Before I begin reviewing the series in order, here’s an introduction to the range of Big Finish audios, ‘The Eighth Doctor Adventures’, looking back at how it was created and why.
Recently, I finished my series of reviews for the Eighth Doctor’s audio stories with Charley Pollard. Before these stories had even finished, however, a separate range of Eighth Doctor stories had already begun. These were The Eighth Doctor Adventures, and their format was a little different to the stories told with the Eighth Doctor before.
In August 2005, after the success of the TV series, radio channel BBC7 repeated some of the earlier stories of the Eighth Doctor. These included Storm Warning, Sword of Orion, The Stones of Venice, Invaders from Mars and, later on, The Chimes of Midnight. (Minuet in Hell was skipped due to having noticeably less “family friendly” content.)
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While these broadcasts were successful, BBC7 didn’t want to cover any further stories. The stories became more intensively arc heavy, starting from Seasons of Fear onwards. This arguably made them less accessible to new listeners.
This was especially true of the Divergent Universe stories. BBC7 (perhaps understandably) didn’t want Doctor Who stories that didn’t feature the TARDIS and weren’t even set in our universe. (According to the behind the scenes interviews on the Blood of the Daleks CDs.) And since these stories introduced C’Rizz, it didn’t seem like skipping those stories was an option.
As a result of this, BBC7 asked Big Finish if they could make brand new stories instead. These stories would be, in some ways, very different to what had come before. While Paul McGann would still play the Eighth Doctor, there would be no Charley Pollard or C’Rizz joining him. Instead, he would be joined by a new companion, Lucie Miller.
A fresh start
Even more interesting is how these stories would differ from most of Big Finish’s previous Doctor Who releases. For this new series, the stories wouldn’t be told in the Classic Series format (i.e. in four-part serials). Instead, The Eighth Doctor Adventures would adopt a format much closer to the New Series. Stories told in single, 50 minute episodes, with the occasional two-parter.
Essentially, the whole series was designed to be a fresh starting point. A series that was designed to appeal to fans of the New Series at least as much as the Classics. Like the New Series, no prior knowledge of the show or the audios was required to enjoy it. While the series would delve into deeper mythology as it went on, both of the Classic Series and of other Big Finish ranges, its first season was meant to be completely accessible to a brand-new audience.
The first season also had its episodes broadcast on BBC7 before their release on CD and download, the first and only time that Big Finish have ever done this. While the series proved to be popular with fans, the fact that fans could listen to them for free lead to a severe decrease in revenue for Big Finish. As a result, all subsequent seasons were released on CD and download first. Episodes would eventually be broadcast on BBC7, but only after a few months, at least. Some stories were broadcast as much as two years after their original release.
Now that I’ve gone into detail about the creation and format of the series, just how high were the quality of those stories? How successful was it at balancing between Classic and New Series elements? Let’s find out.
Next: Doctor Who Season 10 What-If Scenario: The Monk Arc