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Post by smith11 on Jun 29, 2020 16:36:03 GMT
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Post by themeddlingmonk on Jun 29, 2020 16:56:38 GMT
I was expecting this. I imagine it’s probably going to be the October release now. Hopefully they release Time Apart this week to make up for it, although I wouldn’t count on it.
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Post by antartiks on Jun 29, 2020 17:01:25 GMT
Isn't it the first time since the very beginnings of Big Finish as a company that we won't have a MR episode at all for a specific month ?
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Post by cwm on Jun 29, 2020 17:03:42 GMT
I really think BF need to be clearer about *why* this one has been delayed, rather than quietly changing the release date on the last possible day before it could come out on time.
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Post by cwm on Jun 29, 2020 17:08:27 GMT
Isn't it the first time since the very beginnings of Big Finish as a company that we won't have a MR episode at all for a specific month ? In the very, very early days there wasn't a main range story every month - the three 1999 releases came out in July, October and November. I think there may have been one other case of an MR story missing its scheduled month due to a production delay but can't remember which one...
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Post by nitronine on Jun 29, 2020 17:40:42 GMT
I wonder if they had to rerecord parts of the story to more heavily address Lovecraft's racist attitudes, or maybe reedit it in some way. This is all speculation but it does seem odd that a few weeks ago enough of the story was ready that we got a 15 minute teaser of it but now they've delayed it until September at the earliest (if taking the 'after Summer' notice literally).
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Post by johnhurtdoctor on Jun 29, 2020 17:41:21 GMT
'short delay in production'? This was recorded between 29-30 January 2020, we deserve a better explanation than this deliberately vague term. Very strange behaviour.
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Post by johnhurtdoctor on Jun 29, 2020 17:44:19 GMT
I really think BF need to be clearer about *why* this one has been delayed, rather than quietly changing the release date on the last possible day before it could come out on time. Don't hold your breath.
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Post by tuigirl on Jun 29, 2020 18:09:04 GMT
It's funny there's been no comment from the powers that be, either reassuring or advising caution. My money is on the fact that Lovecraft is treated sympathetically by the main characters, despite an accurate portrayal, and that's where they think the controversy will be. Pure speculation on my part of course. In retrospect they should have cited production difficulties and brought Time Apart forward, if that was possible. Lovecraft could have slipped out unnoticed mid November. I think you are right onto it.
If we take last months teaming up with Nazis as a recent example, I think what you are saying will be exactly the point.
Even if last months release was critical towards the Nazis, it still left a bad taste at least in my mouth. If they handle Lovecraft the same, even while telling him off, it might not be the best move to release it right now.
Production delays? As they say in New Zealand: "Yeah, right."
What makes me wonder if why they waited so long with the announcement- it was pretty clear that the current situation was not quickly going away so soon. What were they waiting for? That all sides of the racism debate suddenly discovered their love for each other by end of June?
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Post by johnhurtdoctor on Jun 29, 2020 18:16:01 GMT
It's funny there's been no comment from the powers that be, either reassuring or advising caution. My money is on the fact that Lovecraft is treated sympathetically by the main characters, despite an accurate portrayal, and that's where they think the controversy will be. Pure speculation on my part of course. In retrospect they should have cited production difficulties and brought Time Apart forward, if that was possible. Lovecraft could have slipped out unnoticed mid November. I think you are right onto it.
If we take last months teaming up with Nazis as a recent example, I think what you are saying will be exactly the point.
Even if last months release was critical towards the Nazis, it still left a bad taste at least in my mouth. If they handle Lovecraft the same, even while telling him off, it might not be the best move to release it right now.
Production delays? As they say in New Zealand: "Yeah, right."
What makes me wonder if why they waited so long with the announcement- it was pretty clear that the current situation was not quickly going away so soon. What were they waiting for? That all sides of the racism debate suddenly discovered their love for each other by end of June?
Exactly, announcing this one day prior to the final day it could be released is very poor, but what else do we expect from BF's marketing team. But this current situation hasn't appeared out of nowhere. Racism won't go away even when the glare of the media has moved on from the BLM movement. It does raise a concern though in that even if the story does address Lovecraft's racism its sill coming from the point of view of 3 white protagonists. Imagine the tv episode Rosa being made with 3 white companions! BF have really got a long way to go in terms of representation! & by giving a vague reason like this they are opening themselves up to all sorts of speculation, some of which may be far wide of the mark in terms of accuracy.
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Post by tuigirl on Jun 29, 2020 18:36:58 GMT
Correct me if I am wrong. I was pretty sure there was a post about the Lovecraft Invasion on the BF Facebook page. I remember posting on there that I was looking forward to it. I just had another look but could not find the post anymore. And I went as far back as mid-May. Suspicious.
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Post by stcoop on Jun 29, 2020 19:01:46 GMT
What makes me wonder if why they waited so long with the announcement- it was pretty clear that the current situation was not quickly going away so soon. What were they waiting for? That all sides of the racism debate suddenly discovered their love for each other by end of June?
That's why I wonder if it wasn't entirely their decision.
The thing about Lovecraft is you can't even really give the standard "He was a product of his time" excuse, because even when he was alive he was called out on his beliefs. Just imagine how bad you'd have to be for people in the 1920s/'30s to call you a racist...
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Post by Digi on Jun 29, 2020 19:24:51 GMT
Well, this is about as poor as they could possibly have handled it. Does Big Finish not employ anybody with even a lick of PR sense? Like not even an actual Marketing or PR team, just a layman with common sense.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Jun 29, 2020 19:30:11 GMT
Not really surprising and makes me wonder just how much, if at all, the adventure deals with Lovecraft's racism. If it is a straight adventure story that mostly features aliens using Lovecraft's dark fiction and not really dealing with Lovecraft the man, then yeah I totally get pushing it back. "Production delays" could be any number of things, one of which could be tweaking the story a little bit and recording some new material. Provided nothing gets moved up & released tomorrow in its place, will this be the first month where the monthly adventures misses a release date?
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Jun 29, 2020 19:37:24 GMT
Well, this is about as poor as they could possibly have handled it. Does Big Finish not employ anybody with even a lick of PR sense? Like not even an actual Marketing or PR team, just a layman with common sense. Yeah. Something as simple as Due to current events and the frank discussions of race going on in all sections of our society, we have decided to reassess the content of this month's Main Range title. We hope the delay that will result from this action will be a short one. We apologize for any inconvenience. Who do I invoice?
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Post by mark687 on Jun 29, 2020 19:41:07 GMT
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Post by tuigirl on Jun 29, 2020 19:45:43 GMT
Well, this is about as poor as they could possibly have handled it. Does Big Finish not employ anybody with even a lick of PR sense? Like not even an actual Marketing or PR team, just a layman with common sense. I would say it is true to form.... would we have expected anything else at this point?
One suspects that maybe they are doing this on purpose, because when looking at the law of probabilities, they should at least get it right once every blue moon.
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Post by sherlock on Jun 29, 2020 19:48:19 GMT
Correct me if I am wrong. I was pretty sure there was a post about the Lovecraft Invasion on the BF Facebook page. I remember posting on there that I was looking forward to it. I just had another look but could not find the post anymore. And I went as far back as mid-May. Suspicious. I seem to remember earlier this month they tweeted an ad for it with a tag line about discovering a great writer having poor views (of words to that effect). This was just as the JK Rowling storm was starting and Big Finish got some comments in response suggesting now wasn’t really the time (probably a scheduled tweet anyway) so they deleted it. I wonder if fear of a backlash has led to some reviewing of it.
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Post by pawntake on Jun 29, 2020 19:49:23 GMT
P Lovecraft (Alan Marriott) poses a problem. Aside from the threat of unleashing tentacled titan Cthulhu into the real world, the TARDIS team will also have to deal with the author’s troubling sociopolitical ideologies. I think this little extract from the above link sums it all up really.
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Post by mark687 on Jun 29, 2020 19:50:22 GMT
Correct me if I am wrong. I was pretty sure there was a post about the Lovecraft Invasion on the BF Facebook page. I remember posting on there that I was looking forward to it. I just had another look but could not find the post anymore. And I went as far back as mid-May. Suspicious. I seem to remember earlier this month they tweeted an ad for it with a tag line about discovering a great writer having poor views (of words to that effect). This was just as the JK Rowling storm was starting and Big Finish got some comments in response suggesting now wasn’t really the time (probably a scheduled tweet anyway) so they deleted it. I wonder if fear of a backlash has led to some reviewing of it. Yes still on the Main site www.bigfinish.com/news/v/doctor-who-meets-h-p-lovecraftEdit They've removed it from the What's New pages altogether. Regards mark687
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