It’s common knowledge that the Monthly Range was discontinued so that BigFinish could reboot their classic Doctor ranges - ensuring each incarnation had at least two box sets a year (aside from the first two).
I just wanted to know what people thought were the best and worst stories from this new era of box sets.
High points for me include;
- ‘Pursuit of the Nightjar’
- ‘The Annihilators’
- ‘The Demon Song’
- ‘The Great Cyber-War’
Low points for me include;
- ‘The Outlaws’ (the whole box set)
- ‘Bad Day in Tinseltown’
- ‘Kaleidoscope’
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What a great question! I think, from what ive heard, the high points for the relaunch so far have been
- the outlaws (whole set! I love it to bits!)
- Dream Team (BOTH 10/10s i mean instant classic)
- Annihilators
- both Audacity sets slap
- Peake Season, which is a contender for my favorite ever audio drama
Whereas the low points for me have to be
- Conflicts of Interest
- Silver and Ice
- The Mindless Ones, which was a shame because the rest of the purity arc was very good:/
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Ngl, I haven’t listened to that many of the classic Doctor boxsets post MR, but I have listened to some of Three’s and I really liked them. Unfortuantely, I haven’t really been vibing with the new Eight releases though which is a bummer. I’ll probably get around to these eventually, though - only 100 MR episodes to go!
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Not sure what are my favorites and least favorites, but I am just gonna use that Thread to voice out some of my Opinions on the Relaunch. I do have a lot of Thoughts on it. While I get why that Relaunch ultimately happened, I would be lying if I wasn’t a bit sadden by the End of the Monthlies (and the Early Adventures). I do get why you would want Ranges for all the Classic Doctors, but Part of me worries if BF isn’t stretching themselves a bit thin with it?
Let’s go through the Ranges shall we?
From what I heard the 3DAs pretty much has its current Identity figured out. While before their Relaunch most of those Stories tried to emulate the Style of that Era and while true still for most Stories (especially with Liz). I do think now with the Addition of having an older Jo, they branch out a little more with her. A Story such as The Quintessence is anything but a typical third Doctor Story, a big Reason why I really love that one a lot! Still that Range hasn’t lost its original Goal of emulating the Vibe and feel of that Era, just now it’s doing it mainly for S7 and S11 with all those 6 or 7 Parters.
The 1DAs have left me a bit disappointed. I do like the Idea of doing 1 and Dodo Travels, but I felt like after the first Set we kinda did a dip. And while I like Fugitive of the Daleks (and I am very curious to getting around to the living darkness), I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit sad by sidelining Dodo so much in favor of ‘Older Companion’ (literally!). In general, I think I preferred what we got with Bradley and 1’s Early Adventures much more. I am still not sold on Noonan in the Role and in general am not very excited what we got lined up for the future with it. (Maybe I am too overly critical on that range considering my love for 1).
The 2DAs have also been pretty disappointing, I don’t mind the S6B Approach (even if I really dislike this Theory), but so far most of the Stories didn’t really intrigue me as much as I would have hoped. In general, as much as I love Jamie and Zoe, I wish we ‘moved on from them’ in that Storyline. Why couldn’t Raven be the Companion or literal the Character introduced and implied to be 2’s Companion in that time?!
Can’t comment on the current 4DAs, 5DAs (shame on me, I know) or the 6DAs since I still need to catch up on those much more before I can form an Opinion.
I can however comment on the 7DAs, which have been very hit or miss. My biggest Complain with it is having no clear Direction outside of maybe the Harry/Naomi Stuff, which is the only two Boxsets I still need to get around to. I have a lot of my Thoughts on the last Day, on principal I quite like it and overall I am probably more in favor of it, but it’s a tricky ‘Saga’ of two Boxsets to rate (to put it kindly). And the Carnacki one-off while a fun Idea and one that I think is quite enjoyable honestly, it felt a bit ‘random’. In general, I am not sure where exactly they are leading with 7 currently as we speak. Some Bits I do like and some I am indifferent to.
There is of course the very messy Era that we have with 8 currently. I LOVE Charley, I LOVE India, but gosh Big Finish do we need to have a whole tenure with her? While I like her Chemistry with Audacity, part of me would lie if I didn’t say that I wish that we got Solo Travels with Audacity honestly (and I say that while I enjoyed plenty of those Stories). I am not sure why we still have Liv too, like Liv is great, but she got her ending! After those two AMAZING 2022 Boxsets, I am a bit puzzled why we are still keeping her there if we could have a few 8 and Helen solo adventures by now!! Oh, and there is the Thread to the time war which is very much its own Thing entirely (kinda), so I am not touching.
Apologize for the whole ramble/wall of text, but thought this thread would be a nice Opportunity to leave some of my Thoughts on the current Classic Doctor Output at BF!
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