Talk:Blake's 7 (Big Finish Series)

Since Fanlore is about fandom, fanworks, and fans themselves, I propose that there be a lot less canon and details about the series itself on this page, especially in the "individual audio plays" section. Instead, include an archived link to a source that under each heading, rather than listing them all out. Perhaps even put all of them into one section, each with an outside link. Then, focus on fan comments, impact on fandom, and fanworks relating to the series. See What Fanlore is not. --MPH (talk) 13:02, 13 September 2020 (UTC)

I was thinking about that, and that it seemed too "list-y", but there isn't really a source that overviews the audio plays, especially not one that comments on how the story connects to the canon (which it does in some very fannish ways in at least some of the cases). The only overview that I'm aware of is Wikipedia, at this point, which has no fan perspectives at all, so it isn't so simple as to link to an outside source that contains this same information. Unless you'd propose simply linking to the Big Finish store? I'm open to suggestions. But I was also thinking that we might eventually need individual fanlore entries for some/all for these, as I know fans have commented on single audios / written reviews etc, in the same way that some stories from fanzines have their own page but are still listed in the table of contents for the zine, as well. So some kind of central overview may be needed to enable us to do that? Again, open to suggestions - I didn't quite realise just how many there are until I had typed it all up. Jaelijn (talk) 16:22, 13 September 2020 (UTC)

As an aside, one could also make a wider argument about the Big Finish audios being fanworks, despite being officially licensed, but that won't help with the "list-y-ness". Jaelijn (talk) 16:29, 13 September 2020 (UTC)

I do understand the frustration of not having all of this info in one spot, and you've put so much work into compiling it.

There are a lot of fanzines that have a full table of contents listed without a lot of commentary. But one difference there is that they are fanworks to begin with. Another difference is that, while somethings a slow process, things in those contents are being expanded upon and wikilinked to other things, as well as used to explain things on other pages.

My suggestion would be to keep the main intro, keep the intro to the individual audio plays. Keep all but the last sentence of the Liberator Chronicles section. Keep the first sentence of the classic adventures section. Delete all of the detailed cast listings.

Then, create archived links to the Big Finish store for fans to find out more about all the cast and canon info. And to Wikipedia as well.

Then, find out what episodes fans talk about and create fanworks for. And pages can be made for those.

I think it would be very good to have a section on the page talking about how the plays connect to canon in fannish ways.

And if there aren't a lot of fanworks or commentary from fans, then that should be a topic or section as well.

I hope this is helpful, and I can assist to archive links and other things if need be.

Hopefully, others will have some suggestions as well. --MPH (talk) 17:56, 13 September 2020 (UTC)

I wanted to expand on this one, and give some examples: "Find out what episodes fans talk about and create fanworks for. And pages can be made for those." -- The example is Star Trek tie-in novels. There are, of course, hundreds out there in the bigger world. They may or many not be listed somewhere online, perhaps along with details about them. But on Fanlore at this time, only 14 of them have individual pages. These 14 are ones with fannish connections, a lot of fannish discussion, related fanworks, and more.

There is a main page for Star Trek Tie-in Novels, and it includes an overview as well as fan comments, and links to the individual books of note. --MPH (talk) 18:06, 13 September 2020 (UTC)

Made a major edit, hopefully along the lines you were thinking. I still do not fully agree on labelling these audios strictly not-fanwork, as to me they are at least partially fanworks (as, indeed, are at least some Star Trek tie-ins), as Big Finish is majorly driven by fannish interest in otherwise out-of-production material, so on balance I consider them more fanwork than not-fanwork. I certainly do not consider them Blake's 7 canon! But have added a section to hopefully reflect this issue & summarise the way in which these plays are "fannish" in connection to the TV show canon instead of the full listing, which I agree was too "list-y", with this more fan-related information (which I had added!) apparently being missed among the other detail.

Personally, I think I could probably find at least enough fan review material to justify individually pages for a lot of these audios, if not more traditionally creative fanworks such as art and fic, but concur that these can be added to this overview page if/when the individual entry is created, as it seems to have been done with the ST tie ins.

Either way, hope this edit makes the article less list-heavy and more focussed / clear on fannish concerns for the purposes of fanlore. Jaelijn (talk) 18:31, 13 September 2020 (UTC)

This looks really good, Jaelijn. I added a brief fan comment.

I also found some links to reviews: https://wizzley.com/blake-s-7-mirror-review-fourth-in-the-2014-series-of-full-cast-audio-play-from-big-finish/ MPH (talk) 19:19, 13 September 2020 (UTC)