bishopcruz
Member
Edits: Changed some of the Images to make the thread a little less gaudy and huge. Also added some of the recommendations
Hey, well we just finished the 50th anniversary, and it was awesome. The thing is, as of Night of the Doctor, we now know that the TV series is not the only canon in Doctor Who. There is a whole load of great stories available for the Classic doctors and for the time between the 1996 Movie and the 2005 reboot it was just about the only place where you could get new Who with actors at all.
What are these?
From the Wiki
So, there are a LOT of these, and I've only listened to a relative few of them. Thing is, overall they are GREAT. The audios do a great job of telling compelling stories with some very strong acting and usually a great cast. Characters that will likely never appear in the TV show again (past companions) are often allowed to return, and that in and of itself is great. You also get to find out things like what happened to Susan, and just how badass the Eighth Doctor really was.
The dramas also apparently do a great job in redeeming the sixth Doctor. I haven't listened to much of his adventures, but the reviews and buzz about them has been quite strong.
The biggest problem with the Audio dramas is that they aren't cheap, but there is a sale right now that has the first 50 available for download at $2.99 a pop. That's a whole lot of Who.
As for where to start, I can only speak to my experience, and that was starting with the Eighth Doctor line. I got into who with the 11th hour, then went back and watched everything from the 9th Doctor onwards. I also watched a smattering of Classic who on Amazon and Netflix. I was curious about the Doctor that time more or less forgot, and decided to check these out. They were GREAT. The Eighth Doctor line has had its hiccups over the 11 years its been going, but he still ends up being my favorite Doctor. I'm almost caught up, I just need to finish listening to Dark Eyes, the most recent release.
Big Finish's Main Doctor Who page.
http://www.bigfinish.com/hubs/v/doctor-who
Recommendations (will update as more come in):
Eighth Doctor:
The first two seasons, starting with Storm Warning and concluding with Zagraus are excellent. If you have to try just one, I would go with either Storm Warning, the first, or Chimes of Midnight, the best Christmas Story in Doctor Who history. The nice thing is, all of this are currently only $2.99 so getting in is pretty easy.
The Eighth Doctor's original run follows his adventures with Charley Pollard, self proclaimed Edwardian Adventuress, they are as follows:
BobbyRoberts recommends the Eighth Doctor Adventures line, which is also quite good, though a more expensive place to start:
Fifth Doctor:
Honestly haven't listened to any of these, but I hear nothing but good things about Spare Parts.
Sixth Doctor:
Again, looking to get into him next, and there is a LOT, but I did listen to Jubilee, the story that was reworked into the episode Dalek in Season 1. Great, great stuff. The Holy Terror is the one I plan to listen to next.
Once you're hooked, you'll probably wanna check out the other Doctors, in which case:
Seventh:
Absolutely NO idea. But hopefully some others in the thread can give some advice here.
The Fourth Doctor:
Tom Baker also just started with his own range of stories, The Fourth Doctor adventures. As these are new they are more expensive, but I honestly haven't heard much about them. Anyone have any thoughts on them?
As you can see, even after listening to about 50 of these stories, I still have barely scratched the surface of the non Eighth Doctor lines. So, for fans of these, chime in. What's good, what's bad? Let us know!
KuwabaraTheMan also recommends:
Hey, well we just finished the 50th anniversary, and it was awesome. The thing is, as of Night of the Doctor, we now know that the TV series is not the only canon in Doctor Who. There is a whole load of great stories available for the Classic doctors and for the time between the 1996 Movie and the 2005 reboot it was just about the only place where you could get new Who with actors at all.
What are these?
From the Wiki
Many of those initially involved in Big Finish had worked on the Audio Visuals fan series of unlicensed Doctor Who audio plays.
Big Finish began with a series of audio plays adapted from New Adventures. These were a series of novels from Virgin Books which had originally been licensed Doctor Who stories, but by then had become officially independent from the show and were based around the character of Bernice "Benny" Summerfield. Big Finish then obtained a (non-exclusive) license to produce official Doctor Who plays, beginning with the multi-Doctor story The Sirens of Time. Doctor Who and spin-offs have remained the main part of the company's output ever since, although they have since diversified.
The Doctor Who audio plays feature the five surviving lead actors to play the character of the Doctor in the classic series (Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann), as well as many of the regular supporting actors over the many years of the programme. The late Jon Pertwee's voice is featured in the 40th-anniversary story Zagreus. His part in the story was pieced together from snippets of dialogue (from the fan-produced Doctor Who video "Devious") recorded prior to his death.
Of the surviving Doctors, Tom Baker had for years declined invitations to return to the role (though in March 2010 he mentioned on his website that he had a new story in the works, and Big Finish confirmed these plans on their own website[7]).
Big Finish's licence, which has been extended to 31 December 2015, only covers the original Doctor Who series. Big Finish are therefore unable to feature any material from or references to the new series, which prohibits Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith from appearing as the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors respectively. The extent of the restriction remains unclear, as the character of the Ninth Doctor makes a silent "off-screen" appearance that affects the plot of 2006's The Kingmaker.]
So, there are a LOT of these, and I've only listened to a relative few of them. Thing is, overall they are GREAT. The audios do a great job of telling compelling stories with some very strong acting and usually a great cast. Characters that will likely never appear in the TV show again (past companions) are often allowed to return, and that in and of itself is great. You also get to find out things like what happened to Susan, and just how badass the Eighth Doctor really was.
The dramas also apparently do a great job in redeeming the sixth Doctor. I haven't listened to much of his adventures, but the reviews and buzz about them has been quite strong.
The biggest problem with the Audio dramas is that they aren't cheap, but there is a sale right now that has the first 50 available for download at $2.99 a pop. That's a whole lot of Who.
As for where to start, I can only speak to my experience, and that was starting with the Eighth Doctor line. I got into who with the 11th hour, then went back and watched everything from the 9th Doctor onwards. I also watched a smattering of Classic who on Amazon and Netflix. I was curious about the Doctor that time more or less forgot, and decided to check these out. They were GREAT. The Eighth Doctor line has had its hiccups over the 11 years its been going, but he still ends up being my favorite Doctor. I'm almost caught up, I just need to finish listening to Dark Eyes, the most recent release.
Big Finish's Main Doctor Who page.
http://www.bigfinish.com/hubs/v/doctor-who
Recommendations (will update as more come in):
Eighth Doctor:
The first two seasons, starting with Storm Warning and concluding with Zagraus are excellent. If you have to try just one, I would go with either Storm Warning, the first, or Chimes of Midnight, the best Christmas Story in Doctor Who history. The nice thing is, all of this are currently only $2.99 so getting in is pretty easy.
The Eighth Doctor's original run follows his adventures with Charley Pollard, self proclaimed Edwardian Adventuress, they are as follows:
Season 1:
Storm Warning
Sword of Orion
Stones of Venice
Minuet in Hell
Invaders From Mars
Season 2:
The Chimes of Midnight
Seasons of Fear
Embrace the Darkness
The Time of the Daleks
Neverland
40th Anniversary Special:
Zagraeus
3rd Season:
Scherzo
The Creed of the Kromon
The Natural History of Fear
The Twilight Kingdom
4th Season:
Faith Stealer
The Last
Caerdroia
The Next Life
5th Season:
Terror Firma
Scaredy Cat
Other Lives
Time Works
6th Season:
Memory Lane
Absoultion
The Girl Who Never Was
From the Wiki:
BobbyRoberts recommends the Eighth Doctor Adventures line, which is also quite good, though a more expensive place to start:
I'd disagree that Storm Warning to Zagreus is the best intro to the Audio Dramas, or to the Eighth Doctor. Plus the image used doesn't even come from that, but comes from the drama that continues AFTER what I'd consider to be the better recommendation for newcomers.
The Eighth Doctor Adventures
These are their own series, with only one or two episodes outside the series needed to understand any of what's going on (and even then - you don't really lose anything). They're produced with the New Who viewer in mind, and tend to take on the formatting of those episodes, whereas previous Big Finish productions are much more in the 4-5 part 25min serial mode of Classic Who.
The Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) meets a companion named Lucie Miller (Sheridan Smith), who feels to me a bit like a combination between Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler, and Donna Noble. That's not the best way to describe her, I know, but she is a really well-written companion, who evolves quite a bit over the course of the run, which includes run-ins with classic Who villains (Daleks, Cybermen, Zygons, Ice Warriors) and classic Doctor Who characters, including the return of his granddaughter, Susan.
There are four seasons, with about 10 episodes each season, each episode running about 40-50 minutes long.
List of Episodes (provided by wikipedia)
Series 1
1 Blood of the Daleks Part 1
2 Blood of the Daleks Part 2
3 Horror of Glam Rock (co-stars Wilfred Mott as a grimy band manager)
4 Immortal Beloved
5 Phobos
6 No More Lies
7 Human Resources Part 1
8 Human Resources Part 2
Series 2
1 Dead London
2 Max Warp (spoofs Top Gear)
3 Brave New Town
4 The Skull of Sobek
5 Grand Theft Cosmos
6 The Zygon Who Fell to Earth
7 Sisters of the Flame (Part 1)
8 Vengeance of Morbius (Part 2) August 2008
Series 3
1 Orbis
2 Hothouse
3 The Beast of Orlok
4 Wirrn Dawn
5 The Scapegoat
6 The Cannibalists
7 The Eight Truths (Part 1)
8 Worldwide Web (Part 2)
Series 4
1 Death in Blackpool
2 Situation Vacant
3 Nevermore
4 The Book of Kells
5 Deimos (Part 1)
6 The Resurrection of Mars (Part 2)
7 Relative Dimensions
8 Prisoner of the Sun
9 Lucie Miller (Part 1)
10 To the Death (Part 2)
A synopsis of some of the better episodes provided by Den of Geek is here
From there, you can work backwards to the episodes called out in the OPs post, or you can hop forward to "Dark Eyes," which is the miniseries that picks up directly after the Eighth Doctor Adventures.
Fifth Doctor:
Honestly haven't listened to any of these, but I hear nothing but good things about Spare Parts.
For a Fifth Doctor audio recommendation, I'll throw out Loups-Garoux. It has the 5th Doctor and Turlough in Rio with werewolves in a story by Marc Platt (who wrote Ghost Light). What more needs to be said?
Sixth Doctor:
Again, looking to get into him next, and there is a LOT, but I did listen to Jubilee, the story that was reworked into the episode Dalek in Season 1. Great, great stuff. The Holy Terror is the one I plan to listen to next.
Once you're hooked, you'll probably wanna check out the other Doctors, in which case:
As OP stated, the Sixth Doctor is absolutely redeemed by the audio dramas, and his run with Evelyn Smythe, (played by Maggie Stables) one of the better companions the Doctor has ever had, made even more interesting by the fact she's the first companion I can think of who is north of 50. She's a history teacher, and the way she and Colin Baker bounce off each other is pretty damned great.
Her run of episodes, from wiki:
The Marian Conspiracy
The Spectre of Lanyon Moor
The Apocalypse Element
Bloodtide
Project: Twilight
Real Time
The Sandman
Jubilee
Doctor Who and the Pirates
Project: Lazarus
Arrangements for War
Medicinal Purposes
Pier Pressure
Thicker than Water
The Nowhere Place
100
Assassin in the Limelight
A Death in the Family (with the Seventh Doctor)
A Town Called Fortune
The Crimes of Thomas Brewster
The Feast of Axos
Industrial Evolution
Seventh:
Absolutely NO idea. But hopefully some others in the thread can give some advice here.
And for the Seventh, The Fires of Vulcan (features Mel, set in Pompeii as Vesuvius erupts) is a great one.
A good one for the 7th Doctor is Love & War. You get 7, Ace and a brilliant intro to Bernice Summerfield. Once you've finished that get started on the main Bernice range. I <3 Lisa Bowerman.
The Fourth Doctor:
Tom Baker also just started with his own range of stories, The Fourth Doctor adventures. As these are new they are more expensive, but I honestly haven't heard much about them. Anyone have any thoughts on them?
As you can see, even after listening to about 50 of these stories, I still have barely scratched the surface of the non Eighth Doctor lines. So, for fans of these, chime in. What's good, what's bad? Let us know!
KuwabaraTheMan also recommends:
There should also be some mention of the Companion Chronicles, which is a great range. It's the only real way to see the continuation of the first three Doctors on audio, and the narrated format allows the stories to play around with story structure a lot more. I'd recommend Frostfire (also a Marc Platt story, this time with Vicki) as a good intro to the range and an example of what the Companion Chronicles can achieve.