According to the BF Twitter feed Light at the End is out NOW to download

also

Mailing out of the Limited Edition CD version has begun today.

Nick Briggs, executive producer: ‘The Standard Edition CDs should start to be mailed out this coming Friday, and the Vinyl Edition will start mailing on November 2nd.

Well, I know what I'll be doing tonight.

Though, I still think I should wait until at least the 22nd before listening to it.

As expected their website crashed immediately though, and is still down.

Edit- up again, woo hoo!

And down again.

I got it.

New version of the theme tune, ooh controversial.

They are a bit pathetic. Their website crashes every time they have a big release, and every time they promise it won't happen again. It does.

Downloading now, hopefully it won't drag too much.

i am a regular reader of DS and especially doctor who, but I have no idea what this thread is about

The 50th anniversary multi-Doctor audio adventure featuring the first 8 Doctors. Should be awesome.

EDIT: Trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A-MAp3ZsYs

Google is your friend.

They gave up trying to get it to 4 by 25 minutes it seems, it's 2 parts, the first 63 minutes, and the second 55 minutes.

I listened to the first part, it's hamstrung by what it's trying to do with too many characters, it's telling the bits that are just 5/Nyssa are better than the scenes with loads of characters, still I'm not sure what they could have done about it, given what they're going for.

And points to Geoffrey Beevers for trying his best not to overact, must be hard. [Insert Master laugh here.]

Okay, the second part is highly entertaining.

Will be interested to hear your full review if you have the time. Which Doctor has the largest role?

They're all pretty equal. First part has a section with 4 and 8 together, then a section with 5 with no other Doctors. Part 2 starts with 6 & 7 together, then all the Doctors together.

It's fairly straight forward, they don't try to reinvent the wheel here or throw in shocking plot twists. Hell,

I thought some parts of the first half were a little to cluttered; it's hard to follow a sequence where most of the companions turn up. Still, taking into consideration multi doctor stories are hard to do, I thought it was poignant and funny in places, all the actors are on top form, it's what you'd want from something like this. It is basically a Big Finish version of The Five Doctors, I enjoyed it hugely.

So yeah, thumbs way up for The Light at the End.

Thanks to both of you. Have never listened to any Big Finish before but am considering this. No prior knowledge of any other BF stories is needed I assume?

No prior knowledge needed. Eight has a companion called Charley played by India Fisher (who is probably most famous for, erm, the voice over on Masterchef) but you don't need to know any back story.

It's ultra-stand alone, so once you know who Charley is (she was rescued from the R101 airship in Storm Warning, McGann's first BFP and one of my favourites) then you're all set.

I've dipped into Big Finish on and off since their first story (appropriately enough, another multi-Doctor story, The Sirens of Time). I like the idea of what they do, I mean it's proper Doctors in new stories. But more often than not, they never seem to capture whatever it was that made old Who so watchable.

Whilst I can watch a classic DVD over and over again, there are only a few BF CD's I've ever felt the need to listen to more than once. And it's not the audio medium that puts me off, as I've listened to most of the 2nd Doctor's BBC Radio Collection soundtracks on numerous occasions.

I might have considered getting this particulalr release, given the special nature of it (and the 'reunion' of 8/Charley). But with Briggs on script-writing duty, it just doesn't grab my attention. BF have released some very well written stories over the years, but Briggs didn't write any of them. Don't get me wrong, he's not a bad writer. But he kind of sums up my feelings about a lot of their output, in that his work always feels like it's written by a fan writing a story, rather than a by a writer who is also a fan.

So there was something they used to capture at the BBC, which Big Finish do not capture, which affects your ability to watch the story? Whatever could it be?

Yep. Old Who is watchable, in the sense that you want to watch it. By the same token (and if it was actually a word), Big Finish should be very listenable. But for whatever reason, they don't quite manage it.

I suppose it could be mentioned there is also a character from Dark Eyes in Light, though Light is clearly set before Eyes so you don't need to know that. Light is set up to be newbie friendly, even including a pre Survival Ace (usually Ace in BF is portrayed as being older and likely been with the Doctor for decades)

It is of course personally subjective if you will like Big Finish, I do, I think most of them work well while drifting off to sleep.

Damned with faint praise!

My problem, and it is my problem, is that they always sound a bit too like a Radio 4 play. When I was younger and couldn't get videos I used to listen to old Doctor Who stories on audio (I particularly recommend The Deadly Assassin ep 1 or all of The Celestial Toymaker), and there's a lack of frequencies with TV recordings that makes me feel like all I've done is turn my back for a few seconds, the pictures are still there if I want them. With the BF stuff, excellently done as they are, I know everything I'm hearing is all they are.

That's the best way I can describe how they affect me. Rubbish, I know! Listening to the spoken word or the radio is a skill, one I don't seem to have.

Well as I said it's subjective, though certainly in the early days when they had Paul Cornell, Robert Sherman etc. as writers, most of the Colin Baker writing especially was significantly better than during his telly run.

I'm sure the writing has been excellent. I just really struggle to listen to them. I bought the I, Davros series and it didn't work for me. Nothing to do with the writing, I'm just a child of the 80s. MTV and Max Headroom > Listen With Mother and Stewpot!

Hmmm, interesting discussion. I feel the same, Bigfinish should be listenable, but I have trouble keeping up, cause my interest seems to wane from time to time.

Still, wonder if I can hold out till November 22/23. Seems applicable to listen it around midnight on the 22/23rd.