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Doctor Who

TomH1138

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I'm glad you got to see "Downtime"! Unfortunately, it's better for the things it does for the history of the show (bringing back Sarah Jane, the Brig, and Victoria; introducing Kate) than it is for the actual story itself, which is a bit confusing and unfocused. I'd love to do a fan edit of it one day!

bionicbob said:
Not clear if the BBC or Dr Who show runners view this story as canon?   This is the first introduction of the Brigadier's daughter Kate, and while played by a different actress, I could believe she is the same character who evolved in the future leader of UNIT as seen in The Day of the Doctor.  Has Moffat ever commented on this?  We know of his passion for classic Who canon.  

Both RTD and Moffat have made statements indicating that, to them, there is no canon (which, I suppose in another sense, means that everything is equally canon). I've never heard him comment on "Downtime" specifically, but I bet he does consider it part of the story.

As for whether or not the inclusion of Kate in the new series was intentional, Shannon Sullivan (a Doctor Who online historian who's been detailing the behind-the-scenes aspects of the show online -- since 1995!) had this to say:

"Now, Chibnall wished to pay tribute to Courtney -- who had passed away in February -- by introducing the Brigadier's daughter, Kate, as the new leader of UNIT. As a twist, Kate Stewart would not be a soldier like her father, but rather the Head of Scientific Research. Effectively, then, she would inherit the roles of both the Brigadier and the Doctor within UNIT. Coincidentally, Doctor Who spin-off media had already introduced a daughter named Kate for the Brigadier (created by Marc Platt for the video Downtime), but Chibnall was unaware of this character."

I haven't looked it up myself to verify this, but Sullivan seems to be very reliable, even citing his sources at the bottom of the page. Link below:

http://www.shannonsullivan.com/doctorwho/serials/2012d.html

Still, the similarities are staggering. How much better would the odds be that Downtime would mention a son named Harry or something, and then that character would never get mentioned again? Or that the Brig would have a daughter named Susan, and then the new series would say that he only ever had one daughter? Instead, both characters share the same name and the same blond hair even though their father had dark hair! It seems like it was meant to be.  :) 

I definitely consider this movie canon, even though the story isn't great. I mean, the story in Battlefield isn't great either, but that's undeniably still canon too!  :D
 

ChainsawAsh

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theryaney said:
I finally watched Resolution. Short review: I liked it. One of the stronger episodes for me and the performances are great, I like the "new" Dalek design, and I do enjoy the production quality and humour of this series.

^ Has anyone listened to any of the Big Finish productions and have a recommendation? I love audiobooks/audio dramas so I want to check them out.

Seconding McGann's audios. Mary's Story (one of the four stories in "The Company of Friends") is a decent starting point, and it's chronologically first, I believe. Then there's a trilogy of full audio stories that follow on from Mary's Story (The Silver Turk, The Witch from the Well, and Army of Death) which flow into one another but are independent from his other audios.

McGann essentially has three separate arcs you can follow.

Chronologically after the Mary Shelley trilogy is his Main Range audios with Charley Pollard, which start with Storm Warning. The main range is one story per month from either the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, or (initially) Eighth Doctor. While Five-Seven's releases bounce around the timeline, Eight's are chronological with an ongoing arc.

McGann's Main Range stuff was being released before the new series came out, so it followed the classic series serial format. Once the new series started, his Main Range stories stopped taking as many risks so as not to step on the new series' toes, and eventually Charley leaves (to join the Sixth Doctor in an arc I've not delved into) and McGann's audios transition to...

The Eighth Doctor Adventures!

These are styled more after the current series, split into seasons, with each story being one or two 45-60 minute episodes instead of four to six 30-minure episodes. They start out a little rough, but EDA Season 4 is possibly my all-time favorite season of DW.

The initial Eighth Doctor Adventures releases featured Lucie Miller as the companion (one of my favorite companions, too!), and technically ended when she left. But unlike the Charley story arc, which wasn't really referenced much in the EDA audios (though they take place after), the arcs begun with Lucie continue on into what McGann's current "range" has become - titled story arcs released as 4 box sets with 4 interlinked stories each. Dark Eyes is the first, picking up immediately where season 4 of the EDA range ends. This is where Big Finish gave McGann's Doctor a makeover, with a new costume, sonic, and haircut. After Dark Eyes 4 comes Doom Coalition (same deal, 4 box sets), then Ravenous, which is currently being released.

Finally, the third arc:

The Time War.

I don't know much about this range other than that Eight is depicted in his Night of the Doctor costume on the covers and that it was initially meant to be a single box set until John Hurt passed and the War Doctor series couldn't be continued, so it became an ongoing. It's a prequel to the War Doctor audios, but again, don't know much more beyond that.

Sorry if that was a bit of information overload, but I adore McGann's audio work!

If you don't want to dive so deeply into everything, though, I'll give you a strong recommendation for one story:

The Chimes of Midnight.
 

ChainsawAsh

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Oh, also, if you have Spotify Premium, all of the first 50 Main Range audios (Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Doctors) are up there (Chimes of Midnight being one of them!), as is the entirety of Season 1 of the Eighth Doctor Adventures.
 

wilhelm scream

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I begun listening to the Big Finish audio's last year (for Doctor Who anyway, I begun listening to their Blake;s 7 stuff for a while beforehand) and I love them. I don't listen to them in any particular order, except the 8th Doctor stuff (which I listen to in chronological order, as it's what I'm most interested in). At the moment I'm just going through the one's on Spotify until I have enough money to continue the 8th Doctor audios, since I burnt quite a bit of it on the sales Big Finish had during the new series and Christmas.
 

addiesin

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ChainsawAsh said:
Seconding McGann's audios. Mary's Story (one of the four stories in "The Company of Friends") is a decent starting point, and it's chronologically first, I believe. 

( Don't read unless you've listened to the story: )

And last, possibly. I like to think the burned up Doctor in Mary's Story had the Dark Eyes costume and the clothing was as damaged as he was. And that was the reason he went back to a Victorian like style in his Night of the Doctor outfit. Just a thought. It's hard to find people who know that corner of the fandom.

The Eighth Doctor audios really are worth checking out. It's like seeing what could have been, except there's nothing to look at.
 

ChainsawAsh

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Oh yeah, I forgot about that. At any rate, the Mary Shelley ones can pretty easily be listened to independently of all the others. It's a good way to dip your toe in the Big Finish waters.
 

addiesin

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ChainsawAsh said:
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. At any rate, the Mary Shelley ones can pretty easily be listened to independently of all the others. It's a good way to dip your toe in the Big Finish waters.

Agreed, especially since the complete run with Mary is so few episodes, it can feel like you've completed a "season" pretty quickly. As opposed to Charley, for example.
 

asterixsmeagol

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ChainsawAsh said:
Oh, also, if you have Spotify Premium, all of the first 50 Main Range audios (Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Doctors) are up there (Chimes of Midnight being one of them!), as is the entirety of Season 1 of the Eighth Doctor Adventures.

Oh thanks for the tip! I've wanted to try out the Big Finish series but they're too expensive.
 

wilhelm scream

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asterixsmeagol said:
ChainsawAsh said:
Oh, also, if you have Spotify Premium, all of the first 50 Main Range audios (Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Doctors) are up there (Chimes of Midnight being one of them!), as is the entirety of Season 1 of the Eighth Doctor Adventures.

Oh thanks for the tip! I've wanted to try out the Big Finish series but they're too expensive.

A lot of the early ones (the first 100 of the main range) are only £2.99.
 

TM2YC

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tenor.gif


£100 is too much though.
 

ChainsawAsh

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asterixsmeagol said:
ChainsawAsh said:
Oh, also, if you have Spotify Premium, all of the first 50 Main Range audios (Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Doctors) are up there (Chimes of Midnight being one of them!), as is the entirety of Season 1 of the Eighth Doctor Adventures.

Oh thanks for the tip! I've wanted to try out the Big Finish series but they're too expensive.

There's also some Fourth Doctor ones (first season of the FDA range I think) and some Lost Stories (adaptations of unproduced episodes), too.
 

Handman

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I don't understand why you would want a story on a vinyl record over a CD.
 

Zarius

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Handman said:
I don't understand why you would want a story on a vinyl record over a CD.

I'll wait for the VHS revival personally :)
 

TM2YC

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Handman said:
I don't understand why you would want a story on a vinyl record over a CD.

Me neither. An incredible sounding Rock album yes. What is potentially a fan's reel-to-reel home taping of the audio from the back of a 1960s TV set of a show that had a budget of about 30p... er no. If I did buy it (which I won't) I'd want it to drool over the artwork.
 

addiesin

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They've almost definitely remastered whatever recording they have, but yes the source was still as TM2YC described. Remastering amounts to Equalization, Noise reduction, Compression, Volume leveling, probably some expensive versions of that kind of thing. It's not like being able to remix, with the original separated dialogue and music channels.

Since the release is being treated as a big deal, with a high price and custom art, they might have tampered with it further than a simple remaster, with soundtrack or sound effects replacement or some kind of advanced corrective audio processing I'm unaware of. Not a rumor I read anywhere, I'm just guessing. It's possible.
 

TomH1138

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Wow, that's astonishingly good work, including the voice by Pete Walsh!

Did you edit that, Wilhelm, or are you just passing it on?
 

wilhelm scream

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TomH1138 said:
Wow, that's astonishingly good work, including the voice by Pete Walsh!

Did you edit that, Wilhelm, or are you just passing it on?

Just passing it on.
 
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