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Post by masterdoctor on Mar 5, 2019 17:06:08 GMT
With the next box set being the last in this range of stories, what do we think that Big Finish has in store for the future? Personally, I feel that we could be looking at a jump forward in time. A look at how a generation that grew up in the ruins of humanity all while being grounded in the realism of Survivors, I think would be something never really quite done before. As for linking it to the original stories, we could have older versions of those left alive after Series 9, while having a new group as well.
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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 Mar 5, 2019 17:35:32 GMT
I think it is more likely to go down the audiobooks / chronicles route. First of, that appears to be what is happening with Omega Factor which was cancelled for the same reason as Survivors - declining sales.
I'm guessing declining sales means not enough revenue to cover costs, so they either need to increase revenue or cut costs. They can only get more revenue by selling more or increasing their price. To sell more they need more buyers but it is hard to see how BF attract new listeners/buyers to something like Survivors / Omega Factor when they are quite a few series in. (Different for a franchise like Dr Who that is on TV and attracting new fans all the time). I can't see many new listeners jumping on with series 10, even with a time jump. They could increase revenue by raising the price. Doing so risks losing customers and encouraging piracy, although I would argue that anyone who is keen enough to still be buying legally 9 series in is probably keen enough to keep buying after a £5 price rise. However BF don't seem keen to do this.
That leaves them with cutting costs and moving to the audiobook / chronicles format, thereby reducing their wages bill from full cast down to one or two actors. This is probably the lowest risk best option for BF and it appears to be what they are doing with Omega Factor, so I would predict the same for Survivors.
As for the content, whether they go back in time to fill in more gaps form the TV series, continue on straight after series 9 or time jump to 2019, I don't know. Although there is no reason why they can't do a combination of two or more of these options. Again, wearing my commercial hat, I would argue that a time jump backwards allows them to use popular characters who have died prior to series 9 (Greg Preston being the most obvious example) so that might be more likely.
All of the above is, of course, purely speculative.
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Post by masterdoctor on Mar 5, 2019 17:38:57 GMT
I think it is more likely to go down the audiobooks / chronicles route. First of, that appears to be what is happening with Omega Factor which was cancelled for the same reason as Survivors - declining sales. I'm guessing declining sales means not enough revenue to cover costs, so they either need to increase revenue or cut costs. They can only get more revenue by selling more or increasing their price. To sell more they need more buyers but it is hard to see how BF attract new listeners/buyers to something like Survivors / Omega Factor when they are quite a few series in. (Different for a franchise like Dr Who that is on TV and attracting new fans all the time). I can't see many new listeners jumping on with series 10, even with a time jump. They could increase revenue by raising the price. Doing so risks losing customers and encouraging piracy, although I would argue that anyone who is keen enough to still be buying legally 9 series in is probably keen enough to keep buying after a £5 price rise. However BF don't seem keen to do this. That leaves them with cutting costs and moving to the audiobook / chronicles format, thereby reducing their wages bill from full cast down to one or two actors. This is probably the lowest risk best option for BF and it appears to be what they are doing with Omega Factor, so I would predict the same for Survivors. As for the content, whether they go back in time to fill in more gaps form the TV series, continue on straight after series 9 or time jump to 2019, I don't know. Although there is no reason why they can't do a combination of two or more of these options. Again, wearing my commercial hat, I would argue that a time jump backwards allows them to use popular characters who have died prior to series 9 (Greg Preston being the most obvious example) so that might be more likely. All of the above is, of course, purely speculative. Good points, I do think that a jump forward would allow new customers to jump in and please older fans, as a soft reboot, but I wouldn’t mind audiobooks/dead characters new stories. |
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Post by Digi on Mar 5, 2019 18:32:22 GMT
I was thinking they may be turning to more standalone stories, maybe embracing the idea of 'features' that are in the universe but don't come with the baggage of "oh do I need to listen to Series 1-6 before I check out 7?"
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Post by masterdoctor on Mar 5, 2019 18:47:56 GMT
Come to think of it, if they continue with full-cast, I think the best option would be to rid of the numbering and have self-contained stories that can connect to others, but all be accessible to newbies. Think The War Master series.
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Post by muckypup on Mar 5, 2019 19:24:06 GMT
I think in reality it’s probally the end.......
I think bf are reaching saturation point with all the many ranges, and people would rather buy doctor who than other licences.
With class, river, master, gallifrey, unit, 8th doc, as well as specials.........theres too much for the current fan base to buy let alone take a chance on other ranges
With prisoner ending and Callam on hold, no more originals for the time being looks like the focus is back on dr who for the time being
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2019 20:00:38 GMT
I think in reality it’s probally the end....... I think bf are reaching saturation point with all the many ranges, and people would rather buy doctor who than other licences. With class, river, master, gallifrey, unit, 8th doc, as well as specials.........theres too much for the current fan base to buy let alone take a chance on other ranges With prisoner ending and Callam on hold, no more originals for the time being looks like the focus is back on dr who for the time being I agree. They have given a few new things a try, but probably not the audience to justify continuing so a focus on the core of BF which is Dr Who is what's on the cards. |
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Post by Trace on Mar 12, 2019 23:10:12 GMT
I think in reality it’s probally the end....... I think bf are reaching saturation point with all the many ranges, and people would rather buy doctor who than other licences. With class, river, master, gallifrey, unit, 8th doc, as well as specials.........theres too much for the current fan base to buy let alone take a chance on other ranges With prisoner ending and Callam on hold, no more originals for the time being looks like the focus is back on dr who for the time being Dark Shadows is still going strong--with a new full cast series soon to be released, and potentially two more on the horizon, not to mention some fun 'sideline' stories! I love Survivors, so I'm in for the long haul, no matter what direction they go in, but that's kind of how I am when I love a series. |
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Post by Shiny on Mar 22, 2019 15:01:00 GMT
Just popping in with a quick idea that I would love to see happen.
What if they do a new Survivors range where they go back to when the Death happened but set it somewhere outside of Britain so everything is new? I loved it in the first few boxsets when the Death was really recent and characters were adapting to the fact that most of the people in the world were gone. Later on the societies became more established and people had adapted to the new world. In the more recent boxsets, my favourite episodes were the ones that gave flashbacks to the Death to give newly introduced characters some backstory.
Since it would be all new characters, they could call it series one of a new Survivors range which would be more inviting as opposed to being called Survivors Series 10 which would make people feel intimidated by the need to listen to nine other boxsets first. The story could be set anywhere in the world. If they go with America, they could include Maddie Price at some point.
Maybe abandoning the characters from the tv show is too much of a risk I'm just looking for anything that keep the stories full-cast and not narrated audiobooks, but I genuinely would find something like this very exciting.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Mar 22, 2019 23:10:41 GMT
I think I posted this several months ago but I think Survivors will either jump forward to 2019 or it may move jump around in time. One box set is set in 1985 while another is set in 1999. I think the idea of looking at a rebuilding society is one with a lot of story potential.
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Post by The Matt on Mar 23, 2019 12:20:40 GMT
I'd love them to get back to telling compelling post-apocalyptic tales that didn't rely on the "Men - Evil / Women - saints" virtue signalling that made me grow so apathetic to what was once my fave BF series.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2019 17:16:38 GMT
I'd simply love them to close the cliffhanger left at the end of series 2 of the fairly recent reboot.
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Post by anothermanicmondas on Mar 23, 2019 21:56:02 GMT
I'm expecting they'll go back to earlier stories to feature characters who died (by doing stories before they died) and/or characters who otherwise left the series showing what they did next (maybe following on from the third set)
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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 May 19, 2019 9:07:02 GMT
Nick confirmed season 9 last of full cast releases but it will continue as audiobooks in today's podcast.
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Post by frisby78 on May 19, 2019 10:16:24 GMT
Nick confirmed season 9 last of full cast releases but it will continue as audiobooks in today's podcast. Understandable if sales are dropping but audio books aren't really for me and I presume they will be DL only. |
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Post by Digi on May 19, 2019 13:06:10 GMT
Generally I agree that audiobooks aren't my thing, but I did listen to the audiobook adaptation of Terry Nation's Survivors book and it was really quite good.
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Post by frisby78 on May 19, 2019 19:07:59 GMT
Generally I agree that audiobooks aren't my thing, but I did listen to the audiobook adaptation of Terry Nation's Survivors book and it was really quite good. For some reason I just seem to get distracted while listening to Audiobooks. My mind just wanders. More than normal. |
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Post by masterdoctor on May 19, 2019 19:22:45 GMT
While it's not full-cast like I was hoping, I love audiobooks, and this might allow us to use characters not usually able due to actors passing away.
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Post by BHTvsTFC on Aug 16, 2019 15:32:19 GMT
I don't mind the audiobook thing. After nine full cast box sets a few audiobook releases will make a nice contrast. It would be nice to have characters who had more passing roles in the tv series/audios get a chance to be a primary voice if just for one release - As other posters have said Anne Tranter and Charles Vaughn could front their own stories, rights permitting and actor availability allowing of course. Equally I would love to hear more of Maddy Price's story and if her trip to America was successful.
My main gripe with the audio series is a lot of the new character's created in the beginning just kind of ended up being fizzled out. I'd be as disappointed as anyone if we didn't get a Carolyn Seymour/Abby reading, but I would love the range to open up again a little.
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