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Post by theillusiveman on Jun 9, 2020 13:18:21 GMT
I just want to see Big Finish revisit their original ideas that they dropped (a 2005 DW Website article listed several Big Finish Stories that either got heavily changed or were dropped one of them was The Sixth Doctor Story in India with Kali and another idea was Sam Jones being 8's Original Companion in the audios (they even had an actress in mind to play her) before being changed to Charley
Oh that sounds interesting! You wouldn't by any chance happen to have a link to said article, would you? I think it was on news.drwho-online but i cant seem to find the article anymore but from what i recall there were also different versions of audios with different titles shame i cant find the article
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Post by theillusiveman on Jun 9, 2020 13:22:35 GMT
Apparently the sam jones bit came from a book i think it was "About Time" not entirely sure
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Jun 9, 2020 13:34:53 GMT
Apparently the sam jones bit came from a book i think it was "About Time" not entirely sure I wonder if rights issues for the character at the time were a sticking point.
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Post by theillusiveman on Jun 9, 2020 13:39:22 GMT
Apparently the sam jones bit came from a book i think it was "About Time" not entirely sure I wonder if rights issues for the character at the time were a sticking point. Most likely or Big Finish wanted to do their own characters which yeah was the best call
i know that The character of Ellie was originally intended to be the Eighth Doctor's former companion Sam Jones
who had remained behind with Sarah Jane after the novel Interference - Book Two. (according to the Wiki)
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Post by xlozdob on Jun 9, 2020 18:16:42 GMT
Makes you wonder how different things would be if they'd followed the canon of the novels, although ultimately it was the right call since Eighth's adventures would have been more of the usual filling in the gaps, the exact opposite of what made him so special for Big Finish. Still, an interesting thought experiment.
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Post by slithe on Jun 9, 2020 19:41:55 GMT
I do wonder if we are going to see something radically different in the stories, or whether this rearranging is just to fit with the wider mould/approach of BF as a whole towards Doctor Who. Whilst I like the idea of each Doctor having their 'own' range - to make this worthwhile for me will depend on: (a) the number of stories released per year (and frequency), and (b) the cost of buying those stories. The MR allowed you 13 releases of 3 Doctors for a reasonable price. Will this still be the same sort of cost if you subscribed to say 5, 6 and 7's releases throughout a year?
They also need to consider whether the stories themselves will be any different in style and approach. Will there be more story-arcs and complicated story telling (which is possible outside the MR) or are there going to be more 2 parters or feature length episodes? If it is just the MR folded into separate ranges and without any real cost benefit, then I am not entirely sure whether the change will be worthwhile.
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aztec
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,849
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Post by aztec on Jun 9, 2020 20:18:24 GMT
Makes you wonder how different things would be if they'd followed the canon of the novels, although ultimately it was the right call since Eighth's adventures would have been more of the usual filling in the gaps, the exact opposite of what made him so special for Big Finish. Still, an interesting thought experiment. Yeah I'm a huge fan of the BBC EDA novels (and would love to hear more of Fitz on audio one day, or the other companions from the novels) but I think it worked out for the best that BF largely tread their own path with the 8th Doctor, they have near unlimited freedom to develop his story in the way they want, whereas tying things in with the novels would be as you say more just plugging the gaps, also as the BBC novels have been long out of print it would be rather confusing for new listeners trying to work out the continuity/references to novels they have no way of accessing (as I understand it this is a problem with some of the earlier Bernice Summerfield seasons).
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aztec
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,849
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Post by aztec on Jun 9, 2020 20:33:30 GMT
I do wonder if we are going to see something radically different in the stories, or whether this rearranging is just to fit with the wider mould/approach of BF as a whole towards Doctor Who. Whilst I like the idea of each Doctor having their 'own' range - to make this worthwhile for me will depend on: (a) the number of stories released per year (and frequency), and (b) the cost of buying those stories. The MR allowed you 13 releases of 3 Doctors for a reasonable price. Will this still be the same sort of cost if you subscribed to say 5, 6 and 7's releases throughout a year? They also need to consider whether the stories themselves will be any different in style and approach. Will there be more story-arcs and complicated story telling (which is possible outside the MR) or are there going to be more 2 parters or feature length episodes? If it is just the MR folded into separate ranges and without any real cost benefit, then I am not entirely sure whether the change will be worthwhile. I still have mixed feelings about the move to boxsets across the board, as you say I think its fitting each Doctor has their own range, but I do wonder if this move will mean less experimenting and downplaying character arcs for the 5th-7th Doctors, the 8th Doctor boxsets are heavily reliant on narrative arcs and are more similar to New Who in tone but are their own standalone era continuing forward with little need to appeal to nostaglia or account for TV continuity/off screen gaps, the 5th-7th Doctors are more nostalgic and look back/sideways with old companions I'm not so sure there's a need to push boundaries as much, all these decades later I still like getting 4x25 minut stories every month, and it may be my bias showing but I do kinda like that the 8th Doctor tends to get the more epic arc based stories, trying to move that style of storytelling across to every doctor would make it feel a bit too indentikit and interchangeable. I suppose the key question to answer is whether the new ranges for those doctors will just repackage main range stories in a different format (you have to wonder why they ended the main range if this is the case), or drastically reinvent the kinds of stories/formats they want to do, will we get 4x1 hour boxsets, 1x4 hour boxsets or 2x2 hour boxsets or a bit of everything? Also wondering how these sets will be titled, 5th Doctor Adventures Volumes 1, 2 etc or The 5th Doctor and Nyssa/Tegan Volume 1 etc
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Jun 9, 2020 20:52:52 GMT
I do wish that Nick and company would address this sooner rather than later.
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Post by sexbombsimon on Jun 9, 2020 22:03:33 GMT
Forgive me if this point has been dicussed, but the main range finishes with #275 in March, so what fills the gap of the main range until 2022? Anyone know?
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Jun 10, 2020 0:28:47 GMT
Forgive me if this point has been dicussed, but the main range finishes with #275 in March, so what fills the gap of the main range until 2022? Anyone know? Not yet announced.
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Post by kennysmith on Jun 10, 2020 8:19:50 GMT
Apparently the sam jones bit came from a book i think it was "About Time" not entirely sure The original idea was to cast Jo Castleton as Sam, before Gary came up with the idea of Kirsty the air hostess, then Charley.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2020 9:17:07 GMT
Forgive me if this point has been dicussed, but the main range finishes with #275 in March, so what fills the gap of the main range until 2022? Anyone know? I assume that it will effectively be more of a streamlining of what we already have. Instead of parallel releases some months/weeks, or clusters even, we may be more likely to see one box set a month. The Eight Doctor one month, The Sixth Doctor the next (equivalent to 2x MR releases), etc. That would give some releases space to breathe, as the main Doctor Who of the month. Perhaps having too much on the go makes many choose between one and the other, as opposed to having one key release per month to focus on getting.
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Post by slithe on Jun 10, 2020 14:25:35 GMT
Forgive me if this point has been dicussed, but the main range finishes with #275 in March, so what fills the gap of the main range until 2022? Anyone know? I assume that it will effectively be more of a streamlining of what we already have. Instead of parallel releases some months/weeks, or clusters even, we may be more likely to see one box set a month. The Eight Doctor one month, The Sixth Doctor the next (equivalent to 2x MR releases), etc. That would give some releases space to breathe, as the main Doctor Who of the month. Perhaps having too much on the go makes many choose between one and the other, as opposed to having one key release per month to focus on getting. I can see that happening... It may be a risk though. The MR subscription guarantees 13 releases with 3 Doctors. If you go for a boxset, BF might only get one purchase (or 2 at maximum if there's more than 1 boxset per year for a Doctor) and that's it. Personally, I'd have been happy not to have had some of the McCoy releases but paid for them as they were part of my sub. Unless BF increase the price of the boxsets, this might be a potential issue for them... Similarly, would 3 x Boxsets for 5, 6 and 7 be more expensive than a MR subscription? Pricing is going to be key here...
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Post by levi3o4 on Jun 10, 2020 14:43:30 GMT
I assume that it will effectively be more of a streamlining of what we already have. Instead of parallel releases some months/weeks, or clusters even, we may be more likely to see one box set a month. The Eight Doctor one month, The Sixth Doctor the next (equivalent to 2x MR releases), etc. That would give some releases space to breathe, as the main Doctor Who of the month. Perhaps having too much on the go makes many choose between one and the other, as opposed to having one key release per month to focus on getting. I can see that happening... It may be a risk though. The MR subscription guarantees 13 releases with 3 Doctors. If you go for a boxset, BF might only get one purchase (or 2 at maximum if there's more than 1 boxset per year for a Doctor) and that's it. Personally, I'd have been happy not to have had some of the McCoy releases but paid for them as they were part of my sub. Unless BF increase the price of the boxsets, this might be a potential issue for them... Similarly, would 3 x Boxsets for 5, 6 and 7 be more expensive than a MR subscription? Pricing is going to be key here... Well, in terms of things being more expensive, let's assume (roughly) the same output. With the MR, each Doctor got 4 releases most years (with an occasional 5 release, or maybe an extra trilogy). 4 releases corresponds to 2 box sets. So if I wanted to get all the 7th Doctor releases, for example, most years, that would set me back 13×4 = $52. Whereas in a box set format, that same amount of content would come out to 20×2 = $40. So, if they keep the same prices and the same rate of output, it would end up cheaper for us...
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Post by cwm on Jun 10, 2020 15:05:53 GMT
I assume that it will effectively be more of a streamlining of what we already have. Instead of parallel releases some months/weeks, or clusters even, we may be more likely to see one box set a month. The Eight Doctor one month, The Sixth Doctor the next (equivalent to 2x MR releases), etc. That would give some releases space to breathe, as the main Doctor Who of the month. Perhaps having too much on the go makes many choose between one and the other, as opposed to having one key release per month to focus on getting. I can see that happening... It may be a risk though. The MR subscription guarantees 13 releases with 3 Doctors. If you go for a boxset, BF might only get one purchase (or 2 at maximum if there's more than 1 boxset per year for a Doctor) and that's it. Personally, I'd have been happy not to have had some of the McCoy releases but paid for them as they were part of my sub. Unless BF increase the price of the boxsets, this might be a potential issue for them... Similarly, would 3 x Boxsets for 5, 6 and 7 be more expensive than a MR subscription? Pricing is going to be key here... When asked about the changes to the main range on the podcast a few months ago, Nick said that the changes to the purchasing experience would be "seamless".
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Post by mark687 on Jun 10, 2020 15:33:33 GMT
I can see that happening... It may be a risk though. The MR subscription guarantees 13 releases with 3 Doctors. If you go for a boxset, BF might only get one purchase (or 2 at maximum if there's more than 1 boxset per year for a Doctor) and that's it. Personally, I'd have been happy not to have had some of the McCoy releases but paid for them as they were part of my sub. Unless BF increase the price of the boxsets, this might be a potential issue for them... Similarly, would 3 x Boxsets for 5, 6 and 7 be more expensive than a MR subscription? Pricing is going to be key here... When asked about the changes to the main range on the podcast a few months ago, Nick said that the changes to the purchasing experience would be "seamless". I'm sure he was when he said it! COVID may've affected the situation but it seems bad that so far we've not got any details for the transition period From 2022 onwards I imagine future releases will boxsets or single Discs to be brought separately and or in Bundles by Doctor so would imagine there'd be a change in pricing knowing that [if I understand one of BFs main points for doing this] people should be able to pick and choose which Doctors they follow more easily and affordably. Regards mark687
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Post by polly on Jun 10, 2020 19:05:05 GMT
I don't mean to gripe so much, but I really wish Big Finish would deliver more complete and timely announcements on important topics like this.
"There will be a change to overseas pricing. International customers will pay appropriate exchange rates." - Announced short notice, caused a panic among customers, only to change their minds and then go silent about it ever since.
"The Main Range, our flagship series of 20 years, is ending and being replaced with box sets." - No details on what format those box sets will be, or about pricing, or frequency of release, and so on.
I would prefer all the facts be divulged or nothing at all if it's consumer information and not just a story tease. Drip-feeding this sort of thing frustrates me.
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Post by mark687 on Jun 10, 2020 20:02:30 GMT
I don't mean to gripe so much, but I really wish Big Finish would deliver more complete and timely announcements on important topics like this. "There will be a change to overseas pricing. International customers will pay appropriate exchange rates." - Announced short notice, caused a panic among customers, only to change their minds and then go silent about it ever since. "The Main Range, our flagship series of 20 years, is ending and being replaced with box sets." - No details on what format those box sets will be, or about pricing, or frequency of release, and so on. I would prefer all the facts be divulged or nothing at all if it's consumer information and not just a story tease. Drip-feeding this sort of thing frustrates me. As is often said BF great Content Producers and wonderful 1x1 Customer Service but really awkward at timing and implementing policy changes. Regards mark687
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Jun 10, 2020 20:11:56 GMT
I don't mean to gripe so much, but I really wish Big Finish would deliver more complete and timely announcements on important topics like this. "There will be a change to overseas pricing. International customers will pay appropriate exchange rates." - Announced short notice, caused a panic among customers, only to change their minds and then go silent about it ever since. "The Main Range, our flagship series of 20 years, is ending and being replaced with box sets." - No details on what format those box sets will be, or about pricing, or frequency of release, and so on. I would prefer all the facts be divulged or nothing at all if it's consumer information and not just a story tease. Drip-feeding this sort of thing frustrates me. That doesn't even include several other changes that were thrown at subscribers in a ham-fisted & awkward way like the elimination of the yearly subscriber special release among others. So yeah. No argument. And yeah, I would very much like to know what is going on as well sooner rather than later but I would also point out MR 275 doesn't come out until March of next year. So 10 months away. This is also one of those cases where I would cut them a little slack as they move out and through lockdown. We know some things have gotten pushed forward, some things have been pushed back but we don't know to what degree. Yes their ability to message has always been lacking but again, this isn't a thing happening this month or even a couple of months from now.
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