May 2012

And so, it's May and I hardly know where to start on this month's posting. As the Big Finish headline has it, 'The Gate' is indeed reopening with the release of the first trilogy of Stargate SG-1 audio-dramas. If you've seen previous updates from September 2011 and January 2012, you might be aware that my overall involvement in recording this series spanned something like seven months, during which, at some point, I played all the characters, with the exception of 'Thor', who appears in the second trilogy. Consequently, I feel like I've made quite an investment in the project and the months of wondering about how it all might turn out are nearly over. To say that I'm keenly looking forward to listening to the finished recording would be quite an understatement - I can't wait!

 Stargate SG-1 Series 3 Part 1:

Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson) Claudia Black (Vala Mal Doran)  
Cliff Simon (Ba’al)
John Schwab (Major Hunter)
Andrew Collins (Keto),
Stephen Hogan (Olssen)
Susan Franklyn (Rix)
Alex Mallinson (Airman/Robot/Jaffa)  Paul Hyu (Lt Colonel Yin)
Andrew Whipp (Zoder)
Regina Reagan (Wellan)
Anna Tolputt (La’rath)
John Banks (Korek)

A shooting in the heart of Stargate Command is only the beginning for Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran.

Suddenly it’s friend against friend, none of their allies can be relied upon and they’re the universe’s only hope to foil the latest scheme concocted by the last System Lord, Ba’al.Will Daniel, Vala and a few of Vala’s less than savoury friends be enough to stop a conspiracy that reaches deep into the heart of Stargate Command and threatens to destroy everything they’ve spent years building?

Written By: James Swallow, Sally Malcolm, Steve Lyons

Directed By: Lisa Bowerman and Jason Haigh-Ellery

This photo was taken during our first recording session and features L-R:

James Swallow, Paul Spragg,
John Schwab, Andrew Whipp,    
Regina Reagan, Anna Tolputt                     
& John Banks.

And if that's not exciting enough, there's another release this month that I've been very much looking forward to listening to, Trail of The White Worm:

Tom Baker (The Doctor),   
Louise Jameson (Leela),   
Geoffrey Beevers (The Master), Michael Cochrane (Colonel Spindleton),   
Rachael Stirling (Demesne Furze) 
John Banks (Carswell/Mercenary)
Becci Gemmell (Julie)
Mark Field (John)

Written By: Alan Barnes
Directed By: Ken Bentley 




The legend dates back to Roman times, at least: a great White Worm, as wide as a man, slithers out of the rocks of the Dark Peak Gap to take animals, sometimes even children, for its food.

When the Doctor and Leela arrive in the wilds of Derbyshire, only to get caught up in the hunt for a missing girl, they soon discover that the legend of the Worm is very much alive – even now, in 1979.

Worse still, it seems that the Doctor isn't the only renegade Time Lord on the trail of this deadly and mysterious Worm…

Big Finish's brand spanking new website, created by the deeply talented Richard Dinnick, is now up and running and I would urge you to have a look round the new site. It's very 'user friendly' and there are many new features and much more information about the whole of BF's output. Particularly interesting for me is the new edition of Vortex Magazine, which is available to view or download directly from the website. It has some great features and articles, lots of information on Stargate and has Nicola Bryant looking forward to the latest series of Doctor Who Lost Stories; there'll be more on my involvement in that series here in July.

April was a very busy month for me and May is shaping up to be equally active and I'd love to be able to ramble on about what's happening. Some recent posts mention work projects without providing details of who or what was involved, which is quite frustrating. However, for reasons I'm sure you will appreciate, Big Finish are keen to have full control as to what specific information is released and when and I'm equally keen to respect their commercial integrity. Therefore, I'll try to keep future postings centred around what has actually been announced by them.

By the way, did I mention that Stargate SG-1 is now available?