Slashdot Mirror

• 3 series of Doctor Who (with at least another one to come)
  
• 1 series of Torchwood (with at least another one to come)
  
• The Sarah Jane Adventures (series to come)
  

Claudia recently recorded a Big Finish Doctor Who audio... The Reaping with the Cybermen.

(Peter Jurasik was in "Winter For The Adept" back in 2000.)

Big Finish make all sorts of audio drama, mostly Doctor Who and related, but lots of other stuff too. Judge Dredd, Sapphire and Steel etc. Check out WhoNA in the US who have a very large selection available.

Big Finish brought him back a while ago, there are a few years' worth of quality McGann stories out there and it's still ongoing. Each one of those have better stories than the movie, and McGann has really grown in the role.

There's a reasonable chance Tennant will stick around. He's on record saying that he's a massive Who fan and has been since childhood, that Who was a major motivator in his becoming an actor, that he's wanted the part since he was five years old (all this well before the new Series was announced in 2003). He's also taken part in several of Big Finish Productions' Doctor Who audio stories, as well as their Dalek Empire series, for money that's massively below what he could earn elsewhere, which is another positive sign.

Davros creator of the Daleks recently attempted to model the galactic stock market, he discovered a formula that worked, and his plan was to release the formula to everyone thus causing the stock market to collapse (for his own evil ends of course!).

Presumably Mandelbrot works for the Daleks...

B-Movie? Sterotype? No! Dalek Empire is now in its third series. The first was excellent - I just need to sort out my budget to get the rest.

There have been a few appearances of Daleks outside of Doctor Who (although in many cases the Doctor Who label has been added after-the-fact).

Terry Nation wrote at least one Dalek story sans Doctor; I believe it was meant for kids. The company Big Finish has released two series (and is currently releasing a third) of audio dramas featuring the Daleks without the Doctor. There are of course countless cameos ranging from comedy shows to the classic '80s game "Paradroid").

More interesting to me is how much control Terry Nation's estate seems to exert over Dalek usage -- by all accounts of the time Dalek creation was a collaborative effort; much of what people think of when hearing the word "Dalek" had nothing to do with Terry Nation...

The Doctor Who audio series doesn't seem to be affected, only the BBC. Here's just one current example.

From the FAQ on Big Finish's website (the people who make the Doctor Who audio adventures):

12) You're doing a series of linked Dalek plays. Will Davros be there as well?

No, categorically not. Nick Briggs and I are massive Dalek fans and don't ascribe to the lazy notion that Daleks need Davros to do their talking for them. Throughout the Sixties and early Seventies, the Daleks came across as powerful adversaries, adept with cunning, intelligence and power. Once you stick Davros with them, they simply end up as mobile tanks, doing his dirty work. In Genesis of the Daleks, Davros was essential and unequalled. No matter how well Davros was played in the subsequent adventures, the character seemed to us to be superfluous to requirements. We're basing our Daleks on the ruthless conquerors of the Sixties. The Dalek Empire adventures do, we believe, echo those classic serials. We have, of course, done a play featuring Davros but without the Daleks...

http://www.doctorwho.co.uk/drwho/faq.shtml

...can be found over at Big Finish productions, where for their 50th Doctor Who CD (nicely enough being released this month), they united pretty much every single actor who's played on their shows so far, including the last 4 doctors, most of their respective companions including their "new" companions they've added to keep some variety into the show, Nick Courtney as the Brig, John Leeson as K9, and a whole bunch of others, for a 3-CD story.

There's a wonderful set of pictures from the recording sessions available. Yes, the various doctors are getting old, and only McGann could probably reprise his role on screen...but on the radio/audio, the voice and your memories and imagination make it all work.

...can be found over at Big Finish productions, where for their 50th Doctor Who CD (nicely enough being released this month), they united pretty much every single actor who's played on their shows so far, including the last 4 doctors, most of their respective companions including their "new" companions they've added to keep some variety into the show, Nick Courtney as the Brig, John Leeson as K9, and a whole bunch of others, for a 3-CD story.

There's a wonderful set of pictures from the recording sessions available. Yes, the various doctors are getting old, and only McGann could probably reprise his role on screen...but on the radio/audio, the voice and your memories and imagination make it all work.

As others have pointed out, this is the third Doctor Who webcast adventure. In addition, the producers of this story have also done numerous other audio stories, which are available on CD. The audio stories feature the original television Doctors and numerous of the television Companions, as well as some original Companions (some of whom I think are better than any of the televised ones.

For more information, go here.

It's also not made clear that this isn't a BBC production. It's produced by Big Finish, which has been making excellent Doctor Who audio drama for a few years now.

I expect they will have a release on CD before too long.

Big Finish, the company producing this, have been making a living out of releasing new Doctor Who stories starring Davison, C Baker, McCoy and McGann on audio CDs for 2 or 3 years now.

Tom Baker has been offered scripts but has declined to participate.

Well it certainly seems that Doctor Who is still popular. Not only is it being published on the web but the BBC releases an old episode on DVD every 3 months, has fequent VHS releases, comes up with two new novels every month and has licensed Big Finish to produce audio plays on CD in to the second half of this decade.

It's a wonder that with all this interest nobody is filming new episodes for TV.

For the record, Dr. Who is actually in production. Not on TV though, audio adventures..with the original cast members. The stories vary widely in quality, but it is nice to hear the voices again. Also nice are the new 8th doctor adventures (the guy in the 1996 TV movie). Check it out at: http://www.doctorwho.co.uk

And even now Doctor Who isn't dead. Big Finish has a license from the BBC to create original Doctor Who audio adventures on CD (which have been very well received), the BBC is still churning out original books at a rate of at least one a month, and recently the BBC did an online story featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace on their homepage. (/. story on it here.) About 99% of those polled on the BBC page think that Doctor Who should come back, as well.

I agree, it's sad that people ignore old classics like Doctor Who in favor of the new stuff out... I for one am glad the Doctor is still out there in one form or another. :)

Just my $.02...

Don't give up on audio Doctor Who. Imagine if you will stories that don't have to worry about sets falling down on the actors and worlds as grand as your imgination. The licenced audio dramas that are being produced now do use the ORIGINAL actors reprising there roles. Many of them are quite entertaining and exciting to listen to. It is easier to listen to stories than it to watch or read while working or driving. Some of my recomdations for audio Doctor Who would have to the be...

plus there are others that can be found at http://www.doctorwho.co.uk

But I cannot leave without mentioning the continuing adventures of the Doctor in the novels published by BBC Books.

Zach "Rassilon" Crisman

Actually, it's Big Finish Productions that's been making Doctor Who audio dramas for the last coupld of years.

They've been waging a quiet battle to get them carried at Barnes & Noble and Borders Booksellers, and have been asking people to request them. The request won't go through, of course, but will help them open up a BIG potential revenue source. After you request it, go back to Big Finish's site and order it for real. :)

Anyone remember The Tomorrow People? Big Finish has just started doing audio versions of that show, too (and you thought Doctor Who had a small budget?). You might like Linux, but TIM rocks.

As far as audio adventures go, this is nothing new, either; the BBC has licensed a company named Big Finish to produce a series of audio adventures available on CD (website here) featuring the fifth through eighth Doctors, accompanied by most of their companions. They're also in talks to bring in Tom Baker, as well as Anthony Ainley (the Master), but nothing concrete has come out of them yet.

This is news, but it implies Doctor Who has been dead. It's not; it's still alive and kicking...

Well, the big revival was tried back in 1996 with the Fox TV-movie starring Paul McGann as the Doctor. Now, say what you will about the movie, but it IS considered canon. I guess a new TV or movie version would be considered a revival, but otherwise, Doctor Who is far from dead. The Fifth through Eighth Doctors (Davison, Colin Baker, McCoy, and McGann) and several companions have been starring in several audio adventures released recently by Big Finish, and the BBC has their own series of books out now, with stories for all eight Doctors.

The big problem with the revival would be that SEVERAL major happenings have happened in the book series (which are canon, seeing as the BBC produces them) that would at some point need to be explained in any revival. These are things such as the one of the Doctor's companions becoming a sentient TARDIS, the destruction of Gallifrey by the Doctor to prevent it falling into the wrong hands, etc.

Anyway, I for one would love to see a TV revival, but I'd just wonder how they're going to deal with the canon that's already out there...