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Post by Ricky on Apr 12, 2021 15:11:15 GMT
With most people, at this point, probably picking up main range releases at random when sales are on (where is my 101-200 sale, BF? *Shakes fist*), would it really hurt to make these two available separately? Who would honestly kick up a fuss with a straight face were that to happen?
I simply don't have the funds to spend over £100 on a 12-release subscription (which is sure to have a mix of things I am and am not interested in) to pick up an exclusive title that I would otherwise buy on its own.
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Post by cwm on Apr 12, 2021 15:14:07 GMT
The Monthly Range was a range of Doctor Who audio dramas, released on a more or less monthly basis between July 1999 and March 2021, amassing 275 releases in total. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2021 15:22:35 GMT
The key word is right now. And right now its correct - it is the only way to get the story. If they sell it later it doesn't make it being exclusive a lie before as it was exclusive through subscription. What they do in the future is neither here nor there, and not false advertising. |
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Post by The Brigadier on Apr 12, 2021 15:24:39 GMT
The Monthly Range was a range of Doctor Who audio dramas, released on a more or less monthly basis between July 1999 and March 2021, amassing 275 releases in total. I may be wrong, but I think @daver might have been employing here a little known and seldom used response called 'sarcasm'.. |
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Post by cwm on Apr 12, 2021 15:29:40 GMT
Seriously, these two releases are never, ever going to be put on general sale, on the grounds that it would be against the law to do so. BF promised a main range subscription would be the only way to get them; they are still bound to that promise. Give it up.
And that is my last word on the matter.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2021 15:38:00 GMT
But its not 😂😂😂 but that is okay - when it is rereleased (and it will) we can all enjoy it and see what all the fuss is about. (MY last word on the matter. Possibly. Maybe.)
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Post by project37 on Apr 12, 2021 16:29:30 GMT
I tried to have a word about the story itself earlier in the thread, so here's my only word on the topic of distribution.  As someone who took out a subscription over a decade ago (!) to get The Four Doctors, I wouldn't care at all (much less take legal action!) if BF decided to put it on general sale. I've paid for releases and DWM exclusives over the years that they ended up giving away for free as "lockdownloads" and it didn't change my view of the company. I'm not an attorney but I get the rationale behind the concern. It just doesn't seem like it's insurmountable. I had to track it down but this blog post by the author about the story itself is well worth a read. Fun fact: The episode titles were “Analysis, “Disassembly”, “Decompilation”, and “Reverse Engineering”. peteranghelides.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/talking-to-big-finish/ |
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Post by Digi on Apr 12, 2021 16:29:36 GMT
It can be 'your last word' all you like. It's still not remotely accurate.
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Post by The Brigadier on Apr 12, 2021 17:29:09 GMT
Fair enough.
I will just point to the Subscriber Short Trips page on the website, type SHORT TRIPS RARITIES in capital letters to further emphasise my point and merely state that I'd hope that those who took out a subscription to the Monthly Range in the past TEN YEARS that included The Four Doctors or The Five Companions as an exclusive would not object to someone who missed out on or (especially with the way things are these days) couldn't afford to take out a subscription having the opportunity to buy and more importantly enjoy those two stories. Because objecting would come across as petulant and rather selfish, and I'm sure NONE of us would want to wear that particular look.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2021 19:01:31 GMT
Fair enough. I will just point to the Subscriber Short Trips page on the website, type SHORT TRIPS RARITIES in capital letters to further emphasise my point and merely state that I'd hope that those who took out a subscription to the Monthly Range in the past TEN YEARS that included The Four Doctors or The Five Companions as an exclusive would not object to someone who missed out on or (especially with the way things are these days) couldn't afford to take out a subscription having the opportunity to buy and more importantly enjoy those two stories. Because objecting would come across as petulant and rather selfish, and I'm sure NONE of us would want to wear that particular look. Woah they released the subscriber exclusive short trip? But they said they were inly available by subscribing!?!? Ringing my lawyer right now. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2021 21:14:20 GMT
I don't know why we have this sort of fuss over a couple of very average Doctor Who stories... as a subscriber I was well aware what was said when these stories (The Four Doctors & The Five Companions.) were announced and of course Big Finish would like to try and keep faith in what they intended in 2010/2011 when these two 'special' stories were made available as subscription exclusives. Yes, it was a promise and yes they did mean it. However, the range that these stories were attached to has now finished. These two CDs were incentives for people to subscribe to the MR, yet now in 2021 Big Finish are not looking for subscribers to the MR any more, as it doesn't exist! So Big Finish should be well within their rights to offer up these two stories to their customers, either by general sale or some other purchase offer, without fearing a knock at the doors of BF Towers by the Police looking to drag Jason & Nick away for doing something "illegal"!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2021 21:18:07 GMT
Fair enough. I will just point to the Subscriber Short Trips page on the website, type SHORT TRIPS RARITIES in capital letters to further emphasise my point and merely state that I'd hope that those who took out a subscription to the Monthly Range in the past TEN YEARS that included The Four Doctors or The Five Companions as an exclusive would not object to someone who missed out on or (especially with the way things are these days) couldn't afford to take out a subscription having the opportunity to buy and more importantly enjoy those two stories. Because objecting would come across as petulant and rather selfish, and I'm sure NONE of us would want to wear that particular look. Woah they released the subscriber exclusive short trip? But they said they were inly available by subscribing!?!? Ringing my lawyer right now. Right so i have just got off the phone with my lawyer and heres what he had to say. “**** off you moron, its ten o’clock I'm trying to sleep and nobody gives a ******* **** about your stupid ******* audio dramas, contact me again and ill sue you,********* So pretty mixed signals tbh, maybe it might be illegal... |
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Post by pazzer on Apr 12, 2021 21:40:47 GMT
Was really hyped to listen to The Four Doctors just because is subscriber only. Of course it couldn't live up to my expectations but still enjoyed it. Big Finish have made subscriber only short trips available so I don't really see any reason why haven't done the same with this and The Five Companions.
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Post by theillusiveman on Apr 13, 2021 1:19:08 GMT
Well Nick Briggs in the podcast hinted that after the main range they might make it available for purchasing which yeah fingers crossed
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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 Apr 13, 2021 11:43:46 GMT
Weren't releases like An Earthly Child and Return of the Krotons sold as 'subscriber exclusives' back in the day as well? They were not sold with the promise that they would only be available as subscriber exclusives - indeed, it was clear that they would eventually go on general release. The Four Doctors and The Five Companions have always been sold with the promise that a subscription is the only way ever to get them from BF. It would be a breach of the Trade Descriptions Act to put them on general release. FYI The Trades Description Act 1968 has been largely repealed and replaced by the Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and subsequent regulations.
There are so many reasons why BF would never be prosecuted under this legislation over these stories.
The legislation contains the clause about materiality - a 6 release sub is not a huge amount of money and arguably anyone buying it just to get one of these stories is not materially out of pocket, plus they are likely to be a Dr Who fan who might well have been getting the 6 release sub anyway
Even assuming BF had done something wrong, Trading Standards have bigger fish to fry than BF
A customer who had taken out a sub would have to demonstrate that the selling these stories only via MR subs was a condition of the contract between them and BF in order to successfully bring a breach of contract claim against BF. Even assuming they did so (not likely at all) the remedy in law would be a refund. No one in their right mind is going to bring a court case against BF to get back £65.
The statement on BF's website about there being only 2 ways to get these releases is not true anyway - ebay is a 3rd (legal) way to get a CD copy. An average consumer is assumed to have some degree of savviness and (it might be argued) be able to work that out for themselves. So a consumer taking out a 6 release sub to get these releases would not have been "forced" by misleading marketing to do so, as there would have been other legal ways to get the stories.
Statements made only have to be true, to the best of the seller's knowledge at the time they are made, not forever and a day. Thus BF's statements were not misleading at the time they were made.
Having said all that, I actually agree with you that these stories will not go on sale generally. Not because of any legal prohibition, but out of a sense of honour/decency on BF's part. I think after the CDs are all sold out the downloads will instead eventually be given away as a freebie on the BF website like some of the DWM exclusives. That way they are not technically breaking any promises made about how people can "buy" them if they giving them away for free rather than selling them
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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 Apr 13, 2021 11:47:24 GMT
Re the story itself, I think it is great.
Peter Anghelides is one of those really good writers that every time you hear one of their stories you are asking "Why hasn't he written more for BF?"
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Post by cwm on Apr 13, 2021 14:00:58 GMT
Looking back on this thread I think it got overly heated and sidetracked by discussion of the legalities of releasing this story separately, and I wish to apologise for my part in that.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2021 15:25:13 GMT
Looking back on this thread I think it got overly heated and sidetracked by discussion of the legalities of releasing this story separately, and I wish to apologise for my part in that. I was also being overly dickish about it, my bad, so i am sorry as well. |
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Post by chopper on Apr 14, 2021 17:03:24 GMT
Had forgotten all about this release as it only appears in the Extras for another release in the BF App.
But it’s great. I’m a big fan.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2021 7:31:30 GMT
“FOUR DOCTORS VERSUS AN ARMY OF DALEKS!
The Fifth Doctor has been allowed access to the Vault of Stellar Curios, where the biomechanoid Jariden are at least prepared to consider his warnings about dangerous temporal leakage.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the Daleks attack, unleashing a temporal maelstrom that will not only threaten the Jariden race, but will have dire consequences for the history of the Doctor himself...”
well going by the above chat lol let me first add i got this by subscription 😂😂
And now to the more important thing the story 😂 As multi Doctor stories go it is actually really enjoyable .There isnt a lot of Doctor Interaction but the Doctors are all true to form.If you are going to have four Doctor story you might as well pit them against the Daleks.It is a fun enough ride and Sixies (largely rewritten character) comes off with the better material.
Definitely worth a listen if you like Dalek voices at 6am(does anyone?) but sure keeps you awake.
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