Doctor Who: The Library of Carsus discussion

Big Finish just announced they’ve got a new series started. Dark Gallifrey will be 24 single disc releases. Beginning in April 2024 and running for the next 4 years.

This will be a series about Time Lords gone bad. The first three releases feature Morbius. The next three will feature The War Master.

https://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/dark...

Really tempted to just do the full preorder for the deal but I don’t know that I want to drop that much for something so in advance so I might just do it yearly. Anyone else have preorder plans on this one?

I just put an order in earlier this week, so I’m going to wait until next month to order. The deals are so much cheaper to get a bundle, but it is a bigger bundle than I’ve yet ordered. And it would be out-standing for years.

The oldest thing I’ve ordered from them that I’m still waiting on is The Human Frontier Series Two, which I ordered back in July 2020, and it keeps getting pushed back (now not expected until July 2025). I forget when it was originally supposed to get released (probably in 2021). The next one is Doctor Who: Classic Doctors New Monsters, Vol. 4: Broken Memories which I ordered in Aug 2022 (it’s due next month).

I have both those preordered as well and had completely forgot about The Human Frontier until you mentioned it. Yeah, not sure I am looking to make that large and long of a commitment, but will I end up getting them all anyways? And if I do end up getting everything I will regret not getting the bundle. Decisions, decisions.

I went through the same dilemma with the audio novel range they started. I was thinking originally that I wasn’t interested, as I prefer the audio-dramas with a full cast, but then it was announced that one of the titles was written and read by Matthew Waterhouse and I knew I was going to want that one. Then another one caught my interest. Then Waterhouse was announced to be doing another one as well. And then I wanted the one with both the 3rd and 4th Doctors and little by little I found myself with all but one of them, which I ended up getting anyway. So why didn’t I just order that bundle back at the beginning and save some money. 🙄 So yeah. I’m in the same boat. I sympathize with your dilemma. All I can say is that I’ll likely get them, I just don’t know if I’ll go with the big bundle or get the half bundle next month and the wait a year or so before getting the second half bundle. 🤷🏻‍♂️

If I had the cash handy, I'd likely pre-order the entire lot. I am hesitant about doing so partly for that reason, but also having largely gotten away from doing CDs from them (indeed, it's been at least three years since I listened to one that way rather than on my iPod). I've very much reached the point where I've gotten picky about what I get on disc.

That said, story and cast wise I'm sold on the idea. I do wonder if it's their way of condensing down various ranges given that a number of the characters involved (the Masters in particular) have all had their own box-sets at this point. Or, alternatively, having gone to box-sets originally because that was where the customer base led them to with series, if customer demand has led them back to individual releases.

I was beginning to think they were headed away from the “monthly series” ranges with individual discs, as they canceled and/or converted so many ranges over to box set releases that come out every few months. But now both the new Sontarans vs Rutans range and then this Dark Gallifrey range are coming out as single disc releases. So you may be right. We’ll see.

Also they do have download only options for the various sized bundles. I listen to both downloads or CDs but I prefer owning the CD as I like having the physical copy. Still too paranoid of a streaming company or a company operating a cloud, losing my data or going out of business and then I won’t have access to the content anymore. Plus if you only have non-physical copies, the company can alter the content and you may not even know it. Digital of books are already being censored, edited, and altered without the public being told. I really don’t like the idea of a publishing house changing an author’s work simply because they’re afraid readers might be offended or that they might lose sales if they don’t sanitize the text. I’ve seen reports that this has already happened to works by Mark Twain and Ian Fleming, and there’s likely more.

As well as Sontarans vs Rutans and Dark Gallifrey, the Star Cops audios has gone from box sets to individual releases as well. It makes sense for that range, given the episodic nature of its source material. Less so for the Who stuff to date, though having different Doctors or characters appear in the individual episodes might make it an easier sale if your, say, a fan of those Doctors and don't want the others in a hypothetical box set. Something that makes me think about comments about other sets such as Classic Doctors, New Monsters where people said things along those lines and if Big Finish is taking a cue from that.

I get what you mean about physical media. I recently went through an experience with the bonus tracks that came with the soundtrack release for The Dark Knight Rises. Tracks that I downloaded in 2012 but lost in external hard drive crashes and swapping laptops over the years. Tracks that were downloadable with a code on a website... that WaterTower Tower music no longer supports. Those tracks are available still, but only through buying the entire album digitally or as per-track individual digital purchases. So I paid $5 for tracks I **technically** paid for eleven years ago.

That said, Big Finish has to date been very good about keeping things available. Even when they lost the Stargate license, for example, the audios from those ranges that I'd purchased through them were still available to download. I do worry a bit about what happens if Big Finish ever shuts down, of course, but the one positive thing about the digital files is that (short of civilization collapsing anyway) they'll likely be stored somewhere online. It won't be like what's happened with Virgin and BBC novels from the Wilderness Era such as Lungbarrow, The Dying Days, or Alien Bodies that are going for hundreds of dollars in some cases because the only readily available way to get them is in physical format.

As with all formats, there's pros and cons (and likely some we've not yet come across yet).

I get preferring physical copies I still primarily buy music on disc but I am in the states and with shipping it’s cost prohibitive for me. I started with discs for that reason but now am digital only once I realized how much I was going to be buying. I do regularly download my additions to my collection and save to my Big Finish flash drive because I am worried about losing access.

Matthew wrote: "… As with all formats, there's pros and cons (and likely some we've not yet come across yet)."

All very true.

I’m in the states as well, and I just noticed that the big bundle comes with $120 shipping tag as well. Oy vey!

I think I’m becoming obsessed with Big Finish. I’m trying to rationalize buying the big bundle.
Buying this series as single releases on CD would run about $332.88.
Buying them as 4 sets of 6 releases each would run about $302.88.
Buying them as 2 sets of 12 releases each would be about $242.30.
Buying them as a single big bundle set runs about $237.26.
So the big bundle is a savings of approximately $95.62.
That’s just shy of $4 off each individual disc, nearly 28% off each single release price. Of course these prices don’t include shipping. Of course the download only prices are even cheaper and don’t include any shipping charges.

Nice to see it all laid out like that, it is a significant savings. I already knew I had an obsession, was sure when I ended up with the complete Bernice Summerfield collection after a few sales.

Yeah, I got started with wanting Paul McGann adventures as I liked his take on the Doctor, but he only had the TV movie. Then John Hurt did some as the Warrior (aka War Doctor), then Alex Kingston as River Song, then David Tennant and Catherine Tate did some, and somewhere in all that it was all over and I got addicted.

I got started with The Diaries of River Song and the obsession grew from there, first just the new stuff then 7 and Ace, add in some 5 and 4, plus so many good spin offs, throw in Benny and I was a goner.

I have a lot of 8 but have so far only done the Lucy Miller run and Stranded cause I had to see Andy be a companion.

I’ve been holding off on a lot of Eighth Doctor audios until I get back around to rewatching the movie and then I plan on doing them all in order, or at least the most appropriate order I can figure out.

Still haven’t decided if I’m going to get the Dark Gallifrey series or not. I probably will, but I’ll like buy in smaller bundles and not the huge mammoth subscription bundle.

One of the things I love about BF: David Warner passed 2 years ago and yet has top billing in one of the upcoming Dark Gallifrey releases.

This one? It was quite good! 😸

That’s the one

Also nice that his last appearances are s the doctor, as he was always on my list of actors that should have played him

Travis wrote: "That’s the one

Also nice that his last appearances are s the doctor, as he was always on my list of actors that should have played him"

He was an excellent Doctor. He appears with Bernice Summerfield in several really wonderful box sets.
Doctor Who: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield, Vol. 3: The Unbound Universe
Doctor Who: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield, Vol. 4: Ruler of the Universe
Doctor Who: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield, Vol. 5: Buried Memories
Doctor Who: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield, Vol. 6: Lost in Translation
Doctor Who: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield, Vol. 7: Blood and Steel