Over the years Big Finish have released a variety of anniversary releases: from Doctor Who’s 50th and 60th, BF’s own 20th anniversary, and even celebrating 50 years of the Sontarans!
What are some of your favourite anniversary releases they’ve made, and what kind of releases would you like to see from them in future?
I was thinking earlier what I’d like from their 70th, or 65th even, releases. I’ve heard Light at the End (but years ago), I just finished Legacy of Time today and I heard Once and Future as and when it released. What I really want is one big story told over numerous parts.
I actually think a modern retelling of something akin to the Five Doctors would be interesting. Rather than try shoehorn in the plethora of Doctors they have available, maybe just cap it at a few?
For example, The Five Doctors 2: Three and Liz, Six, Mel and Hebe, 8 and Helen, 9 and Rose, 13 and Yaz. Could cameo some others, like Benny and River. But something less bombastic and chaotic, less trying to fit everyone in?
Legacy of Time balanced it well, but they just didn’t really connect as much as I would’ve wanted, hence the idea for doing a similar story to the Five Doctors.
Legacy of Time is probably my favourite of the multi-episode releases they’ve done - obviously Zagreus is the anniversary episode of all anniversary episodes. And maybe I’m biased because Legacy has all the spinoffs I love in it, but that’s why I loved it. It felt like a little celebration of everything in a better way than say, Once and Future did which just felt like a shamble
I’ve listened to “The Light at the End” many, many times. It’s my Doctor Who Day tradition to listen to that one 
And I gained such an appreciation of Once and Future when I relistened to them not that long ago, it really worked for me the second time around when I knew a bit of what to expect.
I love Zagreus and Light at the End.
I was underwhelmed hugely by Once and Future.
I remember liking bits of The Legacy of Time but as a whole found it a bit less than the sum of its parts.
I still need to listen to Masterful and the Sontarans vs Rutans releases.
Well, I listened to The Light at the End for the first time for the 60th anniversary, and honestly, I felt a bit underwhelmed…
The same goes for Once and Future as a whole, but that’s no secret. I haven’t relistened to it yet.
Zagreus is a strong one if we count that.
Sontaran vs. Rutans is fun but doesn’t feel very celebratory.
The recent 4th Doctor set celebrating 50 years of the 4th Doctor was a major disappointment.
I don’t remember a lot about the two Forty box sets for Five. The Quin Dilemma and The Trials of a Time Lord were quite uneven affairs for Six. And don’t get me started on Last Day for Seven…
I’ve yet to listen to Legacy of Time and Masterful.
Big Finish are very hit and miss with their anniversary releases.
Zagreus is superb, even if it’s nonsense (affectionate)
The Light at the End is a bit of a mess, but it’s good fun.
Once & Future has good bits, but viewed as a whole it’s quite lacklustre.
Zagreus!!! I think it works really well as an anniversary special because it has so many callbacks to the different era of the show by using past actors, but it doesn’t shoehorn them in as the actual characters, and includes multiple past doctors in a unique and inventive way. So it works as a really good story as well as just an anniversary celebration. (And it has leela and romana <3) Overall, not merely my favourite BF anniversary story, but my favourite anniversary story full stop.
Otherwise I wouldn’t say there are any other anniversary releases that I especially adore, except for some of the stories in Echoes Through Eternity.
Something I’m hoping for in a future Big Finish-related anniversary, like maybe for 30 years of BF in 2028, is that they focus on BF creations (instead of TV ones like the daleks in the stuff of legend) and celebrate the audio medium and the uniqueness of BF stories by doing something more experimental.
Well, you had Torchwood Serenity which was a banger for the 10th anniversary of July 9th 2009, where absolutely nothing bad happened. Apparently they gave a free copy to the first person who visited the Cardiff Bay shrine.
And then you had Torchwood Archives which was the 10 year anniversary of the show. This was then followed by Outbreak, was a pretty good celebration too imo.
Zagreus wins out for me as well. Listening at the time after an 18 month (or something) wait after the Neverland cliffhanger… Oooh, just one of those wonderful moments being a fan.
I didn’t and don’t like The Light at the End unfortunately. It’s such a let down to me. Feels so half arsed with some of the clunkiest dialogue I’ve heard in Big Finish.
Legacy of Time I didn’t care for on release but I relistened towards the end of last year and liked it a bit more. But it still only averages out at average at best. Though the Third Doctor and Jo story is wonderful.
Once and Future… Same as Legacy of Time I suppose though I might actually like it a little more. Some of the early ones are rough going though and spreading it out over the year instead of being a boxset did harm it I think. I’m just not a huge fan of the cycling through incarnations idea, even when it was announced. I’d seen it suggested ad infinitum on message boards for the 40th and 50th anniversaries so, apologies, it just reeks of fan fiction to me.
Other anniversary releases along the way… The Sontarans Vs Rutans run wasn’t for me, I haven’t listened to the Fourth, Fifth or Sixth Doctor’s 50th and 40th anniversaries but I did really quite like Masterful for the Master’s 50th.
But nothing tops Zagreus, or beats that experience of listening to it for the first time.
Oh? I’m curious what went wrong. What was its title so I can look it up on TG?
It’s a real shame that BF consistently bungles their anniversary sets, especially those that are meant to celebrate the classic Doctors (although maybe Five’s was the sole exception in 4-7?).
It would be this one:
I enjoyed Light at the End last time I listened and have mixed thoughts on Zagreus. Haven’t heard the other anniversary specials.
Masterful is one of my comfort audios and I love it a lot so it’s my favourite of any anniversary audio, including the main ones
I think the problem that The Curse of Time suffers from is fan expectations. I found it to be a perfectly fine Fourth Doctor story. It works as an anniversary of “Fifty years of Tom Baker” for me. It isn’t a celebratory epic that celebrates the Fourth Doctor’s entire run, instead it’s a story that’s been fitted onto the end of Season 12 and thus is a fairly standard Four/Harry/Sarah story that can reference and tie together threads the season it’s trying to be a part of. I enjoyed it, but it’s not overly celebratory or special.
Next up is 30 years of 8, I wonder what they’ll do to celebrate that. Then it’s 40 years of 7, they’ve already done The Last Day so I have no idea what they’ll do for that
Suggestion:
The Laster Day
The Last Day, For Realz
The Last Hour/Minute/Second
2 Last 2 Day
The Last Day 2: Seventh Boogaloo
No please not another Last Day!!!
One was bad enough…
I like “The Last Day” 
I’ve never heard it but I think you’re the first person I’ve ever seen say they like it lmao