Before BigFinish was established, many of its founding members were involved in unofficial and unlicenced fan audios distributed on cassettes during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
These were the AudioVisuals - a precursor to BigFinish and a very curious set of adventures from days gone by.
Considering when they were made, and the low-quality recording equipment used, they’ve aged surprisingly well (the audio quality is atrocious, but that’s to be expected).
This is the complete AudioVisuals catalogue from their old website, and you might have spotted some familiar writers… but also some familiar titles. Many of the Briggs stories were adapted into early BigFinish plays - like ‘Sword of Orion’ and ‘The Mutant Phase’.
Some of the plays that got adapted were drastically rewritten, such as ‘Minuet in Hell’, which remains one of the most reviled stories from the early days of BigFInish - for its atrocious cod-American accents, the disgusting way Charley is treat, and shoe-horning in the Lethbridge-Stewart for no reason.
‘Minuet in Hell’ was almost totally rewritten for BigFinish by Gary Russell after a falling out with the original author - Alan W. Lear.
The original AudioVisuals version is DRAMATICALLY different,
Earth, 1762AD
A crucial period for British Imperial Expansion; and for the influential members of the HELL FIRE CLUB Bedlam is where we find The Doctor - not as a visitor - but incarcerate Drugged and bound, the Doctor is so panic stricken that even his own identity is in question Gideon Spoonbill will provide an answer Meanwhile, back at MEDMENHAM ABBEY Count Ogolien prepares for the ultimate materialisation - Almighty Lucifer… the Devil himself
That’s a description from the old AudioVisuals site itself.
I understand that AudioVisuals were unliceneced and unofficial - Eric Saward reportedly tried on several occasions to get them shut down - but they’re also a pivotal part of BigFinish history.
It’s for that reason I think it might be a good idea for @shauny to add said stories to TARDIS Guide, even if they are something of an antiquated curio.
Good luck to anyone that tries to find the old tapes on eBay, but all the stories in question were actually uploaded to YouTube back in 2015, and are well worth a listen if you’re bored.
The videos don’t contain the story titles, those are in the descriptions. So if you’re looking for the drastically different ‘Minuet in Hell’, that is Audio Visuals 11
Seriously, it’s a strange Doctor Who rabbit hole, but a really interesting one.
