Doctor Who: The Library of Carsus discussion

Never jumped into the BF line.

Wondering, especially for the 8th Doctor, where to begin.

Start at the beginning? Best/strongest/most important stories?

Don't know if I can invest the time/money into getting them all, so how to cherry pick the ones to get?

While we're on it, what would you recommend for the other Doctors?

There are two 8th Doctor Big finish lines.

The monthly series that started with Doctor Who: Storm Warning and the New 8th Doctor Audio Adventures that started with Doctor Who: Blood of the Daleks, Part 1.

Both are completely separate entities. I recommend going with Blood of the Daleks and continuing with that series. Its got a bunch of seasons and is completed. Good stuff. Then if you like it you can continue on with the monthly series, Storm Warning, etc. and also try out other doctors.

Incidentally one of my fave Big Finish stories was Doctor Who: Spare Parts because it went so deep into a cool Cyberman story. That was of course until this story was essentially used up on the new television series (I listened to this before the new series started :)

Thanks for the recommendations, Sean, I think I'll take it.

Anyone else, still free to chime in.

Any suggestions for the best source for US buyers? Who North America seems to have them at a decent price. Any feedback on dealing with them?

I started at the beginning with 'Storm warning' and 'Sword of Orion'.

I haven't had the cash to continue much past that, but there are a couple sites that have offered episodes as free podcasts.

I enjoyed 'Horror of Glam Rock' and 'Immortal Beloved'.

The Lucie stories (starting with Blood of the Daleks) are very fun and accessible, but they are more or less organised per season, which means there's an overarching story-arc. This means some of the stories do not work very well as stand-alones. Still, Max Warp, the Human Resources duo... Check those to see if you like the style.

Then there's the Charley stories which were produced earlier and are different in style and format. Lucie's are like a tv-episode (about 40 minutes?) while Charley's are 4 episodes of 30 minutes each. I feel like Charley's are more stand-alone, except perhaps for the whole Divergent Universe arc. Chimes of Midnight is the must-have here.

Or you could jump into Eight's last three releases, with companion Mary Shelley. They're a nice little trilogy. And on that note, the Company of Friends release is also fun. Four little stories, one of which introduces Mary as a companion. It might still be on discount over at Big Finish.

I haven't got to the Lucie Milelr stories yet, but I started with Storm Warning and went along chronologically and I'm very happy I did. Charley is one of my favorite characters ever <3

I love Charley, and C'Rizz too, although the Divergent Universe arc was pretty rough going. Lucie Miller is an awesome character! Her stories are pretty great, but I agree that they're probably best listened to in order.

On the whole I'd say start with Storm Warning and work your way from there because the first four "seasons" of eighth Doctor audios in the main range make up an ongoing story arc. That said, I found Dark Eyes to be quite accessible as well and (thanks to it coming out in first place in a poll on the BBC Doctor Who Facebook page) you can currently get it 50% off as well if you use the discount code tardybox here: http://www.bigfinish.com/darkeyes50

Dark Eyes is fantastic, and stands alone, but it does take place immediately after all the Lucie Miller stories and I think it will spoil the end of her story arc. If I'm remembering correctly, there are references to her at the beginning of the first episode and I think on and off throughout the story.

I just finished Doctor Who: Dark Eyes and thought it was great too! I will def. be getting the sequel Doctor Who: Dark Eyes 2!

You Charlie Pollard fans excited for her stand alone series?

http://www.bigfinish.com/ranges/comin...

I listened to the first Charlie Pollard story when she joined the 5th Doctor and have to finish up that before I go on to her solo series.

Well, bought the first 2 Eight Doctor ones (Storm Warning & Sword of Orion) finally. They were only $2.99 a piece.

Plus a sampling of free stuff from various Docotors (mostly first episodes, so a tease to buy more, but should give me an idea if I like them).
The Ratings War
The Assassination Games
The Secret History
Waters of Amsterdam
The War Master: Beneath the Viscoid

Should be fun, but man, this could get costly. There's an awful lot of them just for Eight.

I’ve been working on the 8th Doctor and yes it is costly. I was going to limit myself to only getting 8th Doctor audios to compensate for him only having the one movie. But then I loved the docudrama Adventure in Space and Time. Then saw they were going to use that cast to make new audio adventures for the first Doctor. I tried one and LOVED it. I’m hooked on those now and now River Song has her series and 10 & Donna Noble have some... it just keeps getting worse and worse. I can’t stop now! 😹😻

You are sliding down the rabbit hole, man.

It's too late for, Rick, but maybe others will learn from his tragic example
😉

They’re just sooooo darn good. Unfortunately they can also rack up quite the price tag.

I tried getting them through the interlibrary loan system, but there are that many available and some libraries would let them out on loan to other libraries. It was frustrating, so I just started looking for cheap used copies. I’ve done pretty good luck. But some are outrageously priced. Next step is just getting them as downloads from Big Finish.

I definitely prefer the full cast recordings as opposed to the narrated recordings.

I’ve also gotten some Torchwood and UNIT stories, but haven’t listened to many of those yet.

So, yeah, it’s too late for me. Way too late.