The Energon Pub

[Burn]

I've given serious consideration to trying them out. With me though I can't just sit and LISTEN to something. Music is background noise to me so I never pay 100% attention to it, which is something I'd have to do do this and I'm not sure I can do that.

[JazZeke]

I've given serious consideration to trying them out. With me though I can't just sit and LISTEN to something. Music is background noise to me so I never pay 100% attention to it, which is something I'd have to do do this and I'm not sure I can do that.

I'm mostly the same. I mostly load them onto my mp3 player and then listen to them while I'm doing chores like dishes or yard work.

You can find a huge selection of them free on Spotify.

[Burn]

You can find a huge selection of them free on Spotify.

I'm being one of those old holdouts who isn't touching Spotify.

When I'm streaming stuff on my phone I use TuneIn to listen to radio stations in other countries ... I like the ad breaks (different to what I normally listen to) and I like someone else picking the songs for me.

Plus the neighbour has a big 40" deck ride-on mower and insists on mowing our yard, plus his, plus the empty block across the road so I don't get to do much yard work.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

I only dipped my toe into Big Finish very recently. I'd recommend starting with the same one I did. It's a 5th Doctor story called Spare Parts. The Cybermen are my absolute favourites and whether you are overly familiar with them or Davison, this is a very good jumping on point, that I think really sells Big Finish.

[Skritz]

Spare Parts was one of my first stories, albeit not the very first as I've mostly followed the Eight Doctor and his first story, Storm Warning, is an excellent jumping point and a new start.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

Big Finish is basically the home of the 8th Doctor. I really liked McGann since the TV Movie first aired and it is such a shame how he was essentially cheated out of a show of his own. One of my older nieces is also a fan of Who and after watching Night of The Doctor, she really liked McGann. She asked me questions about where she can see more of that Doctor. Big Finish was completely unknown to me at the time, so the TV Movie was all I could point her to.

I may have mentioned before, but I kind of have a big gap in my Classic Who knowledge. I've seen next to nothing of 3rd to 5th Doctor, other than the final part of The Five Doctors and Earthshock. I'm told 5th and 6th Doctor have really benefited from Big Finish.

[ZeroWolf]

Those people wouldn't be wrong. I'd say the 6th Doctor benefited more as he didn't get a lot of serials due to the waning interest in the series from the BBC themselves. I also lament that the 8th never got a series of his own (I don't agree with all the choices made with the movie, like having a relationship between the doctor and companion.) I think Paul mcgan would have solidified himself as even more of a great choice in the role.

Also Jon Pertwee had some great great televised adventures, a fair few of them politically charged as well (for that era). The three doctors is a great one to watch. Every time I watch it, it makes me wish that modern who did more with Omega (i.e. Did anything with him! Last mention of sorts he got was in Rememberance of the Daleks)

[AllNewSuperRobot]

Plus, you don't have that hideous coat to look at with 6th Doctor Big Finish

The 'O' reveal in the last season should have been Omega, not The Master. I said it before and will continue to do so.

[ZeroWolf]

Plus, you don't have that hideous coat to look at with 6th Doctor Big Finish

The 'O' reveal in the last season should have been Omega, not The Master. I said it before and will continue to do so.

That would have been fantastic

[AllNewSuperRobot]

Just like how I thought that the "evil" scientist in 'Praxeus' could have been The Rani. A nice little one and done resolution to her whereabouts, at least. Meeting her end from one of her precious experiments backfiring.

[Skritz]

McGann is an amazing Doctor with an excellent range of display emotions/tones as well as a good range of story types. Either his original Big Finish run from Storm Warning to Time of the Daleks (as Zagreus is weird) or the New Adventures with the companion Lucie Miller are a great and easy to grasp jumping point, with New Adventures in particular being closer in tone and pacing to the New Series, resulting in a bizarre yet fitting hybrid era that combine New and Classic Who and will eventually lead into Night of the Doctor and his regeneration into the War Doctor.

[JazZeke]

McGann is an amazing Doctor with an excellent range of display emotions/tones as well as a good range of story types. Either his original Big Finish run from Storm Warning to Time of the Daleks (as Zagreus is weird) or the New Adventures with the companion Lucie Miller are a great and easy to grasp jumping point, with New Adventures in particular being closer in tone and pacing to the New Series, resulting in a bizarre yet fitting hybrid era that combine New and Classic Who and will eventually lead into Night of the Doctor and his regeneration into the War Doctor.

Without spoiling anything, Lucie Miller's departure is more of an emotional gut punch than any nuWho companion's exit.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

I think, if they hadn't backpeddled on the ending, Bill would have been a far more emotional send off than it ended up being. To see The Doctor completely fail a Companion was one of the best moments of 12th Doctor. For some reason Bill reminded me of Adric in World Enough and Time (The only 12th Doctor story I liked), too. A... contentious Companion, that arguably has a better send off episode than their entire prior run.

I'm still just getting into 8th Doctor Big Finish, but so far the only gut punch of a Companion exit I thought of immediately in Nu Who was Donna.

[JazZeke]

I think, if they hadn't backpeddled on the ending, Bill would have been a far more emotional send off than it ended up being.

Well that's just Moffat's modus operandi, he never had the balls to kill off any of his characters for realsies. River? Saved to a library database. Amy and Rory? Got to live happily every after before dying of old age. Clara? Extracted from time and got to go off on adventures of her own for as long as she wanted before she went back. Bill? Turned into a space-puddle. Even Strax, a one-off character, got resurrected with no explanation. The only character he killed off for good was Danny Pink, and no one gave two shits about him. And then in his very last episode, Moffat created a convenient plot device to literally bring anyone ever back. I get the feeling that Moffat has an extremely deep-seated fear of death.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

Indeed. I read somewhere before about how some Showrunners, especially Moffat, took the 9th Doctor line "Everybody lives" far too literally. I think I even heard he hated the death of Adric and wouldn't have killed him off at all. Which considering how good the finale to Earthshock is because of that, is a mind-boggling thing to say.

[ZeroWolf]

Wasn't there a 12th Doctor episode though that basically set up the same situation as adrics death but did save the pilot? There was snide talk that was a back hander to earthshock and the second time a companion died.

I liked Moffat initially but towards the end, he was just trying too hard to be clever.

Judging from a few things I've seen on twitter, people are expecting the new head of the BBC to change things on NuWho. Considering it's still deemed to be popular, I think those people are going to be very disappointed.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

A new head at BBC might be able to course correct though. Depends if he likes Who or not. I've definitely been getting 6th Doctor vibes from the last couple seasons of Nu Who IE behind the scenes machinations trying to undermine the show to the point of cancellation.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

So I was watching 'Turn Left' the other day. One of the few highlights of the 10th Doctor run (not a fan of Tennant). It got me thinking about a similar set up for Classic Who. A point in time wherein an altered decision that would have changed everything. I settled on that moment belonging to the 2nd Doctor. Within his final tale, The War Games.

After calling on Gallifrey for aid, The Doctor, Jamie (best Classic companion) and Victoria are making a run for the Tardis when the Time Lords make their presence known.




They don't make it.

The companions are sent back to their own times. Their memories of adventures with The Doctor erased and The Doctor is forced to regenerate. Meanwhile exiled to Earth, with his understanding of the Tardis, similarly removed.

But, what if they made it and escaped? I can't even begin to calculate how much of The Doctor and Earth's timeline would have been fundamentally changed. No 3rd Doctor to assist UNIT or thwart The Master. Maybe no 4th, 5th or any of the others??

Of course that is my own bit of wondering. As stated my knowledge of 3rd to 5th Doctor is minimal. So there may have been other significant moments in their runs I don't know about?

[ZeroWolf]

Well you could have had some interesting adventures like how 2nd would react and deal with the master, 2nd dealing with the Sontarran invasion of Gailefrey. Would 2nd choose to let the daleks live or end them before they began in Genesis of the Daleks. I think for most, the adventures would be the same, just with different players

[AllNewSuperRobot]

I dunno. The Cosmic Hobo didn't really deal with things in the same way as his successors.



Troughton is easily in my two three Doctors, mind you. So there might be some bias there...

[ZeroWolf]

Indeed, hence why I said about him dealing with the master. I can't remember if he met the master during the Five Doctors special I still wonder if they would have changed the format of the show is the cast all stayed on. I mean I love the scripts for Pertwees first season, when ever someone complains about Who being political I always have The Silurians as an example. Plus spearhead from space give me an intimate fear of shop dummies...

[AllNewSuperRobot]

It is funny when you think about which Doctor encountered whom. The first Doctor only ever encountered The Monk. I don't think 2nd Doctor encountered anyone until The War Chief. Although he was technically a prototype Master.

As for their differing approaches, I was listening to a Big Finish freebie recently. Part one of 'Robophopia'. I forgot how different and weird 7th Doctor was...

[ZeroWolf]

I love Slyvester McCoy's take on the role. Battlefield, Silver Nemesis and Remembrance of the Daleks are my go to adventures for something quick (I'm aware that Silver Nemesis isn't to everyone's tastes but I enjoy it, and the hint of a series long arc with the chess battle against Fenric)

[AllNewSuperRobot]

I wasn't keen on him, back in the day. I actually tapped out of Classic Who from his first season. But I have been pointed to specific episodes and Big Finish stories that showcase him.

Funnily enough my favourite 10th Doctor story 'The Family of Blood' I discovered later was in fact a 7th Doctor novel. After learning that, the ending makes a lot more sense as the actions of McCoy's Doctor.

[ZeroWolf]

That actually does make more sense, even the roles Martha and the Doctor themselves take on.