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Post by Kestrel on Jan 10, 2021 8:33:16 GMT
I'll admit it: I did a spit-take when they said, "by Colin Baker," in the intro. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't THAT! I had no idea the man wrote SF--and a quick perusal of the TARDIS wiki indicated that this was his one and only Doctor Who script.
With that in mind before listening, I didn't know what to expect. In my head, I kept saying, "please don't suck, please don't suck."
And you know what?
This story rocks.
It's clear from the very first few lines: Colin knows how to write dialog very well, he has a fantastic grasp of humor, and an absolutely perfect understanding of the Doctor's character.
That bit with the Doctor popping back into the office seconds after leaving? That's just so 6th Doctor, right?
This whole story was a delight. So short, so fast-paced, so delightfully absurd--I'm astonished to think that this is the only script Colin Baker has penned for Big Finish. Surely the man has more ideas in him! Or perhaps he's collaborated with other BF writers on other stories? If so, I'd be thrilled to find out which ones, so I might move them up on my queue.
So, anyone else grab these early Short Trips in the recent sale? Or listen to 'em recently? If so, what did you think? Were you as impressed with this one as I was?
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Post by fitzoliverj on Jan 10, 2021 10:05:50 GMT
Colin Baker's not written anything else for BF because, as he has said, he is so confident in the character of the sixth Doctor - so sure he knows what the Doctor would say or do in any situation - it would be difficult to take editorial instruction or amendment. However, this isn't his only piece of published DW fiction. For DWM, he wrote three short stories, "A Wee Deoch an ...?", "The Deal" and "A Tourist Invasion" (one of the most perfect short stories in English literature, to my mind), plus the comic "The Age of Chaos" (whcih is being reprinted later this year). In "The Target Storybook" he wrote "Interstitial Insecurity". He also contributed fiction to at least one of the unofficial unlicensed charity fanfic collections a few years back (as did Wendy Padbury). A few years ago he published a slim volume called "Gallimaufry" (the publication of which, I'm sorry to say, pretty much drove the small-press publisher to a breakdown) which reprinted fiction he'd had published in DWM and in his column in his local paper. Unfortunately he either rewrote "The Tourist Invasion" or printed an unedited version, and it just wasn't as good. This review should give you an idea how good his DWM work is. www.pagefillers.com/dwrg/1993yearbook.htm("The Age of Chaos", incidentally, prompted Jon Pertwee to offer "The Spare-Part People", the tv DW script he wrote with Reed de Rouen during the recording of his first series, to DWM to adapt into a comic. Unfortunately, when he went up to the loft to find it, it wasn't there). |
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Post by Kestrel on Jan 10, 2021 15:21:06 GMT
That sounds more like a Big Finish problem than a Colin Baker problem. I can't even imagine the mental strain one would have to be under to advise Colin Baker on how his Doctor might respond or speak in any given situation... I'd think the editorial process would mostly involve planning the scenario in the first place.
I'll definitely try to hunt down those short stories! Not to impose or anything, but do you happen to remember when they were written? I'd certainly be interested to know if they were published before or after he started working with Big Finish.
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Post by fitzoliverj on Jan 10, 2021 17:50:37 GMT
do you happen to remember when they were written? "The Target Storybook" was last year or the year before. The work for DWM was in the 1990s (the short stories were in the Yearbooks, the comic was a summer special - but, as I say, it's going to be part of a trade paperback later this year). "Gallimaufry" was about ten years ago, and I can only find one copy available online (on abebooks.co.uk) and that for £75, so that was a good investment for those of us who bought one at the time.
In fact, it looks like "The Wings of the Butterfly" was the charity story I was thinking of, since CB's contribution to 2001's "Missing Pieces" fanfic book has that title. |
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Post by constonks on Jan 10, 2021 17:56:13 GMT
do you happen to remember when they were written? "The Target Storybook" was last year or the year before. The work for DWM was in the 1990s (the short stories were in the Yearbooks, the comic was a summer special - but, as I say, it's going to be part of a trade paperback later this year). "Gallimaufry" was about ten years ago, and I can only find one copy available online (on abebooks.co.uk) and that for £75, so that was a good investment for those of us who bought one at the time. In fact, it looks like "The Wings of the Butterfly" was the charity story I was thinking of, since CB's contribution to 2001's "Missing Pieces" fanfic book has that title. The Wings of a Butterfly was also originally supposed to be a DWM piece but never made it to the page. One of my favourite Short Trips, easily. I do wonder if any of Colin's stories might be reprinted with Age of Chaos - prose stories have made into the Panini collections before... |
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Post by elkawho on Jan 11, 2021 4:06:21 GMT
Thank you for reminding me about this story. I listened to the Short Trip collections so long ago that I barely remember them. So that's downloaded to the app for listening tomorrow!
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Post by grinch on Jan 15, 2021 18:06:28 GMT
Simply a delight to listen to. And he really knows the Sixth Doctor as a character inside and out, which of course is only natural considering who penned the tale. I can only second the opinion that I’d like to see him write another Sixth Doctor story in the future.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2021 23:26:15 GMT
I enjoyed this one. I wonder if Colin Baker will write any more DW fiction. Maybe a full-cast audio drama.
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