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Post by jasonward on Dec 24, 2015 13:20:17 GMT
The marketing of The Prisoner is ridiculously in your face (for BF fans), and seems to be on a ever increasing ramp, yet the excitement for it outside of BF's offices seems to be muted. Now they are giving away a half hour extract. Am I reading too much into a rampant marketing campaign, or is this a desperate attempt to get someone, anyone to buy it?
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Post by kimalysong on Dec 24, 2015 13:25:37 GMT
But Big Finish gives away free first episodes all the time. That isn't exactly new or necessarily indicates a flop.
Not saying it did or didn't. Just saying a free sample doesn't indicate a flop.
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Post by jasonward on Dec 24, 2015 13:27:28 GMT
I haven't listened to it, but reading the blurb this seems far more substantial than a 1st episode.
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Post by kimalysong on Dec 24, 2015 13:30:29 GMT
I haven't listened to it, but reading the blurb this seems far more substantial than a 1st episode. It's 30 mins free right? That sounds like half of the first episode since each episode is an hour.
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Post by acousticwolf on Dec 24, 2015 13:53:08 GMT
I can't blame them for the aggressive marketing. After all its Nick's baby and I imagine it's cost quite a lot to produce. The extract does sound fantastic and really puts you back into the village, but it is a cult programme and won't sell as well as some of the other ranges. I doubt many people will want to part with their hard earned cash on something they have little or no knowledge of, or interest in.
They regularly give free episodes away, this is really a taster designed to pull you in. As I said in another thread, instead of making me want to buy it tho', it put me in the mood to watch the original. Maybe Nick has made it too much like a copy of the original rather than a complete re-imagining it should have been. That said, if there was a cheaper standard edition, I would probably buy it. Failing that I will have to wait a few years for a sale.
It'll only be a flop if they can't sell the 3,000 copies made.
Cheers
Tony
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Post by randomjc on Dec 24, 2015 14:13:00 GMT
Just about every new range has gotten a free episode/30 minutes. I don't see this as a sign of poor sales.
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Post by barnabaslives on Dec 24, 2015 14:22:03 GMT
I hope The Prisoner doesn't flop, seems like they've put a lot into it and really produced a quality item. Agreed it might be a little on the obscure side and more samples (or more time to think about it) might help some prospective customers, including myself. The Prisoner and The Avengers may both be things I'll want to pick up when I'm a bit more caught up with the Doctor Who ranges. Hopefully that also gives me time to reconnect with original TV episodes of both of them.
I know I was a bit smitten with both programs back in the day (and was amazed how familiar the Prisoner theme sounded when I heard it in the podcast with John Hurt) but I've yet to get things sorted in the present. Possibly The Prisoner has an even better chance with me as an adult where hopefully I have more patience with a simmering mystery.
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Post by coffeeaddict on Dec 24, 2015 18:13:43 GMT
I wasn't familiar with the series and have gone and watched a few episodes and was not drawn in. Based on the snippets I have heard of BF's version I won't be getting it.
Like Dorian it just doesn't grab my interest.
I'd rather see new material written for The Avengers.
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Post by mark687 on Dec 24, 2015 20:44:33 GMT
It's got 2 major problems
1. It's too expensive at Pre-Order to take a gamble on for most people.
2. Its a "re-imaging" rather then unmade scripts or brand new tales.
I think BF'll make their costs back on this but I'll highly surprised if Volume 2 is rush commissioned over say more Post 2005 Who material.
Regards
mark687
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Post by omega on Dec 25, 2015 8:16:12 GMT
It's got 2 major problems 1. It's too expensive at Pre-Order to take a gamble on for most people. 2. Its a "re-imaging" rather then unmade scripts or brand new tales. I think BF'll make their costs back on this but I'll highly surprised if Volume 2 is rush commissioned over say more Post 2005 Who material. Regards mark687 Point one is what I pinpoint as the biggest problem with the release. It's the first in a new property for Big Finish (arguably the first in that kind of genre for Big Finish), and a cult TV show from man years ago, so there are far fewer people familiar with it. Even a cheaper more conventional box set with the same story content would have been a good move, so people could try it for a more affordable price, like with Omega Factor and Terrahawks. The reviews had better be up to the standard other new ranges have received, so The Prisoner can survive off of more than Nick Brigg's unstoppable enthusiasm (wanna bet that a solid five or ten minutes of the Behind the Scenes extras will be the man himself gushing about his memories of the TV episodes and the chance to work with the property?). I'm not cynical about the content, just how it's being delivered.
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Post by marie1964 on Dec 25, 2015 9:27:40 GMT
As somebody who hadn't really heard of the series before, I'm not interested in getting it, especially when there's so much else to try. I hope it succeeds, but I can see why a lot of people would prefer to skip over it for something else.
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Post by grazey on Dec 25, 2015 11:04:39 GMT
It's got 2 major problems 1. It's too expensive at Pre-Order to take a gamble on for most people. 2. Its a "re-imaging" rather then unmade scripts or brand new tales. I think BF'll make their costs back on this but I'll highly surprised if Volume 2 is rush commissioned over say more Post 2005 Who material. Regards mark687 These are the 2 reasons why I haven't got it. After listening to the preview I was so close to buying it but then the cost is still off putting regardless of how good or how much I enjoyed it. The download itself feels overpriced compared with others at £35 and it's so close price wise to the £40 special cd packaging version it doesn't seem worth going for the download version. If it was about 5-10 quid cheaper via the download I would have bought it already. The reimagining thing doesn't help. Listening to the preview made me want to rewatch the tv series. I'm sure that wasn't quite what Nick Briggs had in mind when he released the preview
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Post by ryan on Dec 25, 2015 11:50:53 GMT
It's got 2 major problems 1. It's too expensive at Pre-Order to take a gamble on for most people. 2. Its a "re-imaging" rather then unmade scripts or brand new tales. I think BF'll make their costs back on this but I'll highly surprised if Volume 2 is rush commissioned over say more Post 2005 Who material. Regards mark687 These are the 2 reasons why I haven't got it. After listening to the preview I was so close to buying it but then the cost is still off putting regardless of how good or how much I enjoyed it. The download itself feels overpriced compared with others at £35 and it's so close price wise to the £40 special cd packaging version it doesn't seem worth going for the download version. If it was about 5-10 quid cheaper via the download I would have bought it already. The reimagining thing doesn't help. Listening to the preview made me want to rewatch the tv series. I'm sure that wasn't quite what Nick Briggs had in mind when he released the preview Completely agree. Remaking stories seemed risky in itself, but lifting scenes and dialogue directly from the episode is the nail in the coffin. Why listen to the same scenes and lines when we can watch the original?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2015 13:15:06 GMT
At the price point The Prisoner download has been set at, I have no interest in buying it. For me it's too expensive for what it is.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2015 20:08:44 GMT
Big Finish are also pushing the River Song release by bringing it forward to the day after her (possible) final episode on television. I don't think that necessarily means that the audio is in any way a flop, any more that The Prisoner. Just a business strategy to help shift a few units, I think. I hope it works for them.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Dec 25, 2015 23:35:35 GMT
I am really amazed at people calling The Prisoner obscure. It is one of the key pieces of television and one of the most influential series ever. Anyway, I agree, and I hate to keep harping on it, but the price point is the biggest thing for most people and you have to think ITV asked for a pretty penny to license the property. Plus it looks like a bigger production cast wise, which also factors in. For me the warning signs were the reimagined versions of existing episodes. Those concerns were not alleviated by the 30 minute preview. I ended up buying it because it is The Prisoner, because I've been asking for it for years and because I'm willing to give Nick the benefit of the doubt. Is it a flop already? Who knows? I guess the answer will be if another volume is announced quickly or at all.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2015 0:37:11 GMT
Yeah, I don't get the obscure thing either. It's always listed among the greatest tv ever made and has been repeated and remade. It's also been an early pick for new formats like bluray and even Laserdisc looking to show off their systems.
Still, having heard the preview, I'm still stumped. If you love the sound of it, there's a full series already out there looking an sounding glorious at a much lower price point than what BF want for remakes of a fraction of the series. If I were hearing this without being a long-term fan of the franchise my first point of stop would be buying the TV series, not the audio. I saw someone on Facebook say "Well, you could say that about the Avengers" but since the early years of that, the ones BF are doing, are missing from the archives completely (including the audio) it's a completely different kettle of fish.
I think this will be good. I just think it will also be massively redundant. That was my fear at announcement and the review has all but confirmed it.
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Post by omega on Dec 26, 2015 0:45:28 GMT
Yeah, I don't get the obscure thing either. It's always listed among the greatest tv ever made and has been repeated and remade. It's also been an early pick for new formats like bluray and even Laserdisc looking to show off their systems. Still, having heard the preview, I'm still stumped. If you love the sound of it, there's a full series already out there looking an sounding glorious at a much lower price point than what BF want for remakes of a fraction of the series. If I were hearing this without being a long-term fan of the franchise my first point of stop would be buying the TV series, not the audio. I saw someone on Facebook say "Well, you could say that about the Avengers" but since the early years of that, the ones BF are doing, are missing from the archives completely (including the audio) it's a completely different kettle of fish. I think this will be good. I just think it will also be massively redundant. That was my fear at announcement and the review has all but confirmed it. Exactly, the DVD must be very affordable at this point. You'd also have visuals (which avoids the clunky scene describing dialogue you get on some audios). A large ball is more striking than a sound effect.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2015 0:53:31 GMT
Yeah, I don't get the obscure thing either. It's always listed among the greatest tv ever made and has been repeated and remade. It's also been an early pick for new formats like bluray and even Laserdisc looking to show off their systems. Still, having heard the preview, I'm still stumped. If you love the sound of it, there's a full series already out there looking an sounding glorious at a much lower price point than what BF want for remakes of a fraction of the series. If I were hearing this without being a long-term fan of the franchise my first point of stop would be buying the TV series, not the audio. I saw someone on Facebook say "Well, you could say that about the Avengers" but since the early years of that, the ones BF are doing, are missing from the archives completely (including the audio) it's a completely different kettle of fish. I think this will be good. I just think it will also be massively redundant. That was my fear at announcement and the review has all but confirmed it. Exactly, the DVD must be very affordable at this point. You'd also have visuals (which avoids the clunky scene describing dialogue you get on some audios). A large ball is more striking than a sound effect. I can see BF's conundrum. Reboot and change too much and it's not The Prisoner any more. Its very, very much a product of its era. It's not Bond, it doesn't work out of context. So I'm left wondering why bother? I can - with no malice - only conclude from all the interviews we've heard this is a bit of a vanity project for Nick. I'll be kinder and say passion project.
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Post by grazey on Dec 26, 2015 1:18:17 GMT
Yeah, I don't get the obscure thing either. It's always listed among the greatest tv ever made and has been repeated and remade. It's also been an early pick for new formats like bluray and even Laserdisc looking to show off their systems. Still, having heard the preview, I'm still stumped. If you love the sound of it, there's a full series already out there looking an sounding glorious at a much lower price point than what BF want for remakes of a fraction of the series. If I were hearing this without being a long-term fan of the franchise my first point of stop would be buying the TV series, not the audio. I saw someone on Facebook say "Well, you could say that about the Avengers" but since the early years of that, the ones BF are doing, are missing from the archives completely (including the audio) it's a completely different kettle of fish. I think this will be good. I just think it will also be massively redundant. That was my fear at announcement and the review has all but confirmed it. Exactly, the DVD must be very affordable at this point. You'd also have visuals (which avoids the clunky scene describing dialogue you get on some audios). A large ball is more striking than a sound effect. The DVD is £16.00 just now on Amazon. A couple of months back network on air had the blu ray on sale for the itv at 60 sale for about £12 which I gladly took advantage of and upgraded.
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