Here's to the future.... and here's what I'm looking forward to!

Time for a little something different, methinks. 2016 has been and gone, and what a year it has been. Okay, most of it was bad with the majority of our childhood going up to the great rerun station in the sky, the complete destruction of Britain's integrity and money, and the electing of the tiny-fingered, cheeto-faced, ferret-wearing shitgibbon and the fallout we are going to expect from that. But we had some good times and I've had one  of the best times of my life, thanks to this blog, and the emerging YouTube Channel and the support I've not only received from you lovely people who take the time to read my silly little thoughts, but also the people who made the stuff I talk about, who are so humble and kind and utterly brilliant in the way that they have helped me gain traction and become noticed. So to everyone who took the time to read some of my reviews or look at some of my silly little videos, thank you. Not only have you helped me hone in a talent and provide a voice for my favourite interests, but you have also helped me feel at my greatest on even my worst days. So once again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for all your support.

So for new year's, I've decided that rather than look to the past like what most other people do, I'm gonna borrow the TARDIS and look to the future. Because a lot of stuff is coming from Big Finish over the next twelve months. A LOT! And a lot of it is already becoming very noteworthy. So looking at the next twelve months of releases, I'm going to countdown the top ten releases I'm looking forward to in 2017. The only restriction I'm allowing myself is that they have to be confirmed for release in 2017. That 's it. If it's getting a release next year, then it can go on the list. So without further ado....

Jack Ryan's

TOP 10 RELEASES TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2017
FOR TOTALLY BIG FINISH

BEWARE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN POTENTIAL SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

And to kick off...

NUMBER 10: TORCHWOOD ONE - BEFORE THE FALL

Little notice, the only reason that this is at number 10 is because we are going to be getting the chance to be listening to this little beauty soon. Since their inception in 2006, Torchwood has always has this little element of mystery to their complete historical record; we may know nearly everything about Captain Jack and the Cardiff branch, but what about the branch that introduced us to Torchwood, with its gleaming tower and its nice but stern boss? Well, now we have the opportunity! Tracy Ann Oberman will return to grace our ears with the glorious Yvvone Hartman once again and will even be joined by Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto "gorgeous welsh vowels" Jones and having Sophie Winkleman rounding off our cast. I can just say that is any of the stories in Before The Fall are anything like One Rule, this will be something to be very excited for. Speaking of which...

NUMBER 9: THE LIVES OF CAPTAIN JACK

Oh Scott Handcock, you and your devious little plans of teasing! I don't think we had any idea that this was being planned by the Cardiff BF crew as due to the fact that we had Torchwood, we thought that that was all it was, and then we were given that photo of John, Gareth, Scott, Alex and Camille Codruri. I don't think that there was ever another photo that all of us went ballistic over. As for the set itself, it looks to be a bloody brilliant set of Captain Jack stories, that I'm guessing some will be more Torchwood-esque and some will be more Doctor Who-esque, but as Jack works as a character in both, the mix looks to be a very good pay-off. Also, with one of the biggest and most squee inducing guest cast lists of BF history, this is one that I firmly believe that this should not be missed.

NUMBER 8: THE DUAL STORY TRILOGY

For 2017, we're gonna get another multi-Doctor trilogy. These are usually a big highlight of the year's releases and 2016's entry, the Two Masters Trilogy, does nothing to hinder this view. 2017 will see it being done a little differently this year, as we are graced with two one-hour, two-episode stories for each release. The two stories are designed to be both companion pieces to and polar opposites of each other, so it'll be very interesting to see what the writers will come up with. And with such writing talent like Steve Cole, Guy Adams, Jonathan Morris, Ian Potter, AK Benedict and even Scott Handcock being utilised for these releases, these are some that will, at the very least, be interesting, if nothing else...

NUMBER 7: CICERO

Again, something completely out of the blue, and something lower down as, we're gonna be getting this sooner rather than later, but you should still be excited for it nonetheless. A self contained little release, Cicero tell the story of the titular Ancient Roman lawyer who, whilst in a case, discovers how deep into the perfect Roman government and constitution corruption can go, and how dangerous his life becomes because of it. Being done by Scott "I'm running out of ways to praise you, my Hedonistic demi-god" Handcock and written by David "I really need to start talking more about how brilliant you are" Llewellyn and staring Samuel "HE'S DIRK FUCKING GENTLY!" Barnett as our titular hero, Cicero looks like a nice little treat that probably didn't need to happen, but looks like we'll be glad they did...

NUMBER 6: UNIT - ASSEMBLED

JO GRANT!

KATE STEWART!

NEW UNIT!

BENTON AND YATES!

OSGOOD!

SILURIANS!!

SEA DEVILS!!!

ALL! BLOODY!!! TOGETHER!!!!!

IN! THE! ONE! SET!!!

I think I've stated all I need to.

NUMBER 5: THE EIGHTH DOCTOR - THE TIME WAR

This will be an interesting one, won't it? We literally know and have known nothing about this since October 2015, save for one or two tidbits. Namely, it'll have Paul McGann, be set in the Time War and to connect with the War Doctor range, will have Jacqueline Pearce's Cardinal Olistra pulling the strings. And that's it. Nothing else other than the set's being directed by Nicholas Ruddy Briggs, so although we have no idea who's writing any of it or who else will be in it, at least we know it's going to be directed well. And it would have to be. I mean, it's the Eighth Doctor! In The Time War! for all we know, these are the tales that are gonna lead up into Night Of The Doctor! Will this set be any good? At least I can hold my hopes up high for the possibility.

NUMBER 4: THE WAR DOCTOR 4 - CASUALTIES OF WAR

One guest cast member from this alone should be enough to entice you in. Louise Jameson. Just picture that for a brief second. Sir John FREAKING Hurt and Louise Jameson in the same show... TOGETHER!!! That should be amazing enough, and then they give us more details and we just can wait for February much longer. That and Mark Elstob joining the cast, Nick Briggs returning to write the finale, plus his directorial talents being put towards this box, and we have a seemingly fitting end to a twelve episode epic that none of us thought we would ever get. And speaking of finales...

NUMBER 3: DOOM COALITION 4

HO-LEE-SHEET, WAS DOOM COALITION 3 AWESOME or WAS DOOM COALITION 3 AWESOME?!?!? Recently though, some more details regarding this final part of the current Eighth Doctor Adventures came to light, including that The Weeping Angels play a huge part, Rufus Hound's Meddling Monk is a member of the Coalition, River returns for one last hurrah in the series, and it all comes to a head in the final ep, including a connection to some other sets thanks to the casting of Broadchurch's Carolyn Pickles. Simply, we've been waiting for this since September. We cannae wait any longer....

NUMBER 2: HAMLET

BIG FINISH!!! DOING SHAKESPEARE!!! WITH ALEXANDER BLOODY VLAHOS!!!!

Okay, promise this'll be the last time I talk about the end of Dorian Gray, but ever since that release, our collective Vlahos infested minds have wondered what he and Scott would be tackling next. And thanks to a slightly cryptic tweet by Mr Vlahos, a lot of us discovered that it would be an adaption of arguably Shakespeare's most famous play. Will this be any good? Well, it has Alex Vlahos in it and it's being done be Scot Handcock so I'm holding out some, not unplaced, hope that this will be as good as it is being hyped out to be. The reason why this is only Number Two is because I know this will be good. Number One's success has a lot of factors riding on it...

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

The Torchwood Range: Some new stories from areas we would never even have thought of.

Terrahawks Volume 3: It's Terrahawks. How could you not be excited for it?

Dan Dare 2: Loved the first set, can't wait to see what they do with the new lot.

War Of The Worlds and Jekyll And Hyde: I LOVE THE CLASSICS, ME!!!!!

And finally....

NUMBER 1: THE PRISONER - VOLUME TWO

Nick, you now have a year and a half of anticipation to live up to. I'm hoping all this waiting will be worth it. One of my first ever reviews for this blog was the first volume of this range, and I BLOODY WELL adored the inaugural re-imagining of Patrick McGoohan's iconic cult series that had both a mix of new and old, classic and modern, adaptation and original. So much so that I went and discovered the original series and have been hooked ever since. Thankfully, the never boring seventeen episodes (and yes, sometimes, even the remake) are well able to keep me company until the release of set two, which has been delayed for two reasons: one - Nick's workload this year meant he simply never got around to it, and two - 2017 marks The Prisoner's 50th Anniversary, so it makes some sense in releasing it nearer the time of the actual anniversary than a whole half a year beforehand. But until then, we've the episode titles to convolute over. Nick has more or less confirmed the episode titles for set two to be I Met A Man Today(seemingly an adaptation of Many Happy Returns), Project Six(a LOOSE adaptation of  A. B. and C.), Hammer Into Anvil(you can guess this one) and Living In Harmony(an original story that borrows the title of the Wild West themed episode) and they all throw out the ideas and possibilities he and Mark Elstob as Number Six can do with these concepts. Quite simply, between the speculation stemming from these titles and the brilliance of set one still making its home in my mind for the best part of a year, Volume Two of The Prisoner is something that I hope will do well and lives up to the hype behind it, and as such, it my number one most anticipated release of 2017.

So, which release are you looking forward to in 2017? Be sure to leave a comment or an @reply on the Twitter page and until next time, goodnight my luvvies and a happy new year!! ;D