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Post by martinw8686 on Sept 19, 2022 15:28:00 GMT
I love the idea of the Eighth Doctor pushed to his limits trying to help but not fight in the Time War. I feel we've yet to see him pushed to where we found him in Night of the Doctor.
I think a cool idea would be seeing him reunited with Charley and Lucy only to loose them once again, perhaps having to sacrifice a resurrected Lucy to save Charley, in a sort of Sophie's Choice situation.
Paul plays the damaged Doctor so well, the beginning of Dark Eyes he's just so good. I think there's so much potential to tell really dark time war stories.
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Post by grinch on Sept 19, 2022 15:30:29 GMT
I quite like to see a story where either one of the Time Lords or perhaps Bliss herself points out the inherent hypocrisies in the Eighth Doctor’s character.
He claims to be a conscientious objector and wants nothing to with the overall conflict but yet keeps working with/for the Time Lords by going on missions.
Could act as some nice tragic foreshadowing for his next incarnation that whether he likes it or not, he’s a part of the war.
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Post by theillusiveman on Sept 19, 2022 15:41:06 GMT
I would love to see a version of 8 actively fighting and killing Daleks Then the regular 8 is horrified and tries to circumvent fate but I doubt the bbc would allow it
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Post by grinch on Sept 19, 2022 15:43:28 GMT
I would love to see a version of 8 actively fighting and killing Daleks Then the regular 8 is horrified and tries to circumvent fate but I doubt the bbc would allow it To be honest, considering how the fourth volume touched on the idea of the Time War encroaching onto the Multiverse i could see that being a very real possibility.
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Post by Kestrel on Sept 20, 2022 20:56:13 GMT
I think the biggest problem with the 8DTW range is Bliss. Don't get me wrong, I like her as a character, but the whole concept of having a recurring companion -- across four whole boxsets, no less -- establishes a comfortable status quo for the range to return to. And that seems pretty antithetical to the premise, to me at least.
I think for the 8DTW range to fully satisfy me -- to fully realize its potential -- we need to see the Doctor travel with various companions (or try to) with them ending poorly (similar to the almost-companions the 10th Doctor had in the latter half of his life) and -- perhaps most crucially -- more solo stories. We need to see that slow descent into desperation and hopelessness that feels his decision to abandon his ideals and join the war proactively in Night of the Doctor.
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Post by theillusiveman on Sept 21, 2022 6:53:20 GMT
I would love to see a version of 8 actively fighting and killing Daleks Then the regular 8 is horrified and tries to circumvent fate but I doubt the bbc would allow it To be honest, considering how the fourth volume touched on the idea of the Time War encroaching onto the Multiverse i could see that being a very real possibility. Fingers crossed that Big Finish would have the balls to do it
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Post by shallacatop on Sept 21, 2022 7:21:20 GMT
I don't think it's likely, but I do feel the best thing that could be done is to not carry directly off the cliffhanger in Time War 4. Just have a time skip and have Eight bang in the middle of it. Have him realise just how hopeless he is in the Time War in his current state, push him towards that decision he makes in The Night of the Doctor. I agree that Bliss is the biggest issue; it just goes completely against that descent for the Eight. Not to mention just how generic of a character she is, I don't think she's actively contributed anything to the range, just hindered it if anything. I would also argue that the other problem is the portrayal of the Doctor. It's always felt like Big Finish allowed real life events to dictate the portrayal to some extent. The Time War came off the back of Doom Coalition and has ran concurrently with Ravenous, Stranded, etc. which has had that darker edge to Eight since Dark Eyes and to compensate and provide variety they've made him more cheerful in The Time War, like his early Charley & Lucie days. It doesn't quite work.
It's no coincidence that the best of the range was The Starship of Theseus. It perfectly captured the chaos of the Time War interfering in normal events, you were on the backfoot in a satisfying way and it had the threat that everyone was at risk, including the Doctor's companion. Similarly, the best Time War Eight material is outside of his own range because it's either set later on in his era, has him solo or the Time War is used in a more meaningful way. The Time War range is just a series of usual Doctor Who adventures with the odd skirmish (and they're very much skirmishes) with the Daleks and/or Gallifrey. I've previously proposed that a shake up of the order they were released in would've made for a more impactful run, but you still have those trappings of the portrayal of the Doctor and him having a companion that don't seem appropriate.
Anyway, to get back to the question, my ideal would be to build off the Time War 4 cliffhanger, albeit with a time skip, and have Eight really thrust into the middle of things. Have Bliss depart in some tragic circumstance and push that desperation that bit further. I think that'd retroactively make the initial run of sets fare better by being a prequel / early skirmish of sorts. It'll be interesting to see what's in store, as it's been some time since Time War 4 and we're now in a different direction with the new Doctor sets, etc.
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Post by sherlock on Sept 21, 2022 9:10:48 GMT
I think Time War 4 finally found this range’s footing, being the Doctor caught up in complete carnage and navigating his way through. So I’d like more of that vibe.
I really want more of the just-holding-himself together Eight we got in The Legacy of Time. This War should be an ordeal for him, so let that reflect on him.
As for Bliss, I really couldn’t describe her personality with a gun to my head. She’s the ultimate non-entity; just doing whatever the story requires the companion at any given time. A companion in the midst of the Time War should be an opportunity to go outside the norms, pair the Doctor up with someone he wouldn’t travel with at any other time of his life (if he must have anyone at all), but Bliss is just so generic she could probably be dropped into any other era and little would change. So to get the rant over, please just give her a send off of some sort.
I have no idea how they should approach The Cliffhanger as it’s so left field. I do think they should get Susan involved in wherever it goes somehow, assuming Carole Ann Ford is still working (don’t think she’s recorded anything since 2019?). Just would make sense to tie-in with Susan’s War and be odd to have events involving Alex without her.
And no more memory loss stories!
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Post by martinw8686 on Sept 21, 2022 16:02:11 GMT
I think Time War 4 finally found this range’s footing, being the Doctor caught up in complete carnage and navigating his way through. So I’d like more of that vibe. I really want more of the just-holding-himself together Eight we got in The Legacy of Time. This War should be an ordeal for him, so let that reflect on him. As for Bliss, I really couldn’t describe her personality with a gun to my head. She’s the ultimate non-entity; just doing whatever the story requires the companion at any given time. A companion in the midst of the Time War should be an opportunity to go outside the norms, pair the Doctor up with someone he wouldn’t travel with at any other time of his life (if he must have anyone at all), but Bliss is just so generic she could probably be dropped into any other era and little would change. So to get the rant over, please just give her a send off of some sort. I have no idea how they should approach The Cliffhanger as it’s so left field. I do think they should get Susan involved in wherever it goes somehow, assuming Carole Ann Ford is still working (don’t think she’s recorded anything since 2019?). Just would make sense to tie-in with Susan’s War and be odd to have events involving Alex without her. And no more memory loss stories! I agree that Bliss is not the best companion for the Time War, she's pleasant enough and I believe the actress is well regarded but she keeps the Doctor too grounded, he needs to be pushed to a darker more desperate place, loosing Bliss could be an excellent catalyst. I agree that the portrayal of 8 feels a little light for that era, I would dearly like to see more performances like Night of the Doctor.
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Post by grinch on Sept 21, 2022 16:04:01 GMT
I personally still find it a bit bizarre that the Eighth Doctor even has a companion at this point of his life. A compassionate soul such as he I imagine wouldn’t want to expose anyone to the horrors of the Time War let alone a human.
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mbt66
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 3,075
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Post by mbt66 on Sept 24, 2022 10:18:35 GMT
When this thread first appeared I thought Big Finish has announced it!
Very surprised that we are getting more Liv and Helen, before we get Time War 5 or whatever they decide to call it.
As has been said already I thought the series hit it’s stride with Time War 4. And I agree we shouldn’t have had a permanent companion for the Doctor. I thought they had a plan for Bliss, but that doesn’t seem to be case. I actually really like the character and she would have been a fine addition to the Tardis if it wasn’t the Time War, however I still hope she is back for the next set.
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Post by Kestrel on Sept 25, 2022 14:51:26 GMT
When this thread first appeared I thought Big Finish has announced it! I'm tempted to Index this thread because I thought the same thing, and I imagine when BF does announce it we're pretty likely to just use this thread, unless it gets buried by then. But, really, it's been so long -- I'm expecting them to announce more 8DTW any day now. Just browsing through their upcoming releases... there are a lot of gaps.
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
Likes: 5,788
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Post by lidar2 on Sept 25, 2022 21:46:53 GMT
When this thread first appeared I thought Big Finish has announced it! I'm tempted to Index this thread because I thought the same thing, and I imagine when BF does announce it we're pretty likely to just use this thread, unless it gets buried by then. But, really, it's been so long -- I'm expecting them to announce more 8DTW any day now. Just browsing through their upcoming releases... there are a lot of gaps. Ditto. I note Rakee seems to have left Star Cops, going by the announced cast for High Frontier. I wonder if she is not currently available for BF recordings and if that is the reason for the 8DTW5 delay.
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Post by mark687 on Sept 25, 2022 21:52:23 GMT
I'm tempted to Index this thread because I thought the same thing, and I imagine when BF does announce it we're pretty likely to just use this thread, unless it gets buried by then. But, really, it's been so long -- I'm expecting them to announce more 8DTW any day now. Just browsing through their upcoming releases... there are a lot of gaps. Ditto. I note Rakee seems to have left Star Cops, going by the announced cast for High Frontier. I wonder if she is not currently available for BF recordings and if that is the reason for the 8DTW5 delay. Well she's done at least 3 TV Dramas this year so availability could be an issue Regards mark687
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Post by whiskeybrewer on Sept 27, 2022 15:25:14 GMT
I wouldnt mind seeing a Tales/Chronicles of the Time War boxset. Telling stories with a variety of different Time Lords and Species that dovetail through EDTW and GTW. That way we are getting cameos from those boxsets, but we can have new one off or recurring characters
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Post by martinw8686 on Sept 27, 2022 16:26:50 GMT
When this thread first appeared I thought Big Finish has announced it! Very surprised that we are getting more Liv and Helen, before we get Time War 5 or whatever they decide to call it. As has been said already I thought the series hit it’s stride with Time War 4. And I agree we shouldn’t have had a permanent companion for the Doctor. I thought they had a plan for Bliss, but that doesn’t seem to be case. I actually really like the character and she would have been a fine addition to the Tardis if it wasn’t the Time War, however I still hope she is back for the next set. Sorry to get your hopes up with the thread, I'd just rewatched Night of the Doctor and was hoping with wishful thinking that talking about 8th Time War 5 would make it miraculously appear!
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Post by sherlock on Oct 28, 2022 11:30:45 GMT
A Radio Times interview with McGann published yesterday includes this juicy hint- ‘Of course, that is an end to the Eighth Doctor, but McGann agrees that no Doctor reaches ‘The End’ – having recently returned to the TV series for a cameo in centenary special The Power of the Doctor, he's also "about to do some Big Finish stories loosely based but connected to that short [The Night of the Doctor] – it’s one of the beautiful things about Doctor Who’s mythology, nothing is ever wasted.”‘ Connected to Night…methinks Time War 5 is near… Full interview here: www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/paul-mcgann-doctor-who-am-i-big-rt-interview/
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Post by themeddlingmonk on Oct 28, 2022 14:17:07 GMT
Could also be Charlotte Pollard 3 or CDNM
But I really hope it’s Time War 5
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