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November 28, 2017 10:39 AM   Subscribe

 
Big Finish has a range of audio plays that are based on so-called "lost stories" from the original series.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:50 AM on November 28, 2017 [3 favorites]


I'd heard about the one with J.K. Rowling and always thought it would have been so fun. It's kind of breaking my heart that it was David Tennant who was the one to kill it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:56 AM on November 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


I turned my niece into a Whovian at the start of David Tennant's run, and she's of the Harry Potter generation (and fandom). I just posted this to her and expect explosions of fangirl glee at the mere thought of the Rowling crossover.
posted by Quindar Beep at 11:09 AM on November 28, 2017


I wish there had been a crossover with the Eccelston Doctor and Battlestar Galactica (the first season in particular). Something tells me he and Madame Airlock would have gotten along like peas and carrots.
posted by orrnyereg at 11:27 AM on November 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


Looking over the Wikipedia list recently made me realize all of the incredibly bad ideas the show avoided. On the other hand, we also missed out on two good alternatives to 'The Leisure Hive' (good for no reason other than they weren't 'The Leisure Hive'.)

On the other hand, I'm surprised to find out that any idea from the same team that brought us 'Let's Kill Hitler' or that one about the trees saving the world had ever been rejected.
posted by Legomancer at 11:48 AM on November 28, 2017 [4 favorites]


I was struck recently by the irony that Shada, the story that was famously unfinished, has now been finished several times, while most stories only get to be finished once. They just keep finishing it.
posted by Grangousier at 11:53 AM on November 28, 2017 [7 favorites]




Well they finished it with Tom Baker this time, so I reckon they can be done finishing it.
posted by Artw at 11:55 AM on November 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


They just keep finishing it.

Like with The Return of the King?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:55 AM on November 28, 2017 [3 favorites]


Wow, "Boom Town" looks a lot better when you compare it to what we could have got instead.
posted by tobascodagama at 11:56 AM on November 28, 2017 [6 favorites]


I think the're gonna keep remaking Shada until they finally finish off Levine
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 11:58 AM on November 28, 2017 [5 favorites]


Yeah, some of these are more in the nature of bullets dodged.
posted by Artw at 11:59 AM on November 28, 2017 [5 favorites]


I'm also wondering if that sleep monster story being wildly unpopular is more to do with it not getting the sequel its clearly there to set up than the reason Gatiss gives - which is a shame, because it would probably make more sense with one.
posted by Artw at 12:09 PM on November 28, 2017


I wonder if the proposed Doctor Who / Star Trek Enterprise crossover would have been any good had it gone ahead.
The reporter asked Davies if there was anything he'd wanted to do on Doctor Who that he hadn't gotten to. And he'd replied, apparently seriously:

I would have loved to have done a Star Trek crossover. The very first year, we talked about it. Then Star Trek finally went off air. Landing the Tardis on board the Enterprise would have been magnificent. Can you imagine what their script department would have wanted, and what I would have wanted? It would have been the biggest battle.
posted by Servo5678 at 12:12 PM on November 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


Legomancer, I'm coincidentally right in the middle of Leisure HIve right now. It doesn't seem *that* awful. It's certainly no Planet of Giants or Sleep No More. A bit overdone on the synthesizer background music, sure, but that's what it gets for being the first story produced in the 80's...
posted by Lokheed at 12:43 PM on November 28, 2017




I'm just glad Douglas Adams' unfinished episode never got made, because he made it into a book better than any of his Hitchhiker series.

Sometimes I wonder if the TARDIS might suffer the same fate as the Reg's time-travelling room:

Well, British Telecom finally fixed the phone service, but it made the time machine stop working. (Insert jokes about BT here.)
posted by deadaluspark at 2:26 PM on November 28, 2017 [2 favorites]


Hey tobascodagama, I like Boom Town! It's almost a Davros face-off on the cheap (i.e. most Davros face-offs).
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 2:51 PM on November 28, 2017


There was a big old nod to Dirk Gently's Proffesor Chronotis in the last season of Who, with the TARDS as the Sofa.
posted by Artw at 2:57 PM on November 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


"Weeks before production was due to begin, Moffat drafted a 50th anniversary special that didn’t star the Doctor at all—and instead just featured then-current companion Clara Oswald. "

Aww hell no!
Words fail me at how awful that would have been!

And I totally agree that Shada as book (i.e. Dirk Gently) is one of Douglas Adams's best works (second only to it's own sequel)
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:00 PM on November 28, 2017 [3 favorites]


As for meanwhiles and neverweres I really liked The Nightmare Fair novelisation. It was almost certainly terrible, but my mind is haunted by what I recall as Six stuck in a sidescrolling Bonanza Bros meets Robocop game with bonus Celestial Toymaker.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 3:00 PM on November 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


But would it still be racist?
posted by Artw at 3:26 PM on November 28, 2017


Well, I definitely think Who dodged a bullet by not reviving the character. I didn't even realise the word "celestial" had other, non-literal connotations until very recently. I'm basically waffling a "yes" here.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 3:36 PM on November 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


Bar an unfortunate costuming choice I don't know if people would have any trouble with the character. However...
posted by Artw at 4:21 PM on November 28, 2017


So, uh, I did a quick Google search on that guy since I hadn't heard of him before, and the first hit that comes up is a Tardis Wiki link where the very first sentence says he's also known as "The Mandarin". Evidently, it comes from one of the audio dramas, but still.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:04 PM on November 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


Oh dear.
posted by Artw at 7:04 PM on November 28, 2017


I mean, really he should he thus spooky as hell manipulative extra dimensional entity that wants to toy with you until you die or are reduced to a mindless automaton or both, somewhere between Q and Nyarlathotep, but I guess the clothes makers the man/man-shaped-thing.
posted by Artw at 7:07 PM on November 28, 2017


They could pair him up with Li H'sen Chang for maximum regrettable yellow face embarrassment (I still cringe at the DVD commentary where an actor tries to justify it)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:56 AM on November 29, 2017 [1 favorite]


I have bad news for you about the swarthy Black Pharaoh from out of Egypt, Artw...
posted by tobascodagama at 9:07 AM on November 29, 2017 [1 favorite]


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