I can’t imagine people are really saying that these days considering what a staple BF is in the fandom. That’s surprising.
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When there are still fans who don’t ‘count’ the modern series, I can easily believe there are those who dismiss the audios.
But we also need to remember that neurodiversity is very common among Doctor Who fans and this can results in some thought processes leading to conclusions which may seem strange to others.
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This is the kinda stuff that annoys me. If you don’t like the Revival, or Big Finish, that’s OK. We are all allowed to like what we like. But dismissing and shaming someone else’s enjoyment of it is just gatekeeping and elitism with extra steps. It’s unneeded.
For example; I’m not that much of a fan of Star Wars post Disney, but my partner adores Mando and the comics. I generally stick with the old EU, while they gobble up everything that comes out. I’m not going to stop them because I’m not a total dick. Diverse tastes are a wonderful thing.
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I’m 99% sure it’s people who for one reason or another, don’t like or can’t be bothered to try a different medium, and when they see other people are getting enjoyment out of a part of their franchise they don’t enjoy, they feel the need to make it less enjoyable for others as well.
Their arguments never make sense either. It’s always “Big Finish isn’t canon because there are no visuals”. And when a poor fellow tries to reason with their logic and brings up Night Of The Doctor they go: “Just because he mentioned those companions doesn’t mean the stories with those companions are canon because we never saw them on tv. He could have had a completely different life and these companions just happened to have the same names. Only the names are canon, we have no reason to believe all the other stuff actually happened”. Things I have seen people genuinely say multiple times. (and i think i worded their arguments fairly clear here too, unlike what it usually is)
It’s always just jealousy and I should ignore them. But it does really ‘ick’ me.
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It’s also a bit of FOMO - so if they dismiss something outright they can feel better at missing out on it. In some cases it may genuinely be they can’t afford it but this translates into a form of jealousy.
It’s also what we saw happen with the Chibnall era - and ironically are also already seeing the beginnings of with the RTD2 era. If you don’t like it, you tell everyone it isn’t ‘proper’ Doctor Who and then you can tell yourself you’re not missing out on anything.
Fans are their own worst enemy.
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I definitely find myself doing this sometimes. I came from the Star Trek fandom, where the shows are considered alpha canon and everything else is beta canon, and I still sometimes view Doctor Who through that lense. It’s a lot easier to dismiss things as “not real canon” when you don’t have access to them for whatever reason. I don’t want to have to spend hundreds of dollars on audios and books just to “know all the canon”, you know? And there are some EU-loving fans that definitely act like you have to do that. I feel that this is something of a reaction to that. Both sides could bear to be a little more respectful in my opinion.
I just do what I always do: if I like it, it’s canon to me. If I don’t, I don’t care. And everyone else can do whatever they want, too.
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And therein lies the biggest issue. Other franchises have ‘canons’ - Star Wars and Star Trek being good examples.
Doctor Who doesn’t have and never has had, a canon. Therefore we don’t need to decide what counts and what doesn’t because it all counts and it all doesn’t count. That’s why we get stories which are rewrites of expanded media; it’s why we get similar stories in different mediums, it’s why The Giggle doesn’t follow on from the Toymaker’s audio and book appearances. None of that matters in Doctor Who and coming to Doctor Who and trying to view it through the ‘canon’ lense is a fools errand.
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Yeahhh Big Finish is expensive. I know I can’t afford so many. I’m dreading the day the audio club gets past Zagreus and I can’t follow it with Spotify anymore lol. (and almost all my knowledge of the EU comes from tardis wiki too)
But I would never try to devalue something because someone else enjoys it. I can’t wrap my head around why that would make someone feel better, no matter the FOMO. But it’s one of the things you sadly enough see a lot of on social media.
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Even in the same medium there’s contradictions, even with the original being part of a well loved serial (e.g. two different explanations for the Marie Celeste in The Case and The Eaters of Light)
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For Big Finish on a budget, always remember to check with your local library. If they don’t many or any now, they may know of ways to get them (either through direct purchase for the collection or through Inter-library Loan programs).
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And three versions of what happened to Atlantis - The Underwater Menace, The Daemons and The Time Monster.
And that’s before we get started on Terry Nation always rewriting the Dalek history!
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I’ve also found a bit in charity shops
I got Aliens Among Us 1 in my local oxfam bookshop
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Sadly, this doesn’t work it my area. There are some local buyers who have the charity shops on lockdown. They pick over everything. Unless you’re in a shop when they go on a shelf, within a few hours they are sold.
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Yikes, yeah that’s fair
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I’m in the USA, so to find any Doctor Who anything in that kind of store is even slimmer than in the UK.
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Yep. If anyone’s public library is synced up to hoopla, they have a bunch of DW comics, and a few audios, movies, and ebooks. And, as you said, many libraries are able to purchase titles users recommend.
The audios hoopla currently has are:
- The Way of the Empty Hand (2)
- The Darkening Eye (5)
- Foreshadowing (8)
- Domain of the Voord (1)
- The Worlds of Doctor Who
- Little Doctors (2)
- Crime of the Century (7)
- The Doctor’s Tale (1)
- The Fourth Doctor Adventures
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I don’t like that they take the daleks so seriously, they’re just not intimidating at all.
People can always run away from them but most just stand still, a dalek isn’t that scary that you immediately freeze up from shock.
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Recently I just realized I don’t get the destruction in Logopolis or at least Katura’s and Luvic’s death having to come with it. Like - it’s not that Margot or Robin were ill or did’nt want to film the show anymore. It’s just that it makes for enticing TV, but so does Nyssa and Luvic marrying each other and having their lovely daughter, Nyvi. (and her brother Lusac, BUT EXPECIALLY NYVI SHES SO CUTE!!!)
Maybe I’m just not a Doctor Who fan and I don’t get it because I’m not the target audience.
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I’m still not quite clear about “ick”; the only thing that is clearly in that category for me is the fate of a certain bad guy in Dragonfire.
Things that make my blood boil and/or my eyes roll:
In stories:
- Undoing or ignoring character growth and lessons learned. For example, the Doctor learning that mindwiping people is not okay, but then doing it again (or trying to) multiple times. Also, Missy and the following incarnation.
- Bringing back a character who had a strong exit just to give them a more miserable one. Big Finish (who I love) have done this far too often.
- Acting as if cruel and unusual punishment is okay if the good guys do it.
- Lazy use of the sonic screwdriver as a magic wand, and calling it “the sonic”. I thought I was over it, but apparently not.
In fandom & the media:
- Calling classic serials “episodes”.
- Unavoidable spoilers, e.g. Radio Times & Dalek Sec.
- Fans who won’t accept that their opinion isn’t necessarily objective fact.
Some of this is just how I react, but (despite that last one) I believe some of it actually isn’t entirely…
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Add to this, ‘and refer to faceless ‘lots of people’ that agree with them; pretend to speak for ‘classic fans’ and then drag ratings into the mix to prove that they are obviously right’.
Grrrr.
Thankfully, this forum is free of that nonsense!
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