Doctor Who: The Lost Stories – Why they’re such fascinating glimpses of previous eras
By James Aggas
With two new releases in the Doctor Who range coming out in a couple of months, we look at The Lost Stories, and why they provide perhaps the best glimpses of past eras.
For over twenty years, Big Finish Productions have given us a huge number of Doctor Who stories, most of which focused on the Doctors and companions of the Classic Series. These stories usually do a good job of reflecting their original eras. But at the same time, they usually add something a little different.
Maybe they’re a little darker or more “mature”, as some of the earliest stories were. Maybe they’re more influenced by the stronger emotional content of the New Series. Either way, many of these stories, while strongly influenced by the Classic Series, also aim to offer something of the current era, too.
Which is why The Lost Stories range is so fascinating. These productions are heavily based on scripts or key story ideas that were originally proposed back in their original TV eras, but weren’t originally produced at the time.
Stories like Farewell, Great Macedon were fantastic in their own right, but somehow didn’t make it to the screen.
(Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.
Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)
Why good stories weren’t made
There are many reasons why these stories might not have been made. For most of the first two seasons, the biggest reason was simply bad luck. The first season of The Lost Stories adapted stories that were originally planned for Season 23. However, the series was unexpectedly cancelled, and while it was brought back relatively quickly, it needed such a heavy re-tooling that all the stories originally planned for the season were left unproduced, replaced by The Trial of a Time Lord instead.
The second season of Lost Stories gave us four adventures inspired by plans for the unmade twenty-seventh season of the Classic Series. These four stories – which were somewhat lighter overall in style and introduced us to new companion Raine Creevy – gave us a fascinating glimpse into what could have been if Doctor Who hadn’t been cancelled.
Of course, it’s not just bad luck why these stories weren’t originally made. Sometimes, it could be down to budget, or the producers wanting to go in a different direction than what the writer had intended, thus giving us a completely different story entirely.
For example, for a long time, it was believed that The Talons of Weng-Chiang had been heavily based on The Foe from the Future. But when the previously unmade story was adapted as an audio for The Fourth Doctor Box Set, the truth was revealed to be very different. While the two stories share some elements – particularly with having a deformed antagonist from the future – The Foe from the Future stood out as a strong story in its own right.
The Ultimate Evil will be one of two Lost Stories seeing the light of day in November.
(Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.
Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)
Dated stories?
Then again, there are many other stories out there that were declined for other reasons. It wasn’t because of bad luck, high budgets or not quite fitting the season. It was because they were clearly a bad idea, even then.
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One of my least favorite stories from The Lost Stories is Prison in Space. If you think that sounds like a bland title, trust me – the story is actually much worse. It’s very dated, to say the least, and very sexist. Now, don’t get me wrong, the Classic Series definitely had its problems and was often of its time. But this story takes things to a completely different level. There was a clear reason why this story wasn’t made in the first place, and is honestly probably one of my least favorite audios.
Naturally, this gives The Lost Stories a slightly uneven quality, filled with extremes of highs and lows. But that shouldn’t discourage listeners from checking the range out. On the contrary, it shows that Big Finish aren’t afraid of taking risks every now and again. And besides, weak and extremely dated stories like Prison in Space or Mission to Magnus are more than worth it when we get brilliant gems like Leviathan, Farewell, Great Macedon and The Foe from the Future.
We’ve got two more Lost Stories coming out later this year. They may be brilliant or absolutely terrible, but I must admit, I’m extremely eager to get another good glimpse at a past era.
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Are you a fan of The Lost Stories? Are there any unproduced stories you’d love to see adapted by Big Finish? Are you excited about the next two releases in the range? Let us know in the comments below.