So I’ve been noticing a trend in Big Finish’s Doctor Who spin offs where they just have an incarnation of the Doctor or old companion/s in one or more episodes. Maybe it’s to sell more copies I don’t know but the majority of the older spin off ranges have done very well for themselves without them in it looking at you Gallifrey, I, Davros and Sarah Jane Smith.
Rose Tyler and Rani has also done very well for their ranges I must say but I do wish some of the new releases for this year just had the monster like the Krynoid one coming I would’ve just loved to have seen an entire planet just try to fight it and probably lose because I love how hopeless that is.
What do you guys think do you believe spin offs are better without Doctor Who and their companions in them so they can stand on their own two feet or are they better for having them in?
To feel like a Doctor Who spin-off, I think it needs some connection to the main show. But it doesn’t need to be someone who has been a companion. I like the Jenny boxes, and she was just a one-off character. I think it could also be a good idea if they explored more of what happened next to worlds and characters from the main show.
I think it’s definitely to sell more copies - they must know from their stats that stories with a Doctor in sell more, it’s why they keep doing it. They add one to The Paternoster Gang all the time now.
I agree with you it would be good to have new spin-offs with new main casts and maybe they can find new talent that could sustain their own range. It would broaden their horizons.
honestly it feels super forced as someone who’s heard these sets. glorified cameos that actually didn’t really add much, asides from 2’s maybe which was nice? i was so excited for 8 to meet them but they made the extremely bizarre choice to have it that he hadn’t met them yet?? so idk if maybe it’s 9 or 10 who met them first but overall an odd decision.
Yeah, it’s a sales tactic, for better and for worse. And while I generally agree that it would be better to see more ranges without the Doctor or a companion involved, their involvement doesn’t have to be a bad thing, if the story is still written well. Zygon Century has Two in one of three stories, and his involvement feels quite natural at that point after two stories of buildup.
I think that the bigger problem is the dartboard approach BF have to their sets, where every range ends up as a greatest-hits collection of the protagonist meeting old Doctors, companions and villains in all kinds of wild combinations.
In 100% agreement. Some of my favourite spin offs are Doctor-less - I, Davros, Gallifrey, Countermeasures. It’s sad, actually, that there’s obviously a chunk of fandom who won’t give these things a try without a Doctor being present meaning BF feel they need to to get more sales.
I was actually a bit disappointed when I saw McGann on the front of Planet Krynoid because I’m not sure I knew he was in it till then.
For all their faults, BBV had some crackers of stories back in the day when they couldn’t use the Doctor even if they wanted to. I wish BF would plough that furrow a bit more often.
It’ss be nice to have him, but do we really need Eight in it, or Two in Zygon century?
I think it’s a little different with some more character focused spin offs, River meeting different Doctors or Masters is fun because I want to see how they’d interact, but when you’re telling an overarching story like Zygon or Paternoster are, it feels like a distraction from why you’re there.
(To be clear I haven’t listened to those sets, but it’s my view outside looking in)
On the other hand, the Paternoster Gang never really did anything for me. The Eighth Doctor on the other hand is my favorite Doctor. So his inclusion makes it more likely to check these out. Same with Jago and Litefoot. They were fine in Talons (and other audio stories featuring the Doctor), but I don’t quite get why everyone raves about them. So I’m more likely to check out the J&L boxsets with Colin or the Master than their solo stuff.
I am by no means somebody who is too well-versed into all of the Spin Offs from BF especially the ones lately, that said I think doing it too much will just hurt the Universe by large and would be boring.
Woah every Character can bump into everybody, maybe at first it’s fun, but sometimes it just feels a bit random of a pairing and that CAN work, but not all the time and only when it’s give time to develop. Personally, I prefer if most Spin-Offs for the Majority stood on their own, I mean Sarah Jane Adventures only had two Encounters with the Doctor and two with past Companions in its Run for example. You definitely can do Stories featuring old Companions/Doctor, but I don’t think every Release in a Range should have that, even if it makes sense as a selling Point.
But that’s just me, and again I can’t really comment how much of an issue this is actually, it does seem to have increased in the past few spin-off releases from what I have noticed
They probably include the Doctor in a lot of these spinoffs so new people will keep checking them out in years to come as well,
I wonder how many new people have checked out Graceless in the last five years or so since all their stories featuring the Doctor aren’t actually from their own series…
but I do wish some of the new releases for this year just had the monster like the Krynoid one coming I would’ve just loved to have seen an entire planet just try to fight it and probably lose because I love how hopeless that is.