With the announcement of River Song’s imminent return to Doctor Who, I thought it would be appropriate to mention–in case you’ve been living under a rock–that there are even more adventures in store for our favorite psychopath. Thanks to Big Finish, we’re about to get a lot more River than we’d bargained for, not to mention a whole host of other amazing stories.
I’m a sucker for clever marketing. Always have been. So when the Big Finish started tweeting and (retweeting) people with fingers to their lips and the hashtag #BF27June, I was intrigued. And for all the build up they were creating for even just two days, I figured it had to be something pretty big.
Did anyone else just have a feeling that River was involved? As it turns out, we are in store for more adventures with the Doctor’s bespoke psychopath in not one, but TWO boxsets. Hopefully this may appease some of her more ardent fans who have been crying out for a return, at least for a while.
And while I admit I have some qualms about potentially adding encounters with River into the Doctor’s past, the idea of having Alex Kingston and Paul McGann in the same boxset is extremely appealing. So be on the lookout next year for Doctor Who: The Diary of River Song in January and Doctor Who: Doom Coalition 2 in March.
River’s return wasn’t the only news this weekend, though. Big Finish also announced Doctor Who: The Churchill Years, a boxset of four full-cast stories featuring tales of the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors, and starring the delightful Ian McNeice as Winston Churchill. I’m a huge fan of the Doctor’s friendship with the famous PM, so I really can’t wait to hear these new adventures.
Perhaps the most exciting news–in my world, anyway–though, is the announcement of another boxset. This one features a mashup of Classic Doctors with monsters from the new series and is conveniently titled: Doctor Who: Classic Doctors, New Monsters (in case you were in any doubt). The Fifth Doctor battles the Weeping Angels, the Sixth Doctor has a run in with the Judoon, the Seventh Doctor meets the Sycorax, and the Eighth Doctor takes on a legion of Sontarans on the brink of the Time War!
Just as I love when the new series brings a Classic monster back (provided it’s done well and doesn’t make them less scary *cough*Cybermen*cough*), I love the idea of a former Doctor taking on a monster we know from New Who. I’ve always thought it would be interesting to pit a Classic Doctor against the Weeping Angels, and I’m very interested to see Five take them on. The Judoon and the Sycorax are decidedly not my favorite of the new era monsters, but I’m hoping these stories might change my mind. And, well, I love a good Sontaran story.*
So it looks like 2016 is going to be full of universe changing stories, and I’m quite looking forward to it. Bring it on.
* The key word there, of course, being “good.”
Pardon My Sci-Fi 