With the return of a new season of Doctor Who I am once again finding myself totally obsessed with the Doctor. Unfortunately I am more or less out of easily accessible* episodes of the TV series (old or new) that I haven’t seen and I want something NEW!:mad:. I was thinking of checking out some of the audio productions from Big Finish or maybe trying to find some novels, but are they any good or will I just end up disappointed? If they are good, what do you guys recommend?
*By easily accessible I mean streaming on Netflix. I know I could track down other stuff, but that’s a project for another time.
The audio productions I’ve listened to (admittedly not many) have been pretty good. They were Eighth Doctor episodes–apparently unlike his single (well, double now) appearance in the canonical series, he’s heavily involved in the Big Finish productions.
I’ve wanted to like the books, but the ones I’ve read have not impressed me much, sadly. Maybe I just haven’t found the good ones, or maybe Doctor Who just doesn’t translate well to text. I’m not sure.
The old Target Books paperback adaptations of the TV series were brilliant, and avidly collected now, although some of them are now available in downloadable form. Back before home video they were the only way you could experience the old episodes, and for some of the lost ones they still are. My son has my old collection now, and is adding to it when he comes across them from time to time in old bookstores.
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{snip} I was thinking of checking out some of the audio productions from Big Finish or maybe trying to find some novels, but are they any good or will I just end up disappointed? If they are good, what do you guys recommend?
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I find the reviews on The Discontinuity Guide helpful. It has sections with reviews on the reboot episodes (but, only up to The Eleventh Hour), novels, novellas and “spin-offs” (which, sadly, is nowhere near complete).
Anyway, I sure wish I’d read their review of Mark Gatiss’ St. Anthony’s Fire before I went through the hassle of requesting it from Interlibrary Loan. What a stinker!
To the people who have hear the BF audio productions, how long is an “episode”? They are (mostly) available for download for $3, and while I don’t want to be cheap, that seems sort of pricy if I am just getting a half hour or hour long adventure. (totally reasonable if it’s novel length though)
Be warned, collecting them can be addictive: there are a lot. They’re pretty well-written, too: pitched at a kids/young adult level, but smart kids. They never shied away from describing something as an "iridescent hexapod"and letting you go figure it out.
You can check BBC Radio 4extra for some streaming episodes. This link may only work for a few days.
The Target books look like something I should check out some time.
