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Post by Richard Neil Wright on Jul 18, 2014 15:20:38 GMT
Hi Everyone - this is my first post in this forum and my first subject is somewhat off topic....
The early days of BBC video, when they still used the old blue label and most did not have an age certificate, I heard that BBC video produced other versions of Doctor Who stories for release - but where canceled (Invasion of Time rings a bell...) If this was the case, do they still hold the master tapes of the unreleased stories - and how much was edited out of them? I recall the original release of Brain of Morbius was edited down to just 60 minutes and most of the early 90 minute releases also had various cuts (as well as the titles between episodes).
Also, I just put my first ever Doctor Who video up for auction - the original VHS version of Revenge of the Cybermen in large format library case (for rental) - with errors on the cover (wrong logo / wrong type of cyberman and also an image of the back of the cover is clearly from Earthshock!) Was this the only release in this library case format (rental)?
Also what stories where released on Betamax and video2000 in the early days? - Video2000 was the worst format for quality and you had to turn the tape around half way through the video!
Forgive me if this to off-topic- delete if necessary!
Thanks, Richard
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Post by shellyharman67 on Jul 18, 2014 16:00:02 GMT
Hi Everyone - this is my first post in this forum and my first subject is somewhat off topic.... The early days of BBC video, when they still used the old blue label and most did not have an age certificate, I heard that BBC video produced other versions of Doctor Who stories for release - but where canceled (Invasion of Time rings a bell...) If this was the case, do they still hold the master tapes of the unreleased stories - and how much was edited out of them? I recall the original release of Brain of Morbius was edited down to just 60 minutes and most of the early 90 minute releases also had various cuts (as well as the titles between episodes). Also, I just put my first ever Doctor Who video up for auction - the original VHS version of Revenge of the Cybermen in large format library case (for rental) - with errors on the cover (wrong logo / wrong type of cyberman and also an image of the back of the cover is clearly from Earthshock!) Was this the only release in this library case format (rental)? Also what stories where released on Betamax and video2000 in the early days? - Video2000 was the worst format for quality and you had to turn the tape around half way through the video! Forgive me if this to off-topic- delete if necessary! Thanks, Richard It was the only one like this. As Brain of morbius and co were normal cases. Of course edited as well.
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Post by Richard Bignell on Jul 18, 2014 17:34:20 GMT
Hi Everyone - this is my first post in this forum and my first subject is somewhat off topic.... The early days of BBC video, when they still used the old blue label and most did not have an age certificate, I heard that BBC video produced other versions of Doctor Who stories for release - but where canceled (Invasion of Time rings a bell...) If this was the case, do they still hold the master tapes of the unreleased stories - and how much was edited out of them? I recall the original release of Brain of Morbius was edited down to just 60 minutes and most of the early 90 minute releases also had various cuts (as well as the titles between episodes). The one and only mention of a release for a re-edited 'The Invasion of Time' actually came in Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly and pre-dated the VHS range - this, it was said, was for laserdisc. There's never been anything found to back the notion up though and there's certainly no evidence of any work ever having been done on it.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2014 9:40:54 GMT
This was before my time but I used to collect the early releases. I have all the pre cert releases on VHS and laser, a few betas. From what I saw when I was collecting most episodes were released on Betamax/VHS and laser disks in the early days. I have never seen a video 2000 release.
The early book case releases can fetch quite a bit on Ebay.
You can tell the really early releases because they have a different tune of the bbc video diamond style indent.
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Post by Ross Mann on Jul 20, 2014 10:03:34 GMT
I've recently been going through my old VHS collection myself, and acquiring some that I never got back in the day.. I've got quite a few of those older ones, recently just added Spearhead from Space, Death to the Daleks and Day of the Daleks (movie length edits) among others to my collection.. They all play well enough considering there age, recorded them to DVD for posterity!!
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Post by keithmchugh on Jul 20, 2014 12:28:17 GMT
I can remember buying my first Doctor Who VHS. It was Seeds of Death and cost £24.99 !!! That was a lot of pocket money back in the 80s. Not sure what made me buy an older black/white story though.
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Post by Richard Marple on Jul 20, 2014 16:21:48 GMT
I have The Time Warrior as a movie edit.
In spite of this story being popular with fans, it never had an episodic release until it came out on DVD.
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Post by Alan Jeffries on Jul 20, 2014 17:08:14 GMT
I also have the video of Revenge. It cost a whopping £39.99! The case is a little damaged now. I bought it as soon as it was released, BUT there is another version I have seen. No different as to content of the actual episodes, just a very short introduction by Tom Baker. Not for the story, rather for the video range. Not in character, he says something like 'Welcome to the world of BBC Video. I know my friend had it at the time. The only thing I can possibly think of is that there was a different pressing for the press launch and he ended up with one of those. As for Seeds. Wasn't that one of the first releases? I'm not certain of that without checking, but as only one of the few official releases out there, fans were grabbing at anything. I do know it was the very first thing I ever bought on a credit card.
Alan
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Post by oj-wake on Jul 20, 2014 19:00:54 GMT
Hi Everyone - this is my first post in this forum and my first subject is somewhat off topic.... The early days of BBC video, when they still used the old blue label and most did not have an age certificate, I heard that BBC video produced other versions of Doctor Who stories for release - but where canceled (Invasion of Time rings a bell...) If this was the case, do they still hold the master tapes of the unreleased stories - and how much was edited out of them? I recall the original release of Brain of Morbius was edited down to just 60 minutes and most of the early 90 minute releases also had various cuts (as well as the titles between episodes). The one and only mention of a release for a re-edited 'The Invasion of Time' actually came in Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly and pre-dated the VHS range - this, it was said, was for laserdisc. There's never been anything found to back the notion up though and there's certainly no evidence of any work ever having been done on it. I've been reading through early 1980s fanzines lately as I've been disposing of them and have come across several references to an expectation that Invasion of Time would open a potential VHS range. Presumably this mutated from the DWW story that you mention. What sort of date was that? Regarding the earlier question about masters, someone else will have to supply the detail but wasn't it reported that some of the early Enterprises VHS masters were either destroyed or damaged as a result of a water leak (from the TVC fountain?)? Or is that a myth? It's so hard to keep track.
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Post by tonyrichards on Jul 20, 2014 22:01:55 GMT
I also have the video of Revenge. It cost a whopping £39.99! The case is a little damaged now. I bought it as soon as it was released, BUT there is another version I have seen. No different as to content of the actual episodes, just a very short introduction by Tom Baker. Not for the story, rather for the video range. Not in character, he says something like 'Welcome to the world of BBC Video. I know my friend had it at the time. The only thing I can possibly think of is that there was a different pressing for the press launch and he ended up with one of those. As for Seeds. Wasn't that one of the first releases? I'm not certain of that without checking, but as only one of the few official releases out there, fans were grabbing at anything. I do know it was the very first thing I ever bought on a credit card. Alan I think the VHS of Revenge that has the introduction by Tom is the rental version that would have been found in the Blockbusters of their day. Have seen one sold on Ebay for over £100!!!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2014 16:58:42 GMT
I also have the video of Revenge. It cost a whopping £39.99! The case is a little damaged now. I bought it as soon as it was released, BUT there is another version I have seen. No different as to content of the actual episodes, just a very short introduction by Tom Baker. Not for the story, rather for the video range. Not in character, he says something like 'Welcome to the world of BBC Video. I know my friend had it at the time. The only thing I can possibly think of is that there was a different pressing for the press launch and he ended up with one of those. As for Seeds. Wasn't that one of the first releases? I'm not certain of that without checking, but as only one of the few official releases out there, fans were grabbing at anything. I do know it was the very first thing I ever bought on a credit card. Alan I think the VHS of Revenge that has the introduction by Tom is the rental version that would have been found in the Blockbusters of their day. Have seen one sold on Ebay for over £100!!! The original bookcase version has sold for around £250 in the past. Even with a damaged case.
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Post by petewhite on Jul 21, 2014 19:00:06 GMT
Video2000 was the worst format for quality and you had to turn the tape around half way through the video! Hi Richard, sorry, just had to correct you on this. Video 2000 was superior in picture quality to VHS, and at least equal to Beta if not better. Never understood why people think having content on both sides on a tape was like a bad thing? No one thought this about audio tapes. Video 2000 also had a stable still picture, and was pretty smooth in picture search modes too. Superior functions not commonly seen in the home until the arrival of DVD. Sorry, on with the Who!
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Post by Richard Marple on Jul 21, 2014 21:32:35 GMT
I did read somewhere that V2000 had auto tracking as standand, & some players & tapes had twin soundtracks for stereo sound or 2 languages.
Aslo some high spec machines could auto reverse & even have an extended play of 16 hours per tape.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2014 22:00:11 GMT
There must of been a machine which could read both sides of the tape or a machine which could flip the tape it's self. I can see why tape flipping would be a pain.
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Post by brianfretwell on Jul 22, 2014 10:44:29 GMT
Yes the heads on V2000 were auto adjustable on the drum to track the signal IIRC there was a pilot tone recorded on the tape and piezoelectric crystal moved the heads to retrieve the best signal. This was because the width of the tape used was half that of VHS/Beta. The flipping of the cassette meant that up to 8 hours could be recorded on one long tape without going to LP modes. (It could have been less but one advert I saw claimed it can take 16 episodes of Crossroads - can you? Without adverts and titles Crossroads would not have been 30 minutes, more like 20).
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