Omnirumour: From the Forums and Social Media

Been a while since we touched this subject…

But here’s some choice words of wisdom from the DWW Forums over the past month on the subject of missing Doctor Who episodes.

Here we present a choice selection of the most informative posts, speculation and a bit of humour besides. As was always the case, take everything with a pinch of salt and everything is but a rumour until substantiated by fact:

“Very good sources are quite adamant about Marco being restored, with at least two of them going further than Marco - Power is one of those being restored or already restored, along with at least four other titles…. I know the names of two companies that may have worked on restoration for several titles… Whatever the truth may be, I really hope my sources are correct about titles being restored - because Enemy and Web were restored while denied by some people and then announced officially a few months after restoration had begun on them. Why can’t the same situation happen now? That titles would be ready for release for the next announcement, whenever that may be… It’ll be bigger news than EW if the six stories I’ve heard are restored and announced.” - Scot Ferre, June 10, 2014

“So if the Power screening has occurred (and sources say they have, which I believe myself), then it would have to be done so with the BBC’s permission.” - Scot Ferre, June 13, 2014

“There’s also the non-DW finds to remember. M&W 1 and the three missing Dad’s Army episodes come to mind, and both are reported to be ready for release. Plus lots more found.” - Scot Ferre, June 13, 2014

“Hi guys .I dont usually get involved in these things but here it is Ian knows nothing exept causing hysteria among fandom for his own ends.If Ian knows something he should produce the evidence to back it up.I can assure you he knows nothing.Best advice believe it when you see it warm regards to everybody.” - Phil Morris, Facebook (quoted Here) - June 16, 2014

“Sorry to everyone here.The task at hand is far more important. Thats recovery of every thing possible so it gets back so everyone can enjoy it whatever that show maybe.Thats what T.i.e.a does and shall continue . Im sorry if in some quarters that upsets some but im here for the majority.” - Phil Morris, Facqebook (quoted Here) - June 16, 2014

[Full conversation with Ian Levine’s revelations about who “blabbed” about Marco Polo]

“I’m sorry Scot [Ferre], a lot if people have been hanging on to your details with detailed episode return lists and promises of dates for release. I am going to be blunt,you are spreading inaccurate information. They may be back but things are further behind than what you have been saying months ago or even above. The BBC has no idea of what has been returned, they are in the dark like everyone else. Nothing is or has been restored. I agree with you that my belief is that a lot has been returned but you are spreading an overall message that isn’t quite true and it has been leading people down the wrong path. People don’t need to believe me but even the BBC wouldn’t take this long to get things moving if they had definitive proof of what Philip had.” - Greg Bakun, Facebook (Quoted Here) - June 17, 2014

“Like I said, Greg [Bakun] - it’s just details. No one here is stupid - they are free to choose to believe what my sources say - or not. We are all adults. I’m not here to be lauded or to be believed. I report what good sources tell me. I don’t even believe every detail that they tell me. The TIEA buyout is a bit funny to me, but I’m open to the idea, for example.” - Scot Ferre, Facebook (Quoted Here) - June 17, 2014

[Selected quotes from Ian Levine on what is recovered and the origins of the Marco Polo rumour] - Ian Levine, June 21, 2014

“DMP negotiations completed in May - all 12 episodes handed over. All 97 episodes have been recovered, but four of them are severely damaged and will require extensive reconstructions and repairs if even salvagable. Two of the four are from “The Invasion”. The plan is still to release it in phases, but the announcement will be for all of them. Last batch of DVDs expected in Jan 2016 and will include Power and Highlanders. There will be box sets for each Doctor, but not individual seasons. First sets (Third and Fourth Doctors) coming this year, then Fifth, Sixth and Seventh in spring 15, First doctor in fall 15 and finally Troughton in spring 16″ - Duff Himself, Gallifrey Base (Quoted Here), June 24, 2014

“Ian is finding the transition to OAP difficult. He really does see ME as “his” province doesn’t he?. Deluded.” - Mr Ron, June 24, 2014

“Well, a couple of my good sources I’ve checked with about what’s happening - yes, it does seem that the primary search is over, but TIEA would always be looking no matter what… Anyway - we are looking at one big announcement. Probably this year. When the announcement happens, it’ll be a major international news story, bigger than October 2013.” - Scot Ferre, June 25 ,2014

“‘Power of the Daleks’ has been found. There’s just no doubt.” - DouglasWulf, June 28, 2014

“Seriously though, it’s the calm before the storm at the moment. As far as I can tell everyone is battened down tight. From contacts who gave me a lot of information last time round, I’m getting they can’t talk about anything , so I’m not pushing it. One told me ‘it would be a very brave person that leaked any news this time’ and another said ‘I can’t talk about anything, and I can’t tell you why I can’t talk about anything’. So pretty much no news from me! The positive thing is both would just say ‘nothings going on’ if it there wasn’t anything of note going on. The big difference at the moment is that there are no people screaming denials. The more public denials we got before Enemy and Web, the more voices I heard saying, ‘well that’s not right’. But by managing the denials there are less people getting their nose out of joint and passing on what they know. Well that’s what I have found with the contacts I have.” - Aron Challinger, June 28, 2014

“I think the only need to riot is if he also returns The Space Pirates. Some things are lost for a reason.” - The Chris of Fenric, June 29, 2014

“One of the biggest reasons why I think 90+ is plausible is the size of the huge haul. Again and again, I keep hearing that DW finds are a tiny minority compared to the dozens of TV shows that were recovered. If you can believe that aspect, then the 90+ can then be plausible.” - Scot Ferre, June 29, 2014

“Some people have acquired knowledge/been told that 44 episodes are coming in the next announcement. This could quite possibly be ‘spun’ as a “That’s All Folks!” announcement in the hope of then discrediting the 90+ rumours and creating a ‘surprise’ when the following announcement trundles into town some months later. So right now there is a drive on to manage our expectations downwards. Depending what is in this ’44’, it could be Eddie [McGuigan]’s infamous dreadnought class announcement that was supposed to happen at Easter, I seem to recall that was set to be around 40, the majority (though not all) Hartnell’s. So my guess is it will include Marco (7), Reign (2) and Crusade (2) with some Season 3 (not DMP yet) material and early Season 4 stuff (again, minus TP 4 and possibly Power and Highlanders for now), but possibly also including Underwater Menace (2) as one of the non-Hartnell’s. When? Well, dates are always difficult but I’m looking at July. Yes, you July, I’m looking at you! Nothing more specific right now. All just my own interpretation of things being said and done elsewhere. Time will tell, it always does” - Mark Simpson, June 30, 2014

“What you say is consistent with what we’ve heard - that the initial 44 was the Africa hub that was predominantly Hartnell’s. Also this lines up with the notion that the episodes will be released roughly in the order in which they were found.” - Space Pirate, June 30, 2014

“If expectations are needing to be managed, then why is TIEA retweeting quotes from missing episodes, it’s doing the opposite, it seems. That’s not calming things down.” - Scot Ferre, July 1, 2014

“What do you say to Ian Levine who is adamant that nothing has been returned or restored? He has stated that again and again. Aside from what he has said about particular finds, I don’t believe he can be doubted on this matter because he is too well connected and still has many friends in the industry in spite of his recent outbursts.” - Marmalade, July 2, 2014

“Ian Levine is out of the loop and has been for ages. That’s what his temper tantrums are really all about - he doesn’t know jack.” - Iank, July 2, 2014

“I’m realizing more and more that Puqui and I happen to have sources who, if accurate, are closer to the action than most of Ian’s or others with connections. That doesn’t mean our sources are correct - but they haven’t so far indicated any malice or anything like that. If they’re playing us, so be it - all that would mean is that restoration will be much longer than what our sources are saying. That the stories will be out much later. But what about Marco? I’m 100 percent certain it’s ready. But it hasn’t been released yet. Hopefully it’ll be released soon!” - Scot Ferre, July 2, 2014

“According to my friend all post 2011-finds are non-TIEA, including Power, DMP and a few more Troughtons.” - Duff Himself, Gallifrey Base (Quoted Here), July 4, 2014

“Are we really that impatient to demand of him that he stops what he’s doing and hands back whatever else he might have found right now? Or might we just let him get on with it, knowing that the frustration we feel is significantly less than what he probably did. It’s been a few months for us, in the grand scheme of things. For him, it’s been nearly a decade… And the thing is, anyone who assumes there are other episodes back at the BBC, anyone who thinks there are negotiations taking place, anyone who thinks there is a conspiracy to hush up what’s happening … there isn’t. There’s no conspiracy of silence, because there is only silence. Phil is attempting to finish up in peace the job that he started all those years ago. Everybody else - everybody else - is just waiting for that to happen.” - JR Southall, Planet Mondas (Quoted Here), July 5, 2014

“The Dad’s Army animated episodes is most assuredly NOT a hoax. I know this because a friend was one of the contracted animators for the job, who then got told his services would be no longer required as the episodes had been found. Furthermore, he then went and showed me actual animated footage for these episodes that he’d got as far as creating. What does this mean for the Omnirumour in general? No idea. Hell, for all I know, maybe he and the others were lied to and the episodes HAVEN’T been found after all. But animated Dad’s Army missing episodes? 100% fact.” - Scot Ferre, Planet Mondas (Quoted Here), July 5, 2014

“Anyway, just to hoist the discussion back a few pages, I’m the guy who has the friend that worked on the Dad’s Army animations. So, yes, the BBC really did commission animation for the missing episodes and I’ve seen the footage with my own eyes. Definitely not a fan project - mainly because they’re not an actual fan, this was a freelance job. Now, how does this fit in with being practical/profitable for the Beeb? Not a clue. How does it fit in with the fact that apparently two of these episodes audio only exist as radio versions? Not a clue on that either, and I suspect my friend doesn’t know that either. But they were commissioned and they were cancelled because they were apparently found in Africa.” - Hannibal Pearce, Planet Mondas (Quoted Here), July 6, 2014

“If you seriously think the BBC wouldn’t have enough respect for the man who’s actually found the episodes to allow him to decide when and how the episodes are announced, then I don’t think you’re thinking this through. Why would the BBC want to steamroller all over someone who has done them as great a service as this? Of course Phil would get to choose how and when the episodes are announced - in conjunction with the BBC, for sure. But they wouldn’t go ahead and do it without him…. Or put it this way: if the BBC are expecting to make a bundle of money from Phil’s endeavours, and he has made it plain that they’ll have to wait until he’s finished in order to do so, but has also made it perfectly clear that once he’s finished the project there will not be any problem with them doing so, why would they do anything other than sit tight and patiently wait for him to finish? They don’t lose anything by waiting, but they stand to gain an awful lot by being patient.” - JR Southall, Planet Mondas (Quoted Here), July 7, 2014

In a Nutshell:

• 44 is the new “magic number” of found episodes doing the rounds, coincidently the same number as missing Hartnells. It is also the number that was doing the rounds over a year ago in the early days of the omnirumour.
• While 44 has been on the ascendancy, many still believe the total number of found episodes is over 90.
• There are low-level mumblings of a July/August announcement or post-Series 8. After the no-show of Easter, many are non-committal.
• Power of the Daleks continues to be mentioned frequently in dispatches as does Marco Polo, little change on this front.
• Dad’s Army is heavily mentioned as being certainly found.
• Ian Levine hates Phil Morris.

So no change really 😉