Mixing up Doctors and Companions.

[Catsmate]

I've been a fan of the concept of modifying Who canon in gaming, blending Doctors and Companions who didn't appear together on TV. Now it appears that Big Finish are trying the idea.
The Defectors: Seventh Doctor, Jo, Yates
Last of the Cybermen: Sixth Doctor, Zoe, Jamie
The Secret History: Fifth Doctor, Vicki, Steven

Has anyone listened to any of these audioplays (I'll sample them myself when I have some time). And what do people think of the concept?

[misterharry]

Although I'm not against the idea of mixing up the Doctor and companions into new configurations, Big Finish have done it a few times already - Six with Jamie and Zoe (Legend of the Cybermen), Six with Victoria (Power Play), Six (again!) with Leela and Romana II (in various spin-offs) Eight with Susan (An Earthly Child and others), Four with Jamie (next month's Return to Telos), Five with a whole load of 1st Doctor companions (The Five Companions). Nothing particularly wrong with any of those stories, but it doesn't feel quite as fresh a concept as it once did, to me anyway.

Having said all that, I seem to have enjoyed this new trilogy more than a lot of listeners who've commented elsewhere. The Defectors is nicely weird (and Katy Manning is as great as ever), The Last of the Cybermen is a fun bit of nostalgia (though probably the weakest of the three), and The Secret History provides a comedy (pseudo-)historical in the style of The Romans and The Myth Makers, with the welcome return of an old enemy.

[Catsmate]

Jul 25, 2015 12:46:26 GMT misterharry said:

Although I'm not against the idea of mixing up the Doctor and companions into new configurations, Big Finish have done it a few times already - Six with Jamie and Zoe (Legend of the Cybermen), Six with Victoria (Power Play), Six (again!) with Leela and Romana II (in various spin-offs) Eight with Susan (An Earthly Child and others), Four with Jamie (next month's Return to Telos), Five with a whole load of 1st Doctor companions (The Five Companions). Nothing particularly wrong with any of those stories, but it doesn't feel quite as fresh a concept as it once did, to me anyway.

Having said all that, I seem to have enjoyed this new trilogy more than a lot of listeners who've commented elsewhere. The Defectors is nicely weird (and Katy Manning is as great as ever), The Last of the Cybermen is a fun bit of nostalgia (though probably the weakest of the three), and The Secret History provides a comedy (pseudo-)historical in the style of The Romans and The Myth Makers, with the welcome return of an old enemy.

Thanks! I wasn't aware of those productions.
I rather like the concept of Return to Telos; Leela and Jamie is an interesting pairing and Tomb of the Cybermen is a favourite of mine.

[misterharry]

From pre-publicity, it sounds as if Return to Telos actually takes place in parallel with The Tomb of the Cybermen, while the 2nd Doctor and Victoria are elsewhere in the tomb complex, which should be intriguing. It is however the second part of a story which started in The Fate of Krelos, so I suspect you'll need to have listened to that first to get the most out of Return.

[Catsmate]

Jul 25, 2015 15:00:38 GMT misterharry said:

From pre-publicity, it sounds as if Return to Telos actually takes place in parallel with The Tomb of the Cybermen, while the 2nd Doctor and Victoria are elsewhere in the tomb complex, which should be intriguing. It is however the second part of a story which started in The Fate of Krelos, so I suspect you'll need to have listened to that first to get the most out of Return.

Thanks, I must pick up some more audioplays for when I'm travelling.

[Catsmate]

We have a game planned tonight involving a bastard hybrid of Attack of the Cybermen and Remembrance of the Daleks set in and around Cole Hill School.

Inspired by the idea of mixing companions, the characters are:
Doctor⁶: a later version more like that from the Big Finish audios (i.e. less awful clothes, stable personality). Initially travelling alone. An NPC.
Adam: a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Also an NPC. Has an agenda of his own.
Evelyn Smythe: a historian with a mild chocolate addiction. The voice of reason. A friend of Joanna's mother.
Ace: an eighties teenager who'd found something interesting in the school basement and was experimenting with it.
Sharon Davies: a school friend of Ace, with a Dark Secret....
Zachery: a new character,  not based on any from Who.
Joanna: another original character, a relatively new science teacher in the school. The son of a history teacher and one of the school governors...

"And so it begins".

[Hedgewick]

Aug 8, 2015 11:03:00 GMT Catsmate said:

Sharon Davies: a school friend of Ace, with a Dark Secret....

I have to say, I'm delighted to see Sharon in the mix! She always seems to be forgotten among companions, but she holds a special place in Doctor Who history. It's interesting to see that she's teamed up with Ace. This game should be a lot of fun.

[Catsmate]

Aug 8, 2015 18:45:02 GMT Hedgewick said:

Aug 8, 2015 11:03:00 GMT Catsmate said:

Sharon Davies: a school friend of Ace, with a Dark Secret....

I have to say, I'm delighted to see Sharon in the mix! She always seems to be forgotten among companions, but she holds a special place in Doctor Who history. It's interesting to see that she's teamed up with Ace. This game should be a lot of fun.

She's one of my favourites too, hence her appearance in the ETC. Here Ace will embroil her in strange goings-on, not knowing that Sharon has been part of events even before she was born...