Creature of Mad Enthusiasms

July 3 is Big Finish Day. Until midnight (England time), the first 50 Big Finish Doctor Who audio plays will be on sale for 5 pounds apiece.

While this doesn't include some of my top favorites (The Kingmaker is the Funniest! Thing! Ever!, Live 34 will scare you spitless, and I could listen to The Harvest every other month... and frequently do), it does include several extremely worthy titles. If you like Doctor Who, if you like audio books, if you've been wondering what Big Finish is like, here are my recommendations. Some have audio-only companions, but they are all standalone stories; you can jump right in and know what's going on.

9 - The Spectre of Lanyon Moor. One of my recommendations on the "if you like scary..." list, this adventure takes Six and audio companion Evelyn to Lanyon Moor, where they will team up with the Brigadier to find out exactly what the local archeology dig is *really* trying to dig up.

13 - The Shadow of the Scourge. Seven, Ace, and Benny at a hotel that is simultaneously hosting a physicist convention, a psychic convention, and a cross-stitch convention. "Ground floor. Horror, tragedy, and mysterious death."

14 - Holy Terror. It's simultaneously extremely funny and extremely dark; the old god/emperor has died and the new man isn't sure he wants to be king, much less god. And then Six arrives and everyone starts worshiping the blue box...

27 - The One Doctor. Six again (Six gets most of the really good audios, probably to make up for getting most of the worst TV stories.) In this case, it's a no-holds-barred parody of game shows (particularly The Weakest Link), DIY furniture, celebrity worship, quest stories, delivery appointments, and Doctor Who itself, where the Doctor discovers someone has stolen his identity at the "vulgar end of time."

28 - Invaders from Mars. Remember the night Orson Wells terrified the world saying that there were invaders from Mars? What if aliens really were invading that night, unnoticed in the hysteria? Eight gets to play out his hardboiled detective fantasies in one of his early audios that isn't dependent upon the Charlie/other universe arc. Pretty funny stuff, and the "American" accents aren't that bad if you can listen to Guys and Dolls. This is on my rec list for "if you like 'em funny."

34 - Spare Parts. Another in my personal recs for "if you like to 'em scary." Five and Nyssa land on the dying world of Mondas. Can Five change history and stop the cybermen from being born?

40 - Jubilee. This chilling commentary on merchandising and propaganda was the loose precursor of the episode "Dalek." (Six again. He really does get most of the really good audios.)

43 - Doctor Who and the Pirates. I know I've just recommended four other Six audios, but do you really want to miss the one where the Doctor sings "I Am The Very Model of a Gallifreyan Buccaneer"? Although known as one of the crackfic ones, mostly because of the sharp left turn into Gilbert and Sullivan, this is not a cute and fluffy story.

Not all these titles are on sale, but just because I never pass up a chance to recommend them:

Nea's Recs for Funniest Big Finish
Fifth Doctor - The Kingmaker
Sixth Doctor - The Doomwood Curse
Seventh Doctor - ... okay, I lie. If I recommend a funny one, you won't buy The Harvest or Live 34, and you really need to.
Eighth Doctor - Invaders from Mars

Nea's Recs for Scariest Big Finish
Fifth Doctor - Spare Parts
Sixth Doctor - Spectre of Lanyon Moor
Seventh Doctor - The Harvest and Live 34 are equally the best
Eighth Doctor - It's not a classic Who adventure, but Natural History of Fear will bend your brain in unimaginable ways.

A quick non-Torchwood moment:

Big Finish has had another contest, this time to do a trailer for their audio Phantom of the Opera. The winners were just announced, and the grand prize goes to the hilarious Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theater. On the edge of worksafe.

One of the reasons why I love BF is that they took this very unserious trailer seriously. And it is brilliance, yes it is.

Well, well, well, there's a conspiracy theory over the casting of Matt Smith from an unexpected quarter: people are starting to argue that the betting on the new Who was rigged.

Rich Johnston, in the January 5/6 edition of "Lying in the Gutters," describes his own attempts to bet on who the new Who would be. (He picked Joseph on the tip that a verbal offer had been made and accepted.) Then he says:
Until the day before the announcement, and Matt Smith was suddenly and without precedent, the favourite at Betfair. ... It looks like various bookies had received a lot of bets the previous night, possibly from people in the know, their family and friends.

He also says that one of the booking agencies never even offered Smith at all. (By the way - if you scroll down the article, you get to see Matt Smith in drag, which is disturbing sight.)

The flurry of just-in-time bets has got British papers starting to run articles with titles like Doctor Who Betting Mystery Surrounds New Time Lord Matt Smith (the Times), Betting Row as Unknown Matt Smith Becomes New Doctor Who (the Mirror), and Betting Controversy Around Announcement of New Doctor Who (Brand Republic). All of them want to know about the insider information that led to the suddenly changed odds and the last-minute flurry of bets.

The BBC is Denying All. The Mirror article says that according to the BBC, "only six people knew he had been cast, including Matt and his agent." The Press Association has a quote from an unnamed spokeswoman: "The BBC has no knowledge of anyone betting on the outcome of the identity of the 11th Doctor." - which is just so patently ridiculous I'm amazed their PR group let it see print! (I mean, look at that. Obviously what she means is that they don't know of any of *their* people betting, but what she's *said* is that they're beyond oblivious of the entire betting market. Oy!) The Independent obliquely refers to the same embarrassing quote in their article BBC Refuses Inquiry Into Bets on New Doctor Who - a course of action that is only going to fan the conspiracy theories white-hot.

In the meantime, the racial aspect has not been forgotten. The First Post has this statement, not by Joseph, but by Adrian Lester: "If you don't get called for an audition, or if you do and don't get the job, you never know the real reason," he observes. "If there's racism, I'm out of the room when it's discussed, so can only guess at it. But you realise something is not right when you look at the evidence – how many black actors in Britain are given opportunities? There's an imbalance."

The article goes on to quote the BBC denying that, too. Although the article does end on the upbeat note that Lester is now being flooded with offers to play Barack Obama. He'd be perfect for the role; he's the right body type, long and lean, and he can play both geekily enthusiastic and stubbornly cerebral.

I'm going to sit back and make popcorn, because this looks like it's going to get entertaining. Plus it looks like there's quite likely fire causing that smoke.


In personal Who news today, I finally finished listening to The Raincloud Man, and under the cut I'm going to discuss ( why Charley has me completely - and probably permanently - disgusted with her. )

WHO DAILY: lj user="neadods"> reviews a href="http://neadods.livejournal.com/736391.html">Big Finish's The Doomwood Curse


Jacqueline Rayner has been a favorite New Who writer since Winner Takes All, and she has returned to the Doctor Who monthly series with her fourth Sixth Doctor story, The Doomwood Curse.

Rayner has a fondness for Six, having written 100, The Marion Conspiracy, and the cracktastic Doctor Who and the Pirates for him. ( Doomwood isn't quite as crackalicious as Pirates - but it's pretty darn close. )

The Doomwood Curse is fabulous fun. Think of it as Northanger Abbey... with a TARDIS.

I know you've scrolled past my talking about Big Finish, the people who do the continuing, original-cast audio adventures of classic Doctor Who and who have come up with several audio seasons worth of Eighth Doctor adventures (plus being the ones who've published me).

Well, they're branching out into new fandoms, and my latest 8th Doctor adventure included a flyer for their brand-new, six-edition SG-1/SG-Atlantis audio series. Judging from the description, they're handling this in the same way as they do the Whovian Companion Chronicles, where a single actor tells a story centered on their character (imitating their co-stars) while another actor or two speaks the original character roles. There are full scores and sound effects.

The first installment, a Daniel Jackson-oriented story called "Gift of the Gods" is already available for order or immediate mp3 download. The CD version includes an interview with Michael Shanks that is not in the download, plus a little illustrated booklet (read: pictures of the stars in the liner notes). If they're doing this the same way they're handling the Whos, then if you order the CD, you can also immediately download the mp3.

The second story, "A Necessary Evil," is read by Torri Higginson (CD with interview) and comes out next month. The other stories feature Vala, Dr. Beckett, and Dr. Frasier. The sixth CD isn't advertised yet.

You can order a la carte so you just get your show of preference, or you can get a subscription to the whole bunch.

If you're also a DS-9 fan, Alexander Siddig is one of the voices on their new series, Big Finish Classics, which kicked off with CDs and downloads of a new, fully-voiced and -scored original version of The Phantom of the Opera.


A side note here - the Big Finish bigwigs were guests at ChicagoTARDIS, and they had one message they desperately needed to get across. Although they work under the permission of the BBC, they receive absolutely no funding from them... they're essentially creating audios instead of fanzines. As such, their bottom line is very tight, and illegal downloading/fan sharing of their audios is putting their ability to continue to do them in jeopardy. Bootlegging 50 copies of Who from the feeds is beneath the BBC's notice, but bootlegging 50 copies of a Big Finish means they can't pay the rent, much less pay the stars' salaries and whatever royalties Paramount expects.

$9 for the SG downloads; $24 for the CD. C'mon, you pay as much for zines.

Spread the word! They're already referring to this as the "first" audio season, so if we make this successful, there WILL be more!

HUGE S4 finale spoilers
Big Finish 2008 release schedule Also big spoilers if you haven't heard The Condemned yet.
A fun thread on doctorwho about what the Gallifreyan writing on the fob watch from Human Nature means

And I'm echoing two fic recs from calufrax:
Miles from Aberdeen Ouch, this one hurts. But in a good way. A School Reunion fic from Sarah Jane's POV, possibly the start of a series, but the first chapter stands alone. There were too many emotions running through her to catalog them all. But she decided to try anyway, as a method of getting herself back under control.

Anger, yes, that was one. Anger that he had left her and not come back.

Argumentum Ad Metam, a Three & Jo UNIT adventure. Flagging here because I don't have time to read it all, but it looks promising.

And now ( some spoilery commentary on the first couple of links )

taraljc has an impassioned post about supporting Big Finish financially Recommended reading.

At Chicago TARDIS, one thing that the Big Finish people pointed out over and over is how close to the wire their work is. They're not getting rich from this - but they are keeping the rich history of Doctor Who alive.

Big Finish is about the love of cult science fiction - not just mining it for money, but exploring and celebrating it. It's not just classic doctors in brand new adventures. It's companions getting the spotlight, building whole new mythos for Gallifrey, the Daleks, Sarah Jane - even about "What if" stories with Doctor Who Unbound. (And that's not even going into what they're doing for Sapphire and Steele or The Tomorrow People.)

Big Finish is about New Who. They might have the rights for the classic Doctors only, but quite a few of the concepts first launched under Big Finish's imprint have made it to the main canon. Wonder why they keep eating Jubilee pizza in Torchwood? It's a nod to the audio "Jubilee," which "Dalek" is loosely based upon. Sarah Jane audios had concepts that show up in the Sarah Jane Adventures. And it's looking like one of the Doctor-Donna adventures is going to be a remake of "Fires of Vulcan."

Most importantly, Big Finish is all about giving people chances. Colin Baker, whose Doctor was so badly used on TV, got the chance to have a companion and stories that made his Doctor shine. Paul McGann, whose Doctor only got one video outing, has had the chance to have whole seasons and story arcs. Even the fans - it's Big Finish that keeps holding contests to let the fans take a crack at writing professionally for Who, and they're generous in their awards. Not a lot of producers would hold open auditions for a story in an anthology. Even fewer would admit that there were so many excellent entries that they'd add a whole new anthology to their schedule to give them all a home.

Big Finish even gave a chance to an eager young actor looking for a way of earning a few extra quid and being a part of his favorite universe. David Tennant did quite a lot of voice work for them.

They need us to give them a chance. To give back to them what they need to keep giving to the fandom. Money. They don't have a lot of it, and they've got salaries to pay. It's simple. They need us to vote with our wallets, or they won't be able to keep it up. They aren't a big company, they don't have the backing of the BBC, they're one of us and need our support.

They do what they can to make it easy. Big Finish titles never go out of print, so it's never too late to order one, or to buy a subscription. Subscriptions come with extra materials, and if you get a big enough sub, you can get another title for free. (Americans can get subscriptions through the authorized resellers Alien Entertainment and Who North America, although I've got mine direct from Big Finish and it's been faster and easier that way.) They're even about to launch a system where you can pay and automatically download so that there's no wait at all.

I will confess, my initial outlay gave them no royalties. (Don't raise your eyebrows; it was a job lot from ebay. Perfectly legal.) But since then, I've gone directly from the source, and I don't regret it for a moment. And I have them *all* - The Doctor Who run, the Unbounds, the Companion Chronicles, and the Eighth Doctor BB7s. (And when I get my Visa paid back down, I'm going to subscribe to the second season of that.)

Besides - 'tis the season. Either the two Christmas-themed Short Trips books or a couple of disks would be fabulous stocking stuffers for a fellow fan, and a subscription would literally be the gift that keeps on giving. Know someone who likes noir? "Chimes of Midnight" is a good stand-alone title. Political intrigue? "Live 34." Something oddball but thought-provoking? "The Natural History of Fear." Classic gothic Who? "Specter of Lanyon Moor." Classic historical Who? "Storm Warning." David Tennant? He's having a blast in the Unbound "Exile" as a Doctor-hating Time Lord, and dribbling very convincingly on himself as Daft Jamie in "Medicinal Purposes." Sheer unadulterated crackfic? Lots to choose from there - "The One Doctor," "Invaders from Mars," "Doctor Who and the Pirates" (for the Gilbert and Sullivan fans) and you can't beat the buggering history gets in my personal favorite, "The Kingmaker."

And if you want a jump on next season, "Fires of Vulcan" is a one-shot too.

It's the throwaway lines that make Doctor Who the delight that it is. From "Circular Time" by Big Finish (a Fifth Doctor & Nyssa series of adventures):

THE DOCTOR: School children will remember how you saw an apple fall and discovered gravity!

ISAAC NEWTON: It hit me full in the face! My nose bled for three days!

THE DOCTOR: Ah. I've always been a fast bowler.

Right now I'm listening to a Dr. Who adventure in which the government is cracking down on supposed terrorist attacks by "temporary reversal of civil rights in order to suppress the terrorists." And every time there is a question about the system, there's another bombing.

Suffice it to say, I'm finding this way too close to the bone...

ETA: Damn, now there's a rigged election with "rumors of voter intimidation" and the newly returned leader talking about his mandate and "repelling forces which work against our liberty." And how negative reports on the news channels are "masking terrorist underminings disguised as news."

I'm currently listening to the Big Finish audio "Caerdroia." Wherein they've done a variation on the multi-Doctor theme by having him not meet other incarnations, but having Doctor 8 split into three characters, all voice by McGann.

"Clearly, I've got the brain, you've got the brain damage... what have you got?"
"The manners."

This is going to be one of the really fun ones!