Goodies Recoveries

[Richard Marple]

Considering this show was not liked by many high up people at the BBC it's survival rate is very good, with only 2 as telerecordings.

Did a lot of episodes survive because it was popular in Australia & the BBC kept the most of the masters, or were they duped returned at a later date?

[andrew shutt]

well we are missing one episode - The Original kitten kong (they kept the montreaux version but wiped the original)

[richardwoods]

Mar 9, 2018 22:00:32 GMT andrew shutt said:

well we are missing one episode - The Original kitten kong (they kept the montreaux version but wiped the original)

Was there a lot of difference between the two versions. Was much footage lost? ( I did see both versions when shown originally but too long ago to remember any differences).

[John Green]

Some Goodies news: leicestersquaretheatre.ticketsolve.com/shows/873585304/events/128131098

[darrenlee]

Mar 9, 2018 22:35:11 GMT richardwoods said:

Mar 9, 2018 22:00:32 GMT andrew shutt said:

well we are missing one episode - The Original kitten kong (they kept the montreaux version but wiped the original)

Was there a lot of difference between the two versions. Was much footage lost? ( I did see both versions when shown originally but too long ago to remember any differences).

The differences are described here www.goodiesruleok.com/articles.php?id=16 (previously linked here missingepisodes.proboards.com/thread/10949/montreux-prix).

[Richard Marple]

Yes I heard the original Kitten Kong had been wiped, I didn't know how much the Montreaux differed.

I used to think they simply added a few scenes, like the singing dogs.

[richardwoods]

It's surprised me too how much was changed. The allure of the prize on offer. Well, fair play to them it obviously worked. Would be interesting to see if a b/w film copy of the original version made for export ever turns up. Is there any information available as to any copies that were possibly made? Is it known if the original was scrapped at the time that new version was made?

[Mike Goldwater]

Having watched the Complete BBC Collection on DVD recently, the three episodes that only survive on various formats due to the wiping of the original colour masters exist in varying condition, but have the potential for further restoration.

Caught in the Act


The episode on survives as a B&W telerecording, however the print is quite sharp and clear in defintion, despite the occasional scuff marks on the edge of the frame. There's also chroma dots clearly present throughout the episode through the presence of the chroma crawl, which means it would possible to restore it back to colour using the colour recovery process.

Commonwealth Games


Also surviving as a B&W telerecording, this episode is in the worst condition of the three episodes. The print is in low contrast, grainy and soft focus, there's no sign of chroma crawl which could imply it was switched off during the conversion process. Even if it were possible to restore the episode back to colour, due to the poor quality of the print, it would be difficult to extract a sufficient colour signal.

[Mike Goldwater]

Come Dancing


Until 1998, the episode only survived as a B&W telerecording, when a low band colour VT copy was unearthed from BBC Scotland. Unfortunately the colour signal is poor on the episode, and despite the best efforts to restore it, there's still presence of colour loss particuarly when there's the movement. If the telerecording copy does have chroma dots, then the chroma signal could be utilized to make a new restoration with improved colour defintion. 

So it is possible that two out of the three episodes are restorable due to their archive nature, it's a shame that the episodes weren't colour restored for the DVD boxset, perhaps a crowd funded campaign to get these episodes restored could be suggested. If there's the demand for it, then restoration is possible. As for 'Commonwealth Games', unless another film copy turned up, the chances for a colour restoration are minimal, do you agree? 

[timothyk]

There's a bit of uncertainty re. Commonwealth Games - as to whether the film print itself still exists, or only a 1" tape transfer. Either way the transfer used on the DVD wasn't great, though IF the film still exists it's probably possible to scan it in better quality (and perhaps the possibility of chroma dots)

The existing transfer can definitely be improved though, I did quite a bit of work on this short clip when I colourised it last year youtu.be/ODVJnm-CGFY
Kieran Highman has done another bit too fb.watch/kIt4esDB8u

Sadly I doubt either Commonwealth Games nor Caught in the Act will ever be fully restored though, it would likely cost too much to be feasible

[Mike Goldwater]

How would it be possible to find out whether the 16mm film print for 'Commonwealth Games' still exists. We need to find out what was recovered from Australia during the 1980's, which was the source for the recovery of these previously missing episodes. Were there film prints that were discovered, or tape transfers made later on.

[Marie Griffiths]

[quote author="Mike Goldwater" source="/post/171716/thread" Colorisation techniques have improved in recent years despite tgem being hated on this forum.
timestamp="1684836500"]Come Dancing

Attachment Deleted
Until 1998, the episode only survived as a B&W telerecording, when a low band colour VT copy was unearthed from BBC Scotland. Unfortunately the colour signal is poor on the episode, and despite the best efforts to restore it, there's still presence of colour loss particuarly when there's the movement. If the telerecording copy does have chroma dots, then the chroma signal could be utilized to make a new restoration with improved colour defintion. 

So it is possible that two out of the three episodes are restorable due to their archive nature, it's a shame that the episodes weren't colour restored for the DVD boxset, perhaps a crowd funded campaign to get these episodes restored could be suggested. If there's the demand for it, then restoration is possible. As for 'Commonwealth Games', unless another film copy turned up, the chances for a colour restoration are minimal, do you agree? [/quote]

[Marie Griffiths]

May 23, 2023 21:50:59 GMT Mike Goldwater said:

How would it be possible to find out whether the 16mm film print for 'Commonwealth Games' still exists. We need to find out what was recovered from Australia during the 1980's, which was the source for the recovery of these previously missing episodes. Were there film prints that were discovered, or tape transfers made later on.

Excellent work the days of baf colorisation is over. someone hire this guy for tge full thing.

[Mike Goldwater]

I think a crowd funded campaign may be the best approach, as it would least shows there's demand for it, there's enough fans of the show worldwide to make this possible. As for 'Commonwealth Games', I will try to dig a bit deeper to ascertain about it's archive status, whether it only exists as a 1" copy of the film print, since it exists in quite a poor state.

Here's a brief restoration test on a short sequence from 'Caught in the Act' by Richard Russell, using the colour recovery software: www.facebook.com/1109465422/videos/507407003916519/.

[Mike Goldwater]

Here's a clip from the episode 'Come Dancing' which features a side by side comparison of both the B&W film print and the restored colour VT: www.facebook.com/ben.rohde.357/videos/815190479570401/?idorvanity=178416125631024