Stumbled across your video - thank you so much for the kind words about my stuff! Means an awful lot to think my plays are still remembered. And I'm genuinely thrilled that the first audio you heard was one of mine, and that it didn't turn you off...!
+Robert Shearman It's an honour mr Shearman :D I'm a huge fan...kinda embarrassed that I pronounced Scherzo wrong now I love your books too. I recently finished binge-re-reading them on my work commutes. Hope you liked my childish doodles :)
+Stubagful I love the doodles. And Scherzo is set in its own universe with different rules and laws - I say you can pronounce it however you bloody like! :) Thanks for reading the books, too. I've just finished the new one. If I can work out your email address, I shall send you a copy.
Robert Shearman I know you probably won't read this but after watching this vidio I bought all of your plays from big finish and the ones I couldn't get on the site I got off eBay for like 30 quid and they are utterly incredible I also bought your first book and had to take long breaks in between stories like I do with black mirror. The only reason I do that is coz I want to savour the flavour and of how depressing they are. The reason I'm telling you this on TH-cam is because I can't find you on twitter anyway I'm gona purchase more of your books and will support you in any way I can in the future good luck
Scott Woodard here... Thanks for heaping the praise on I, Davros! We had great fun writing that series and all involved are still incredibly proud of that project.
This is even MORE useful 7 years later, as now there are well over 1,000 different Doctor Who audio stories by Big Finish Productions. EDIT: For reference, when you posted this video there were almost exactly 500 available Doctor Who audio stories from Big Finish. They've literally doubled their output in less than half the time.
Just finished listening to Deadline today, and I’ve never been so depressed by the ending of an audio drama in my entire life...Sherman is such a good writer!
[3:51] Spare Parts [4:56] The Marian Conspiracy [7:33] Live 34 [9:06] Protect and Survive [11:18] Home Truths [12:21] I, Davros [15:06] Jubilee [16:02] The Holy Terror [16:37] The Maltese Penguin [17:48] Doctor Who Unbound: Deadline [18:38] The Chimes of Midnight [19:12] Scherzo [19:24] Notable Mentions (Creatures of Beauty, Cyberman, A Death in the Family)
Jacob Wood Actually there is a lot more than JUST the first 50. There are 4 seasons of Jago and Litefoot, the lost Stories Series 1 (also known as the lost season), the companion chronicles series 2, I Davros, the 8th Doctor Adventures Series 1, the 4th Doctor Box set, the 4th Doctor Lost Stories Box set, and so many more! I haven’t covered all of them here.
I'm incredibly grateful that doctor who is as big as it is. Thanks to everyone who ever worked for any production of doctor who content be it the classic series, the new series, big finish, the comics, the novelizations or just some TH-cam videos, blogs or reddits threads for people who are also in love with the world, the stories and its characters!
Walrus is in the Matrix yeah in that moment that The Doctor blows up Cybermen, he calls out all the places they ever tried to invade or reproduce on and one of the was a reference to a comic book story that feature the Sixth Doctor and Frobisher, making that story canon within the Series itself. Similar to how most of Big Finish was canonized in 2013
I doubt he'd be a very good showrunner. Shearman is great at coming up with strange, one-off ideas that he totally makes up while writing the stories, not creating grand storylines or leading others. Honestly it would probably be a mess because of how insecure Rob can be. That said I'm a slut for more Shearman Doctor Who, so I would definitely love for him to just do more stories in general
As a recent fanatical convert to BF my 12 would be: 1. Year of the Pig 2. Widow's Assassin 3. Three's A Crowd 4. Whispers of Terror 5. Phantoms of the Deep 6. Curious Incident of the Doctor in the Night-Time 7. Urgent Calls 8. Velvet Leopard 9. Robophobia 10. The Auntie Matter 11. The Wrong Doctors 12. The One Doctor
So...here I am again. Looking to release new videos every other week (or thereabouts) got a few random ones after this, then we're headed back in the usual controversial territory. I just thought I'd get this soppy one out of the way with :) Sorry I didn't get a chance to go through my backlog of comments guys, the christmas/new year period kinda floored me
***** So I just listened to Spare Parts and I loved it. I'm not a big 5th Doctor fan but it was 8 kinds of fun. I was about to listen to the Sirens of Time because I love multi Doctor stories (which is what saved the 50th for me).
+Stubagful Thank you for this list. I"m a long time "Doctor Who" fan, grew up watching the classic series on PBS out of Dallas, Texas and I've always wanted to get into Big Finish but had not idea where to start. This has helped lot. Thanks again and keep up the good work.
Stuart, THANK YOU. I punched the air when I saw that 'Spare Parts' was your first suggestion. It was my first Big Finish story, and it's both my favourite Cyberman story and favourite Doctor Who story overall!
So... much... positive... Thanks for making this video; it's a great guide and I always enjoy hearing your opinion. I've had a very limited experience with Big Finish but I love the bizarre creativity I've heard in that experience. I think the laughing Daleks sold me completely.
Definitely gonna buy those. I've just wrote down the list in my "personal intellectual interests notebook" under the title "Big Finish 'to buy' list, based on Stubagful's beginners' guide." I just cannot get enough of dark and mind boggling ideas. Thanx a lot for that video!
Been listening to Big Finish with my family (mostly Eighth Doctor stuff with the occasional Seven, Six and Five story) for a little over a month now, and while I don't quite agree with you that it's millions of leagues above New and/or Classic Who, I have been loving the shit out of it. So far the worst I've heard have been "good but unmemorable". I actually find it funny that you bring up the "45 minute" syndrome in this video, as I think the story "Fourty-Five" manages to tell at least three effective and satisfying stories in just a little over twenty minutes each. I adore Shearman's stuff, Holy Terror and Chimes of Midnight in particular. I also want more Frobisher. Looking forward to those Paul McGann reviews.
The big finish streaming service would make them tons of money. Hell, even if it where just an online radio with commercials it would still make them a little.
How do we encourage that idea? Basically creating an audio equivalent to Netflix would be brilliant, especially since you never know if the story you get is actually worth it. My philosophy is rent or check out first before buying a copy, mostly with movies. I do own the first 50 BF audios, plus a companion chronicle and another audio, on CD thanks to the insane bargain pricing, but I don't regret it. I love listening to them.
On March 13th I'm going to meet Paul Finch at Liverpool One's Waterstones. He has done quite a few Doctor Who stories for Big Finish such as Leviathan, Hexagora and The Sentinels of the New Dawn. He has even wrote a new series novel called Doctor Who Hunter's Moon! :)
I suggest for listening the fifth doctor story ' THE ETERNAL SUMMER ' it's the second part of a trilogy but it makes sense on its own. you won't regret it
Always trying to get more Whovians into Big Finish. Its hard for an outsider to understand but my favorite Doctor Who stories come from Big Finish! Thanks for making this!
BTW If if there's a supposed hardcore fan out there who says he or she is skipping Big Finish because they can't get into audio dramas my advice would be to get over it. The stories are so diverse and well written I'm sure any true fan would get use to the format after a few episodes if they would only try.
I recently listened to protect and survive and remembered you recommending it here. Jesus f***ing christ this one was harrowing given current events. From the recent alarm system being put in place to assuming the worst whenever I hear an aircraft fly over, this constant background fear of annihilation is something I wasn't prepared to hear capitalised on in this story. Moments like 7's brutal rambling about british keeping calm and carrying on and the husband's insistence that no one would actully press the button, not really, were seriously affecting. Im glad the story moved into a high concept sci fi romp halfway through cause if it hadn't I dont think I'd be able to sleep for the next week.
I haven't listened to way too many BF stories even though I love them, and my favorite monthly story so far is The Wreck of the Titan. It's brilliantly written and I love both the audio 6th Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon, so it was so enrapturing.
They can also be found on BBC Radio 4 extra every six Oclock on Saturday. They're doing Leviathon. part 1 is still available on iplayer and part 2 is on this Saturday.
There is now a Big Finish streaming service! Except it's called Spotify (or TIDAL, or Deezer, depending on what you prefer). Big Finish put a lot of stuff on there (For exapmle, Main Range 1-50, and that's not even half the stuff with the Doctor, let alone all the spinoffs and non DW stuff on there), and (acording to Deezer) there will be more every Friday. I have a lot of things to listen to.
I've bought Spare Parts on Audible and will be listening to it for the first time on Tuesday. I figure that it might be nice to listen to it as I work on my own creative projects. If this turns out to work well then I will definitely be going for a few of your suggestions.
I definitely think my love of Doctor Who is because of big finish. I keep wondering why I never get tired of it. It's because the stories are consistently excellent with great ideas and great sound design that makes me feel like I'm there. I started with NuWho years ago and classic recently but big finish is my favorite form of the series. I am also broke now but look at those CD boxsets!
Holy pants Stu, this is a bit of a sensational return to form. Amazing video! Also, this has no quibbles from me seeing as #12 is my favorite thing ever. I might have recommended Flop-Flop as one of the more esoteric, narratively experimental titles - but beyond that, a cracking list. I might have to go and find 4+5 somewhere, seeing as those are the two that I've managed to evade - though I worry that it might be responsible to finish the McCoy/McShane/Hex arc first before #4. For reasons.
What a weird coincidence... I created an account named "Live-34" a while back for... uses. I then find that my favourite show had a audio-adventure with the exact same name. Small world.
People in fandom have a tendency to over-mythologise Doctor Who as something that’s always been Continuity heavy and filled with expansive lore, which makes things intimidating for newbies. You help debunk that myth and prove that Doctor Who at its core is just very episodic. An experimental anthology that just so happens to have recurring characters and lore elements that anyone can get into at any point
Thanks for this vid! I got into BF through 8th Doctor (I think I've heard every 8th Doctor audio that there is and some of them have become my fave DW things EVER) - and I'm now thinking of expanding further... Already heard some Shearman stories (I love Rob Shearman to bits; Jubilee, good heavens...) and a few others - and I'm looking for more recommendations now. So this list is gonna come in handy.
There are a lot of audio dramas on Spotify ($10 a month or less with occasional promotions). They have the first 50 adventures in the main range along with a lot of miscileaneous older ones. Most of them are the bargain-priced stories on the Big Finish site, but it's an amazing deal. I got 3 months for $1, but I'll be continuing my subscription after that and I've bought several of the discount dramas from Big Finish that aren't on Spotify. It takes a little bit to get used to the lack of visuals, but if you can overcome that hurdle, there are some really amazing stories out there. Six and Eight are brilliant. I absolutely adore Sylvester McCoy and I was first drawn into it after the sadness of finishing all of his TV stories filled in. Some recommended stories: 1. Spare Parts - The best Cyberman story I've found. Very grim and disturbing in parts. 2. UNIT: Dominion - like 3 hours long, but very entertaining. Movie grade stakes and production. The new Master in this story [spoilers] is brilliantly crazy/playful/maniacal. 3. 8th Doctor Adventures (Starting with the brilliant Blood of the Daleks) 4. Davros/I, Davros - Both flesh out Davros well. Parts 1 and 2 of I, Davros are pretty slow, but after that, it's superb. While there have been a few on the stinky side (Zagreus is a 3-hour train wreck and I hated No More Lies), I have found it to be very worth it.
Decided to get into big finnish the other day with the help of your list and began with "Home Truths" Because it was the most interesting of the list. I thought it was great and rather unexpected in allot of the twists. The audio design was nice, especially in the intro adding allot of atmosphere with the pouring rain to the crackling of a warm fire. An interesting way to tell the story as well with a companion recounting her adventure from old age. I did however find the scares quite cheep with the breath in the ear. Seeing as I listened to it with high quality ear phones, it felt like the ghost was shoving her tongue down my ear. It was scary sure, but eventually it got a bit annoying, so I pulled my earphones out a bit so I wasn't getting sexually assaulted at every scare. The actual mystery to the house is fantastic though with a genuinely chilling atmosphere. The story evolves at a good pace as well leading up to very logical and believable revelations.
So been waiting for this exploration into Big Finish :-) I've always had a soft spot for the 6th Dr - the Big Finish Judge Dredd audio dramas are good as well
I think if you're coming from new who, the tenth doctor adventures are a good place to start, they are structured like new who but eases the listener into the concept of audio dramas and it a good jump off point
When I saw "Spare Parts" come up first, I was already one step ahead. I already downloaded it (Last night, to be precise) but I have yet to listen to it. I plan on doing that in my spare time.
Just listened to 'Enemy of the Daleks', and loved it. Felt like it told a coherent story, and a new one too. I thought it would make an excellent TV version either 1 or 2 parter. Which of the Big Finish stories do you think would best translate to the TV screen?
While Protect And Survive is stand-alone, it does continue into an arc that is most definitely not new listener friendly, with necessary continuity from a number of prior releases (a huge number, not just with the Seventh Doctor). Scherzo also needs some context from previous stories. No Lost Stories or Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller stories? Any of the Lost Stories can be enjoyed on their own, and have some real gems (as you found with Lords Of The Red Planet). The Eighth and Lucie are fantastic, include several of Johnny Morris's stories (Max Warp and Ice Warrior two parter Deimos and Resurrection Of Mars) and builds up to a phenomenal fourth season that takes the Doctor into Dark Eyes. Are there other ranges you can talk about, like Fourth Doctor Adventures, Novel Adaptations and Sarah Jane Smith?
I've just got into big finish (about 10 stories now) and one of my first ones was the genocide machine and I found that a really good for beginners due to its limited cast and settings, it may not be the best story but still very good imo
I've only listened to about 50 Big Finish stories so far. Too many stories, not enough time, so I just started them in chronological order. I'd recommend The Sirens of Time, The Marian Conspiracy, The Apocalypse Element, The One Doctor, The Chimes of Midnight, Seasons of Fear, Neverland, Spare Parts, The Church and the Crown, Jubilee, Doctor Who and the Pirates (the most hilarious Doctor Who story I've even seen/heard/read), the new Torchwood series and The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure.
It's 2020 and there's still no Big Finish Streaming service. They've uploaded a bunch to Spotify, but the main range stops at Zagreus at the moment. I wanted to start from the beginning, but even the early Bernice Summerfield stuff is missing from Spotify.
Eh I know it's an old video but do you have a recomendation like the three sara kingdom companion chronicles? They were incredible and made a character I didn't really care about to be really interesting and wanted to find something as good as that
I've really enjoyed all the Robert Shearman stories as I've got into Big Finish and his become one of my favourite Doctor Who writers. I paticularly enjoyed Scherzo which I Just made a review on my channel of.
my strategy for big finish collecting is this: i'm going to collect the 8th doctor audios from storm warning until zagraus. 8th doctor because he has the least stories and would like to see more of what he would have done if he got more. i'm stopping at zagraus because cps beyond that are still in print and for some reason that means they are more EXPENSIVE to download. yes not cheaper. when i'm done that, i'll pick another doctor, probubly 5th because he's the earliest. then sixth and then seventh. and when more go out of print and more get cheaper i'll get those too. i'm also collecting the titan comics. so when i have 20$ to spare, i use 17$ on the next 3 comics i'm missing and the change i get is about 3$. which i use on the next cd. so basically i get 4 stories in book and cd form, for the price of 1 in dvd form for some reason.
Ashame you won't give the Fourth Doctor story's a listen as well. Tom is such an iconic Doctor and his Big Finish work has been excellent for the last several years with several truly outstanding story's that fans have really loved. Also the Fourth Doctor Titan comic book limited series (5 parts in all with the 4th issue having just been released ) has been very good as well. The 3rd Doctor Titan comic limited series starts in August. God bless.😀
It's so frustrating trying to tell friends who only watch NuWho how good big finish is! I just finished Dark Eyes 4 today and had nobody to unleash my excitement upon lol... Haven't heard a lot of these so I'll certainly be checking them out.
I agree with most of these choices, even though I would probably swap The Marian Conspiracy with Storm Warning (then again, Marian Conspiracy is good and I'm quite biased towards Charley since she was my first Big Finish companion.) And since Romana is my favourite character, ever, I think The Apocalypse Element deserves a mention too. I know it's not universally loved and it gets complicated by the end, but it's an amazing reintroduction of a character we thought we knew and actually establishes the Daleks as powerful and scary villains.
I suppose if I was to make a top 12, It would probably be something like this... 12) Arrangements for War 11) The Marian Conspiracy 10) The Maltese Penguin 9) The Fires of Vulcan 8) Davros (Not I, Davros... not listened to that one yet) 7) Spare Parts 6) Jubilee 5) Dr Who and The Pirates 4) A Death in the Family 3) The Brink of Death 2) Light at the End 1) The First Sontarans
Hey, if anyone's interested, I'm reviewing all the Doctor Who stories on my channel, with me just having upload my review of: 'Carnival Of Monsters (1973)!' No pressure, of-course; Just if you're interested! :)
tbh a BBC streaming service that contains both TV Doctor Who (classic and modern) AND Big Finish (plus non-DW stuff too like Sherlock I guess) would be awesome.
Was talking about whether to check out I Davros just before I saw this vid, will definitely do so now. What's your view of Gallifrey? I'm a big fan of Romana, and thought the idea of her as time lord president sounded cool.
Gallifrey is amazing but you need to listen to The Apocalypse Element first. Okay, you, don't need to, but it changes your perspective on a lot of things. Don't go into it expecting Romana running around Paris in a schoolgirl's uniform- she's grown up now but if it's possible she's gotten better. The first episode of series 1 is one of the weaker ones because it has a lot to set up but overall the series is great. (Sorry. I know you didn't ask me but I'm a huge Gallifrey fan so I try and convert as many people as possible. You should probably ask someone else with a slightly less biased opinion.)
Quick question, when I go to big finish a select let's say the McCoy stories and go from oldest to newest the numbering is really weird, number 1, number 5, number 17, number 35, some specials alongside. I was just wondering what that was all about, are there stories missing or what?
Lot of great stuff on here. I'll definitely check out most of them... except for Spare Parts (as I already have it). For beginners, I definitely recommend Shada. If you're a fan of Classic Who, there's a good chance you're familiar with the history behind Shada. Big Finish did the story more justice than the DVD release did. I mean, Shada does have some flaws (I wish it was still Tom Baker instead of Paul McGann, not that McGann was bad, it's just that the Eighth Doctor is a very different character from the Fourth Doctor and their types of adventures are different-- McGann just felt out of place) but it's still a great story.
creatures of beauty is a masterpiece of science fiction. the first 50 big finish dr who's are cheap. every month they put 1 story up for 2.99 for new listeners. also they have a lot of sales if you keep your eyes open . lastly they have a free section. also bbc radio 4 website will stream some big finish now and again.
im on about 100 ,,100 odd to go but your right there expensive,evelyn one of my favs,,,didnt like live 34,jubilee was really good..your mcgann reviews?......found them
There’s so much on big finish it doesn’t seem like jumping into it, I’d go bankrupt in weeks. If they did s subscription service it would be a stroke of genius, a lot more people would love to hop into it who don’t already due to costs as well as it makes it much more likely that people will be able to appreciate every inch of big finish like it should be
The first 50 main range, 8th doctor adventures s1, 4th doctor 1st box set, 4th doctor adventures s1, companion chronicles s2, 6th doctor lost stories, I Davies, daleks empire are on Spotify. For free on laptop/pc/tablet or if you have premium also on mobile
Well each main range story is about 2 hours long each with 4, 25 to 30 minute long episodes each. Just click on the technical details tab when you click on an audio drama because it tells you how long it is as some stories and ranges variate in length.
You could've drawn those microphones better. I'm trying not to look at them as something else. Love the video by the way. I wish I could afford big finish. I want that tenth doctor one.
Stumbled across your video - thank you so much for the kind words about my stuff! Means an awful lot to think my plays are still remembered. And I'm genuinely thrilled that the first audio you heard was one of mine, and that it didn't turn you off...!
+Robert Shearman It's an honour mr Shearman :D I'm a huge fan...kinda embarrassed that I pronounced Scherzo wrong now
I love your books too. I recently finished binge-re-reading them on my work commutes.
Hope you liked my childish doodles :)
+Stubagful I love the doodles. And Scherzo is set in its own universe with different rules and laws - I say you can pronounce it however you bloody like! :)
Thanks for reading the books, too. I've just finished the new one. If I can work out your email address, I shall send you a copy.
+Robert Shearman lol, true :D I'm glad I have your blessing to do so
Oh my God I'm salivating - stubagful@gmail.com
My favourites so far are Endangered species, history becomes you and Perfect :)
Robert Shearman I know you probably won't read this but after watching this vidio I bought all of your plays from big finish and the ones I couldn't get on the site I got off eBay for like 30 quid and they are utterly incredible I also bought your first book and had to take long breaks in between stories like I do with black mirror. The only reason I do that is coz I want to savour the flavour and of how depressing they are. The reason I'm telling you this on TH-cam is because I can't find you on twitter anyway I'm gona purchase more of your books and will support you in any way I can in the future good luck
Scott Woodard here... Thanks for heaping the praise on I, Davros! We had great fun writing that series and all involved are still incredibly proud of that project.
+Ogma01 Hi Scott. Glad to! It was a really fun listen! ...y'know in a grim and traumatising kinda way :) still one of my favourites
This is even MORE useful 7 years later, as now there are well over 1,000 different Doctor Who audio stories by Big Finish Productions.
EDIT: For reference, when you posted this video there were almost exactly 500 available Doctor Who audio stories from Big Finish. They've literally doubled their output in less than half the time.
Just finished listening to Deadline today, and I’ve never been so depressed by the ending of an audio drama in my entire life...Sherman is such a good writer!
[3:51] Spare Parts
[4:56] The Marian Conspiracy
[7:33] Live 34
[9:06] Protect and Survive
[11:18] Home Truths
[12:21] I, Davros
[15:06] Jubilee
[16:02] The Holy Terror
[16:37] The Maltese Penguin
[17:48] Doctor Who Unbound: Deadline
[18:38] The Chimes of Midnight
[19:12] Scherzo
[19:24] Notable Mentions (Creatures of Beauty, Cyberman, A Death in the Family)
There are a ton of early ones on Spotify.
I’m currently listening through all of them!
Jeffery Jones
Don’t you need Spotify Premium to get them in the right order
And not have it shuffle around like mad
@@spacepenguins8939 Only on mobile. On tablets and computers, you can pick the order. I tried it.
Jacob Wood Actually there is a lot more than JUST the first 50. There are 4 seasons of Jago and Litefoot, the lost Stories Series 1 (also known as the lost season), the companion chronicles series 2, I Davros, the 8th Doctor Adventures Series 1, the 4th Doctor Box set, the 4th Doctor Lost Stories Box set, and so many more! I haven’t covered all of them here.
As soon as I get premium, I'm gonna be listening
I'm incredibly grateful that doctor who is as big as it is. Thanks to everyone who ever worked for any production of doctor who content be it the classic series, the new series, big finish, the comics, the novelizations or just some TH-cam videos, blogs or reddits threads for people who are also in love with the world, the stories and its characters!
Well at least the early stories are on Spotify now so we have that.
What if the BBC got Rob Shearman instead of Chibnall? I would adore that shit. Do it. Now.
Rae Ivywood well if that happened, Frobisher could come into the show since he was confirmed Canon in Series 10's finale
Matthew Gibson - McCallum whaaaat
Walrus is in the Matrix yeah in that moment that The Doctor blows up Cybermen, he calls out all the places they ever tried to invade or reproduce on and one of the was a reference to a comic book story that feature the Sixth Doctor and Frobisher, making that story canon within the Series itself. Similar to how most of Big Finish was canonized in 2013
Due to the Time War, EVERYTHING IS CANON!
I doubt he'd be a very good showrunner. Shearman is great at coming up with strange, one-off ideas that he totally makes up while writing the stories, not creating grand storylines or leading others. Honestly it would probably be a mess because of how insecure Rob can be.
That said I'm a slut for more Shearman Doctor Who, so I would definitely love for him to just do more stories in general
As a recent fanatical convert to BF my 12 would be:
1. Year of the Pig
2. Widow's Assassin
3. Three's A Crowd
4. Whispers of Terror
5. Phantoms of the Deep
6. Curious Incident of the Doctor in the Night-Time
7. Urgent Calls
8. Velvet Leopard
9. Robophobia
10. The Auntie Matter
11. The Wrong Doctors
12. The One Doctor
Urgent Calls is actually free for listen, so if some of you haven't heard it... fix that.
It's brilliant.
Momo Mamo
no mate it's just a freebie now. it's around.
Please do a REDUX of this video, I’d love to know if your recommendations have changed over the last 5 ish years
So...here I am again. Looking to release new videos every other week (or thereabouts) got a few random ones after this, then we're headed back in the usual controversial territory. I just thought I'd get this soppy one out of the way with :)
Sorry I didn't get a chance to go through my backlog of comments guys, the christmas/new year period kinda floored me
Threads man. Spooky.
Hey stuart can you talk about some underrated big finish audios you like as a possible subject?
***** So I just listened to Spare Parts and I loved it. I'm not a big 5th Doctor fan but it was 8 kinds of fun. I was about to listen to the Sirens of Time because I love multi Doctor stories (which is what saved the 50th for me).
+Stubagful Thank you for this list. I"m a long time "Doctor Who" fan, grew up watching the classic series on PBS out of Dallas, Texas and I've always wanted to get into Big Finish but had not idea where to start. This has helped lot. Thanks again and keep up the good work.
Stuart, THANK YOU. I punched the air when I saw that 'Spare Parts' was your first suggestion. It was my first Big Finish story, and it's both my favourite Cyberman story and favourite Doctor Who story overall!
Okay.
I, Davros was one of the first Big Finish productions I listened to. I immediately fell in love with Doctor Who audio books
*Quack*. The Frobisher cartoon series would be a much better spin-off than "Class".
+Frobisher The space penguin yes frobisher
All hail our living God frobisher
All hail Frobisher. *All hail the big talking bird!*
@@Zneelsen Are you my father?
Anything would be
So... much... positive...
Thanks for making this video; it's a great guide and I always enjoy hearing your opinion. I've had a very limited experience with Big Finish but I love the bizarre creativity I've heard in that experience. I think the laughing Daleks sold me completely.
Definitely gonna buy those.
I've just wrote down the list in my "personal intellectual interests notebook" under the title "Big Finish 'to buy' list, based on Stubagful's beginners' guide."
I just cannot get enough of dark and mind boggling ideas.
Thanx a lot for that video!
Been listening to Big Finish with my family (mostly Eighth Doctor stuff with the occasional Seven, Six and Five story) for a little over a month now, and while I don't quite agree with you that it's millions of leagues above New and/or Classic Who, I have been loving the shit out of it. So far the worst I've heard have been "good but unmemorable".
I actually find it funny that you bring up the "45 minute" syndrome in this video, as I think the story "Fourty-Five" manages to tell at least three effective and satisfying stories in just a little over twenty minutes each.
I adore Shearman's stuff, Holy Terror and Chimes of Midnight in particular. I also want more Frobisher.
Looking forward to those Paul McGann reviews.
Try some 4th Doctor story's as well. Your missing some good stuff and Tom's voice is fantastic.
The Ponderer hi again
All hail Frobisher! All hail the big talking bird!
"Home Truths" might be the perfect haunted house story.
The big finish streaming service would make them tons of money. Hell, even if it where just an online radio with commercials it would still make them a little.
How do we encourage that idea? Basically creating an audio equivalent to Netflix would be brilliant, especially since you never know if the story you get is actually worth it. My philosophy is rent or check out first before buying a copy, mostly with movies. I do own the first 50 BF audios, plus a companion chronicle and another audio, on CD thanks to the insane bargain pricing, but I don't regret it. I love listening to them.
On March 13th I'm going to meet Paul Finch at Liverpool One's Waterstones. He has done quite a few Doctor Who stories for Big Finish such as Leviathan, Hexagora and The Sentinels of the New Dawn. He has even wrote a new series novel called Doctor Who Hunter's Moon! :)
You lucky Muto!
I suggest for listening the fifth doctor story ' THE ETERNAL SUMMER
' it's the second part of a trilogy but it makes sense on its own. you won't regret it
Ah I was just wondering if that one was the second of a Trilogy, when I saw the order, on the website! Thank-You!
:)
Although maybe not a starting point, I think that Dalek Empire is one of the best series Big Finish has ever created, and it is criminally underrated
Always trying to get more Whovians into Big Finish. Its hard for an outsider to understand but my favorite Doctor Who stories come from Big Finish!
Thanks for making this!
BTW If if there's a supposed hardcore fan out there who says he or she is skipping Big Finish because they can't get into audio dramas my advice would be to get over it. The stories are so diverse and well written I'm sure any true fan would get use to the format after a few episodes if they would only try.
crazyretrogamer especially now when lots of them are on Spotify. There is no excuse to not just try.
Good news, some of these are on Spotify!
I kind of disagree with Zegraus, as the weird reputation of that series is what got me curious about Big Finish and that's where I started.
It's always a pleasure watching you (kind of) talk about BF, Stuart. Excellent work, sir!
I recently listened to protect and survive and remembered you recommending it here. Jesus f***ing christ this one was harrowing given current events. From the recent alarm system being put in place to assuming the worst whenever I hear an aircraft fly over, this constant background fear of annihilation is something I wasn't prepared to hear capitalised on in this story. Moments like 7's brutal rambling about british keeping calm and carrying on and the husband's insistence that no one would actully press the button, not really, were seriously affecting. Im glad the story moved into a high concept sci fi romp halfway through cause if it hadn't I dont think I'd be able to sleep for the next week.
I almost felt bitter that at the time of writing the writer was distant enough from the subject matter to have fun with it
I haven't listened to way too many BF stories even though I love them, and my favorite monthly story so far is The Wreck of the Titan. It's brilliantly written and I love both the audio 6th Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon, so it was so enrapturing.
They're on spotify
Not many
Brilliant! I fully agree with all the recommendations, especially the Rob Shearman suggestions.
So glad you picked live 34. One of my faves. I love when they do stuff like this urgent calls comes to mind.
They can also be found on BBC Radio 4 extra every six Oclock on Saturday. They're doing Leviathon. part 1 is still available on iplayer and part 2 is on this Saturday.
Great video. My favourite big finish story is 'The Light at the End'.
Upcoming 8th Doctor audio review ? F**K YEAH !!!
Over the Years, are You Satasfied? :)
Ever thought about doing a retrospective on the unbound series?
There is now a Big Finish streaming service! Except it's called Spotify (or TIDAL, or Deezer, depending on what you prefer). Big Finish put a lot of stuff on there (For exapmle, Main Range 1-50, and that's not even half the stuff with the Doctor, let alone all the spinoffs and non DW stuff on there), and (acording to Deezer) there will be more every Friday.
I have a lot of things to listen to.
Alex Markham you need a streaming service with more than just those
Agree about Spare Parts - it bloody brilliant! Really recommend to anyone!
I've bought Spare Parts on Audible and will be listening to it for the first time on Tuesday. I figure that it might be nice to listen to it as I work on my own creative projects. If this turns out to work well then I will definitely be going for a few of your suggestions.
Thanks for this, been enjoying your recommendations, having not paid attention to Who for over a decade.
I definitely think my love of Doctor Who is because of big finish. I keep wondering why I never get tired of it. It's because the stories are consistently excellent with great ideas and great sound design that makes me feel like I'm there. I started with NuWho years ago and classic recently but big finish is my favorite form of the series. I am also broke now but look at those CD boxsets!
Yeah Creatures Of Beauty is so underrated, it's my favourite Big Finish play and possibly my favourite Doctor Who story ever
Ive just downloaded it and Ive really only seen Stuart talk about it so it's great to here someone else praising it
The 6th doctor davros was great as well
Holy pants Stu, this is a bit of a sensational return to form. Amazing video!
Also, this has no quibbles from me seeing as #12 is my favorite thing ever. I might have recommended Flop-Flop as one of the more esoteric, narratively experimental titles - but beyond that, a cracking list. I might have to go and find 4+5 somewhere, seeing as those are the two that I've managed to evade - though I worry that it might be responsible to finish the McCoy/McShane/Hex arc first before #4. For reasons.
What a weird coincidence... I created an account named "Live-34" a while back for... uses. I then find that my favourite show had a audio-adventure with the exact same name. Small world.
People in fandom have a tendency to over-mythologise Doctor Who as something that’s always been Continuity heavy and filled with expansive lore, which makes things intimidating for newbies. You help debunk that myth and prove that Doctor Who at its core is just very episodic. An experimental anthology that just so happens to have recurring characters and lore elements that anyone can get into at any point
Doctor Who basically makes shit up and forgets it as it goes, or for convenience. 🤷♂️
As someone who has started big finish
OMG THE TITLE CARD IS FROM JUBILEE
0:47 ''Russell T Davis,' from start to finish?' That sounds, Awesome! :)
Thanks for this vid!
I got into BF through 8th Doctor (I think I've heard every 8th Doctor audio that there is and some of them have become my fave DW things EVER) - and I'm now thinking of expanding further... Already heard some Shearman stories (I love Rob Shearman to bits; Jubilee, good heavens...) and a few others - and I'm looking for more recommendations now. So this list is gonna come in handy.
I just watched: 'Protect And Survive.' My God, that's scary...
There are a lot of audio dramas on Spotify ($10 a month or less with occasional promotions). They have the first 50 adventures in the main range along with a lot of miscileaneous older ones. Most of them are the bargain-priced stories on the Big Finish site, but it's an amazing deal. I got 3 months for $1, but I'll be continuing my subscription after that and I've bought several of the discount dramas from Big Finish that aren't on Spotify.
It takes a little bit to get used to the lack of visuals, but if you can overcome that hurdle, there are some really amazing stories out there. Six and Eight are brilliant. I absolutely adore Sylvester McCoy and I was first drawn into it after the sadness of finishing all of his TV stories filled in.
Some recommended stories:
1. Spare Parts - The best Cyberman story I've found. Very grim and disturbing in parts.
2. UNIT: Dominion - like 3 hours long, but very entertaining. Movie grade stakes and production. The new Master in this story [spoilers] is brilliantly crazy/playful/maniacal.
3. 8th Doctor Adventures (Starting with the brilliant Blood of the Daleks)
4. Davros/I, Davros - Both flesh out Davros well. Parts 1 and 2 of I, Davros are pretty slow, but after that, it's superb.
While there have been a few on the stinky side (Zagreus is a 3-hour train wreck and I hated No More Lies), I have found it to be very worth it.
Spare Parts was my first audio drama. Also being a Cyberman fan, I can't praise it enough. If only Nu-Who would tell a Cyberman story this good.
All excellent suggestions. LIVE 34 is just brilliant.
As long as you completely avoid Nekromanteia, you're pretty much golden.
He's alive!
Decided to get into big finnish the other day with the help of your list and began with "Home Truths" Because it was the most interesting of the list. I thought it was great and rather unexpected in allot of the twists. The audio design was nice, especially in the intro adding allot of atmosphere with the pouring rain to the crackling of a warm fire.
An interesting way to tell the story as well with a companion recounting her adventure from old age. I did however find the scares quite cheep with the breath in the ear. Seeing as I listened to it with high quality ear phones, it felt like the ghost was shoving her tongue down my ear. It was scary sure, but eventually it got a bit annoying, so I pulled my earphones out a bit so I wasn't getting sexually assaulted at every scare.
The actual mystery to the house is fantastic though with a genuinely chilling atmosphere. The story evolves at a good pace as well leading up to very logical and believable revelations.
So been waiting for this exploration into Big Finish :-) I've always had a soft spot for the 6th Dr - the Big Finish Judge Dredd audio dramas are good as well
Spare parts was my first story but the early big finish stuff with7 and ace is absolutely amazing
I think if you're coming from new who, the tenth doctor adventures are a good place to start, they are structured like new who but eases the listener into the concept of audio dramas and it a good jump off point
When I saw "Spare Parts" come up first, I was already one step ahead. I already downloaded it (Last night, to be precise) but I have yet to listen to it. I plan on doing that in my spare time.
"Live 34" I'll check out sometime.
Not yet, working on it.
Just listened to 'Enemy of the Daleks', and loved it. Felt like it told a coherent story, and a new one too. I thought it would make an excellent TV version either 1 or 2 parter. Which of the Big Finish stories do you think would best translate to the TV screen?
10:36 Sorry, but I think LOTS of people do NOT know what "Protect and Survive" was. At least outside the UK.
While Protect And Survive is stand-alone, it does continue into an arc that is most definitely not new listener friendly, with necessary continuity from a number of prior releases (a huge number, not just with the Seventh Doctor). Scherzo also needs some context from previous stories.
No Lost Stories or Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller stories? Any of the Lost Stories can be enjoyed on their own, and have some real gems (as you found with Lords Of The Red Planet). The Eighth and Lucie are fantastic, include several of Johnny Morris's stories (Max Warp and Ice Warrior two parter Deimos and Resurrection Of Mars) and builds up to a phenomenal fourth season that takes the Doctor into Dark Eyes.
Are there other ranges you can talk about, like Fourth Doctor Adventures, Novel Adaptations and Sarah Jane Smith?
I've just got into big finish (about 10 stories now) and one of my first ones was the genocide machine and I found that a really good for beginners due to its limited cast and settings, it may not be the best story but still very good imo
for your non british viewers, what exactly is the broadcast station in live 34 supposed to be a dig at?
I've only listened to about 50 Big Finish stories so far. Too many stories, not enough time, so I just started them in chronological order. I'd recommend The Sirens of Time, The Marian Conspiracy, The Apocalypse Element, The One Doctor, The Chimes of Midnight, Seasons of Fear, Neverland, Spare Parts, The Church and the Crown, Jubilee, Doctor Who and the Pirates (the most hilarious Doctor Who story I've even seen/heard/read), the new Torchwood series and The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure.
Already watched it but I'm definitely saving it in my watch later list as a reference.
Hey Stuart, what are your views on Dalek Empire ?
Are you gonna do the eighth time war short trips
I was sadly kinda disapointed in Spare Parts, due to it being hyped up so much.
It's 2020 and there's still no Big Finish Streaming service. They've uploaded a bunch to Spotify, but the main range stops at Zagreus at the moment. I wanted to start from the beginning, but even the early Bernice Summerfield stuff is missing from Spotify.
Eh I know it's an old video but do you have a recomendation like the three sara kingdom companion chronicles? They were incredible and made a character I didn't really care about to be really interesting and wanted to find something as good as that
I've really enjoyed all the Robert Shearman stories as I've got into Big Finish and his become one of my favourite Doctor Who writers. I paticularly enjoyed Scherzo which I Just made a review on my channel of.
my strategy for big finish collecting is this:
i'm going to collect the 8th doctor audios from storm warning until zagraus. 8th doctor because he has the least stories and would like to see more of what he would have done if he got more. i'm stopping at zagraus because cps beyond that are still in print and for some reason that means they are more EXPENSIVE to download. yes not cheaper.
when i'm done that, i'll pick another doctor, probubly 5th because he's the earliest. then sixth and then seventh.
and when more go out of print and more get cheaper i'll get those too. i'm also collecting the titan comics. so when i have 20$ to spare, i use 17$ on the next 3 comics i'm missing and the change i get is about 3$. which i use on the next cd. so basically i get 4 stories in book and cd form, for the price of 1 in dvd form for some reason.
Ashame you won't give the Fourth Doctor story's a listen as well. Tom is such an iconic Doctor and his Big Finish work has been excellent for the last several years with several truly outstanding story's that fans have really loved. Also the Fourth Doctor Titan comic book limited series (5 parts in all with the 4th issue having just been released ) has been very good as well.
The 3rd Doctor Titan comic limited series starts in August. God bless.😀
i'll probably listen to it at some point, i just don't want to go bankrupt overnight. but thanks for the suggestion!
I love live 34, amazing
I bought all of I, Davros and Spare Parts after watching this! Great video!
Cobwebs was the first story I ever listened to.
unlimited rice pudding... classic
It's so frustrating trying to tell friends who only watch NuWho how good big finish is! I just finished Dark Eyes 4 today and had nobody to unleash my excitement upon lol... Haven't heard a lot of these so I'll certainly be checking them out.
Stuart, great video, what do you think of Red Dawn (if you've seen it)?
I agree with most of these choices, even though I would probably swap The Marian Conspiracy with Storm Warning (then again, Marian Conspiracy is good and I'm quite biased towards Charley since she was my first Big Finish companion.) And since Romana is my favourite character, ever, I think The Apocalypse Element deserves a mention too. I know it's not universally loved and it gets complicated by the end, but it's an amazing reintroduction of a character we thought we knew and actually establishes the Daleks as powerful and scary villains.
I suppose if I was to make a top 12, It would probably be something like this...
12) Arrangements for War
11) The Marian Conspiracy
10) The Maltese Penguin
9) The Fires of Vulcan
8) Davros (Not I, Davros... not listened to that one yet)
7) Spare Parts
6) Jubilee
5) Dr Who and The Pirates
4) A Death in the Family
3) The Brink of Death
2) Light at the End
1) The First Sontarans
Hey, if anyone's interested, I'm reviewing all the Doctor Who stories on my channel, with me just having upload my review of: 'Carnival Of Monsters (1973)!' No pressure, of-course; Just if you're interested! :)
Poopy bad taste
tbh a BBC streaming service that contains both TV Doctor Who (classic and modern) AND Big Finish (plus non-DW stuff too like Sherlock I guess) would be awesome.
Was talking about whether to check out I Davros just before I saw this vid, will definitely do so now. What's your view of Gallifrey? I'm a big fan of Romana, and thought the idea of her as time lord president sounded cool.
Gallifrey is amazing but you need to listen to The Apocalypse Element first. Okay, you, don't need to, but it changes your perspective on a lot of things. Don't go into it expecting Romana running around Paris in a schoolgirl's uniform- she's grown up now but if it's possible she's gotten better. The first episode of series 1 is one of the weaker ones because it has a lot to set up but overall the series is great.
(Sorry. I know you didn't ask me but I'm a huge Gallifrey fan so I try and convert as many people as possible. You should probably ask someone else with a slightly less biased opinion.)
Just out of curiosity, what'd you think of doctor who and the pirates (the sixth doctor audio play)
what big finish would you reccomend to someone who's only watched new who?
Quick question, when I go to big finish a select let's say the McCoy stories and go from oldest to newest the numbering is really weird, number 1, number 5, number 17, number 35, some specials alongside. I was just wondering what that was all about, are there stories missing or what?
Lena_Who? So it could be that a 7th doctor story is followed up by another doctors story?
...Which are your favorites?
Are you going to do a review on the Dark Eyes Series with Paul Mcgann? Cause they were amazing!
What if you haven't viewed any classic who but have done some research?
STU i saw Big Finish storys on Spotify....So yay
Lot of great stuff on here. I'll definitely check out most of them... except for Spare Parts (as I already have it). For beginners, I definitely recommend Shada. If you're a fan of Classic Who, there's a good chance you're familiar with the history behind Shada. Big Finish did the story more justice than the DVD release did. I mean, Shada does have some flaws (I wish it was still Tom Baker instead of Paul McGann, not that McGann was bad, it's just that the Eighth Doctor is a very different character from the Fourth Doctor and their types of adventures are different-- McGann just felt out of place) but it's still a great story.
so, the main message is...these are generally grim, bleak, and depressing
8th doctor adventures are very light hearted and fun. The first season is on spotify
Well at least the ones Stu picked, given his taste for dark story telling
creatures of beauty is a masterpiece of science fiction.
the first 50 big finish dr who's are cheap. every month they put 1 story up for 2.99 for new listeners. also they have a lot of sales if you keep your eyes open . lastly they have a free section. also bbc radio 4 website will stream some big finish now and again.
im on about 100 ,,100 odd to go but your right there expensive,evelyn one of my favs,,,didnt like live 34,jubilee was really good..your mcgann reviews?......found them
There’s so much on big finish it doesn’t seem like jumping into it, I’d go bankrupt in weeks. If they did s subscription service it would be a stroke of genius, a lot more people would love to hop into it who don’t already due to costs as well as it makes it much more likely that people will be able to appreciate every inch of big finish like it should be
The first 50 main range, 8th doctor adventures s1, 4th doctor 1st box set, 4th doctor adventures s1, companion chronicles s2, 6th doctor lost stories, I Davies, daleks empire are on Spotify. For free on laptop/pc/tablet or if you have premium also on mobile
So, Live 34 is based off of the BBC News?
how long is an episode of big finish
Well each main range story is about 2 hours long each with 4, 25 to 30 minute long episodes each. Just click on the technical details tab when you click on an audio drama because it tells you how long it is as some stories and ranges variate in length.
You could've drawn those microphones better. I'm trying not to look at them as something else. Love the video by the way. I wish I could afford big finish. I want that tenth doctor one.