Passing Thought of Little Interest 2
You know what's really awful and jaw-droppingly amateur?
Well yes, Bonekickers obviously. Ok, and Spooks: Code 9.
But also the way that writers of Big Finish audios forget that Doctor Who is supposed to be real on one pretty basic level and that, therefore, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart would not introduce himself as 'The Brigadier' just because that's what fans call him (Minuet in Hell, I think), nor does passing mention of someone called the Doctor automatically lead people to assume that the person speaking means The Doctor, the interfering Time Lord, and not - for instance - a medical man who happens to be kicking about (Bride of Peladon).
Does no-one edit these things?
Well yes, Bonekickers obviously. Ok, and Spooks: Code 9.
But also the way that writers of Big Finish audios forget that Doctor Who is supposed to be real on one pretty basic level and that, therefore, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart would not introduce himself as 'The Brigadier' just because that's what fans call him (Minuet in Hell, I think), nor does passing mention of someone called the Doctor automatically lead people to assume that the person speaking means The Doctor, the interfering Time Lord, and not - for instance - a medical man who happens to be kicking about (Bride of Peladon).
Does no-one edit these things?
Labels: doctor who, passing thought, waffle
23 Comments:
Seriously, the Brigadier introduced himself as "The Brigadier"?
Not much of a comment, I know, but I'm just left shaking my head here. :)
I couldn't be arsed actually looking up the reference, but he defineltey comes to the rescue in one BF audio and says something along the lines of 'hold on - the Brigadier's coming'.
It may not have been Minuet in Hell (which I rather liked, oddly) now I think about it - did Nick Briggs ever write an audio with the Brig in it?
Someone will be able to tell us, I'm sure. Even though I have written for them, I'm afraid I'm no expert on BF's output. Maybe that's why I haven't worked for them in a while - they cottoned on to the fact I wasn't buying any of their merchandise. ;)
If not buying their merchandise was something they stopped employing people for, it'd just be Nick Briggs and Joe Lidster alternating on a bi-monthly basis :)
I sometimes wonder -- am I the only person to have done just the one piece of paid work for them (excluding competition winners, for the sake of argument -- though wasn't that Joe Lidster's start)?
Two bits of paid work, surely? 'The Sandman' and 'Dreamtime', plus sundry short stories.
That's called dementia, Simon - write it down on a piece of paper before you forget that too :)
Me, not him...
SK: "Me, not him"
Ahem, as you were then ;)
You obviously don't know the special handshakes and/or failed to grease the proper wheels.
Unlike Joe Lidster for instance, he said with a knowing wink...
SK: "am I the only person to have done just the one piece of paid work for them"
You can't be the only one, surely.
IIRC, Joe might've kicked off his BF career with a short story (in Zodiac?), but didn't he do The Rapture, which may have preceded that? (See, told you my BF expertise is feeble.) Either way, he's gone on to bigger and better things, so there's hope.
And FWIW, I enjoyed your single BF contribution.
Stuart: "Two bits of paid work, surely? 'The Sandman' and 'Dreamtime', plus sundry short stories."
And a Benny audio.
That's called 'largely forgettable', Stuart. :)
SAF: "IIRC, Joe might've kicked off his BF career with a short story (in Zodiac?),"
[shudder]
"but didn't he do The Rapture,"
[and again]
SAF: "And a Benny audio."
Well I've never heard a Benny audio, so I can be forgiven for not knowing about that hopefully :)
It was The Rapture I was thinking of -- didn't that come out of the open competition for audio scripts?
I've wondered this but I haven't cared enough to check -- it just sometimes seems like the same names pop up on lots of Big Finish lists.
(& thank you).
SK: "It was The Rapture I was thinking of -- didn't that come out of the open competition for audio scripts?"
Did it? I dread to think what the other entries must have been like if that dreadful rubbish was the winner.
It had quite... interesting entry conditions, as I recall. One of them was that you couldn't specify the Doctor/companion team: you had to write for 'Doctor' and 'Companion' without knowing who might eventually play the parts.
At the end there was the usual 'we had to disqualify a lot of people who couldn't follow the instructions' announcement, and this rule was specifically mentioned, with many entrants apparantly having the temerity to try to add characterisation.
Though an unkind person might say that this explains a lot about the actual output of Big Finish...
SK: "didn't that come out of the open competition for audio scripts?"
I didn't know that. I remember I got my break when they asked for submissions for the Excelis series, then decided to use mine, Sandman, outside of that instead.
Stuart: "Well I've never heard a Benny audio, so I can be forgiven for not knowing about that hopefully :)"
Yeah, I think we can stretch to forgiveness there. ;) After all, I'd never heard one until I got commissioned to write one. Then I got to listen to four in quick succession! Like buses, they are.
SK: "Though an unkind person might say that this explains a lot about the actual output of Big Finish..."
Also why they thought Ace's brother Liam in 'The Rapture' was a good idea.
Clowns.
SAF: "I got my break when they asked for submissions for the Excelis series"
Which was I think the first Big Finish I really liked from beginning to end.
And now I'm going to make a liar of myself by admitting that I listened to and loved the Benny Excelis audio too :)
Stuart: "And now I'm going to make a liar of myself by admitting that I listened to and loved the Benny Excelis audio too :)"
Ah, wasn't that the one with Iris? If it was, that was one of the ones I listened to as part of my exhaustive Benny research. And I suspect in your case, Iris' involvement may have had something to do with the fact that you enjoyed it so much :)
SAF: "Iris' involvement may have had something to do with the fact that you enjoyed it so much"
I could be wrong, but I think I read 'Verdigris' and listened to the three Excelis discs at about the same time - and it was the amount I laughed at all of them that started me looking for more Iris fiction.
Your break -- was that commissioned before Drift, then?
I sometimes wonder if I should have been more pushy about parlaying that one story into more Big Finish work, but I get the impression that would have involved more delving into the dark side of fandom* than the potential rewards were worth.
On the other hand, it got Lidster an episode of Torchwoodeventually, so, you know, opportunities lost.
* is there a light side & if so where?
(I may be wrong about The Rapture coming from the open competition. I wonder where I got that idea from.)
SK: "I may be wrong about The Rapture coming from the open competition. I wonder where I got that idea from.)"
From the fact it sounds as though some schoolkid knocked it up in his lunch-break maybe?
(for those who can't guess, I think Joe Lidster - while possibly the world's nicest guy - is the sorriest excuse for a professional writer there has ever been.)
SK: "Your break -- was that commissioned before Drift, then?"
Beg your pardon, I meant my BF break. Technically, One Bad Apple was my first 'break', then Drift, then my 'audio debut' so to speak.
SK: "I sometimes wonder if I should have been more pushy"
I guess I did send the occasional email to remind people I still existed, but I was always concerned not to do that too often in case anyone felt I was pestering. Then you tend to hear of someone who was more pushy, as you put it, who's in like flint, as it were. Go figure.
Ah, I was curious -- both seem to have come out in 2002 (using t'internet to refresh my memory).
During which time I found an interview with The Russell which seemed to imply that at least some of working for Big Finish involves working on ideas which he made up in his head, which again makes me think maybe not worth it...
Ideas made up in Gary Russell's head?
You can only assume that he saves all the good ones for other people and only uses the *really* bad ideas in his own writing?
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