Treasure Island.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2019 22:39:57 GMT
I used to have the Rudolf Cartier/Peter Cushing BBC production and the John Hurt adaptations on VHS. As my English Teacher used to say - not the stuff to read if you are feeling a bit down. Thinking of the John Hurt version though... did he have a fancy fob watch by any chance? One could imagine that it is the War Doctor with his true identity hidden ala Human Nature. Who is O'Brien? One could even imagine Burton as an iteration of the War Master.... Fantasy Head Canon and all that, but then again where we have comic books with Matt Smiths Doctor meeting the ST:TNG crew its 'almost' plausible. That's just fannish nonsense Daver.....O'Brien is clearly The War Chief!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2019 0:34:34 GMT
I used to have the Rudolf Cartier/Peter Cushing BBC production and the John Hurt adaptations on VHS. As my English Teacher used to say - not the stuff to read if you are feeling a bit down. Thinking of the John Hurt version though... did he have a fancy fob watch by any chance? One could imagine that it is the War Doctor with his true identity hidden ala Human Nature. Who is O'Brien? One could even imagine Burton as an iteration of the War Master.... Fantasy Head Canon and all that, but then again where we have comic books with Matt Smiths Doctor meeting the ST:TNG crew its 'almost' plausible. That's just fannish nonsense Daver.....O'Brien is clearly The War Chief! That deserves a double 'like'. And the War Chief is potentially .... ohh my head hurts!
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shutupbanks
Castellan
There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.
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Post by shutupbanks on Aug 25, 2019 6:19:35 GMT
I used to have the Rudolf Cartier/Peter Cushing BBC production and the John Hurt adaptations on VHS. As my English Teacher used to say - not the stuff to read if you are feeling a bit down. Thinking of the John Hurt version though... did he have a fancy fob watch by any chance? One could imagine that it is the War Doctor with his true identity hidden ala Human Nature. Who is O'Brien? One could even imagine Burton as an iteration of the War Master.... Fantasy Head Canon and all that, but then again where we have comic books with Matt Smiths Doctor meeting the ST:TNG crew its 'almost' plausible. That's just fannish nonsense Daver.....O'Brien is clearly The War Chief! No wonder they keep having transporter accidents on the Enterprise: (War) Chief O’Brien is too busy transporting soldiers between zones to monitor away missions properly. Fortunately, he’s probably been able to stop people putting 2 and 2 together...
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Post by BHTvsTFC on Aug 25, 2019 9:01:22 GMT
I'd be all over a Big Finish adaptation; my only concern would be how to pack all that goodness into a 2 or 3 hour audio. I wouldn't want anything cut for time! I always wanted John Hurt to have another go at it, after reading the book a few years ago. It felt like it was written for him to play Winston when I read it and when I saw the movie I felt a little short changed by it and hoped that Big Finish might take on the mantle of remaking it as a three or four CD special. I would have given my back teeth for Hurt just to have read the book within a book that occupies a chapter. You could have gotten away with a lot of Big Finish regulars in other roles as well. Beth Chalmers, as overused as she is, would have made an excellent Julia, David Warner could have played O'Brien and Nick Briggs the voice of Big Brother! Alas, not to be
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Post by number13 on Aug 25, 2019 10:25:59 GMT
I love 1984. Like pretty much everyone else, I was 'forced' to read it in high school, but I reacted the opposite way that I did to most 'forced' reading - rather than reject and dislike, I fell in love. Where the teacher only wanted us to read a chapter or several chapters a day and then go over that, I skipped ahead and finished the whole book in a day or two. I'd be all over a Big Finish adaptation; my only concern would be how to pack all that goodness into a 2 or 3 hour audio. I wouldn't want anything cut for time! It (Nineteen Eighty Four) wasn't on our syllabus but I had the same experience with The Great Gatsby in 3rd year when I was 14 or 15. It seemed to be a chore to all my pals but it blew my mind and I was writing up essays the teacher wasn't even asking for. When I was a kid I spent a LOT of time reading and my library would let you take only 1 book but 5 if you took British classics, so by the time I was in secondary school I'd read most of the "canon" of classics from Dickens to Stephenson, Wells, Verne and Doyle. I remember thinking it was rather odd having to read Treasure Island in school in first year (age 12-ish) as I'd read that years earlier and it was really "kiddy" stuff by then and I wanted to move onto something more advanced. I was - unbelievably to most here I imagine - even more obnoxious as a teen than I am now. This ridiculous 12 year old thinking he was too good for Treasure Island. Too good for Treasure Island, says you? By the Powers! There be no soul alive too evil for that accursed anchorage! (Ar-harr, etc.! ) (My weekend listening just chose itself, it's sunny and hot, so a pefect time to be with Long Tom Silver on the BigFinish Main!) You're not alone Davy, my early reading took me to random classic works and when you think about it, half of them would be seen as totally unsuitable for children to read - if they weren't Classics. Odd, isn't it? RLS, Scott, Wells and Doyle were my favourites. Dickens' novels bored me stiff then and now - over-rated 'soap' dramas imo (oh the heresy!) - and I never really got on with Verne either - perhaps if I had read him before Wells? But it might have been the translations.
And I discovered the concept of 'spoilers' through the classics too! Purely because of availability, I read 'The Return of Sherlock Holmes' before 'The Memoir'... (OK it wasn't intended as a cliff-hanger, but as things turned out, it's a good one!)
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Post by TinDogPodcast on Sept 13, 2019 12:39:49 GMT
Can we wait until we arnt living in Airstrip one for real?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2019 17:04:27 GMT
Dorian Lynskey's book The Ministry of Truth is great. All about 1984, its conception & legacy.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2019 18:08:50 GMT
I already have it (and quite a few others on offer) but 1984 is part of a back to school sale for Audible members this week - until Sunday morning. All titles £3 One thing i did pick up earlier in the week was the HG Wells collection. 27 hours worth for £3 and read by David Tennant & Alexander Vlahos amongst others. The Monster Collection is also a steal at 30 hours with three unabridged readings of Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde & Dracula, although I got this a while back also. Stephen Thorne, Martin Jarvis, John Culshaw & Michael Jayston are amongst the many Who alumni featured in the sale items. Alas most of what appeals to me I already have bar the aforementioned. Edit: There is also the complete short stories of JG Ballard at 63 hours and 98 stories, but navigation will no doubt be a pain on the app.
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