melkur
Chancellery Guard
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Post by melkur on May 25, 2020 20:46:08 GMT
Whilst it's sad to see the Main Range go, I guess it was pretty much inevitable...
Like with others, depending on the format (and the story/ies), I might dip 'in and out' of the boxsets...
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Post by mark687 on May 25, 2020 20:52:13 GMT
So aside from the possible awkwardness of getting the last 2 releases questions are: What happens for the rest of 2021 Will boxsets be individual purchases and/or Bundle options Just how heavy will BF rely on Re-Casts/ Interpretations Regards mark687 How is it awkward Mark? They have already said any subscriber who falls outside the circle of those two releases just need to talk to sales. I’ve already sent that email. I’m sure details about the rest of 2021, bundle options and the like will all be forthcoming in good time. This is basically June and the changeover doesn’t happen until April of next year. As for recasts, if we want full cast audios featuring the first three Doctors, then we need to get used to the idea of characters being played by new actors. Fair enough Time will Tell...it always Does Regards mark687
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Post by Audio Watchdog on May 25, 2020 20:58:36 GMT
How is it awkward Mark? They have already said any subscriber who falls outside the circle of those two releases just need to talk to sales. I’ve already sent that email. I’m sure details about the rest of 2021, bundle options and the like will all be forthcoming in good time. This is basically June and the changeover doesn’t happen until April of next year. As for recasts, if we want full cast audios featuring the first three Doctors, then we need to get used to the idea of characters being played by new actors. Fair enough Time will Tell...it always Does Regards mark687 I still don’t understand how it’s awkward.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2020 21:01:39 GMT
The way Big Finish spin these sort of things I reckon they could get a job in the current UK government, it all sounds like a lot of nonsense to me... It seems to me that Big Finish think that there will be more ££ in it for them with the boxset format as opposed to the monthly style releases. So that's the route they want to go, the reasons given are just trying to justify the change. I assume that Big Finish know their own business so I can't call it bull***, but it doesn't sit right with me. However, I can stop buying Big Finish audios if I choose to do so, so at least I have a way out of this madness.
So in 2022 the new Twitter news reading generation will have a load of new Doctor Who boxsets to contend with. What happens in ten years time when the Big Finish newcomers of 2029 complain about not knowing what Doctor Who boxsets to jump on board with? Do we change the format again? Hundreds of releases will always be cumbersome to latecomers no matter how you dress the ranges up. With there being so many Doctors and potential spin-offs from a TV show spanning nearly 60 years it can never be anything but daunting to somebody stumbling across Big Finish for the first time. That is never going to change. (I hope these newcomers that BF are trying to attract are still around in twenty years time buying audios!) Also, any constraints within the Doctor Who main/monthly range were put there by Big Finish, nobody else! When the monthly Doctor Who stories started we generally had free standing audio stories that could be picked up and listened to in any order, there was nothing confusing about it. It was Big Finish that chose to limit the MR to the same three Doctors, they did have other options. Plus, with two CDs to play with the format was reasonably flexible... if the creative types can't tell one (or two) entertaining Doctor Who stories within the 2 x 75 mins (approx) monthly format, then the only constraints are in their mind! (A lot of their over-hyped 'event' box sets could be squeezed into two CDs and you'd lose nothing from the actual story that they are trying to tell.) The monthly Doctor Who releases were the backbone of Big Finish and without them a lot of Big Finish staff would be working somewhere else! They made Big Finish and because Big Finish can't - or more accurately, don't want to - work with the format, they are jettisoning it. Which they are, of course, free to do so. I admit I don't like change and I make no apologies for it. I will just have to suck it up... it is what it is. As I said earlier, I hope it works well for them. I certainly hope it's not a mistake that they come to regret. With this change I can see a lot more people picking and choosing what boxsets they buy, which ultimately could lead to Big Finish making less money in the long run!
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Post by johnhurtdoctor on May 25, 2020 21:04:33 GMT
My main concern is that the existing monthly ranges featuring the Doctors I like is going to change & imitate the 8th Doctor boxsets, lengthy & repetitive end-of-the-universe stuff played out over 16 hours in a staggered release schedule with half the stories having nothing to do with the main arc.
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Post by pazzer on May 25, 2020 21:08:31 GMT
The reasoning doesn't make sense and not sure why mentioning non monthly adventures doctors. Am not so keen on different story lengths. Wondering if some doctors will stop getting boxed sets if they don't sell well.
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Post by johnhurtdoctor on May 25, 2020 21:08:48 GMT
(A lot of their over-hyped 'event' box sets could be squeezed into two CDs and you'd lose nothing from the actual story that they are trying to tell.) 100% this! & the length of time waiting for it, for example Doom Coalition 1 came out in October 2015, we didn't get the finale until March 2017!
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Post by sherlock on May 25, 2020 21:10:42 GMT
Well change my dears, and it’s not like we haven’t seen this coming.
I come to this with no particular loyalty to the main range (I’ve only bought four on release, rest that I own on sale) but honestly it seems a logical next step for Big Finish. Boxsets seem to be their favoured format and clearly they sell well. They’ve clearly been paving the way with the Seventh Doctor New Adventures and upcoming Wicked Sisters and Sixth Doctor & Peri. For ongoing storylines, the boxsets format makes more sense than saying ‘get 330-333, then 342-345 etc’. The website was clearly designed with each Doctor having their own adventures section.
If Big Finish are moving to boxsets for the sake of newcomers, I think they’ll have to rethink their pricing a bit. At the moment, boxsets are very expensive when not on pre-order price or sale. They are much more of a financial commitment than picking up an individual main range release cos the synopsis sounds interesting or it features the return of [x]. A newcomer might fork out £12.99 for a curiosity, but probably not £29.99.
As for David Richardson’s hints. I’d guess this puts recasts of Dodo and the Second Doctor, Miller’s Sarah Jane with Treloar’s Third Doctor and a Seventh Doctor: Last Adventure release on the table. This seems to be a roadmap for Big Finish going into 2025 and, hopefully, beyond.
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Post by number13 on May 25, 2020 21:11:58 GMT
Oh well. We knew it was coming but still, a pity imo. I wasn't involved until the MR was already long in the tooth, but collecting and gradually catching up with the whole range has been and is, fun. I'd estimate the MR has a better than 9/10 success rate for me as a listener so far and that's very impressive. Well done BF, all of you.
On the other hand, I was already going to be cutting back on my BF outlay so when the new system starts it'll be very much a pick-and-choose approach from me and an end to 'completionism'. I've had a 50/50 month with new BF content this May so it's not the best time for me to think about future purchases, but the ragged tail end of the MR ('ragged' from the point-of-view of my sub) had better be good if I'm going to have to jump through extra hoops for it! (Is it really beyond web technology to let us buy a 'however many you need' length sub, priced pro-rata, to finish our run?)
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Post by mark687 on May 25, 2020 21:14:32 GMT
Fair enough Time will Tell...it always Does Regards mark687 I still don’t understand how it’s awkward. Because it reads like you contact them and say "I've Subbed to 273/4 please can l buy the other 1- 2 somehow cause if you buy them individually through the Site you don't make a Saving. Would've been better IMO to do a 3/4/5 Sub options direct through the Website. Regards mark687
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Post by johnhurtdoctor on May 25, 2020 21:15:00 GMT
If Big Finish are moving to boxsets for the sake of newcomers, I think they’ll have to rethink their pricing a bit. At the moment, boxsets are very expensive when not on pre-order price or sale. They are much more of a financial commitment than picking up an individual main range release cos the synopsis sounds interesting or it features the return of [x]. A newcomer might fork out £12.99 for a curiosity, but probably not £29.99. To be honest, given my opinion of some of these boxsets I am reticent to commit at that price point. God knows what newcomers to audio drama will think who are not used to buying this stuff & wonder why on earth it is, to them, so expensive. I can see piracy increasing.
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Post by drj on May 25, 2020 21:20:09 GMT
I wonder if they’ll rebadge the old MR stories into seasons? E.g. Storm Warning is Season 1, Episode 1 of the eighth doctor etc. That could be interesting to see. Taking that further, perhaps the box sets could be inserted into that too? So all of Dark Eyes would be the 16 (!) episodes of season X, whatever number X turns out to be. Not quite sure what season Stranded would be! A reasonably high number though.
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Post by mark687 on May 25, 2020 21:23:28 GMT
Oh well. We knew it was coming but still, a pity imo. I wasn't involved until the MR was already long in the tooth, but collecting and gradually catching up with the whole range has been and is, fun. I'd estimate the MR has a better than 9/10 success rate for me as a listener so far and that's very impressive. Well done BF, all of you.
On the other hand, I was already going to be cutting back on my BF outlay so when the new system starts it'll be very much a pick-and-choose approach from me and an end to 'completionism'. I've had a 50/50 month with new BF content this May so it's not the best time for me to think about future purchases, but the ragged tail end of the MR ('ragged' from the point-of-view of my sub) had better be good if I'm going to have to jump through extra hoops for it! ( Is it really beyond web technology to let us buy a 'however many you need' length sub, priced pro-rata, to finish our run?)The more accurate version of the point I'm trying to make. Regards mark687
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Post by drj on May 25, 2020 21:23:59 GMT
If Big Finish are moving to boxsets for the sake of newcomers, I think they’ll have to rethink their pricing a bit. At the moment, boxsets are very expensive when not on pre-order price or sale. They are much more of a financial commitment than picking up an individual main range release cos the synopsis sounds interesting or it features the return of [x]. A newcomer might fork out £12.99 for a curiosity, but probably not £29.99. To be honest, given my opinion of some of these boxsets I am reticent to commit at that price point. God knows what newcomers to audio drama will think who are not used to buying this stuff & wonder why on earth it is, to them, so expensive. I can see piracy increasing. Actually, I held off getting into BF for years because of the price, listening to free RPG gaming podcasts instead. That was until I appreciated just how good the BF stories are and got to grips with the idea that they must actually cost something to produce! Now it’s just a question of working out the monthly BF budget I’m happy with and managing to that.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on May 25, 2020 21:34:48 GMT
This is happening for a lot of reasons, many of which we probably have no clue are occurring. And not having access to their sales figures, I wonder how much of a backbone the Main Range really is to the company at this point? It is probably more accurate to say the Main Range was the foundation on which Big Finish was built. We got 20 plus years of original Doctor Who stories on a monthly basis. That is a remarkable run. Nothing makes committed fandom more nervous than change because we tend to personalize the things we love. No company wants to piss off or alienate their customers but I’m sure this isn’t a personal decision for them, its a business decision about the next 20 years. Yeah I’ll miss my monthly does as well but I support Big Finish, not just the Main Range. I’ll wait and see what they are going to do and then approach that with an open mind.
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Post by Digi on May 25, 2020 21:43:59 GMT
This is happening for a lot of reasons, many of which we probably have no clue are occurring. And not having access to their sales figures, I wonder how much of a backbone the Main Range really is to the company at this point? It is probably more accurate to say the Main Range was the foundation on which Big Finish was built. We got 20 plus years of original Doctor Who stories on a monthly basis. That is a remarkable run. Nothing makes committed fandom more nervous than change because we tend to personalize the things we love. No company wants to piss off or alienate their customers but I’m sure this isn’t a personal decision for them, its a business decision about the next 20 years. Yeah I’ll miss my monthly does as well but I support Big Finish, not just the Main Range. I’ll wait and see what they are going to do and then approach that with an open mind. Very well said, could not agree more.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2020 21:54:31 GMT
I have many, many fond memories of the monthly range. With this change of direction, I look forward to making some new ones. It's more new Doctor Who featuring many of the original actors. Sounds good to me.
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Post by masterdoctor on May 25, 2020 22:01:02 GMT
This is happening for a lot of reasons, many of which we probably have no clue are occurring. And not having access to their sales figures, I wonder how much of a backbone the Main Range really is to the company at this point? It is probably more accurate to say the Main Range was the foundation on which Big Finish was built. We got 20 plus years of original Doctor Who stories on a monthly basis. That is a remarkable run. Nothing makes committed fandom more nervous than change because we tend to personalize the things we love. No company wants to piss off or alienate their customers but I’m sure this isn’t a personal decision for them, its a business decision about the next 20 years. Yeah I’ll miss my monthly does as well but I support Big Finish, not just the Main Range. I’ll wait and see what they are going to do and then approach that with an open mind. Incredibly well said. As much as I appreciate some may not like this change, there is a good chance(especially when Big Finish has said their biggest and best selling releases are box sets) that displeasure with the change may well be a vocal minority. This decision has been made because Big Finish sees it in their best interest, from a business and likely a creative stand point. This hasn’t been made to upset people, but to make it easier for new people to join the ranks of those who already love their stories. Bottom line is that this is very likely going to be successful for Big Finish, and I am glad. Box sets such as Wicked Sisters or the Stranded sets are much more accessible because they don’t have giant numbers attached to them like the Main Range does. It psychologically allows for people not to face such a sizeable backlog in one range, but explore sets of two to four releases/stories, which is much easier to market and sell to people who pick and choose. It sucks that people might be priced out of future releases, or may not like the box set format, but many do, including Big Finish. So why shouldn’t they play to their potentially most fruitful demographic. And as a final addendum to this post, it is a well known strategy for goal setting and achievement that you should break it up into smaller manageable pieces as opposed to one giant goal. Applying this to collecting, it is much easier to chuck something like box sets in a four box set series, as opposed to 275 2 hour stories.
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Post by elkawho on May 25, 2020 22:13:55 GMT
This is happening for a lot of reasons, many of which we probably have no clue are occurring. And not having access to their sales figures, I wonder how much of a backbone the Main Range really is to the company at this point? It is probably more accurate to say the Main Range was the foundation on which Big Finish was built. We got 20 plus years of original Doctor Who stories on a monthly basis. That is a remarkable run. Nothing makes committed fandom more nervous than change because we tend to personalize the things we love. No company wants to piss off or alienate their customers but I’m sure this isn’t a personal decision for them, its a business decision about the next 20 years. Yeah I’ll miss my monthly does as well but I support Big Finish, not just the Main Range. I’ll wait and see what they are going to do and then approach that with an open mind. Incredibly well said. As much as I appreciate some may not like this change , there is a good chance(especially when Big Finish has said their biggest and best selling releases are box sets) that displeasure with the change may well be a vocal minority. This decision has been made because Big Finish sees it in their best interest, from a business and likely a creative stand point. This hasn’t been made to upset people, but to make it easier for new people to join the ranks of those who already love their stories.Bottom line is that this is very likely going to be successful for Big Finish, and I am glad. Box sets such as Wicked Sisters or the Stranded sets are much more accessible because they don’t have giant numbers attached to them like the Main Range does. It psychologically allows for people not to face such a sizeable backlog in one range, but explore sets of two to four releases/stories, which is much easier to market and sell to people who pick and choose. It sucks that people might be priced out of future releases, or may not like the box set format, but many do, including Big Finish. So why shouldn’t they play to their potentially most fruitful demographic. I would think that for the long range health of the company the idea of pricing their customers out of their product would be a horrible idea. I would think that one of the good things about selling product in multiple formats is multiple price points, meaning a larger customer base. But if everything is going to boxsets that limits the different products and therefore limits price variability. The product is niche enough already, I don't think pricing out a good portion of the established base of customers is a healthy business plan. (Not that I am a business major or anything. Just seems logical.) And honestly, I still don't understand how this makes it easier for new folks. When I was a newbie I was extremely overwhelmed by the amount of different ranges, not necessarily how many MR titles there were. There were so many individual products! I stuck with Eight and then stayed with the Main Range only for a while because it was consistent and the early releases were cheap. I didn't branch out to spin offs until I felt comfortable with the company. I can't imagine a new fan opening up a Doctor's Range and seeing multiple boxsets! What do you start with?
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Post by Digi on May 25, 2020 22:17:17 GMT
Incredibly well said. As much as I appreciate some may not like this change , there is a good chance(especially when Big Finish has said their biggest and best selling releases are box sets) that displeasure with the change may well be a vocal minority. This decision has been made because Big Finish sees it in their best interest, from a business and likely a creative stand point. This hasn’t been made to upset people, but to make it easier for new people to join the ranks of those who already love their stories.Bottom line is that this is very likely going to be successful for Big Finish, and I am glad. Box sets such as Wicked Sisters or the Stranded sets are much more accessible because they don’t have giant numbers attached to them like the Main Range does. It psychologically allows for people not to face such a sizeable backlog in one range, but explore sets of two to four releases/stories, which is much easier to market and sell to people who pick and choose. It sucks that people might be priced out of future releases, or may not like the box set format, but many do, including Big Finish. So why shouldn’t they play to their potentially most fruitful demographic. I would think that for the long range health of the company the idea of pricing their customers out of their product would be a horrible idea. I would think that one of the good things about selling product in multiple formats is multiple price points, meaning a larger customer base. But if everything is going to boxsets that limits the different products and therefore limits price variability. The product is niche enough already, I don't think pricing out a good portion of the established base of customers is a healthy business plan. (Not that I am a business major or anything. Just seems logical.) And honestly, I still don't understand how this makes it easier for new folks. When I was a newbie I was extremely overwhelmed by the amount of different ranges, not necessarily how many MR titles there were. There were so many individual products! I stuck with Eight and then stayed with the Main Range only for a while because it was consistent and the early releases were cheap. I didn't branch out to spin offs until I felt comfortable with the company. I can't imagine a new fan opening up a Doctor's Range and seeing multiple boxsets! What do you start with? My guess is that the sets will not be numbered, they'll have individual subtitles in the way that the War Master range does so that every set is standalone and you won't need any (or at least, not much) foreknowledge to just pick a box set at random and dive right in.
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