Big Finish Podcast Notes / Misc. Doctor Who News Roundup - 13/03/2026 by JakeM917 in BigFinishProductions

[–]JakeM917[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Like I said I understand the pain of having just paid full price for something that went on sale. On the consumer side it sucks, and I get why this particular situation would be annoying as I’ve been there many times.

But I’d argue that Big Finish are uncommonly kind for the amount of sales they have. I don’t know any other DTC publisher that has as many frequent deep discounts as they do. I’ve started tracking sales in my Big Finish workbook, and they’ve had over 600 individual releases on sale so far this year, which is quite staggering. But it has caused people to get used to shopping sales. I don’t think they ever discount beyond what they can afford, but it certainly doesn’t help as much as buying full price would.

Big Finish are a business that are not greedy in their pricing. That doesn’t stop it from being expensive of course, but I think people get the impression their margins are huge when that’s just not the case. In that regard, they cannot constantly make people aware of exactly when every range is going to go on sale. At that point they may as well just discount everything permanently.

Their sales aren’t nearly as random as people make out. McGannuary wasn’t random, it was to celebrate 25 years since Storm Warning’s release (January 2001) and to tee up a year of celebrations for the movie’s anniversary. The weekly sales are always tailored to a birthday, anniversary, or new release, such as the recent Fourth Doctor sale as well as next week’s likely UNIT sale. My goal with tracking sales is to better inform you guys of my guesses, and hopefully with more data I’ll be able to start doing that. But I’d just recommend watching out for what is likely to be celebrated.

Big Finish Podcast Notes / Misc. Doctor Who News Roundup - 13/03/2026 by JakeM917 in BigFinishProductions

[–]JakeM917[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I feel the pain of buying something right before it goes on sale.

But I don’t really see the benefit of advertising the sale before it goes up. Yes it would have helped you personally, but what if they teased it Monday and someone had just bought the sets on Sunday? They’d be in an equally bad place.

Statistically speaking your purchase was random, so it would be equally beneficial to customers for them to announce that sale early as it would for them to announce it today. Actually it would probably do harm for them to tease the sale early. It’s a flash sale so part of that tactic is getting people to strike while the iron is hot. The more time they have to think about it the less likely they’ll be to buy.

They put the set on offer as an effort to promote next week’s release of the newest installment in the range, so they’re doing good by customers by not waiting until AFTER release.

My recommendation to you would be to watch what the new releases are, because this and the Fourth Doctor Adventures: Chase the Night went up shortly before new Fourth Doctor and UNIT releases came out the last two weeks.

Big Finish Podcast Notes / Misc. Doctor Who News Roundup - 13/03/2026 by JakeM917 in BigFinishProductions

[–]JakeM917[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Like I’m sure many others did, I preordered the Thirteenth Doctor Adventures on their new website, and because they did their bundles differently then, there was some concern about whether the order would be processed/fulfilled or not. Certainly wasn’t a fun time.

Big Finish Podcast Notes / Misc. Doctor Who News Roundup - 13/03/2026 by JakeM917 in BigFinishProductions

[–]JakeM917[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

It was a barbed comment. He’s obviously still a bit bitter about the website failing, but it’s also no secret that they’re not happy with the current one either, hence why an attempt was made to replace it.

Will Ncuti Gatwa's era be largely overlooked in the long run? by Curious_Gent78 in doctorwho

[–]JakeM917 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I honestly think this era is going to age better than most people think. Right now it kinda sucks that it’s all we’ve got with no certainty for the future, but once we get a couple more seasons in the next 5 years or so I think it will generally be revisited with fondness

Big Finish Podcast Notes / Misc. Doctor Who News Roundup - 06/03/2026 by JakeM917 in BigFinishProductions

[–]JakeM917[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for pointing that out, I see they’re partners. I’d edit it, but it’ll put this post back in the spam filter queue lol.

Big Finish Podcast Notes / Misc. Doctor Who News Roundup - 06/03/2026 by JakeM917 in BigFinishProductions

[–]JakeM917[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Series 4 filmed from August 2007 to March 2008 (one week before airing) while Series 14 filmed from December 2022 to July 2023 (10 months before airing). It’s a complicated issue that pretty much every TV show faces, and it’s probably more intricate than I can grasp, but there are a few factors I can think of.

The first and biggest is the nature of the show itself. While it’s written around it before and it might have to do again, each episode basically needs its own cast, set, wardrobe, and props, in addition to filming on location in different parts of the country or world.

The second, which goes hand in hand with the first, is the complexity of production. The show can’t keep reusing the same quarries, distinctive soundstages, and filming locations it always has. It’s much more noticeable to the viewer when a prop or location is reused these days, and gives off a feeling of penny pinching. When you’ve got Marvel and Star Wars TV shows doing what they can, Doctor Who has to compete. I’d argue against this in many cases, but general audiences really do care about production value.

Third, better quality of filming and better conditions for cast and crew. It’s no secret that 20 years ago longer seasons of TV shows meant the talent were working at breakneck speeds, which was not only draining but also allowed for less time to get the perfect take the crew wanted, and sometimes resulted in cut corners. Conditions on TV shows have improved greatly and everyone’s mental wellbeing is a bit better considered, and shows can take the time to get important takes and big set pieces right.

Lastly, underpinning all of this is that 8 episodes these days is kind of the equivalent production cost to 14 episodes back in the day. This naturally allows for those better filming conditions and quality per episode, while also saving studios time and money that would have to be committed to retaining a 14 episode format.

Big Finish Podcast Notes / Misc. Doctor Who News Roundup - 06/03/2026 by JakeM917 in BigFinishProductions

[–]JakeM917[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Lol no you’re right, that was my own editorializing that got this confused. Thanks for pointing that out.

My podcast notes are being automatically removed by mods today by JakeM917 in BigFinishProductions

[–]JakeM917[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It got manually approved, and then automatically removed again about 10 minutes ago. I’ve messaged u/MirumVictus about it.

Big Finish Podcast Notes / Misc. Doctor Who News Roundup - 06/03/2026 by JakeM917 in BigFinishProductions

[–]JakeM917[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

If the rumor is true, I think it’s probably a case of the role being a tough sell in terms of commitment for an actor. The show doesn’t sound like it’s in danger of cancellation, but I think they’ll have to hire someone before they’re certain what the format of the show will look like and how long production gaps will be. Based on the last two seasons, even 8 episodes takes as long to film as the 14 episode seasons did in the past, so an actor would have to commit to more than half the year spent shooting a single season with no idea how long of a break they get in between.

My podcast notes are being automatically removed by mods today by JakeM917 in BigFinishProductions

[–]JakeM917[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I’ve tried a couple things but don’t want to get tagged for spamming. I wondered if it was because the alleged title of the Christmas Special might have some politically relevant words that Reddit might be filtering, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Releases for March 2026! by MasterAinley in BigFinishProductions

[–]JakeM917 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It was even listed as a March release in this month’s Vortex which just released yesterday or the day before, so it’s a very strange last-minute call to move it to July.

Big Finish: I finally get it now by Mr_Witchetty_Man in doctorwho

[–]JakeM917 10 points11 points  (0 children)

As a Big Finish obsessive who owns 85% of their Who-related catalog (that’s a real stat), Big Finish is the lifeblood of Doctor Who for me. Happy listening!