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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Dec 20, 2020 7:08:24 GMT
This Weeks Live Link www.bigfinish.com/podcasts/v/2020-12-20-christmas-eccleston1st brief Interview with CE he seemed to have enjoyed Recording also promoting The Big Issue (magazine that supports the Homeless ) From the E-Mails Again stating that Individual pre-orders and Bundles will be the way forward for long term Purchases When Live this Weeks RAN Offer (25% Off CD/DL) is DW MR 226 Shadow Planet/World's Apart Regards mark687 Oh.. and can someone please timestamp when Mr E is being interviewed please?
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Post by theillusiveman on Dec 20, 2020 7:26:09 GMT
This Weeks Live Link www.bigfinish.com/podcasts/v/2020-12-20-christmas-eccleston1st brief Interview with CE he seemed to have enjoyed Recording also promoting The Big Issue (magazine that supports the Homeless ) From the E-Mails Again stating that Individual pre-orders and Bundles will be the way forward for long term Purchases When Live this Weeks RAN Offer (25% Off CD/DL) is DW MR 226 Shadow Planet/World's Apart Regards mark687 Oh.. and can someone please timestamp when Mr E is being interviewed please? @22:00mins in
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Post by mark687 on Dec 24, 2020 17:03:52 GMT
This Weeks very early Podcast Live Link www.bigfinish.com/podcasts/v/2020-12-27-paul-spragg-winnerPreview Interview for Paul Spragg ST Free Speech From the E-Mails A critique of BFs own Male Companions No news yet on any future developments for Jenny There will be varying number of Episodes for releases going forward (Nick controversially prefers 3 Part Releases When Live (on Sunday) this Weeks RAN Offer (25% off CD/DL) will be: DW MR NO 202 The Warehouse Regards mark687
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Post by grinch on Dec 24, 2020 18:06:37 GMT
To be honest, I somewhat agree with Nicholas Briggs’s opinion as well on three parters. Can make for more often than not tighter narratives.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2020 18:58:59 GMT
To be honest, I somewhat agree with Nicholas Briggs’s opinion as well on three parters. Can make for more often than not tighter narratives. Aren't most writers told that their stories need to have a beginning, a middle, and an end? Seems to me that suits three part stories very well.
There was some three part stories in the MR a few years ago, backed with a (sort of) tied-in single episode. I always liked them.
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dorney
Big Finish Creative Team
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Post by dorney on Dec 24, 2020 19:24:53 GMT
To be honest, I somewhat agree with Nicholas Briggs’s opinion as well on three parters. Can make for more often than not tighter narratives. Aren't most writers told that their stories need to have a beginning, a middle, and an end? Seems to me that suits three part stories very well.
I know why you’d think that, but it kind of doesn’t. That’s not to say you can’t tell a good story at that length... but a three act structure (loosely defined as beginning, middle and end) doesn’t fit a three parter as naturally as you’d think. Because in the classical three act structure, act two is twice the length of acts one and three. The way a four parter can hit its act breaks and midpoint at the cliffhangers leads to an incredibly strong structure. You have to adjust that a bit and put your act breaks in the middle of episodes basically.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2020 19:30:19 GMT
I have to be honest and say I prefer the four-parters, probably because they invoke the spirit of the classic series. If writers at BF have difficulties with a four-parter, then chances are they'll be the same difficulties experienced by writers of the classic series - and those challenges made the majority of the stories what they were. I like when a plot can go wandering down a blind alley; I like it when the story can take a rest a let the characters breathe and get to know each other a bit more. Also, I never really felt that the four-parters had any obvious padding (some moments from the Pertwee era excepted perhaps), and I never felt that stories like Dragonfire or Survival were better that Curse of Fenric or Paradise Towers because of their length. In actual fact, I wish there were more six-parters, and apparently they're a swine to write!
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Post by masterdoctor on Dec 24, 2020 19:33:31 GMT
I am totally on board for whatever length Big Finish feels fits the stories they want to tell. And from the small things I’ve heard from doing my podcast, length has become less set in stone with no sets and is allowing more creative freedom.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2020 20:06:25 GMT
I have to be honest and say I prefer the four-parters, probably because they invoke the spirit of the classic series. If writers at BF have difficulties with a four-parter, then chances are they'll be the same difficulties experienced by writers of the classic series - and those challenges made the majority of the stories what they were. I like when a plot can go wandering down a blind alley; I like it when the story can take a rest a let the characters breathe and get to know each other a bit more. Also, I never really felt that the four-parters had any obvious padding (some moments from the Pertwee era excepted perhaps), and I never felt that stories like Dragonfire or Survival were better that Curse of Fenric or Paradise Towers because of their length. In actual fact, I wish there were more six-parters, and apparently they're a swine to write! Agree totally. For me the four-part tales always had a better structured beginning, middle and end. No rushed middle or fluffed endings. Shorter tales can suffer from cramming whilst the longer tales can have a bit of treading water. Plenty of good 2,3,5,6 & 7 part tales, but for me 4 parts make the best for an evenings single sitting entertainment.
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Post by theillusiveman on Dec 25, 2020 0:57:55 GMT
i thought it was very bold of them reading out the email about the critique of the big finish created companions was actually surprised that Will was considered a male companion as i had no idea he even was a character
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2020 9:50:09 GMT
I have to be honest and say I prefer the four-parters, probably because they invoke the spirit of the classic series. If writers at BF have difficulties with a four-parter, then chances are they'll be the same difficulties experienced by writers of the classic series - and those challenges made the majority of the stories what they were. I like when a plot can go wandering down a blind alley; I like it when the story can take a rest a let the characters breathe and get to know each other a bit more. Also, I never really felt that the four-parters had any obvious padding (some moments from the Pertwee era excepted perhaps), and I never felt that stories like Dragonfire or Survival were better that Curse of Fenric or Paradise Towers because of their length. In actual fact, I wish there were more six-parters, and apparently they're a swine to write! Ah, nice bit of serendipity! Feeding into what dorney mentioned earlier, I did a quick thread way, waaaay~ back when, following a workshop about narrative structure in fiction (with a diagram ): So, I managed a workshop a while back that taught the three-act narrative structure -- i.e. set-up, confrontation and climax -- and came across something I thought was worth sharing. Apparently, it's common nowadays to separate Act II into two subgroups with the midpoint acting as the hitching post. Add to that, the notion that there are typically five major turning points in any narrative of this structure and a curious pattern emerges: - Four acts, potentially four parts (with Act II being separated into "Part Two" and "Three"). - Five turning points, potentially five cliffhangers if a six-parter. Interesting, right? It's not a hard and fast rule for every story naturally, but there's an actual basis for it in one of the most commonly taught structures for narrative fiction. Something I came across a bit later was that four and six-episode stories in classic Doctor Who likely have a tendency to thrive as they're both formats that subscribe to the typical length of a Holllywood film. 90-minutes to 120-minutes, respectively. Six-parters can be a bit of a nuisance to write for because the diagram above can't be stretched on a linear framework. The inciting incident can't go from half-an-hour to a full-hour without something to justify the extra build-up. Audiences expect and are used to getting there in half that time, so a little magic is required to make that click. What kind of magic, ultimately depends on the writer and their style. Some change their guest casts, some steal nuclear submarines, etc... Longer stories tend to play around with that format in order to keep their audience interested. Some good examples from television are: - The Seeds of Doom sets up the threat in snowy Antarctica, dealing with Scorby and the germinating pod on the base, before escalating the threat back to green England (a structure of 2/4 episodes);
- Inferno is a four-part story set in the alternate universe with a three-parter wrapped around it (structured as 2/4/1);
- The Dalek Master Plan begins as a six-parter, followed by an intermission episode as a breather ("The Feast of Steven"), before concluding with a five-parter (structured as 6/1/5), and my personal favourite;
- The War Games begins as a pseudohistorical four-parter (not unlike The Time Meddler), hijacked after "Episode Three" by a heady sci-fi six-parter, which is then resolved in one fell swoop by a single Time Lord episode at its end (structured as 3/6/1).
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Post by elkawho on Dec 27, 2020 20:19:46 GMT
i thought it was very bold of them reading out the email about the critique of the big finish created companions was actually surprised that Will was considered a male companion as i had no idea he even was a character I kept wondering why the letter-writer didn't mention Hex. For me he is the main argument against the idea that BF can't do male companions well. He's one of my favorites.
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Post by captainpugwash on Dec 27, 2020 21:16:08 GMT
i thought it was very bold of them reading out the email about the critique of the big finish created companions was actually surprised that Will was considered a male companion as i had no idea he even was a character I kept wondering why the letter-writer didn't mention Hex. For me he is the main argument against the idea that BF can't do male companions well. He's one of my favorites. Problem with Hex is that he had a good ending, which they then ruined by bringing him back. For me the continual going back and slotting in more stories has diminished the impact the character had. Same with Lucie.
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Post by muckypup on Dec 27, 2020 23:59:52 GMT
I am totally on board for whatever length Big Finish feels fits the stories they want to tell. And from the small things I’ve heard from doing my podcast, length has become less set in stone with no sets and is allowing more creative freedom. you wait very soon we will have 3 disc boxes with just one story 3x40mins.......for £20 just a way to raise prices and try and hide it ........shrinkation comes to BF beginning of the end for me i fear .......these current, kinda below par 10th doc and TLV releases show (to me at least) we are moving into shorter run times trying to emulate new series format, all of them seem to need double the run time to make satisfying and a memorable story makes me sad......hope I am wrong I like the 4 part 2 hour stories the best (briggs's three part experiment when he took over failed does he never learn), I really don't like the Doom coalition style where you arrive in the middle of a story and bugger off just as it end. i just wish they would have put price up and retained the monthly range of random doctors
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Post by coffeeaddict on Dec 28, 2020 0:57:24 GMT
I am totally on board for whatever length Big Finish feels fits the stories they want to tell. And from the small things I’ve heard from doing my podcast, length has become less set in stone with no sets and is allowing more creative freedom. you wait very soon we will have 3 disc boxes with just one story 3x40mins.......for £20 just a way to raise prices and try and hide it ........shrinkation comes to BF beginning of the end for me i fear .......these current, kinda below par 10th doc and TLV releases show (to me at least) we are moving into shorter run times trying to emulate new series format, all of them seem to need double the run time to make satisfying and a memorable story makes me sad......hope I am wrong I like the 4 part 2 hour stories the best (briggs's three part experiment when he took over failed does he never learn), I really don't like the Doom coalition style where you arrive in the middle of a story and bugger off just as it end. i just wish they would have put price up and retained the monthly range of random doctors TLV has been terrible, a swing and a miss. But that has been the case for the books and the comics - the concept has been oversold while massively underdelivering. Given the talent involved, it is a shame that it has been such a disappointment.
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Post by masterdoctor on Dec 28, 2020 14:00:07 GMT
I am totally on board for whatever length Big Finish feels fits the stories they want to tell. And from the small things I’ve heard from doing my podcast, length has become less set in stone with no sets and is allowing more creative freedom. you wait very soon we will have 3 disc boxes with just one story 3x40mins.......for £20 just a way to raise prices and try and hide it ........shrinkation comes to BF beginning of the end for me i fear .......these current, kinda below par 10th doc and TLV releases show (to me at least) we are moving into shorter run times trying to emulate new series format, all of them seem to need double the run time to make satisfying and a memorable story makes me sad......hope I am wrong I like the 4 part 2 hour stories the best (briggs's three part experiment when he took over failed does he never learn), I really don't like the Doom coalition style where you arrive in the middle of a story and bugger off just as it end. i just wish they would have put price up and retained the monthly range of random doctors You seem to be going off the notion that four-parters will cease to exist just because the monthly range is ending. Though my knowledge is limited, I can tell you that from what I have heard, there are four part, six part, three part, two part and single episode stories all in the mix. In regards to price, we know that prices rise as time goes on, and depending on the range, three hour sets are either 16.99 or 20.00. Yes, this is a significant price increase for some people and one that I understand if some can’t afford or afford as much due to it. But, Big Finish have to future-proof themselves as a business while also delivering the stories they want to tell. And yet, for a post that complains about the price, you suggest that they have increased the price of the monthly range to keep it around. I don’t seem to understand the reasoning behind this. Not everything is Nick Briggs’ fault. Finally, you bring up the 10th Doctor and TLV audios from this year. Only one of the six released, one of them actually fits the 3 hour box set model you are bemoaning. And when it comes to length of stories, none of them are 40 minutes. One is an hour and ten, one is just under an hour and the last is 50 minutes. The runtime is fluid and is as long as it needs to be for each story. You don’t have to like these changes. That’s fine. But please stop pushing the provably false idea that these changes are for shrinkage and price gouging for a lesser quality of work.
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dorney
Big Finish Creative Team
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Post by dorney on Dec 28, 2020 17:02:53 GMT
In terms of runtime, we don’t write to minutes (there’s no way to tell, it varies colossally), we write to word count, 10,000 words per disc. This tends to land in the rough ball park of 50 minutes, which is the desired length for single disc content.
Of course, sometimes we go over, sometimes we go under in terms of what the story needs (which doesn’t always translate to shorter or longer episodes, weirdly). But it’s been 10,000 words since I started a decade ago. There’s no movement to cut things down.
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Post by muckypup on Dec 28, 2020 19:50:03 GMT
you wait very soon we will have 3 disc boxes with just one story 3x40mins.......for £20 just a way to raise prices and try and hide it ........shrinkation comes to BF beginning of the end for me i fear .......these current, kinda below par 10th doc and TLV releases show (to me at least) we are moving into shorter run times trying to emulate new series format, all of them seem to need double the run time to make satisfying and a memorable story makes me sad......hope I am wrong I like the 4 part 2 hour stories the best (briggs's three part experiment when he took over failed does he never learn), I really don't like the Doom coalition style where you arrive in the middle of a story and bugger off just as it end. i just wish they would have put price up and retained the monthly range of random doctors You seem to be going off the notion that four-parters will cease to exist just because the monthly range is ending. Though my knowledge is limited, I can tell you that from what I have heard, there are four part, six part, three part, two part and single episode stories all in the mix. In regards to price, we know that prices rise as time goes on, and depending on the range, three hour sets are either 16.99 or 20.00. Yes, this is a significant price increase for some people and one that I understand if some can’t afford or afford as much due to it. But, Big Finish have to future-proof themselves as a business while also delivering the stories they want to tell. And yet, for a post that complains about the price, you suggest that they have increased the price of the monthly range to keep it around. I don’t seem to understand the reasoning behind this. Not everything is Nick Briggs’ fault. Finally, you bring up the 10th Doctor and TLV audios from this year. Only one of the six released, one of them actually fits the 3 hour box set model you are bemoaning. And when it comes to length of stories, none of them are 40 minutes. One is an hour and ten, one is just under an hour and the last is 50 minutes. The runtime is fluid and is as long as it needs to be for each story. You don’t have to like these changes. That’s fine. But please stop pushing the provably false idea that these changes are for shrinkage and price gouging for a lesser quality of work. You misunderstand I have no problem with 3 disc set.....merely expressing the view that the current 2 disc 4 parts will get spread across 3 discs using the three act format but the run time will be similar........so the rest of your post is irrelevant
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dorney
Big Finish Creative Team
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Post by dorney on Dec 28, 2020 19:59:21 GMT
You misunderstand I have no problem with 3 disc set.....merely expressing the view that the current 2 disc 4 parts will get spread across 3 discs using the three act format but the run time will be similar........so the rest of your post is irrelevant I mean, it won’t. If that’s a comfort.
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Post by muckypup on Dec 28, 2020 22:09:23 GMT
You misunderstand I have no problem with 3 disc set.....merely expressing the view that the current 2 disc 4 parts will get spread across 3 discs using the three act format but the run time will be similar........so the rest of your post is irrelevant I mean, it won’t. If that’s a comfort. Worry averted......thanks
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