Anyone else craving Big Finish to do a similar run with the Twelfth Doctor? Peter deserved much better scripts during his run and BF have could actually give him the dark and twisted stories we were promised back in series 8.
I'm one of the obscure people who enjoyed season 22 I loved Colin's portayal and loved his costume I'm mad I know but when I compare audio to the TV I was blown away by the quality hell I only knew about pollards run with the 8th doctor though 6th doctor audios there needs to be a takeover at bbc headquarters to put big finish writers incharge of the proper tv show now
We did get our only alien companion in 15 years of nWho in Series 10. Unfortunately it was Nardy! Actually scrap that... Nardole is awesome from a so bad he's good perspective as Moffat couldn't decide whether to write Sabalom Glitz or Mel Bush so he mashed them together and stunt cast Matt Lucas. That is really funny in itself.
Ian Warner ‘Only alien companion in 15 years of NuWho’. I mean granted a lot of his stories with the 9th Doctor are in other media and he is (to our knowledge) human, but Captain Jack isn’t exactly the definition of normal human from present day earth.
I totally agree with this. I've always loved Colin and his Doctor, and felt he was let down by behind the scenes screw ups. He deserved better, and he finally got it with Big Finish.
The ratings for City of Death were only as high as they were because of a strike in ITV so the channel was off air for the period the City of Death was on the TV. I'm not saying it was a bad story that didn't deserve those ratings, not at all, but it might not have got them as high as that if I wasn't for the strike.
I really don't think the 6th Doctor was necessarily the issue. I think Peri's responses to his mean-spirited jokes is what really ruins it. Peri just sounds so sad, defeated or hurt by his comments all the time, and, If only she reacted slightly differently, I really do think his TV character would've worked pretty well
JNT introduced some interesting changes in his early years and if he had left with Peter Davison, he would have been much better remembered. But he was producer for 9 seasons, not 4, so we have to judge him on his entire era. JNT was the first Who producer not to have a creative background. The others had worked as writers, directors etc. JNT was a nuts & bolts production man who, it seems, would much rather attend US conventions and appear on TV shows like Saturday Superstore* than actually do the job he was paid for (at least according to his script editor). A good indication of his approach was that he turned the Doctor's costume into, well... a costume. Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker wore a lot of different clothes that were generally in the same overall style (dandy/bohemian). The 5th, 6th and 7th Doctors wore pretty much the same costume throughout, a single, very obviously designed COSTUME. The infamous 6th Doctor costume was pushed through by JNT over the objections of both the actor and the costume designer. But JNT knew best. * I won't even mention JNT's sexual exploitation of his position. Just Google 'Doable Barkers'.
QuorkEx "some interesting changes" is an understatement. JNT is the man who saved Doctor Who twice. First, he produced Tom Baker's best season in his entire 7 year run, completely revamping every aspect of the show and returning it to its roots, bringing back a level of quality unseen since the golden days under Barry Letts. He then consistently made perfect story after story for the entirety of his run up to The Five Doctors, and consequently the Fifth Doctor era is one of my favorite. Then Season 21 was definitely not as good as before, but still above average for the most part. It's only with Twin Dilemma that everything fell apart. However, people seem to forget the choices being made by the BBC controller at the time. If JNT had not stayed, they would have killed the show entirely. Sure, you could argue at that point it would have been better to simply let it end on a high (or medium if at Season 21) but then we would have never gotten McCoy.
JamesPlaysGames95 Yep. They wanted to make his regeneration story so that it would be good. And I hope it will be. He desevered much better than "Carrot Juice, Oh shit is that exercise bike properly secured?"-ending. Hopefullly he'll make many more audios.
Colin Baker described his costume as a "multicoloured explosion" no wonder he didn't like being in Doctor Who in 1986 where he just seemed uncomfortable with the script he was given.
I totaly agree with some of things you say in this, i think Colin Baker was a great choice of actor but i think management and bbc were the problem, i do like some of the 6th doctors stories like vengeance on varos which i think is a really gritty story which plays out pretty well, as for the violence i dont think it was pretty bad (especally if you compare it to whats on todays tv and even soaps) Colin really shines through on big finish on how good he could of been, getting rid of his clothes to the blue i think works too, i do think if Colin was allowed to carry on in doctor who we could of got some more good stories but it needed that big jault of the 18 month off with time of the timelord mess up for them to sort there act together with sylvester mccoy who did some brilliant stories and better character. There was some stupid choices though, if they were planning the 6th doctor to be so dark then why give him his bad taste costume, what was wrong with the darken tones and black clothes that Colin said he would like to go with his personality, like you said i think they though if they messed up nothing would happen and they'd be back again next year to try again...........always annoys me that it was improving with sylvester and they just decided to stop it in its tracks..but the bbc moving the program against other highly popular shows to make it seem to fail just showed how much they'd gone to just not care about it anymore, it all seems wrong after you think before all this they had the 5 doctors celebrating the show
I ran across your video while looking for reviews of some of the BF 6th Doctor audios I haven't bought yet (I think I've become, sadly, addicted to Sixth Doctor audio stories with Colin Baker), and I agree with just about everything you say. I haven't listened to every Sixth Doctor audio yet, but I've listened to quite a few, and Colin Baker has never turned in a poor performance, and the stories and dialogue are miles better than what he was given back in the day. (I still remember my shock when I saw the first Sixth Doctor episode -- then there were months before the next serial aired, so the story really stuck in my head). I always thought that Colin Baker did the best he could with the material he was given, and that in certain scenes, he shone as the Doctor, but having recently come to the BF audios, I'm convinced that if he had been given better stories, and better overall characterization, he would have gone down as one of the best Doctors. I wish I'd begun listening to BF sooner (I've only been buying the audios for a year and a bit, I think), but now I have the pleasure of listening to "new" Sixth Doctor audios, with a big back catalogue to choose from. (And I agree with you about Evelyn Smythe -- fabulous companion for Six!) I've listened to some from 5, 7, and 8, and more recently, a few 4s, but I'd rather save my pennies to buy more Colin Baker. I'll be looking at some of your other video reviews soon -- I look forward to listening to your take on the recent New Who series.
To be fair though, the reason City of Death got such high ratings was because a strike at ITV took ITV off the air, resulting in the people who would usually watch ITV would watch BBC instead.
I haven't had much contact with the 6th Doctor but I heard the Leviathan lost episode on the radio not long ago and loved it. I don't know how much creative license Big Finish took in adapting it but it was originally written for the series and it was great. I thought Perri was great in it and I thought The Doctor had what Tennant and Smith were missing: edge and a bit of an arrogant streak (a hundred plus year old genius naturally would). But he never came off as mean in that episode. Hell, I even liked his "I'm The Doctor, whether you like it or not." scene in The Twin Dilemma.
I hated the 6th Doctor on TV, to such an extent that when I started listening to Big Finish I avoided his audios... eventually, I gave in and bought The Apocalypse Element- mostly because I'm a huge fan of the Gallifrey series and I'm pretty sure that everything Lalla Ward does on audio is going to be good. It is. Evelyn is a bit out of character in this one, but it is a huge story that simply wouldn't work on television. It did the impossible and made me stop hating Colin Baker, and Lalla Ward is absolutely fantastic as Romana- she's a completely different character to the one we met on television, and there are reasons for that. She's developed, maybe more than any other character. Just get it. It is worth it.
I love city of death but the only reason it had such high ratings was because itv was not operating at the time due to industrial action so it was only due to that that city of death was so popular
It's weird for me because I discovered the original series as a kid in Texas and even with the, then, newer episodes I didn't have the context of how the show was viewed in the UK. Hell, this was before the internet so there was no way to put things in context. I had no idea about it's ratings over there or behind the scenes stuff or all that so all I had to go on was what was on the screen. I didn't even know, until I bought an episode on VHS in the early 90's, that the show was aired, in the UK, in parts. The local PBS station ran a whole story in one night edited together to make it one long episode so I just assumed it aired that way, maybe as specials or something. :) I agree with this video (with the help of the context it provides) and I do hope the current series doesn't go down that same road.
Believe it, or not, I have actually, never seen: 'Genesis Of The Daleks,' and I'm a huge: 'Doctor Who,' fan! I am, however, reviewing all the stories on my channel, if you're interested! No pressure, of course, just if you're ever bored! :)
...And it looks like we are going to get three more present day earth companions in series 11. For all the changes Chibnall insists on making this is one that definitely should be addressed.
I really liked this commentary; and I agree with the theory that the biggest problem with Doctor Who in 1985 was the arrogance of the production staff and the belief that no matter what they did, fans would lap it up. It IS happening again. I believe Steven Moffat is the most arrogant and most egotistical of the Doctor Who showrunners. He does whatever HE wants to (not what is best for the stories) and has no one to tell him: NO! As a result, I believe Doctor Who is in the same precarious position it was in back in '85.
I agree with you, but I also felt that RTD was pretty arrogant as well, and for all his failings, Moffat in my opinion is the better writer of the two of them. He just needed someone to reign in his excesses more.
Big Finish did what the tv series failed to do, make the Sixth Doctor likeable, pairing him with Evelyn played superbly by the late great Maggie Stables was a masterstroke & I continually enjoy his adventures with Peri, Flip & Mel. Colin has really moulded his incarnation of the Doctor into something quite special & has now been given a final adventure from Big Finish with The Last Adventure box set that should give his Doctor a epic finale which the tv series failed to do thanks to that pillock Michael Grade.
Hi Stu. Where have all the retrospective videos gone? Is there anywhere I can watch them? I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and download them all before RUclips got rid of them!
my 6th doctor recommendations , the one doctor , jubillee, the fourth wall, the first sontarans,the condemned, the juggernauts, the curse of davros. davros vs sixie is gold im a big fan of sixie with charley and flip i love d i menzies
They should cous Night of the Doctor made it canon But hardly anyone has seen Night of the Doctor cous it's a mini ep and people don't watch them cous they don't but the DVDs basically
I'm a real doctor who fan , but i have not watched genesis of the Daleks , because i have just watched my First Episode of doctor who last year . In that one year i have watched all of New Who , Torchwood and First 8 seasons of classic who and with the First 8 seasons i dont mean only the complete episodes, i have watched all the reconstruktions too , ever fucking one of them and for an non native english speaker (german) is it quit Hard to understand some of the audios. Can i call my self now an true doctor who fan or not ? ;)
Wait I thought you are talking about the Mat Smith era. It looks like Moffatt finally wrote an episode with the Christmas special, instead of collect a check with his name on it while someone else $#%@% up the show... I hated the 6th Doctor, but Big Finish has completely turned me around about Colin Baker. I met him at the San Diego Comic Con and he was great.. Maggie will be missed since she just passed away. She was and is his greatest companion. You forgot to mention that Big Finish also gave him a blue suite. I also thought the story Legend of the Cybermen was great when his old companions confront him.
I never heard the big finish audio stuff and the 6th doctor still is my favorite doctor. He felt different and I liked his cocky attitude. imo he was still very doctor like. If anything a doctor that kinda reminded me of him was matt smiths doctor.
Guess what's going unbelievably wrong again, yep the BBC's arrogance. Anyway I love Colin Baker's Big Finish stuff and they really did do him justice, though I liked all of his TV stories beforehand well apart from Twin Dilemma that was boring and pretty terrible, also someone made a visual version of the sixth doctor's regeneration from The Last Adventure which I thought was really great, here: ruclips.net/video/ZbxMg6i0cmQ/видео.html ALL HAIL THE BIG TALKING BIRD
I hate people complaining about new who fanns not watching classic who. I live in Australia, so the harsh Copyright laws mean it isn't on the numerous websites most people can access. I'm under 18 and unemployed so I have no cash and my library doesn't have any DVDs.
Interesting points... I felt there was at the least a sometimes shocking discrepancy with how the Doctor was written for Colin Baker, including times where it was just simply bad. Yes, he was pretty "dick-ish" most of his reign, but somewhat approachable. Do I prefer his Big Finish stories? Absolutely. I think they're magnificent, but he does have a few standout performances. One episode that I have a terrible love/hate relationship with is "The Two Doctors." While I found him to be mostly engaging here, there are some moments where he is just beyond the pale, especially with the way he "eliminated" Shockeye. Despite having it somewhat explained away earlier in that series with his regeneration having gone somewhat awry, I felt that it gave the creative staff license to give us a character that somewhat stood in opposition to everything we had come to know and love about the Doctor.
Actually, no it's Colin himself who suggested that the Doctor should be crotchety and dislikable, in an attempt to return to the Hartnell era. Especially after the youngest Doctor Davison, it made sense to have an older actor play an older role, so JNT and Eric Saward agreed with Colin. It's not like he was just given this character, he wanted it and embraced it. And frankly, I actually like the cynical "I'm not taking your shit" Doctor he had. I don't have any issue with him being a jerk. I would want to strangle Peri too after regeneration, little b*tch. (I kid, I kid) The problem is that they gave him an unbelievably ugly coat and title sequence which made him look like a clown. Now, if you're trying to make a Colin a serious/darker Doctor, you're really only getting in your own way if you give him a coat like that. Nobody is going to take him seriously! Then on top of that he had really, REALLY awful stories and the show had a low budget and JNT's creative juices were basically exhausted by that point. He wanted out a year ago, so he is barely putting in minimal effort just so Michael Grade doesn't cancel the show like the d!ck he was.
I like the 6th Doctor but I agree that he had some poor scripts and poorly visualised effects - "Timelash" being one. As a kid and even now I liked how the 6th Dr was how can I put it grumpy? I liked his mood swings and was like a petulant child lol. He was also a Dr who committed Genocide against a whole new species "Terror of the Vervoids". With NuWho I nodded my head at the prospect that the dr did genocide of his entire race - only to get bitched slapped and the Dr didn't destroyed Gallifrey but just lost it???? WTF A good balanced review - are you going to do more on how Big Finish influenced the other Dr's? Notable is the 8th Dr.
Its like you read my mind mark - yeah I've been filling in gaps in bf collection recently, my 8th doctor adventures series are incomplete atm so it'll be a little while coming yeah they did sorta justify why the doctor is unwilling to commit genocide now (as he did it a fair bit in classic who) with the whole timewar shit and he killed his own people (just watched back remembrance of the daleks - wow is that an ending that would never be done in nuwho, he tricks the daleks into blowing up skaro killing almost all of them and then talks one of the last daleks into killing itself) - but yeah that ending of dayofthedoctor did kinda piss all over that
My entire life has been leading up to finding out there's a companion that's a mystery solving shapeshifter peguin. I feel guilty for not knowing this sooner. I need a spin-off show and more companions like that on tv.Or at least a companion from different time periods like in classic who if they don't have the guts to go mystery solving , shapeshifting penguins far.
u felt niffatt turned it into the clara show abd consistently talk about how great or dangerous characters are but never showed them to be so. he was all set up no pay off. im glad you liked it i think capaldi deserves to be seen as a good doctor
kurumais I get that a lot...still don't see it. Clara may have had a very dominant personality, sure, but she never superseded the Doctor. I liked Capaldi from series 8 itself, but after Series 9 he became one of the objectively best Doctors not just in New Who but compared to Classic Who as well.
kurumais Let's not forget either, Matt's first two seasons were brilliant. Moffat managed to bring back the charm of the Tom Baker era to a new Doctor while also giving Matt his own unique style and adding his own writing style to the show, and actually creating new and interesting villains on his own, rather than retreading old ground like they did in the JNT and RTD eras a lot. The Doctor became an alien again, not the companion's human boyfriend.
I feel in some ways we are experiencing arrogance again on part from the BBC especially with Whitaker's Doctor. I have my own personal hang ups with the Doctor being female, but if there was decent characterization from Whitaker and good stories from the writers then I would have been willing to give her era a shot. But apparently the powers that be seemed to be more concerned about their own worldview and agendas getting pushed into the episodes that they end up becoming PSAs rather telling interesting stories that just so happen to have a point. It is a shame really because the premise of one of Whitaker's companions, Graham who was a widower trying to get beyond the loss of his wife, had potential and broke the mold of the contemporay younger female companion the Doctor usually has.
In retrospect, this video on BIGfinish fixing the Sixth Doctor is kind of funny now, it's so... small potatoes, ya know? You used BIGfinish as *the* example of small, indie passionates keeping the show alive in the late 90s and early 2000s, but it kind of seems like considering today it's kind of like an extension of Modern Doctor Who. How much do ya'll think BIGfinish makes releasing tens of Doctor Who Boxsets on a yearly basis? Now how much do you think the BBC makes from merchandising Doctor Who? How much of that percentage is from BIGfinish's output? I would imagine it's probably the bulk of it! NuWho is probably gonna stay for about another decade or two I'd say, it almost acts as the perfect advertisement for the "Good shit". You wanna see Six have a good run of stories and be tolerable? Why, BIGfinish is the perfect cure! What about Eight? Eight has DECADES of content! Didn't like Ten's run? Why, Dalek Universe is the boxset for you! Ever wanna see the Ninth Doctor fight a Cyberman? Guess who just signed a contract! Wanna see 75% surgically of Hell Bent removed from the canon in a product officially licensed by the BBC? Stick around, something'll happen eventually. Hell, I suspect in about a decade Thirteen is gonna go through a renaissance period like a modern version of the Sixth Doctor based off BIGfinish's existing track record. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd be wondering if Modern Who's mediocrity is by design - I think that's somewhat insane and paranoid to consider but I don't think it's a mere happy accident that basically the entire Doctor Who canon is kind of spiraling into an audio drama singularity. They are literally already remaking episodes that have made it to air! They already did it with Revenge of the Cybermen (See: Return of the Cybermen), and more recently they've announced doing it with Genesis of the Daleks *and* the Ark in Space (Genesis of Terror and The Ark respectively). When does Doctor Who the show effectively become an advertisement for BIGfinish? Has it already happened? Regardless, I think everyone can agree that they're no longer a scrappy little company that managed to luck out and get official actors for their fanfics - at this point, I think someone can argue Doctor Who will survive for many more years as long as BIGfinish keeps making content in that time. Or maybe I'm just insane.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks to Big Finish 6 is one of my 3 favourite Doctors
Agreed
Anyone else craving Big Finish to do a similar run with the Twelfth Doctor? Peter deserved much better scripts during his run and BF have could actually give him the dark and twisted stories we were promised back in series 8.
Totally. Peter nailed it as the Doctor, but the writing was meh.
Thank the universe for Big Finish. Colin Baker deserved far better from his tenure with BBC. Such a blessing his potential was finally appreciated.
This is when Doctor Who Was entering the Dark Age in the late 1980s it continued through the Sylvester McCoy Era until it's cancellation in 1989
To be fair, a shapshifting penguin might require too be a budget
Yet a Cgi Dino isn't hard
John Whittington that was one episode. Seeing the Doctor running around with a Cgi Penguin every week might be hard to buy into
***** it would be fun though.
It should be a muppet.
Midget in a costume.
I'm one of the obscure people who enjoyed season 22 I loved Colin's portayal and loved his costume I'm mad I know but when I compare audio to the TV I was blown away by the quality hell I only knew about pollards run with the 8th doctor though 6th doctor audios there needs to be a takeover at bbc headquarters to put big finish writers incharge of the proper tv show now
+John Whittington OMG ANOTHER 6 FAN
+Joseph Carlisle Worship the One True Baker!
XD
I wonder what the next companion after Clara would be
Oh look it's ...
A girl from present day earth
Now, it's 2 boys, from Present-Day Earth!
Oh ... And: 'Yaz,' I guess.
We did get our only alien companion in 15 years of nWho in Series 10. Unfortunately it was Nardy! Actually scrap that... Nardole is awesome from a so bad he's good perspective as Moffat couldn't decide whether to write Sabalom Glitz or Mel Bush so he mashed them together and stunt cast Matt Lucas. That is really funny in itself.
Ian Warner ‘Only alien companion in 15 years of NuWho’.
I mean granted a lot of his stories with the 9th Doctor are in other media and he is (to our knowledge) human, but Captain Jack isn’t exactly the definition of normal human from present day earth.
@@calumbishop7082 He's not a companion though, he's a Sara Kingdom rip off who only exists because RTD wouldn't let Moffat use the Monk.
I totally agree with this. I've always loved Colin and his Doctor, and felt he was let down by behind the scenes screw ups. He deserved better, and he finally got it with Big Finish.
The ratings for City of Death were only as high as they were because of a strike in ITV so the channel was off air for the period the City of Death was on the TV. I'm not saying it was a bad story that didn't deserve those ratings, not at all, but it might not have got them as high as that if I wasn't for the strike.
I really don't think the 6th Doctor was necessarily the issue. I think Peri's responses to his mean-spirited jokes is what really ruins it.
Peri just sounds so sad, defeated or hurt by his comments all the time, and, If only she reacted slightly differently, I really do think his TV character would've worked pretty well
In my opinion six was a great idea
I regularly rewatch the 3:45 bit on “girl from present day earth” just to cheer up my day
JNT introduced some interesting changes in his early years and if he had left with Peter Davison, he would have been much better remembered.
But he was producer for 9 seasons, not 4, so we have to judge him on his entire era.
JNT was the first Who producer not to have a creative background. The others had worked as writers, directors etc. JNT was a nuts & bolts production man who, it seems, would much rather attend US conventions and appear on TV shows like Saturday Superstore* than actually do the job he was paid for (at least according to his script editor).
A good indication of his approach was that he turned the Doctor's costume into, well... a costume. Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker wore a lot of different clothes that were generally in the same overall style (dandy/bohemian). The 5th, 6th and 7th Doctors wore pretty much the same costume throughout, a single, very obviously designed COSTUME.
The infamous 6th Doctor costume was pushed through by JNT over the objections of both the actor and the costume designer. But JNT knew best.
* I won't even mention JNT's sexual exploitation of his position. Just Google 'Doable Barkers'.
QuorkEx "some interesting changes" is an understatement. JNT is the man who saved Doctor Who twice.
First, he produced Tom Baker's best season in his entire 7 year run, completely revamping every aspect of the show and returning it to its roots, bringing back a level of quality unseen since the golden days under Barry Letts. He then consistently made perfect story after story for the entirety of his run up to The Five Doctors, and consequently the Fifth Doctor era is one of my favorite. Then Season 21 was definitely not as good as before, but still above average for the most part. It's only with Twin Dilemma that everything fell apart.
However, people seem to forget the choices being made by the BBC controller at the time. If JNT had not stayed, they would have killed the show entirely. Sure, you could argue at that point it would have been better to simply let it end on a high (or medium if at Season 21) but then we would have never gotten McCoy.
I do feel Bad for John Nathan Turner Because He Was horribly abused by the BBC higher ups. They wouldn't let him step out of the producer's chair.
But 4 and 4 wore same style outfits.same as 6 with season 23 (just waistcoat and cravat rather than other trousers or shirt)
"You are wasting time Doctor!"
chills everytime the most intimidating TimeLord to date
I heard that a new BF story is going to be a regeration story for collin.
JamesPlaysGames95 Yep. They wanted to make his regeneration story so that it would be good. And I hope it will be. He desevered much better than "Carrot Juice, Oh shit is that exercise bike properly secured?"-ending.
Hopefullly he'll make many more audios.
Colin Baker described his costume as a "multicoloured explosion" no wonder he didn't like being in Doctor Who in 1986 where he just seemed uncomfortable with the script he was given.
I just stayed up til 6am listening to 6th Doctor audios and I don't want to stop. I just finished The Holy Terror and wow that's a fucked up story
I totaly agree with some of things you say in this, i think Colin Baker was a great choice of actor but i think management and bbc were the problem, i do like some of the 6th doctors stories like vengeance on varos which i think is a really gritty story which plays out pretty well, as for the violence i dont think it was pretty bad (especally if you compare it to whats on todays tv and even soaps)
Colin really shines through on big finish on how good he could of been, getting rid of his clothes to the blue i think works too, i do think if Colin was allowed to carry on in doctor who we could of got some more good stories but it needed that big jault of the 18 month off with time of the timelord mess up for them to sort there act together with sylvester mccoy who did some brilliant stories and better character.
There was some stupid choices though, if they were planning the 6th doctor to be so dark then why give him his bad taste costume, what was wrong with the darken tones and black clothes that Colin said he would like to go with his personality, like you said i think they though if they messed up nothing would happen and they'd be back again next year to try again...........always annoys me that it was improving with sylvester and they just decided to stop it in its tracks..but the bbc moving the program against other highly popular shows to make it seem to fail just showed how much they'd gone to just not care about it anymore, it all seems wrong after you think before all this they had the 5 doctors celebrating the show
I ran across your video while looking for reviews of some of the BF 6th Doctor audios I haven't bought yet (I think I've become, sadly, addicted to Sixth Doctor audio stories with Colin Baker), and I agree with just about everything you say. I haven't listened to every Sixth Doctor audio yet, but I've listened to quite a few, and Colin Baker has never turned in a poor performance, and the stories and dialogue are miles better than what he was given back in the day. (I still remember my shock when I saw the first Sixth Doctor episode -- then there were months before the next serial aired, so the story really stuck in my head). I always thought that Colin Baker did the best he could with the material he was given, and that in certain scenes, he shone as the Doctor, but having recently come to the BF audios, I'm convinced that if he had been given better stories, and better overall characterization, he would have gone down as one of the best Doctors. I wish I'd begun listening to BF sooner (I've only been buying the audios for a year and a bit, I think), but now I have the pleasure of listening to "new" Sixth Doctor audios, with a big back catalogue to choose from. (And I agree with you about Evelyn Smythe -- fabulous companion for Six!) I've listened to some from 5, 7, and 8, and more recently, a few 4s, but I'd rather save my pennies to buy more Colin Baker. I'll be looking at some of your other video reviews soon -- I look forward to listening to your take on the recent New Who series.
This is such a fantastic video. Could not agree more with all your points. All of them are irrevocably true. Plus, I also love Frobisher!
"Davros" doesn't really pick up right after genesis of the daleks lol, though that is a required watch for it.
To be fair though, the reason City of Death got such high ratings was because a strike at ITV took ITV off the air, resulting in the people who would usually watch ITV would watch BBC instead.
WE ARE THE DALEKS AND THIS IS OUR SONG
WE ARE VERY NAUGHTY AND WE LIKE TO DO WRONG
I haven't had much contact with the 6th Doctor but I heard the Leviathan lost episode on the radio not long ago and loved it. I don't know how much creative license Big Finish took in adapting it but it was originally written for the series and it was great. I thought Perri was great in it and I thought The Doctor had what Tennant and Smith were missing: edge and a bit of an arrogant streak (a hundred plus year old genius naturally would). But he never came off as mean in that episode. Hell, I even liked his "I'm The Doctor, whether you like it or not." scene in The Twin Dilemma.
I freaking LOVE Frobisher!
The show couldn't afford a talking penguin, but they could at least make it cannon
What if you met them halfway, it could be a mystery solving penguin who mostly assumed the form of a modern day earth girl.
Then what's the point?
Colin Baker was always my favourite Classic Who. As for the new stuff, I'd say David Tennant.
Your holy terror argument is completely true! Just bought it for 99p!
I hated the 6th Doctor on TV, to such an extent that when I started listening to Big Finish I avoided his audios... eventually, I gave in and bought The Apocalypse Element- mostly because I'm a huge fan of the Gallifrey series and I'm pretty sure that everything Lalla Ward does on audio is going to be good.
It is.
Evelyn is a bit out of character in this one, but it is a huge story that simply wouldn't work on television. It did the impossible and made me stop hating Colin Baker, and Lalla Ward is absolutely fantastic as Romana- she's a completely different character to the one we met on television, and there are reasons for that. She's developed, maybe more than any other character. Just get it. It is worth it.
I love city of death but the only reason it had such high ratings was because itv was not operating at the time due to industrial action so it was only due to that that city of death was so popular
This guy inspired me to do my own Doctor Who reviews.
It's weird for me because I discovered the original series as a kid in Texas and even with the, then, newer episodes I didn't have the context of how the show was viewed in the UK. Hell, this was before the internet so there was no way to put things in context.
I had no idea about it's ratings over there or behind the scenes stuff or all that so all I had to go on was what was on the screen. I didn't even know, until I bought an episode on VHS in the early 90's, that the show was aired, in the UK, in parts. The local PBS station ran a whole story in one night edited together to make it one long episode so I just assumed it aired that way, maybe as specials or something. :)
I agree with this video (with the help of the context it provides) and I do hope the current series doesn't go down that same road.
oh no.
We know what happens to alien spies.
I recently finished The Holy Terror and I loved Frobisher. Makes me want Big Finish to bring him back.
I feel like only the 6th Doctor could pull off having a talking penguin companion. 4th, almost.
Believe it, or not, I have actually, never seen: 'Genesis Of The Daleks,' and I'm a huge: 'Doctor Who,' fan! I am, however, reviewing all the stories on my channel, if you're interested! No pressure, of course, just if you're ever bored! :)
Haven't watched any 6th doctor series, but the complaints remind me of my own regarding Capaldi and his run.
Before colin baker the last time we see Davros is remembrance of the Daleks not genesis i know its a small thing but was just bugging me lol
4:00 well I know you wanted Frobisher but instead we got
*another girl from present day earth*
...And it looks like we are going to get three more present day earth companions in series 11. For all the changes Chibnall insists on making this is one that definitely should be addressed.
I really liked this commentary; and I agree with the theory that the biggest problem with Doctor Who in 1985 was the arrogance of the production staff and the belief that no matter what they did, fans would lap it up. It IS happening again. I believe Steven Moffat is the most arrogant and most egotistical of the Doctor Who showrunners. He does whatever HE wants to (not what is best for the stories) and has no one to tell him: NO! As a result, I believe Doctor Who is in the same precarious position it was in back in '85.
I agree with you, but I also felt that RTD was pretty arrogant as well, and for all his failings, Moffat in my opinion is the better writer of the two of them. He just needed someone to reign in his excesses more.
History is repeating itself.
All hail the big talking bird!
Bring back Frobisher! Bring Back Frobisher! Shape shifting penguin for the win!
I really love hearing about the Sick Doctor. The Sick Doctor is my favouuuurite.
I like SOME of Moffats writing and I love the 10th Doctor but regardless Subscribed for a fellow Big Finish fan!
can you make a video on Torchwood? I don't see why you and DiamandaHagan shit on Torchwood
i can't find the sixth doctor retrospective video anywhere, can anyone shed some light on its whereabouts?
A shapeshifting, James Bond-ish penguin?
Why have I not heard of this and why do I not possess such a thing?!
Big Finish did what the tv series failed to do, make the Sixth Doctor likeable, pairing him with Evelyn played superbly by the late great Maggie Stables was a masterstroke & I continually enjoy his adventures with Peri, Flip & Mel.
Colin has really moulded his incarnation of the Doctor into something quite special & has now been given a final adventure from Big Finish with The Last Adventure box set that should give his Doctor a epic finale which the tv series failed to do thanks to that pillock Michael Grade.
I can't find your original 6th Doctor video. Where be it?
Copyrighted
Your points about the collapse of Sixth Doctor era is exactly my point about Moffat era. Only more so. Ego will kill Doctor Who again.
Hi Stu. Where have all the retrospective videos gone? Is there anywhere I can watch them? I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and download them all before RUclips got rid of them!
I only ask because I love those videos. Wanted to show some other people how awesome they are!
Am I being blind but where is the original sixth Doctor video?
my 6th doctor recommendations , the one doctor , jubillee, the fourth wall, the first sontarans,the condemned, the juggernauts, the curse of davros.
davros vs sixie is gold
im a big fan of sixie with charley and flip
i love d i menzies
I love the 10th doctor
I'm really annoyed that people don't consider Big Finish as Cannon and don't see the good in Paul and Colin's doctors
They should cous Night of the Doctor made it canon
But hardly anyone has seen Night of the Doctor cous it's a mini ep and people don't watch them cous they don't but the DVDs basically
I'm a real doctor who fan , but i have not watched genesis of the Daleks , because i have just watched my First Episode of doctor who last year .
In that one year i have watched all of New Who , Torchwood and First 8 seasons of classic who and with the First 8 seasons i dont mean only the complete episodes, i have watched all the reconstruktions too , ever fucking one of them and for an non native english speaker (german) is it quit Hard to understand some of the audios.
Can i call my self now an true doctor who fan or not ? ;)
Colin Baker is the finest Big Finish Doctor. Thanks to BF, who have so improved his
formerly heinous reputation.
Wait I thought you are talking about the Mat Smith era. It looks like Moffatt finally wrote an episode with the Christmas special, instead of collect a check with his name on it while someone else $#%@% up the show... I hated the 6th Doctor, but Big Finish has completely turned me around about Colin Baker. I met him at the San Diego Comic Con and he was great.. Maggie will be missed since she just passed away. She was and is his greatest companion. You forgot to mention that Big Finish also gave him a blue suite. I also thought the story Legend of the Cybermen was great when his old companions confront him.
I love Frobisher the Whifferdill 😀
I never heard the big finish audio stuff and the 6th doctor still is my favorite doctor. He felt different and I liked his cocky attitude. imo he was still very doctor like. If anything a doctor that kinda reminded me of him was matt smiths doctor.
Does Big Finish has, like, ""subtitles"", text version, or something?
A transcript? I don't know.
Some of the Short Trips series comes with the scripts and the written prose versions of stories.
Guess what's going unbelievably wrong again, yep the BBC's arrogance. Anyway I love Colin Baker's Big Finish stuff and they really did do him justice, though I liked all of his TV stories beforehand well apart from Twin Dilemma that was boring and pretty terrible, also someone made a visual version of the sixth doctor's regeneration from The Last Adventure which I thought was really great, here: ruclips.net/video/ZbxMg6i0cmQ/видео.html
ALL HAIL THE BIG TALKING BIRD
The Sick Doctor?
I hate people complaining about new who fanns not watching classic who. I live in Australia, so the harsh Copyright laws mean it isn't on the numerous websites most people can access. I'm under 18 and unemployed so I have no cash and my library doesn't have any DVDs.
So Jubilee had...six appeal?
I'm sorry, I'll go now...
I listened to that story recently. Wasn't a big fan, if I'm honest.
Made me laugh, this one, as a fellow Friend of Frobisher. Also, subscribe.
Interesting points... I felt there was at the least a sometimes shocking discrepancy with how the Doctor was written for Colin Baker, including times where it was just simply bad. Yes, he was pretty "dick-ish" most of his reign, but somewhat approachable. Do I prefer his Big Finish stories? Absolutely. I think they're magnificent, but he does have a few standout performances.
One episode that I have a terrible love/hate relationship with is "The Two Doctors." While I found him to be mostly engaging here, there are some moments where he is just beyond the pale, especially with the way he "eliminated" Shockeye. Despite having it somewhat explained away earlier in that series with his regeneration having gone somewhat awry, I felt that it gave the creative staff license to give us a character that somewhat stood in opposition to everything we had come to know and love about the Doctor.
I goddamn love Frobisher he is my son
I love Evelyn so much she is my favorite
I love all of six's audios and I love six
Moffat's ego has ruined the show.
am I the only one who actually thinks that the sixth doctor's TV stories are good? Well except timelash and the mysterious planet
I liked torchwood...
Actually, no it's Colin himself who suggested that the Doctor should be crotchety and dislikable, in an attempt to return to the Hartnell era. Especially after the youngest Doctor Davison, it made sense to have an older actor play an older role, so JNT and Eric Saward agreed with Colin. It's not like he was just given this character, he wanted it and embraced it. And frankly, I actually like the cynical "I'm not taking your shit" Doctor he had. I don't have any issue with him being a jerk. I would want to strangle Peri too after regeneration, little b*tch. (I kid, I kid)
The problem is that they gave him an unbelievably ugly coat and title sequence which made him look like a clown. Now, if you're trying to make a Colin a serious/darker Doctor, you're really only getting in your own way if you give him a coat like that. Nobody is going to take him seriously!
Then on top of that he had really, REALLY awful stories and the show had a low budget and JNT's creative juices were basically exhausted by that point. He wanted out a year ago, so he is barely putting in minimal effort just so Michael Grade doesn't cancel the show like the d!ck he was.
I actually liked season 22. I just didn't like _The Twin Dilemma_ or season 23.
I like the 6th Doctor but I agree that he had some poor scripts and poorly visualised effects - "Timelash" being one. As a kid and even now I liked how the 6th Dr was how can I put it grumpy? I liked his mood swings and was like a petulant child lol. He was also a Dr who committed Genocide against a whole new species "Terror of the Vervoids". With NuWho I nodded my head at the prospect that the dr did genocide of his entire race - only to get bitched slapped and the Dr didn't destroyed Gallifrey but just lost it???? WTF
A good balanced review - are you going to do more on how Big Finish influenced the other Dr's? Notable is the 8th Dr.
Its like you read my mind mark - yeah I've been filling in gaps in bf collection recently, my 8th doctor adventures series are incomplete atm so it'll be a little while coming
yeah they did sorta justify why the doctor is unwilling to commit genocide now (as he did it a fair bit in classic who) with the whole timewar shit and he killed his own people (just watched back remembrance of the daleks - wow is that an ending that would never be done in nuwho, he tricks the daleks into blowing up skaro killing almost all of them and then talks one of the last daleks into killing itself) - but yeah that ending of dayofthedoctor did kinda piss all over that
One thing, was timelash good!
And vengeance on Varos
My entire life has been leading up to finding out there's a companion that's a mystery solving shapeshifter peguin. I feel guilty for not knowing this sooner. I need a spin-off show and more companions like that on tv.Or at least a companion from different time periods like in classic who if they don't have the guts to go mystery solving , shapeshifting penguins far.
i was re watch this vid and when you are talking about the downfall of the show is exactly how i feel about moffat.
kurumais Moffat, you mean the guy who actually made New Who into Doctor Who again after a 4-season soap opera/Whovian fan fiction by RTD?
u felt niffatt turned it into the clara show abd consistently talk about how great or dangerous characters are but never showed them to be so. he was all set up no pay off.
im glad you liked it i think capaldi deserves to be seen as a good doctor
kurumais I get that a lot...still don't see it. Clara may have had a very dominant personality, sure, but she never superseded the Doctor.
I liked Capaldi from series 8 itself, but after Series 9 he became one of the objectively best Doctors not just in New Who but compared to Classic Who as well.
kurumais Let's not forget either, Matt's first two seasons were brilliant. Moffat managed to bring back the charm of the Tom Baker era to a new Doctor while also giving Matt his own unique style and adding his own writing style to the show, and actually creating new and interesting villains on his own, rather than retreading old ground like they did in the JNT and RTD eras a lot.
The Doctor became an alien again, not the companion's human boyfriend.
I think the most self indulgent Nu Who, was centred around River Song, especially season 6.
I feel in some ways we are experiencing arrogance again on part from the BBC especially with Whitaker's Doctor. I have my own personal hang ups with the Doctor being female, but if there was decent characterization from Whitaker and good stories from the writers then I would have been willing to give her era a shot. But apparently the powers that be seemed to be more concerned about their own worldview and agendas getting pushed into the episodes that they end up becoming PSAs rather telling interesting stories that just so happen to have a point. It is a shame really because the premise of one of Whitaker's companions, Graham who was a widower trying to get beyond the loss of his wife, had potential and broke the mold of the contemporay younger female companion the Doctor usually has.
In retrospect, this video on BIGfinish fixing the Sixth Doctor is kind of funny now, it's so... small potatoes, ya know? You used BIGfinish as *the* example of small, indie passionates keeping the show alive in the late 90s and early 2000s, but it kind of seems like considering today it's kind of like an extension of Modern Doctor Who.
How much do ya'll think BIGfinish makes releasing tens of Doctor Who Boxsets on a yearly basis? Now how much do you think the BBC makes from merchandising Doctor Who? How much of that percentage is from BIGfinish's output? I would imagine it's probably the bulk of it!
NuWho is probably gonna stay for about another decade or two I'd say, it almost acts as the perfect advertisement for the "Good shit". You wanna see Six have a good run of stories and be tolerable? Why, BIGfinish is the perfect cure! What about Eight? Eight has DECADES of content! Didn't like Ten's run? Why, Dalek Universe is the boxset for you! Ever wanna see the Ninth Doctor fight a Cyberman? Guess who just signed a contract! Wanna see 75% surgically of Hell Bent removed from the canon in a product officially licensed by the BBC? Stick around, something'll happen eventually. Hell, I suspect in about a decade Thirteen is gonna go through a renaissance period like a modern version of the Sixth Doctor based off BIGfinish's existing track record.
If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd be wondering if Modern Who's mediocrity is by design - I think that's somewhat insane and paranoid to consider but I don't think it's a mere happy accident that basically the entire Doctor Who canon is kind of spiraling into an audio drama singularity. They are literally already remaking episodes that have made it to air! They already did it with Revenge of the Cybermen (See: Return of the Cybermen), and more recently they've announced doing it with Genesis of the Daleks *and* the Ark in Space (Genesis of Terror and The Ark respectively). When does Doctor Who the show effectively become an advertisement for BIGfinish? Has it already happened? Regardless, I think everyone can agree that they're no longer a scrappy little company that managed to luck out and get official actors for their fanfics - at this point, I think someone can argue Doctor Who will survive for many more years as long as BIGfinish keeps making content in that time.
Or maybe I'm just insane.