Fannish Items of Interest

[calliopes_pen]

Blogtor Who asked who the scariest monsters have been on Doctor Who—you can see their top 10 here. For me, it’s either the Weeping Angels or the Midnight creature. The gas mask kid isn’t nearly as scary when you first see him on the Sci-Fi Channel. Tons of commercials ruin most of the suspense. As I haven’t seen much of old Who yet, I didn’t know about Eldrad, Scaroth, or a couple others.

Over at beinghuman_fans, they’re discussing who they would want to see cast for the US remake. I love the suggestion of Felicia Day as Annie.

16 Bizarre Sci-Fi Episodes of Classic Sitcoms. Of those listed, the only ones I’ve seen are the episode of Dick Van Dyke, and Wings. I loved both of them—especially the former, when it was on Nick at Nite back in the 80’s.

If anyone’s interested—thanks to this whedonesque post, I managed to find the unaired pilot for Space Cases. You can find part 1 here. Radu’s ears were horrible. Catalina’s hair? Almost better than it was in the series itself.

Also, I have managed to obtain a handful of Big Finish Audios. I’ve never listened to any of the audio adventures before—which would people recommend that I listen to first?

[Poll #1529661]

Comments

[wabbitseason.livejournal.com]

I would *not* listen to Neverland/Zagreus for your first Big Finish audio experience. Chimes of Midnight ties in nicely with this storyline and suitably creepy house/Christmas story. Doctor Who & the Pirates is total crack in a Gilbert & Sullivan kind of way. Sympathy & He Jests are part of the Doctor Who Unbound collection; they're "what if" type stories about the Doctor.

I don't know if that info helps or confuses you mightily.

[calliopes_pen]

It definitely helps, so thank you. Didn't confuse me at all.

[beccaelizabeth]

Agrees on Neverland/Zagreus, they made enough confusion when I knew the characters and roughly what was going on.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Much as I LOVE Neverland/Zagreus and that entire story arc, I have to agree - it's not at all a good one to start with.

[clocketpatch]

(first off, lizblackdog I love your icon to pieces and have been looking for something good with Eight, is it gankable?)

My vote goes for Chimes of Midnight or Master. Chimes is just awesome (granted, it migt give you slight confusion if you don't know the basics of how Charley & Eight met.) Master is a bit slow, but the back story it give to the Doctor and the Master's relationship is my absolute canon, even if it contradicts pretty much everything that happened in the last two specials.

Neverland/Zagreus is my favourite audio play ever, but agreeing with everyone else - NOT a good place to start.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

sure, as long as you credit the maker - I got it from an icon post in one of the Who communities, so it was up for public consumption. and yes I know right? I love Eight SO MUCH.

[aralias.livejournal.com]

definitely listen to neverland before zagreus, but otherwise you could well start with that combination. it's a cracking story - if confusing.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is not the best list for your first Big Finish. I've picked Pirates because it's funny and it stands alone - and it makes sense. The problem with most of the rest is that they either assume you've heard other audios, aren't indicative of the usual audios, or are flat-out incoherent.

Not indicative:
Scars & Sympathy - the entire Unbound series is well done, but rather a sharp left from all of the other stuff they do.

Incoherent:
Dust Breeding (which is dull to boot)
Master (it starts out well, and then gets weird before turning into an episode of Sapphire and Steel)

Assumes you've heard other episodes:
Neverland (references Storm Warning, among others, for major plot points)
Chimes of Midnight (ditto; otherwise it's brilliant, but it assumes you've heard Storm Warning)

Zagreus does a hat trick and is all three at once. It assumes you're familiar with the Big Finishes, it's completely different than anything else they will EVER do, and the writers were obviously smoking the couch while they typed. (And I say this as someone who's quite fond of Zagreus.)

Fortunately, Pirates is fabulous. And Chimes is fabulous too... once you've heard Storm Warning.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I picked the Unbounds, as an example of excellent audio dramas by Big Finish, but the Unbounds are NOT typical of Doctor Who plays.

Don't listen to Neverland or Zagreus without listening to at least a handful of Eight and Charley stories first (preferably starting with their first, Storm Warning) because Charley's story is hellishly convoluted otherwise.

Chimes of Midnight is brilliant, but you'll need a bit of background on Charley first.

Doctor Who and the Pirates is a lot of fun in places, but is also atypical of Big Finish.

Never heard Dust Breeding or Master.