A Question of Semantics

[Jaspal Cheema]

One thing I find really frustrating /interesting is how official publications and DVD releases refer to the status of the Dr Who stories missing from the archives. There seems to be no consensus of opinion. For example, the DVD release of the Tenth Planet on the cover says that the 4th episode is 'currently missing from the BBC archives '.DWM regularly refers to stories such as Power 'no longer held in the BBC archives '.What does this mean. Is this some new type of description of the state of the Dr Who archives in the post Philip Morris era?If there are no more recoveries to be made then why aren't the official descriptions made to reflect this? Why isn't there an official policy of standardised nomenclature when describing missing episodes? If you're producing a final animation of a missing story/episodes then surely you're intimating it's lost forever so why say it's 'currently missing'? The BBC needs therefore to have an official description of the missing episodes if future animations are to be released.

[RWels]

There's perhaps some embarassment in play. I had a reason to inquire after a German program and I was told it was "not available". I had to ask "is it missing?" to get them to be clear about it. They could hardly write "episode 4 is pushing up the daisies, it is an ex-episode".
The only way to say for certain that there are no more recoveries is if you know the whereabouts of every single copy. And no-one's omniscient.

[Robbie Moubert]

I seriously doubt anyone has given it that much thought. And quite rightly!

[scotttelfer]

Because nobody knows if they are truly gone forever. Barring The Feast of Steven there is a possibility every other episode exists, they almost certainly don't all still exist but its impossible to rule out each individual case.

The animations are partially motivated by what is the least likely to be found seemingly, that is different from utterly giving up the search.

[Richard Bignell]

Dec 23, 2018 22:11:38 GMT Jaspal Cheema said:

One thing I find really frustrating /interesting is how official publications and DVD releases refer to the status of the Dr Who stories missing from the archives. There seems to be no consensus of opinion. For example, the DVD release of the Tenth Planet on the cover says that the 4th episode is 'currently missing from the BBC archives '.DWM regularly refers to stories such as Power 'no longer held in the BBC archives '.What does this mean. Is this some new type of description of the state of the Dr Who archives in the post Philip Morris era?

I'm not really sure where the confusion lies here and it's certainly nothing to do with Philip. Both mean exactly the same thing. It's a BBC programme that the BBC no longer has a copy of.

If there are no more recoveries to be made then why aren't the official descriptions made to reflect this?

Because how could you ever state with any certainty that there aren't any further recoveries to be made? Even if you knew precisely how many film copies were made of each episode (which we don't) and for an absolute certainty the fate of each and every one (which we don't) and have a definite and 100% guaranteed record as to destruction of every film negative (which we don't) you still wouldn't be able to account for things like a copy of 'My Old Man's a Tory' from Steptoe & Son that Galton and Simpson had recorded off-air for their own archive and that subsequently made its way back to the BBC archive.

[simonashby]

Because most people aren't obsessed enough to care that someone might read into it.

I'd suggest you find a hobby.

[Jaspal Cheema]

Dec 24, 2018 14:58:11 GMT simonashby said:

Because most people aren't obsessed enough to care that someone might read into it.

I'd suggest you find a hobby.

Er...Dr Who...?

[Jaspal Cheema]

Dec 24, 2018 14:58:11 GMT simonashby said:

Because most people aren't obsessed enough to care that someone might read into it.

I'd suggest you find a hobby.

Or how about a Rosary?