Doctor Who audio adventures

[ShadowMaat]

Once again I'm finding myself totally out of depth in this fandom. *sigh* I was meandering through itunes and discovered that there were Doctor Who audio books. Many many. Lots of 'em seem to be adaptations of eps, some are eps created specifically for radio plays/audio and there's even a series of AU adventures (Unbound?).

So... does anyone have recommendations on which ones are good? I'm not particularly fond of the First Doctor (Hartnell), but I have zero experience with the rest of them (until Nine). I like the sound of Jamie and I loved Sarah Jane in the one ep I've seen her in, but there's so much out there I'm kinda overwhelmed.

At the very least does anyone know where I can find summaries of all the audiobooks? 'Cause Amazon is sucking on that regard and I don't know where else to look.

[Easter Lily]

This might help although it is a tad old...
http://www.drwhoguide.com/bfaudio.htm
Just click on the individual titles to get a summary.

I only have one... The Evil of the Daleks... got it at the ABC shop on special... It's a rare one because it's a missing episode. And it does feature the second doctor and Jamie. I don't mind it personally.

Have you tried the BBC shop?

I think DASP mentioned a while ago that he can get these audio things online. Must try to find the post.
Edited: Ah yes... the site is called audible.com... It seems to work on a subscription plan. Wow, some of the Who stuff is gratis if one becomes a member.
You can even listen to a sample of it as well. To top it off, it seems to offer summaries for each of them.
http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/enS...dr+who&x=0&y=0

[Dallista]

I'm a huge fan of the audio series, that is, the Big Finish audio dramas (*not* audio books, but full-cast dramas, with the original Doctors and their companions). BF releases one audio drama on CD every month, either with the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh or Eighth Doctor. My favorite Doctor is Peter Davison, so his audio dramas are my fave, too, but he's also had some *really* good stories. Spare Parts is generally considered to be one of the best, if not the single best audio drama out there. If you've seen the mid-season 2 two-parter, you might have noticed that in the end credits, Marc Platt, who wrote Spare Parts was given a special credit. That's because the writer of the two-parter had clearly been inspired by that audio drama.

There are a couple of other audio dramas out there, IIRC there are two with the Third Doctor, and possibly one or two with the Fourth, made years ago, unrelated to the BF series. I don't recall any with the First or Second Doctor, but I could be wrong. Tom Baker definitely isn't participating with the Big Finish audios.

BF also has a bunch of other releases, for instance a series about Gallifrey with Romana, a Sarah Jane Smith series etc. Their website is http://www.bigfinish.com/ They even have a very popular series starring Bernice Summerfield (an archeologist who was a companion of the Seventh Doctor in a bunch of novels). The Unbound series is rather fun, too, with some well-known people (even a woman!) playing the Doctor in A/U stories.

And then there are the audio releases by the BBC, of the missing episodes. Those would have the original Doctors, of course.

Now that I think of it, there *are* some audiobooks out there. I know Peter Davison narrated shorter versions of the Target novelizations of the episodes Kinda and Warriors of the Deep, and Tom Baker did at least one (I forget which).

Be sure to check out EasterLily's suggestions. The Doctor Who reference guide has *everything*.

[creed462]

I've heard a couple compaion adventures and thought they were good. I like radio drama myself, usssally listen to Focus on the Family's stuff

[ShadowMaat]

This might help although it is a tad old...
http://www.drwhoguide.com/bfaudio.htm
Just click on the individual titles to get a summary.

Massively helpful, thanks! Haven't tried the BBC shop, but I'll check it out now. Being in the US tends to make things kinda pricey, though.

Spare Parts is at the top of my list of eps to get precisely because it inspired the two-parter of the TV show. I have a few others I'm eyeing as well. There are a bunch on ebay and some of the ones on iTunes might work out as a good deal. I'm definitely gonna try and snag the history of the Daleks thingy, just so I can fill in the gaps of what I know.

Invaders from Mars looks fun. I love the original radio broadcast of War of the Worlds and putting a bit of weight to it (and throwing Orson Welles into the mix) sounds awesome.

Some of the ones about Summerfield looked interesting, but I know nothing about her. Hope that won't be a severe handicap.

[Rowana]

There are lots of very good radio shows out there that they made after the series ended. I have a couple and they are great fun! I also have lots of the audio soundtracks of missing episodes like Dalek Masterplan. These are really really good; especially since for most of these the originals are completely lost. For some like the Yeti ones, having it without picture actually makes it much creepier!

Anyway, they can be tricky to find in the US, but I got most of mine from BBCAmericashop.com. They seem to have stopped stocking them recently so I've gone to another site that I can't remember at the moment, but if you guys like I can look it up a post it.

[in circles]

I've listened to most of the 8th Doctor Big Finish stuff and a few of the 5th Doc ones. Spare Parts is incredibly awesome. Invaders from Mars is also great and has the bonus of featuring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson from Spaced.

[ShadowMaat]

Lost the bidding on Invaders from Mars. Bah. Might have to try more conventional methods. And if I don't get Spare Parts then "spare parts" is going to be a very accurate description of someone...

[ShadowMaat]

I found a great source for the Big Finish audio adventure series and I'm having a blast! Sure, it's all Doctors and Companions I don't know, but it's giving me a feel for the personalities and adventure-types. And it still cracks me up that David Tennant provides non-Doctor voices on some of them.

There are a couple that have me abosolutely boggled, though. One of the Doctor's companions was a shape-changing penguin?! Dang, now I'm gonna have to track down those comics...

[Nuallain]

Digital radio channel BBC7 also broadcasts the BF audios (changing for a new episode once a week)

You can listen to the current episode, anywhere in the world, for free:

Doctor Who: Invaders from Mars - Episode One

[ShadowMaat]

Figures. Invaders from Mars was the first series I snagged. Thanks for the link, though, that'll definitely help, too.

[Spaceminx]

Some of the ones about Summerfield looked interesting, but I know nothing about her. Hope that won't be a severe handicap.

If you wanted to find out more about her you could read Paul Cornell's book Love and War which introduces her. I'm not sure whether you need to read any other BS books or listen to the audio's in order. I've only listened to two of the audios, Oh No it Isn't which is very good, very funny and The Grel Escape which I'm in (as Sophia).

[JMSwallow]

I'd recommend this one - but then that's 'cos I wrote it...

[ShadowMaat]

I'd recommend this one - but then that's 'cos I wrote it...

YOUR story? Eeeewwww, why would I want to read YOUR story?

Heh. Actually, it's already on my list.

[ShadowMaat]

Not really about the audiobooks, but lacking a more relevant thread I figured I'd hijack this one and see if anyone's read Made of Steel.

The story was a bit meh, IMO, but I'm really curious about the characterization of the Doctor. I don't have enough background on the various Doctors to say I have a feel for any of their personalities (especially since all I know about most of them is that they existed), but a couple of times during this (very fast) read I felt as if the Doctor was channeling his earlier incarnations. It was still Doctor-y, but not necessarily Ten-ish. Am I alone in this? I dunno, maybe Ten would demand tea and sandwiches, it just left me feeling a little... displaced.

EDIT: Meanwhile, I'm still trying to track down Singularity. My source went poof, so now I'm stuck with ebay, mostly.