I think it's just happenstance. If they had been done in place of... for example Cold Fusion and Original Sin then people would be asking now 'why didn't they do them - one's a Multi-Doctor story and the other a companion introduction story'.
By the virtue of them not doing all the landmark ones, there are some which make people wonder why they weren't done; but there probably is no actual specific reason.
I'm wondering if the reputation of the Virgin books has spoken louder than their success over the years, i.e perhaps some, if not most of the Virgin books fanbase is still those who read the books when they first came out, perhaps bolstered by the odd curious reader who bought the books second hand (or read the stories in a more morally dubious fashion...)...I've seen a lot of discussion about the wilderness years online, but even so it seems to be a niche topic even amongst Who fans and with the books long out of print (and taking Who in very different directions to the TV series) perhaps people were just daunted by, or not interested in new continuity, and not all those who read the books would be interested in buying an altered version of the story a second time, perhaps the popularity of the novels has been built up because we all see things from within a online fandom bubble, I often come across fans online who weren't aware of the audio or comic adventures.
I was reading old threads on Gallireybase recently and some of the spoilerhounds/ EDA authors pointed out how small total sales were (though it wasn't clear if this was just UK, or internationally and total sales wouldn't necessarily reflect the size of a print run) from memory (can't remember the thread titles) the range seemed to be anywhere from 30,000 sales at the highest to 4,000 at the lowest, and it sounds like the New Series tie in books didn't fare all that better even with the series ongoing at the time, no idea if those figures are accurate (indeed I may have mis-remembered some of the numbers) but perhaps they have reflected on the adaptations, maybe they would have been more successful had the range stated a few years ago.
I think Doctor Who was less well-known when the Virgin books came out, so wouldn't surprise me if the total circulation was small relative to some other fiction of the time.
I don't know how well the New Series books are selling, I have to say I've not purchased or been interested in most of them, myself.
"You're all irresponsible fools!" Doctor: "But we're very experienced irresponsible fools." _____________________________________
- I'm always all right. - Is all right special Time Lord code for really not all right at all?
I'm wondering if the reputation of the Virgin books has spoken louder than their success over the years, i.e perhaps some, if not most of the Virgin books fanbase is still those who read the books when they first came out, perhaps bolstered by the odd curious reader who bought the books second hand (or read the stories in a more morally dubious fashion...)...I've seen a lot of discussion about the wilderness years online, but even so it seems to be a niche topic even amongst Who fans and with the books long out of print (and taking Who in very different directions to the TV series) perhaps people were just daunted by, or not interested in new continuity, and not all those who read the books would be interested in buying an altered version of the story a second time, perhaps the popularity of the novels has been built up because we all see things from within a online fandom bubble, I often come across fans online who weren't aware of the audio or comic adventures.
I was reading old threads on Gallireybase recently and some of the spoilerhounds/ EDA authors pointed out how small total sales were (though it wasn't clear if this was just UK, or internationally and total sales wouldn't necessarily reflect the size of a print run) from memory (can't remember the thread titles) the range seemed to be anywhere from 30,000 sales at the highest to 4,000 at the lowest, and it sounds like the New Series tie in books didn't fare all that better even with the series ongoing at the time, no idea if those figures are accurate (indeed I may have mis-remembered some of the numbers) but perhaps they have reflected on the adaptations, maybe they would have been more successful had the range stated a few years ago.
The Virgin books were darn near impossible to find in Northern Ontario where I was living when they first came out. I can't remember ever seeing the stand alone Bernice Summerfield books until I heard about them on the old forum. The EDA and PDA books were a little easier to get, though by that time Amazon was getting started so finding hard to get series was easier as the local book shop was no longer needed.
Drinking the world's coffee supply one cup at a time.
Incidentally, I'd like to see Lungbarrow or Campaign adapted. Mortimore has been pushing for someone to license it for a while. It's a story that's an experience like no other.
Seconded on both counts. Actually, those are two of the best Doctor Who stories in any medium in my opinion.
Incidentally, I'd like to see Lungbarrow or Campaign adapted. Mortimore has been pushing for someone to license it for a while. It's a story that's an experience like no other.
Seconded on both counts. Actually, those are two of the best Doctor Who stories in any medium in my opinion.
How on Earth would one go about adapting Campaign?
Seconded on both counts. Actually, those are two of the best Doctor Who stories in any medium in my opinion.
How on Earth would one go about adapting Campaign?
A dramatic reading probably. You wouldn't have any of the original cast though sadly and even Geoffrey Bayldon (who was great as the First Doctor, or alternative First Doctor at least) has now sadly past so it is unlikely to be made I guess. Saying that, they could just find some good actors to play the roles, it is an alternative 'verse in a way, though it should be "canonised" (i.e. by having an offically licensed release of some kind).
Post by charlesuirdhein on Jun 21, 2017 22:35:34 GMT
As an aside, the Virgin novels are vastly overblown in their reputation by their fans, and I'm not talking about quality here now. I grew up in Ireland, just next door, and it was nigh impossible to get them even at their height (Virgin produced nine Dredd novels that took me ages to collect, and that was only nine!). So be aware those who were there and collected them and enjoyed them, it was still a niche of a niche of a niche and I'm not surprised the sales of the audio versions were low, however good the source material might have been.
How on Earth would one go about adapting Campaign?
A dramatic reading probably. You wouldn't have any of the original cast though sadly and even Geoffrey Bayldon (who was great as the First Doctor, or alternative First Doctor at least) has now sadly past so it is unlikely to be made I guess. Saying that, they could just find some good actors to play the roles, it is an alternative 'verse in a way, though it should be "canonised" (i.e. by having an offically licensed release of some kind).
The tricky bit would be when everything goes TV Comic. It'd be interesting to hear what exactly that sounds like.
As an aside, the Virgin novels are vastly overblown in their reputation by their fans, and I'm not talking about quality here now. I grew up in Ireland, just next door, and it was nigh impossible to get them even at their height (Virgin produced nine Dredd novels that took me ages to collect, and that was only nine!). So be aware those who were there and collected them and enjoyed them, it was still a niche of a niche of a niche and I'm not surprised the sales of the audio versions were low, however good the source material might have been.
I think that's one of the greatest pities of the novels in general, there was never an attempt at a mass reprint and I say that as someone who came to the party looong after it was over and the NSAs were in full swing. I wouldn't even know about the VNA range if it hadn't been for the eBooks on the classic series website; Nightshade, Lungbarrow and Human Nature were my first insights into that strangely locked-off period.
It was maddening as a kid, really enjoying all these stories and discovering that tracking down an affordable copy of debut stories and continuations was nothing short of a nightmare. Kind of astonishing to walk into a bookshop nowadays and find a hardback cover of Doctor Who and the Crusaders by the dozen when you've spent years tracking down old Target novelisations, VNAs, EDAs and PDAs. I only got The Dying Days as a gift, god knows how much it actually cost to get and I've still yet to find an affordable copy of Lungbarrow or The Also People.
Although, I dunno... From the sounds of it, maybe I'm taking part in a great tradition of scrounging for Who.
As an aside, the Virgin novels are vastly overblown in their reputation by their fans, and I'm not talking about quality here now. I grew up in Ireland, just next door, and it was nigh impossible to get them even at their height (Virgin produced nine Dredd novels that took me ages to collect, and that was only nine!). So be aware those who were there and collected them and enjoyed them, it was still a niche of a niche of a niche and I'm not surprised the sales of the audio versions were low, however good the source material might have been.
Oddly here in Northern England they were common, I took loads of them out from the library. Maybe this is where they all ended up? The only rare ones were some of the later ones I seem to recall. I now have all of them as Ebooks so all is good (even though I am still not used to reading novels on screens...).
As an aside, the Virgin novels are vastly overblown in their reputation by their fans, and I'm not talking about quality here now. I grew up in Ireland, just next door, and it was nigh impossible to get them even at their height (Virgin produced nine Dredd novels that took me ages to collect, and that was only nine!). So be aware those who were there and collected them and enjoyed them, it was still a niche of a niche of a niche and I'm not surprised the sales of the audio versions were low, however good the source material might have been.
I think that's one of the greatest pities of the novels in general, there was never an attempt at a mass reprint and I say that as someone who came to the party looong after it was over and the NSAs were in full swing. I wouldn't even know about the VNA range if it hadn't been for the eBooks on the classic series website; Nightshade, Lungbarrow and Human Nature were my first insights into that strangely locked-off period.
It was maddening as a kid, really enjoying all these stories and discovering that tracking down an affordable copy of debut stories and continuations was nothing short of a nightmare. Kind of astonishing to walk into a bookshop nowadays and find a hardback cover of Doctor Who and the Crusaders by the dozen when you've spent years tracking down old Target novelisations, VNAs, EDAs and PDAs. I only got The Dying Days as a gift, god knows how much it actually cost to get and I've still yet to find an affordable copy of Lungbarrow or The Also People.
Although, I dunno... From the sounds of it, maybe I'm taking part in a great tradition of scrounging for Who.
And those nine Dredd novels are back as ebooks, so it can be done!
As an aside, the Virgin novels are vastly overblown in their reputation by their fans, and I'm not talking about quality here now. I grew up in Ireland, just next door, and it was nigh impossible to get them even at their height (Virgin produced nine Dredd novels that took me ages to collect, and that was only nine!). So be aware those who were there and collected them and enjoyed them, it was still a niche of a niche of a niche and I'm not surprised the sales of the audio versions were low, however good the source material might have been.
Oddly here in Northern England they were common, I took loads of them out from the library. Maybe this is where they all ended up? The only rare ones were some of the later ones I seem to recall. I now have all of them as Ebooks so all is good (even though I am still not used to reading novels on screens...).
They probably DID all end up there! I did a job in Manchester a while ago and found a rake of them in a secondhand shop, the shop keeper also insisted that VHS was better than DVD and tried to get me to buy a slew of Who on VHS.
And those nine Dredd novels are back as ebooks, so it can be done!
Exactly! I'm sure there'd be those of us who'd snatch up a whole bunch of them in a Humble Bundle or something similar if only to see what all the fuss was about.
As an aside, the Virgin novels are vastly overblown in their reputation by their fans, and I'm not talking about quality here now. I grew up in Ireland, just next door, and it was nigh impossible to get them even at their height (Virgin produced nine Dredd novels that took me ages to collect, and that was only nine!). So be aware those who were there and collected them and enjoyed them, it was still a niche of a niche of a niche and I'm not surprised the sales of the audio versions were low, however good the source material might have been.
The thing is, you don't have to have read the novels to enjoy the audio story version. I've read some but not all of the Virgin novels. I've bought all the novel adaptations and enjoyed even the ones for which I've never read the book.
You don't need to have read the book to enjoy the audio adaptation.
"You're all irresponsible fools!" Doctor: "But we're very experienced irresponsible fools." _____________________________________
- I'm always all right. - Is all right special Time Lord code for really not all right at all?
A dramatic reading probably. You wouldn't have any of the original cast though sadly and even Geoffrey Bayldon (who was great as the First Doctor, or alternative First Doctor at least) has now sadly past so it is unlikely to be made I guess. Saying that, they could just find some good actors to play the roles, it is an alternative 'verse in a way, though it should be "canonised" (i.e. by having an offically licensed release of some kind).
The tricky bit would be when everything goes TV Comic. It'd be interesting to hear what exactly that sounds like.
I was referring less to the cast and more things like that. There are pages which utilize some very odd formatting and also lots of subtleties that couldn't be captured in audio. I like Campaign, but it's not adaptable.
As an aside, the Virgin novels are vastly overblown in their reputation by their fans, and I'm not talking about quality here now. I grew up in Ireland, just next door, and it was nigh impossible to get them even at their height (Virgin produced nine Dredd novels that took me ages to collect, and that was only nine!). So be aware those who were there and collected them and enjoyed them, it was still a niche of a niche of a niche and I'm not surprised the sales of the audio versions were low, however good the source material might have been.
The thing is, you don't have to have read the novels to enjoy the audio story version. I've read some but not all of the Virgin novels. I've bought all the novel adaptations and enjoyed even the ones for which I've never read the book.
You don't need to have read the book to enjoy the audio adaptation.
True, very true. I was merely pondering the notion that a so-called ready market for them would be actually a lot smaller than fans think. Of course we fans usually think that our object of fandom is a lot bigger when we're on the inside. Very Tardisy.
As an aside, the Virgin novels are vastly overblown in their reputation by their fans, and I'm not talking about quality here now. I grew up in Ireland, just next door, and it was nigh impossible to get them even at their height (Virgin produced nine Dredd novels that took me ages to collect, and that was only nine!). So be aware those who were there and collected them and enjoyed them, it was still a niche of a niche of a niche and I'm not surprised the sales of the audio versions were low, however good the source material might have been.
The thing is, you don't have to have read the novels to enjoy the audio story version. I've read some but not all of the Virgin novels. I've bought all the novel adaptations and enjoyed even the ones for which I've never read the book.
You don't need to have read the book to enjoy the audio adaptation.
Yep, I haven't read any of the the novels that were adapted, and I've enjoyed all those that I've heard. Of course, I've enjoyed some more than others, but they all had something in the story that grabbed me. I often thought that those who have read those novels might not want to purchase the audios. They might want to save their Big Finish money for a story that was completely new to them.
The thing is, you don't have to have read the novels to enjoy the audio story version. I've read some but not all of the Virgin novels. I've bought all the novel adaptations and enjoyed even the ones for which I've never read the book.
You don't need to have read the book to enjoy the audio adaptation.
Yep, I haven't read any of the the novels that were adapted, and I've enjoyed all those that I've heard. Of course, I've enjoyed some more than others, but they all had something in the story that grabbed me. I often thought that those who have read those novels might not want to purchase the audios. They might want to save their Big Finish money for a story that was completely new to them.
Not necessarily. I was interested to see how Big Finish would adapt the ones I had read.
"You're all irresponsible fools!" Doctor: "But we're very experienced irresponsible fools." _____________________________________
- I'm always all right. - Is all right special Time Lord code for really not all right at all?
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