Since we're about to enter what can fairly be called the end game of the New Adventures, I figure it's a reasonable time to start the discussion of how things are going to go for the next phase of things. First of all, I'm going to break chronology somewhat. The TV Movie is going after all of the Seventh Doctor New Adventures, including the ones that were released in late 1996/early 1997. I went back and forth on this, but ultimately I think the narrative works better that way. So the order is going to be Lungbarrow, TV Movie, The Dying Days, The Eight Doctors, with the two Benny adventures (Oh No It Isn't and Down) that I'm covering at this stage going between Lungbarrow and the TV Movie. (Dead Romance will also get covered, but I'm holding it back to go closer to the rest of the Faction Paradox stuff.) I won't break chronology within the Eighth Doctor era - once the novels and audios begin running simultaneously I'll tackle my intended list in release order, switching between the lines as appropriate.
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Second of all, something I have decided on and do not intend to be talked out of: I am doing fewer Eighth Doctor Adventures than I am New Adventures. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is simply cold calculation. My readership has dropped measurably since switching into novels. I expected this, and I'm not bothered by it in the least, but I also am not going to drag out the even less popular Eighth Doctor era to its maximum length. Another is that I simply do not think that large swaths of the Eighth Doctor novels are terribly interesting to the overall story of Doctor Who except as a broad demonstration that the series lost its sense of direction hardcore in this period. And, to be honest, the novel schedule is brutal. I'm having to work hardcore to keep up the two-book-a-week pace, and am often in a mad dash to finish posts at the end of my scheduled work weeks. I want to get back to a nice, relaxed TV blog a heck of a lot more than I want to read The Year of Intelligent Tigers, and that's a Kate Orman book, and thus one I'd probably enjoy.
So practically speaking, I'm treating there as being a hand-off from the Eighth Doctor Adventures to the Big Finish line at the start of 2001, and at that point I am actively becoming less interested in the EDAs and more interested in the audios. I'm in turn less interested in the audios once they spin off into the alternate universe arc, because at that point the audios stop being the "primary" line of Doctor Who. So my plan, broadly speaking, is to have the Eighth Doctor era last about as long as the Virgin era, doing about fifteen novels and fifteen audios.
The current list of novels:
The Eight Doctors
Vampire Science
War of the Daleks
Alien Bodies
The Scarlet Empress
Unnatural History
Interference
The Blue Angel
The Shadows of Avalon
The Ancestor Cell
The Burning
Father Time
The Adventuress of Henrietta Street
Camera Obscura
Sometime Never
The Gallifrey Chronicles
Two books I almost added but ultimately lopped off:
Legacy of the Daleks: Interesting for the Problem of Susan. But as Peel can't be bothered to deal with the Problem, I can't be bothered to deal with both of his crappy Dalek books.
City of the Dead: The #1 EDA, apparently. Fascinating. But as Camera Obscura is by the same author, the #2 EDA, and deals with more plot arc stuff, I picked it instead. And I don't want to do that many post-Ancestor Cell novels, so I'm avoiding the option of "both."
For the audios I'm taking a more straightforward tack. If I start at Storm Warning and continue forward the start of the C'rizz arc I get to thirteen stories as of The Creed of the Kromon. That's a run that is about the size I want, and as the Big Finish material is all available for purchase I feel like moving linearly through it, doing stories whether good or bad, makes the most sense. (Whereas with the out of print books I try to do a highlight reel.)
I'm interested in doing at least one McGann audio from after the new series started as well. Lucie Miller/To the Death is tempting, but I fear the potential amount of back continuity for it. Thoughts?
