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1'''WARNING! THERE MAY BE UNMARKED SPOILERS!'''
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3* ArcFatigue: Hex's storyline (which was first seeded in the earliest Creator/BigFinish stories, several years before he even appeared) is widely considered to have come to a natural end after "A Death in the Family", but the story arc was continued for another eight releases over four years after that.
4* ArchivePanic: The Guinness Book of World Records has certified that, at 275 releases featuring (mostly) the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors, with classic-style four-episode serials ranging from a minimum of 90 minutes to as much as three hours each, the main range ''alone'' is the longest continuously-running science-fiction audio drama series in history. Add to this the separate ranges dedicated to Doctors 1-4 and 8-10, as well as a vast number of spin-offs starring various companions, villains and side characters, good luck finding the time to listen to the entirety of Big Finish Doctor Who.
5* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: See AwesomeMusic.DoctorWho.
6* BaseBreakingCharacter:
7** [[LadyOfAdventure Charley]], companion of the Eighth Doctor, seems rather divisive among the fans. Some see her as a brave and adventurous foil to the Doctor, while others have the same problem with her that they do with Rose: that she and the Doctor were subject to a RomanticPlotTumour. Some find her to be both, DependingOnTheWriter.
8** UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill, you either wish Big Finish would stop making stories glorifying a man who committed a number of atrocities and whose post-World War 2 tenure as Prime Minister was a disaster, or enjoy both impartial and affectionate depiction of a complex figure who did great work [[note]] such as sowing with UsefulNotes/DavidLloydGeorge the seeds of the welfare state [[/note]] beyond UsefulNotes/WorldWar2.
9* BrokenBase:
10** The Dark Eyes anthologies seem to have divided some fans, with some people saying the anthology format lends itself poorly to a series that relies on consistent narrative. Dark Eyes 3 seems to have fixed the complaints however.
11** Though the first two seasons of the Eighth Doctor's adventures in AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho were well-received, the 40th anniversary story "Zagreus", with its long confusing plot and some bizarre moments like Ace being a [[ItMakesSenseInContext robot duck]], met quite mixed reception meaning many think it's a poorly paced, overly long mess, and a wasted opportunity. The 5th, 6th and 7th Doctors even lampshade this. They treat the events like a performance, and neatly anticipate that the critics will call the whole thing overly long, confusing and derivative. Meanwhile some people feel that Zagreus was a marvellous tribute to 40 years of Doctor Who, down to Big Finish and the Expanded Universe. The Divergent Universe arc also met quite mixed reception, with the long stories, Charley Pollard becoming less likeable, and a lack of character development for C'rizz. The rushed ending to the arc was justified in that due to New Who the 8th Doctor left the Divergent Universe earlier than intended to avoid alienating the fandom, but the 8th Doctor's stories in the regular monthly releases after this weren't as well received. However the New Eighth Doctor Adventures began to win back the fandom.
12** Although most stories tend to either be praised (''A Death in the Family'') or loathed (''Nekromanteia''), there are the occasional stories that have fans equally split praising and deriding that story. The golden example is "The Boy That Time Forgot", and stating that its reaction from fans was "polarizing" would be an understatement. Some fans compared it (worse than) "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E7TheTwinDilemma The Twin Dilemma]]", while others called it one of Paul Magrs' best work. It's up to the individual to interpret and rate the story themselves.
13** In more recent years, the company as a whole has been criticised for the sheer proliferation of spin-off series, often for characters nobody was asking for (Lady Christina, really?) and (barring some exceptions) a general dilution of story quality towards the banal and predictable across the whole line. They have been doubly criticised for the fact that the pool of writers has remained basically the same size (in 2017, fully a third of their ''Doctor Who'' releases were credited to just three writers. Nine more accounted for a whole two-thirds of the output.) and with no open submissions policy, was also extremely homogenous and cliquish. Of their annual writing competition winners, only one of the four has had a follow-up commission, for a single story. To their credit, in 2020 they seemed to be making a deliberate effort to rectify some of these issues.
14* CompleteMonster:
15** "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho040Jubilee Jubilee]]": [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Nigel Rochester]], [[PresidentEvil President]] of the English Empire, is one of the more disturbing villains in the Big Finish series, being a Dalek worshipping human in charge of a [[ANaziByAnyOtherName nightmarishly genocidal and xenophobic]] empire which attempts to emulate the Daleks in all the worst ways. He remains [[PsychopathicManchild cheerfully upbeat and affable even when mutilating little people to fit in his "toy Daleks"]] or [[DomesticAbuse beating his wife]] for speaking in contractions.
16** "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho041Nekromanteia Nekromanteia]]": [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Wendle Marr]] begins by sending a fleet of ships and their crew to their deaths, then orders the flagship's commander to die as per his company's protocol. When the guy refuses, he has his assistant prepare to destroy the guy's livelihood and the lives of his family. He later receives funds to help improve the horrid quality of life for the workers on his pet project, but decides to instead pocket the money for himself and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness kill all the workers once it is finished]]. He is so evil that even the ship commander--who tries to rape companion Erimem--is more likable than him, with his assistant killing him and making the ship commander CEO of the company instead after his {{greed}} nearly causes the destruction of the whole universe.
17** ''I, Davros'' [[labelnote:Episodes]]"[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoSpecialsIDavrosInnocence Innocence]]"; "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoSpecialsIDavrosPurity Purity]]"; "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoSpecialsIDavrosCorruption Corruption]]"; "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoSpecialsIDavrosGuilt Guilt]]"; "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoSpecialsTheDavrosMission The Davros Mission]]"[[/labelnote]]: [[Characters/DoctorWhoDavros Davros]] is as bad as ever. A MadScientist from birth, Davros locks his tutor in a radiation chamber and mutates him into a hideous monstrosity, and [[{{Patricide}} murders his own father]] for threatening his future scientific career. Promoted to head of the scientific division, Davros began producing horrific weapons, one of which he uses to slaughter hundreds of Thals. Davros also experiments on the remains of both his mother and sister, as well as having his LoveInterest framed as a Thal spy and killed. Injecting pregnant women with radioactive compounds, Davros produces mutant Kaled children, a procedure that ends up horrifically killing the mothers. Davros then orders the Kaled council to give [[WouldHurtAChild every Kaled child to him]], wiping them out when they refuse, and has a desperate mother fed alive to her own mutated son. Being taken captive by the Daleks many years later, Davros tricks a Thal spy into thinking he will reform, only to betray her and use the poison she gave him to wipe out the Daleks to blackmail them into making him leader again. A psychopath who deems love a weakness, Davros rejects all [[RedemptionRejection chances at redemption]] and casts aside and betrays everyone close to him in his quest for supremacy.
18* ContinuityLockOut: Criticism over an increasingly impenetrable continuity led to a very SoftReboot of the storytelling format around 2015, when Main Range titles reset to be slightly more standalone (or form loosely connected trilogies) and approachable to the new listener, in the style of their earliest episodes. Other ranges continue to be heavily serialised, however, because they already appeal to [[ContinuityPorn long-time listeners]].
19** Several of the later main range releases in the Forge / Hex story arc require you to be up to date with previous releases. The trilogy of "Protect and Survive", "Black and White" and "Gods and Monsters" requires you to have heard the preceding trilogy of "Project: Destiny", "A Death in the Family" and "Lurkers at Sunlight's Edge", ''and'' that also needs the previous two "Project" stories ("Twilight" and "Lazarus") plus "The Angel of Scutari", "Arrangements for War" and "Thicker than Water" ''at the very least''. And you would ideally have also heard as many of Hex and Evelyn's previous stories as possible to understand the climax of their emotional journeys. Plus there's the Companion Chronicle "Project: Nirvana", which should ideally be listened to ''between'' episodes 1 and 2 of "Black and White". And that's just one specific example.
20* CultClassic: The reaction to the announcement of a Lady Christina boxset was... lukewarm to say the least, with people citing it as the greatest example yet of a spin-off being made just because Big Finish had the new series licence. However, it was well received by those who actually bought it, some even calling it one of the best releases of 2018, praising it for its lighter tone, camp sense of fun and enjoyable lead performance. Although it took two years, a second series was later announced.
21* FanPreferredCouple: Despite Liv being canonically paired with Tania, most fans prefer to pair her with Helen due to their friendship and feeling that they have better chemistry.
22* FridgeBrilliance: Why does the Macqueen Master like Eight, but can't stand Seven? Because, inadvertently thanks to Eight, the Master got a new regeneration cycle, rather than have to continually possess people. And Seven? In their last on-screen encounter, Seven sort of left the Master to die on the exploding Cheetah Planet. And, benefit of hindsight, the Macqueen Master probably realized that Eight did try to save him from certain death/endless oblivion in the Eye of Harmony.
23** Another layer to the Lone Dalek [[spoiler: killing the alternate Doctor]] in “Jubilee”. [[spoiler: After the Dalek states its intention to kill the Doctor if he will not give it orders, the Doctor replies with "[[SuicideByCop Go ahead.]]" — [[ExactWords an order]].]]
24* HarsherInHindsight:
25** The Eighth Doctor and Lucie on a crashing spaceship in ''Max Warp''. [[spoiler:It turns out to be a simulation. Played for laughs but considering what eventually happens to both of them...]]
26** The Eighth Doctor starts Big Finish by saving a girl from a crashing ship. Now think about how he ends...
27** Lucie Miller thinking the Doctor [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoNEDAS2E8VengeanceOfMorbius died on Karn]] from a fall.
28** The Doctor in [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoNEDAS4E10ToTheDeath "To the Death"]] wanting to save [[spoiler: Lucie from a crashing spaceship]].
29** [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho140ADeathInTheFamily "A Death in the Family"]] features [[spoiler: Evelyn Smythe sealing away the Word Lord as she died from old age and bad health. On September 26, 2014, Maggie Stables passed away in her sleep after a long battle with illness.]]
30** In another real-life example, the standalone UNIT series episode "The Longest Night" featured a spate of suicide bombings on the London Underground. It was released just four months before the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings 7/7 Bombings]] happened. And in a strange twist [[FailedFutureForecast relating to events a decade later]], in the story they're actually caused by a far-right group trying to take Britain out of the EU.
31** "Spare Parts" states that the Fifth Doctor was partially responsible for the creation of the Cybermen as his body was made as the blueprint. [[spoiler: The Series 12 finale "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren The Timeless Children]]" reveals that this wasn't the first time the Doctor's body was used for experimentation for another race, as he/she was also responsible for the creation of the Time Lord regeneration cycle. This also goes a double whammy as the Master combined both Time Lord bodies and Cybermen tech to create his own personal army, meaning that the Master spitefully made a monster using the Doctor's biology twice-over!]]
32* HilariousInHindsight:
33** "Brotherhood of the Daleks": [[spoiler: "MERCY! MERCY!"]] Flash-forward to the "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang The Big Bang]]"...
34** A big ChekhovsGun in ''The Natural History of Fear'' is a spinning top [[spoiler: that Charley kept tapes of the Doctor's memories in]]. Fast to ''Film/{{Inception}}'', and what's Dom's totem?
35** In ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoSpecialsTheVeiledLeopard The Veiled Leopard]]'', one of the guests at the fancy dress ball is dressed as a centurion. After New Who Series 5-6, it's almost impossible not to wonder if it was Rory.
36** The Seventh Doctor in ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho007TheGenocideMachine The Genocide Machine]]'' getting worried when he finds out he hasn't returned books to a library is funnier when in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2007TDWASTheInfiniteQuest The Infinite Quest]]", the Tenth Doctor is convicted of evading library fines 250 times.
37** ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho095Exotron Urban Myths]]'' features Creator/DouglasHodge as a Celestial Intervention Agency agent. Six years after it was recorded, Hodge originated the role of Willy Wonka in the West End musical ''Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', thus giving even more support to the [[WMG/GrandUnifyingGuesses Grand Unifying Guess]] that [[WMG/TimeLord Mr. Wonka is actually a Time Lord]]. And now he's playing another [[Series/PennyDreadful inspector]].
38** [[CastingGag Casting example.]] [[Series/TheThickOfIt Lord Julius Nicholson]] playing the Master in Big Finish is even funnier now that [[Creator/PeterCapaldi Malcolm Tucker]] was the Doctor.
39** The Eighth Doctor travelled with Creator/MaryShelley as a companion. Come "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E8TheHauntingOfVillaDiodati The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]" and Shelley meets a different incarnation of the Doctor, though in different continuity.
40*** Big Finish intended to address this in a [[https://twitter.com/MrJohnDorney/status/1319930958179696640/ deleted scene]] in "Return of the Cybermen" where a Time Lord observes the Time War spreading out of the fallout of "Genesis of the Daleks" into the Doctor's timeline to create every ContinuitySnarl in ''Doctor Who'' ever, explicitly pointing out the above Shelley case.[[note]]It also seems to allude to the various conflicting departure stories for companions like Ace, and that the events of the novel ''Human Nature'' happened to both the [[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresHumanNature Seventh]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature Tenth]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood Doctor]].[[/note]] (It was cut for being "too silly".)
41* JerkassWoobie: Omega and the Master come across as this in their audios.
42* {{Narm}}: The Dalek anthem in "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho114BrotherhoodOfTheDaleks Brotherhood of the Daleks]]" is sung to the tune of "The Red Flag", a song associated with left-wing or socialist politics. The issue is that "The Red Flag" has the same melody as the much more widely known "O Tannenbaum" ("Oh Christmas Tree"), giving the impression that the Dalek anthem is set to the tune of a Christmas carol.
43* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Big Finish have made a habit out of this, resurrecting unliked characters and concepts and showing what strong writing and the unlimited visual effects budget of a sound-only medium can do. Perhaps the greatest example is:
44** The Sixth Doctor. His tenure on TV is poorly regarded, to say nothing of companions like [[ScreamingWoman Mel]] and [[MsFanservice Peri]]. Creator/BigFinish took Creator/ColinBaker from the least-favourite Doctor of many to the (officially!) most-beloved on audio, and it's almost universally considered that his best episodes are in fact Big Finish audios.
45** Peri and Mel: Miracles can be worked with strong writing. Add to that a tendency to remember and use the characters' backgrounds (Peri's a botanist, Mel's a [[BadassBookworm programmer]], but you wouldn't know it from the series) and characterization beyond MsFanservice and ScreamingWoman, and many fans re-evaluated them. It also helped that [[OohMeAccentsSlipping Nicola Bryant's American accent has improved with age]], and they let Creator/BonnieLangford put her Panto experience to good use in the fan-favourite {{Panto|mime}} episodes.
46** Adric, with the help of a strong dose of AlasPoorScrappy.
47** Creator/EricRoberts' Master: His performance in [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie the TV movie]] is often remembered as one the most hamest, cheesiest portrayals of The Master and is not fondly thought of by fans. When Big Finish secured Roberts' talents to reprise his incarnation for ''The Diary of River Song'' and ''Ravenous 4'', he gave a more subtle, cunning, and sinister tone to his Master that was well received by fans
48* SeasonalRot: Dark Eyes 3. Molly O'Sullivan is DemotedToExtra, and the Daleks are nowhere to seen, instead the Master is the BigBad which seems out of tone for the series.
49* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: Doom Coalition is frequently regarded as one to Dark Eyes. For one thing, unlike Dark Eyes it was planned as a 16 story arc from the beginning and has a tighter narrative as a result. Also its plot is largely character driven and features new villains such as the Eleven, the Clocksmith, [[spoiler: Caleera/The Sonomancer and Padrac]] rather than relying on the technobabble of the retrogenitor particles and (overusing) big name villains like the Daleks and the Master.
50* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The War Doctor mini-series. Not only does it waste time on generic war stories JustForFun/RecycledInSpace, but many of the horrific acts the Doctor [[InformedWrongness allegedly committed]] during the war are left as KickTheDog moments at best, and TakeOurWordForIt at worst. Granted, since the Doctor [[ForegoneConclusion will ultimately still prove himself as being worthy of the title]], it's not all bad - but that, combined with the fact that it [[spoiler: left many important figures in ''Doctor Who'' history unresolved (e.g. Romana, Brax, Susan, and even ''Cardinal Ollistra'', who arguably served as the BigBad at points in the series)]], left the base very much broken over its quality. To add insult to injury, the big question of what leads the Doctor to use the Moment is [[spoiler:also left unanswered]], so unless "Engines of War" is canon, we'll most likely never know the truth (especially with the passing of Creator/JohnHurt).
51* TheWoobie:
52** Bad things seem to always happen to Hex. Evelyn Smythe knew this the minute she met him. Ace emphatically points out "No one upsets our Hexie and gets away with it."
53** Scorpion King Adric just wants somebody (preferably Nyssa) to love him (and also revenge on the Doctor for leaving him to die. But also love).
54** And his [[StreetUrchin spiritual successor]] Thomas Brewster just wants his mum back.
55** The Doctor himself, for that matter, no matter what his incarnation. The Creator/BigFinish writers seem to like tormenting him almost as much as the TV writers.

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