Latest Missing Episodes Rumours
Marco Polo will be announced and released before the end of the year. The restoration work, which was problematic and caused it to be delayed after being scheduled alongside Web and Enemy, is complete. Don’t expect it to be announced before November 23 as the BBC will want all eyes on The Day of the Doctor. December’s BFI event could be a potential venue.
The remaining episodes in the hands of TIEA will be staggered releases through 2016 with The Massacre and The Macra Terror following 2013’s Marco Polo in 2014.
Conversely all three stories will be announced in the first half of 2014.
There are still conflicting reports on the origin of the prints, from Zambia, various sources, a TIE distribution hub or even Sierra Leone, there seems to be no one set rumour on this yet Zambia seems the most often mentioned.
The Web of Fear 3 was recovered but was unviable.
The Tenth Planet Episode 4 has been found as have the remaining episodes of The Moonbase and Underwater Menace which could potentially lead to controversy and the discoveries have let to some consternation between departments. This is also the reason The Crusade was never scheduled for animation, it has been discovered.
The Power of the Daleks has been found and will be the final release of the Doctor Who DVD range in 2016 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Patrick Troughton taking the role.
Conversely, Power has not been recovered and the missing material still in TIEA hands is: Marco Polo (7), The Reign of Terror (2), The Crusade (2), Galaxy 4 (3), The Myth Makers (4), The Massacre (4), The Celestial Toymaker (3), The Savages (4), The Smugglers (4), The Highlanders (4), The Underwater Menace (2), The Moonbase (2), The Macra Terror (4), The Faceless Ones (4), The Abominable Snowmen (5), The Ice Warriors (2), The Wheel in Space (4), The Space Pirates (5). Found at varying locations including Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zambia, however some material may not be in recoverable condition.
The BBC have linked performance of The Web of Fear and Enemy of the World to any future negotiations over material in the hands of TIEA. While the Doctor Who DVD range has sold well, Hartnell and Troughton have been some of the lesser performers, the Aztecs Special Edition fell below expectations and the Corporation were not initially confident that the material had a large enough audience for justification. The performance of Web and Enemy has led to a green light on the return of all Doctor Who material held by Morris. Negotiations continue but will be concluded by 2014, TIEA hold significant other material that the company wish for the BBC to purchase.
The Doctor Who production team in Cardiff were made aware of the finds in the summer of 2012, the inclusion of the Great Intelligence in Series 7 and Mark Gatiss’ lavish reconstruction of Marco Polo in An Adventure in a Time and Space is no coincidence.
The BBC will announce the entire haul of recoveries at once in December.
As always this section is to be taken as rumour, nothing more than that. DWA is offering no comment on the validity or truthfulness of any of these pieces of gossip and as you can see some blatantly contradict one another. We shall let you the reader decide whether any have a ring of truth or all of them are unfounded.
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All very exciting news. I only hope it’s all true. I do wonder what the third episode of The Web of Fear being “unviable” means, the wizards that the restoration people seem to be, as you’d think even if the film was physically damaged you’d be able to get some clips from it.
I think Philip Morris said in an interview that he still have high hopes that it would turn up. Here’s hoping. I’m waiting for the (delayed for some mysterious reason) DVD release so we’ll see how it goes.
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Without replying to the miserable naysayers below, and giving them the satisfaction, Philip Morris is giving fans the chance to dream that what they’ve always hoped to see could exist again. What’s so awful about that?
It’s surely a dull world that some people must live in.
Also it’s sad to see no mention of Evil of the Daleks.
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You can’t make something out of nothing. There’s a limit to what technology can do: remember ‘Time Meddler’ not getting vidfire because the poor quality print negated any benefit?
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The last line of the article is most interesting. Obviously still just rumours, but does this entire haul include everything, including non Doctor Who?
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http://bit.ly/1ipoOb4 “Conversely” means “introducing a statement or idea that reverses one that has just been made or referred to.”
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dont believe any of it. web 3 was missing. full stop.
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Well 3 might be lost or more realistically ”unviable”, But it could also be that they weren’t quite finished restoring the episode when they released the two serials, and the Beeb decided to keep the lit on tight as to boost extra sales on the eventual dvd release January.
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I believe all the missing bits of the internet have been found inside Marco Polo.
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I predicted this on a previous thread if things play out as above, the BBC were probably trialling Web and Enemy via iTunes to see if they could get double bubble and its turned out as a winner. I hope that they announce it all in one go and if they want to release or rerelease all these finds by the end of 2016, it would be at a rate of about one a month…the gold sleeved found presumed missing range will dominate the dvd charts for a couple of years…..
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il believe it all when the bbc announce it
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Here’s an idea. Why don’t fans just shut up until something *actually happens*? I pity Philip Morris and any other determined soul who makes the mistake of wanting to do something for Doctor Who fans. Look at the crap he’s had to put up with so far. Apart from anything else, fans are working themselves into a frenzy of high expectations and then blaming other people when all 105 missing episodes aren’t instantly returned in mint condition. Just stop. Go for a walk, take up another hobby.
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I agree! Some of those countries are pretty much lawless war zones!! I wouldn’t want to travel through them looking for missing episodes, no matter how much I wanted to see them!!!!
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Or heres another idea announce it stop lying then relese them cant blame people for being upset when the BBC are doing it for marketing reasons. Cuts both ways mate.
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‘Lying’? How melodramatic. How dare they. They’re not lying, they’re just not giving you chapter and verse on what they had for breakfast. Of course they’re doing it for ‘marketing reasons’, that’s what they’ve done ever since what we now call BBCWW was ‘the exploitation department’. Once BBC shows have been broadcast, then the commercial arm seeks to make the most financial benefit from them. The point is that this actually helps fund the BBC and keep making shows, like Doctor Who.
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People who get angry at a commercial company for doing things to make money makes me laugh. I don’t understand how an intelligent creature could think that way.
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Very hard to believe, of course I hope its true, but from all I can see its just another rumour…
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The Power of the Daleks has been found and will be the final release of the Doctor Who DVD range in 2016 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Patrick Troughton taking the role.
Appreciate you’re just reporting a rumour but this extract in particular doesn’t stand up to a moment’s thought. The Beeb would wait almost 3 years to release such a long-missed story. it would be one of the first!
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No I think its true but lost in detail.
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The BBC have no obligation to tell us anything until they’re good and ready. Negotiations need time, tact, diplomacy and discretion. Giving fans a running commentary is asking for trouble. Recovering episodes is a win-win. We get to own/watch more.Dr. Who, the BBC get back their archive and generate profit to aid programme-making. Have a bit of patience - we’ve waited 45 years already, the odd month more is nothing.
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Points of immense credibility:
The timetable up to late 2016 measures up to the number of complete/near complete stories recovered.
If you add together the number of episodes recovered including the Web/Enemy/Marco Polo contributions the number amounts to somewhere in the low 90s-the amount first speculated when they said that 92 eps had been recovered leaving just 16…
How the BBC have ‘sat’ on these discoveries(even though they may technically still have been in the hands of Phil Morris for at least 2 years or more waiting for the 50th anniversary to stir up maximum publicity and sales…
The very fact that some episodes may not be ‘viable’ which with such a large number recovered was bound to happen..
A longer term timetable the BBC have set themselves of the next 3 years to make the material that is most severely damaged makes it credible, with a carefully thought out release plan balancing ‘bankability’ against how much restoration work is required-perhaps why Paul Vanezis has quite reasonably play things close to his chest in the hope that he will be in on the contract for restoration…again perhaps another reason for the ‘trialling of Web/Enemy as a quality measure of his work(he does a brilliant job of course but I can imagine the Beeb wanting to test him out).
Personally I think we owe a great debt of gratitude to Phil, Paul and originally Ian (if only to encourage the likes of Phil to go in search)-without people and fans like this I don’t believe the BBC would be prepared invest the time and money into a comprehensive trawling of African countries to which copies were circulated (its taken this long after all whilst the reels sat on shelves decomposing). I believe the BBC Missing Believed Wiped campaign had the right intentions but was more aimed at people who collect old film cans or ex employees and their families who might have had bits and pieces stuck in the attic. It takes someone with a determined mission to get this done (and the African experience and contacts of Phil Morris).
I would go further and have the BBC add an end credit after the end of the end titles of recovered episodes, something like ‘Episode recovery/restoration- Phil Morris and Paul Vanezis’, names that will live in Who fan history for their massive contribution alongside that of Ian Levine.
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The restoration folk get their credits already, but I’m sure Morris will get his due recognition. I’d hope fans acknowledge his work too.
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Reblogged this on Bromley's Blog. Brog. and commented:
To be taken with a pinch of salt, but interesting, nevertheless.
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MARCO POLO recovered would be a dream come true for me, ALWAYS wanted to see that one. I am a huge fan of the ORIGINS of the show. Ian and Barbara were characters for us to relate to, Ian being the hero back then more so than the Doctor as he became.
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So maybe time for Dr. Who fans to set up a Kickstarter-like project to donate money for less popular Who stories to be worth releasing?
We can do it folks!
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Hilarious that the BBC are stupid enough to gauge sales of previously missing eps on DVD against takings for The Aztecs Special Edition!!! The idea that they could think that a historical Hartnell story is as mouthwatering a prospect as a classic Troughton with a respectable alien menace is funny enough…. But do they not realise that for many of us, The Aztecs Special Edition is something we’re buying for the FOURTH time?! I had all the existing Who episodes on pirate VHS by 1987, as did so many of us. We then bought the official BBC VHS. Then the official BBC DVD. Then the official BBC Special Edition DVD as well. How many times do they think we’re going to pay out good money for the same thing….a thing which it might be argued is not really a great fan favourite anyway? Should I buy The Aztecs for a FOURTH time or buy Web Of Fear - an acknowledged all-time classic which I’ve never even seen, though I’ve got the audio and the book…? Wow! That IS a tough one, BBC! Truly rocket science!
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So why did you (not anyone else) decide to buy it on VHS when you had an illegal copy on VHS?
Why did you decide to buy the DVD version when you had it already two copies on VHS?
No one was forcing you to buy it again and again. 100% your choice.
You’re not a Doctor Who fan, you’re a fan of moaning I’m afraid.
No doubt you’ll be moaning about buying it when it get colourised or made into 3D at some point in the future?
A fan buys the product again to get a better quality product and to support the company producing the item.
We don’t buy a product to moan about buying it….
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Don’t buy it then. That’ll show ’em.
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Wow! A real life troll hiding behind a real life pathetic pseudonym. I’m honoured. Chances are I was a Doctor Who fan long before you were born. Everyone I knew in organised fandom back in the 1980s had pirate VHS copies of every eps in existence as it was the only way to get them (and yes, most of us had to pay the pirates or do without). When the BBC finally condescended to start releasing them officially (which they took twenty years to do), heavily edited and ridiculously overpriced at the outset, most of us bought them again just so we’d have a slightly better copy in a nice box. Clearly you weren’t there back then. We all buy the DVDs for the features, and of course, again, to get better copies. Am I the only one who thinks putting out a Special Edition of The Aztecs (Season One) just to cash in on an orphaned eps of Galaxy Four (Season Three) was a bit on the cynical side? I doubt it.
If you had to use your real name on here you wouldn’t be so keen to act like a spiteful child, would you? Grow up, Sonny.
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Glass houses and stones. The special editions aren’t all justified, but it’s been a decade since some of those releases and that’s an age in technological terms. The new edition of ‘Tomb of the Cybermen’ is far better than the original, and likewise ‘Aztecs’, which I think was the first DVD to be vidfired at all. The BBC release things when they believe there’s a profit to be made that can be ploughed back into programme making. Fair play to them, *all* videos were hideously expensive when they started releasing on VHS. You forget to mention that the price quickly dropped to a tenner a tape.
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Nick were you talking to me?
I’m 52 so not that young. Earliest story I can remember was Web Planet. (I blame my mother for this (bless her) as I played with a hairbrush as a decent substitute for a Venom Grub!
I was heavy into organised Fandom too. Produced many a videozine and was at most DWAS events.
I’m fully aware why we re-bought copies, but I didn’t moan about it.
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Fair comments, Andrew. I’m buying all the Special Editions anyway, mostly for the features and improved picture / sound quality. Certainly the likes of Carnival, Robots & Ark In Space needed a re-release as they originally had practically no features at all. I refused to buy the DVDs for the first few years for precisely that reason, the first one I shelled out for being Talons. I grudgingly bought the rest eventually though (at lower prices) because like most of us I wanted a complete (!) matching set. I don’t earn a lot these days so I don’t buy anything but the DVDs anymore really and even with those I’m usually a bit behind the times. Just got 10 left to get now, 5 of which are SE re-releases. Plus the last bits of Torchwood and Sarah Jane.
How anyone can say I’m not a fan is beyond me. All I was doing was pointing out that the BBC - after all these years! - still do not appear to know “where it’s at” with either Doctor Who or its fans. How can they possibly doubt whether we would buy missing eps on DVD?! I would pay £50 each for any newly discovered story. In many instances I’d pay a lot more. Don’t tell them that though, eh? - I seriously can’t afford it!
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As I think I said elsewhere, the BBC is a large and slow-moving beast. They’ve only just twigged about the possibilities of digital releases. As for prices, it’s the usual pay off between having it now or having it cheap. How long are you prepared to wait for prices to drop to a reasonable amount? PS keep an eye on Sainsbury’s website, they’re frequently dirt cheap on Doctor Who DVDs.
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I think EOTW & WOF are the first DVDs I’ve ever pre-ordered and / or paid the RRP for (did so at the BBC shop within an hour of the 10/10/13 announcement). But as I said earlier, I’ve never even seen them and that makes all the difference in the world….even though I have both the audios and the novelisations it’s hardly the same thing as buying something you’ve already got on VHS, is it?
I did not do the iTunes download. Partly because I’m not completely computer literate and have no idea what to do, partly because I not only object in principle to buying the exact same thing twice in such a short space of time, but I genuinely cannot afford to do so. I pre-ordered the DVDs at £13.99 each thinking they were 2-disc sets packed with features, as I was led to believe by the cover art shown on the BBC shop site. When they proved to be no-frills editions I did not cancel my orders but I did feel more than a little cheated, and definitely not for the first time. In a couple of years time I’ll be buying special edition DVDs of EOTW & WOF, and I expect I’ll be moaning about it a but more. But you’re quite right. I’d rather have them on my shelf almost immediately than wait another year or so for a better product at the same price.
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However the other rumour which has no basis whatsoever is the fact that the last 2 episodes of the Daleks Master Plan have been “recoverd” got to laugh tho.
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The first I heard of that rumour was when Ian Levine said it was rubbish on Twitter. Can’t argue with him. Whoever dreamed that one up was clearly taking wishful thinking a step too far.
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I don’t think there’s a chance of “Master Plan” ever being fully recovered.
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Anyway never mind the special editions lets stick to the point MORE MISSING EPISODES SOON yes seems to brare out now but one thing we do know ITS LOTS.
There seems to be a lot of restoration going on at the moment plus the carefully worded statement in the Mirrior. All very exciting this sorry mess could be coming to an end.
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NB The Sierra Leone rumour is probably bunk. I remember reading from a BFI event one of the Restoration Team say that the national TV archive in that country got bombed in the civil war and burnt down. Sad, because according to paperwork they’d had copies of every Hartnell and Troughton episode!
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Actually it was brought out in a forum that this was indeed not true. Photographic evidence was even supplied. It still stands today.
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I was told there was nothing In Nigera then……..
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Apprentley the Sierra Leone warhouse WAS NEVER DESTROYED as pictures show of it existance.
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I think theres going to be an announcment before the end of the month
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Hope for the best, expect the worst. I hope they find them all or find most of them and animate the rest.
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Was amused to notice Nick Romain telling us in one post that, “(he) would pay £50 each for any newly discovered story” . . . and “In many instances (he’’d) pay a lot more.”
Later on, the same day he’s complaining that the forthcoming £13.99 DVDs of EOTW and WOF are no-frills single-disc releases!
So much for consistency!
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. . . and by the way, Nick, ‘The Aztecs’ is a superlative Hartnell historical adventure!
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On the subject of the ‘no frills’ DVD releases for the recently found EOFTW and WOF . . . I would sooner the speed-up the release to DVD (without any extras), rather than wait a long, long time for suitable extras to be produced and included.
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