What if Big Finish did Red Dwarf?

[Warbodog]

Imitation of a hypothetical Jawscvmcdia thread that happens to be sincere at the same time. Pay it no heed if it’s boring, but it’s something I think about whenever I’m reminded of Big Finish.

If one of the cast revealed out of turn that they’d all got together recently to record some audio dramas, I’d be excited. What do you think the best possible outcome of that would be, do you think?

Tenth Doctor Adventures-style boxset bytes of 3-4 episodes in the familiar format? Putting the boxset to use with a big multi-parter? I’d prefer the latter, since there’s already audio precedent with the audiobooks/”radio shows.” Or at least mix it up a bit, like the VIII byte one video. Except please not like that.

Discuss.

[International Debris]

Be nice if they did full cast versions of Bodysnatcher and The Identity Within.

[Bargain Bin Holly]

How about they adapt the novels for radio drama kinda like Hitchhikers

[Bargain Bin Holly]

Get some guest voices in there, like Mac McDonald as Captain Hollister and not a shit Star Trek reference

[bloodteller]

They already sort of did do audio dramas, didn’t they? There’s radio show versions of the first two novels, which are split up into 6 episodes per book and have music and sound effects and all sorts of good things like that. (Shame there’s no isolated music cues for the radio shows really, some of the music is lovely)

[Warbodog]

Red Dwarf’s already had the Big Finish treatment in a way, with those really tangential Smegazine strips mining one-time characters and concepts for more than they were worth. Though I liked Nigel Kitching and Steve Noble’s Back to Reality verse, and Pat Keller & James Hill’s Mimas and Garbage World ones brushing up against the novels.

If they couldn’t get the cast, letting some decent writers have outlandish fun in the licensed Red Dwarf setting could be good, with no pressure to stick to a house style. If it was rubbish, never mind, it’s easy enough to ignore.

[Flap Jack]

Primarily I’d want them to do stories that couldn’t be achieved on TV. More specifically, I’m not sure. I’d definitely prefer originals over adaptations, though.

[Bargain Bin Holly]

They already sort of did do audio dramas, didn’t they? There’s radio show versions of the first two novels, which are split up into 6 episodes per book and have music and sound effects and all sorts of good things like that. (Shame there’s no isolated music cues for the radio shows really, some of the music is lovely)

No I mean with the cast all voicing their respective characters, plus covering all four of the novels and not just the first two

[International Debris]

Imagine if Doug could talk Rob into coming back to do some classic-era Missing Adventures, the way he got him back to finish Bodysnatcher.

[(deleted)]

Big Finish approached Doug a few years ago and he gave them an incredibly vociferous no.

Nice to remember in this 30th anniversary year with nothing in it.

[bloodteller]

>Nice to remember in this 30th anniversary year with nothing in it.

To be fair, there wasn’t anything for the 20th anniversary either. I guess Back To Earth was announced but that was pretty late on in the year as I recall, so there’s still a fair bit of time for an announcement of something this year.

I suppose it made sense on the 20th anniversary though- Red Dwarf hadn’t had a new series for nine years, there was never going to be a chance of a Red Dwarf Night-esque special. But now that we’re at the 30th anniversary and there’s been 2 new series incredibly recently, it does feel a bit like there would have been something more than just a Blu-ray of 1-8.

[Flap Jack]

Hey, we’ve still got a Dimension Jump this year. If they’ve got any more anniversary announcements coming, they’ll be saving them for then, probably.

Can’t wait for Doug to take the stage.

“Yes, I know there’s been a lot of hearsay and speculation about the future of Red Dwarf, and I’ve now you’ve all been very patient, which is why I’m delighted to announce…

RED DWARF XI: THE GAME – KRYSIS! COMING TOiOS

[Flap Jack]

AND ANDROID IN 2020!”

[Flap Jack]

(Looks like my thumbs couldn’t wait either.)

[thomasaevans]

Even the newest episodes of Only Fools made in 2001 filmed their exteriors on film.

[Hamish]

Good to know.

[Dax101]

>Big Finish approached Doug a few years ago and he gave them an incredibly vociferous no.

Is that true?

it would be interesting to go behind the scenes of alot of the offers thrown Dougs ways.

[cwickham]

Red Dwarf is a very different proposition to a lot of Big Finish’s other licenses, to be fair – it is a show that is (virtually) all the work of Rob and/or Doug, and has a very specific voice. Any new BF material would have to be one of the following:

a) written by Doug, or at least have heavy involvement from him – and why make new audio episodes with the original cast when you could be making new TV episodes?
b) be an attempt to capture Rob/Doug’s voice, in a way that their Doctor Who or Torchwood or Blake’s 7 or Survivors stuff isn’t really
c) adaptations of existing material, such as their The Prisoner range or their short-lived range of adaptations of the Virgin New/Missing Adventures from the 90s (both of which ended prematurely due to poor sales)

[GlenTokyo]

Personally I feel like, while what they produce continues to be popular (new stories for long dead, niche or since rebooted properties) it started at a time when the best way to do such things didn’t exist in a cost effective form and a form of tradition plays into their success.

Red Dwarf if it’s not being made with a camera, actors and sets, should exist in animated form, at the cheaper end of the scale, Bodysnatcher, minimal animation storyboard type stuff, mid range, a sort of flash animation with some nice 3D modelled environments and craft, and top end, your fully animated 3D characters.

I imagine there are some that love a good audio adventure, I like the Red Dwarf audio books, but I think they’d be even more amazing if someone with a load of money had them animated and gave them all to Doug free of charge to release on YouTube or something, give my imagination a rest.

[Warbodog]

Listening to BF’s Eleventh Doctor Chronicles, because I’ve always been keen for some more Eleventh Doctor even if it’s just Jake Dudman doing an impressive impression, and the first story’s a bit Inquisitor. Semi-mythical husky-voiced figure travels across time and space judging people’s lives, then erasing but not replacing. Will he be hoist by his own petard by the end of it? Obviously.

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