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Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and radio drama, audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'', the characters Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog from ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'', ''Blake's 7'', ''Thunderbirds (TV series), Thunderbirds'', ''Dark Shadows#Audio drama, Dark Shadows'', ''Dracula'', ''Terrahawks'', ''Sapphire & Steel'', ''Sherlock Holmes'', ''Stargate'', ''The Avengers (TV series)#Audio, The Avengers'', ''The Prisoner'', ''Timeslip'', and ''Torchwood''. History Founded in 1996, Big Finish in late 1998 began releasing audio plays adapted from the Virgin New Adventures, New Adventures, a series of novels from Virgin Books which had originally been licensed ''Doctor Who'' stories, but by then had become officially independent from the show and were based around the character of Bernice Summerfield, Bernice "Benny" Summerfield ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London to the east, Surrey to the south-east, Hampshire to the south, and Wiltshire to the west. Reading, Berkshire, Reading is the largest settlement and the county town. The county has an area of and a population of 911,403. The population is concentrated in the east, the area closest to Greater London, which includes the county's largest towns: Reading (174,224), Slough (164,793), Bracknell (113,205), and Maidenhead (70,374). The west is rural, and its largest town is Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury (33,841). For local government purposes Berkshire comprises six Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas: Bracknell Forest, Borough of Reading, Reading, Borough of Slough, Slough, West Berkshire, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terrahawks
''Terrahawks'' is a 1980s British science fiction television series created by Gerry Anderson and Christopher Burr for London Weekend Television. The series was Anderson's first in over a decade to use puppets for its characters, and also his last. Anderson's previous puppet-centric TV series included ''Thunderbirds (TV series), Thunderbirds'' and ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons''. Set in the year 2020, the series follows the adventures of the Terrahawks, a taskforce responsible for protecting Earth from invasion by a group of extraterrestrial androids led by Zelda. Like Anderson's previous puppet series, futuristic vehicles and technology featured prominently in each episode. Premise The series is set in the year 2020, after an alien force has destroyed NASA's Mars base and Earth is under threat. A small organisation, The Terrahawks, is set up to defend the planet. From Hawknest, their secret base in South America, they develop sophisticated weapons to prepare for the ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fan Fiction
Fan fiction or fanfiction, also known as fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF, is fiction typically written in an amateur capacity by fans as a form of fan labor, unauthorized by, but based on, an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settings, or other intellectual properties from the original creator(s) as a basis for their writing and can retain the original characters and settings, add their own, or both. Fan fiction ranges in length from a few sentences to novel-length and can be based on fictional and non-fictional media, including novels, movies, comics, television shows, musical groups, cartoons, anime and manga, and video games. Fan fiction is rarely commissioned or authorized by the original work's creator or publisher or professionally published. It may infringe on the original author's copyright, depending on the jurisdiction and on legal questions, such as whether or not it qualifies as "fair use" (see Legal issues with fan fiction). The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Audio Visuals
The Audio Visuals were an unlicensed series of ''Doctor Who'' audio dramas made by British fans in the 1980s. Featuring Nicholas Briggs as the Doctor, twenty-eight audio plays were recorded and distributed on audio cassette between 1985 and 1991 (a pilot, in which the Doctor was voiced by Stephen Payne, was recorded at Chris Corney's house in Hamble near Southampton in 1984). The first three seasons (released 1985-1988) were produced by Bill Baggs, and the fourth and final season (1989–1991) by Gary Russell. Although the Audio Visuals audios were a violation of copyright, the BBC chose to look the other way. Gary Russell later told an interviewer, :"We were fans doing some stuff for a handful of people. We never advertised in professional magazines, we kept ourselves to ourselves. In doing so, we broke every copyright rule in the book (hell, Terry Nation would have crucified us - although I think our Dalek stories knocked spots off Saward's!) JNT was certainly aware of us, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sirens Of Time
''The Sirens of Time'' is a 1999 audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was the first Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the series and became the first in the company's '' Main Range''. The story was written and directed by Nicholas Briggs, and stars Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, who reprise their roles as three incarnations of the Doctor. In the story, the three Doctors team up to defend their home planet of Gallifrey. The audio drama was recorded in March 1999 and released on CD in July 1999. Davison and Baker were praised for their vocal performances, while the story itself received mixed reception for its format. The story would be followed by over 200 later audio dramas in Big Finish's ''Main Range'', as well as more than twenty other ranges of stories based on ''Doctor Who'', with Davison, Baker and McCoy reprising their roles in subsequent releases. Plot Part 1 Vansell, a memb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernice Summerfield
Professor Bernice Surprise Summerfield, or simply Benny, is a fictional character created by author Paul Cornell as a new companion of the Seventh Doctor in Virgin Publishing's range of original full-length ''Doctor Who'' novels, the '' New Adventures''. The ''New Adventures'' were authorised novels carrying on from where the ''Doctor Who'' television series had left off, and Summerfield was introduced in Cornell's novel '' Love and War'' in 1992. History A 26th-century archeologist, Summerfield became a hugely popular character amongst fans of the books, and was present until their end in 1997. She officially stopped travelling with the Doctor in ''Happy Endings'' but returned a few times thereafter, including the last Virgin New Adventure, '' The Dying Days''. That year, Virgin had lost the licence to publish ''Doctor Who'' fiction, which was not renewed by the BBC. However, range editors Peter Darvill-Evans and Rebecca Levene decided to continue the series with Summerfield ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virgin Books
Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. History Virgin established its book publishing arm in the late 1970s; in the latter part of the 1980s Virgin purchased several existing companies, including WH Allen, well known among '' Doctor Who'' fans for their Target Books imprint; Virgin Books was incorporated into WH Allen in 1989, but in 1991 WH Allen was renamed Virgin Publishing Ltd. Virgin Publishing's early success came with the ''Doctor Who'' New Adventures novels, officially licensed full-length novels carrying on the story of the popular science-fiction television series following its cancellation in 1989. Virgin published this series from 1991 to 1997, as well as a range of ''Doctor Who'' reference books from 1992 to 1998 under the Doctor Who Books imprint. In recent times the company is best known for its commercia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virgin New Adventures
The ''Virgin New Adventures'' (NA series, or NAs) are a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British Science fiction on television, science-fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. They continued the story of the Doctor from the point at which the television programme went into hiatus from television in 1989. From 1991 to 1997, all the books except the final one involved the Seventh Doctor, who was portrayed on television by Sylvester McCoy; the final book, ''The Dying Days'', involved the Eighth Doctor, who was portrayed in Doctor Who (film), the 1996 television film by Paul McGann. In further books published between 1997 and 1999, the New Adventures series focused on the character Bernice Summerfield and the Doctor did not appear. Publication history ''Doctor Who'' Virgin had purchased the successful children's imprint Target Books in 1989, with Virgin's new fiction editor Peter Darvill-Evans taking over the range. Target's major output was novelisations of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torchwood
''Torchwood'' is a British-American science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. A spin-off of the 2005 revival of ''Doctor Who'', it aired from 2006 to 2011. The show shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growing audience, moving from BBC Three to BBC Two to BBC One, and acquiring American financing in its fourth series when it became a co-production of BBC One and Starz. ''Torchwood'' is aimed at adults and older teenagers, in contrast to ''Doctor Who''s target audience of both adults and children. As well as science fiction, the show explores a number of themes, including existentialism, LGBTQ+ sexuality, and human corruptibility. ''Torchwood'' follows the exploits of a small team of alien-hunters who make up the Cardiff-based, fictional Torchwood Institute, which deals mainly with investigating incidents involving extraterrestrials. Its central character is Captain Jack Harkness ( John Barrowman), an immortal con-man from the distan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timeslip
''Timeslip'' is a British children's television series, children's science fiction television series made by Associated TeleVision, ATV for the ITV (TV network), ITV network, and broadcast in 1970 and 1971. It was first shown on Monday evenings at around 5:15-5:20pm, beginning on 28 September 1970, in all ITV regions, apart from Thames (London) and Southern which broadcast the series the following Friday. Overview The series is centred on two children, Simon Randall (Spencer Banks) and Liz Skinner (Cheryl Burfield), who discover a strange anomaly, known as the Time Barrier, time travel, which enables them to travel in time, and visit the past as well as alternative futures. The time barrier, which operates in a field at a disused military base, moves the children not only through time but also through space: for example, they travel from St Oswald's in the UK in 1940 to the Antarctic in one projection of 1990. The children have contrasting personalities: Simon is studious, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Prisoner
''The Prisoner'' is a British television series created by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan portrays Number Six (The Prisoner), Number Six, an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a The Village (The Prisoner), mysterious coastal village after resigning from his position. The allegory, allegorical plotlines of the series contain elements of science fiction, Psychological thriller, psychological drama, and spy fiction. It was produced by Everyman Films for distribution by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. A single series of 17 episodes was filmed between September 1966 and January 1968, with exterior location filming primarily taking place in the Welsh seaside village of Portmeirion. Interior scenes were filmed at MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. The series was first broadcast in Canada beginning on 5 September 1967, in the UK on 29 September 1967, and in the United States on 1 June 1968. Although the show was sold as a thriller in the mou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Avengers (TV Series)
''The Avengers'' is a British Spy fiction, espionage television series that aired from 7 January 1961 to 21 April 1969. It initially focused on David Keel (Ian Hendry), aided by John Steed (Patrick Macnee). Ian Hendry left after the first series; Steed then became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants. His most famous assistants were intelligent, stylish, and assertive women: Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman), Emma Peel (Diana Rigg), and Tara King (Linda Thorson). Dresses and suits for the series were made by Pierre Cardin. The series screened as one-hour episodes for its entire run. The first episode, "Hot Snow (The Avengers), Hot Snow", aired on 7 January 1961. The final episode, "Bizarre", aired on 21 April 1969 in the United States, and on 17 May 1969 in the United Kingdom. ''The Avengers'' was produced by ABC Weekend TV, a contractor within the ITV (TV network), ITV network. After a merger with Rediffusion London in July 1968, ABC Weekend became Thames T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
