If you were...

[andrewainsworth]

...around when they were junking the dr who episodes in the seventies. As one of the staff asked to do it, which complete episodes or stories (only two choices please) would you have hoarded?

Purely hypothetical question?


Mine would be?

Marco Polo & The Web Of Fear

P.S. Lets see what responses we get.

Thanks
Andrew

[Laurence Piper]

Power Of The Daleks (being the first Troughton story and first post-regeneration - plus the Daleks as well) and Web Of Fear (being one of the most atmospheric and best realised action stories of that era, with also the beginning of UNIT and the appearance of the Yeti).

[ethantyler]

If I had the same perspective as I did now*, I'd have saved everything I could have. When the junking era ended, I would have returned everything as long as I was certain it would be safe and that I wouldn't be in trouble for my actions.

* It's easy to say that junking was insane, but I can understand to a degree why it was done.

[Brad Phipps]

I would save all the Dalek stories, the Yeti stories, the Cyberman stories and Fury from the Deep.

But as said above I would probably try and save everything I could.

This thread only refers to missing episodes right? Or do you mean to include if we were back then, not knowing what would exist now?

[steve davies]

If it were down to me I guess I would have saved all Doctor Who, (Hindsight is great aint it)!!!!
Mind you I would have tried to save other things as well, but that goes without saying.
One thing strikes me as I type this, and you could filter it into the other thread of BBC apologising.
Am I right in thinking that at the time of the wipings, Dr. Who was getting more popular in terms of veiwing ratings??
Notably, the 17 million that tuned in for City of Death.
If this is true, one could question why we were destroying a programme which was getting more popular.
I'm thinking in terms of resales of other stories into the US market etc at the time it was getting more viewers.
In hindsight it may have cost a fortune in repeat fees, rights etc.
But the profit could have outstripped the cost.
If I am wrong in the timeline, please form a queue to roast me like a Turkey in time for Xmas.
Oh yes, Merry Xmas to one and all who have graced this forum over the last year.
It has given me some fun reading the threads as well as some shaking of the head at others.
Good to know that there is a passion for this subject.
Best wishes folks

Steve

[William Martin]

I'd just grab as much as I could, which would probably be no more than 2 reels at a time, so considering that, what 2 reels would you go for?

[Richard Bignell]

Guest-steve said:

Am I right in thinking that at the time of the wipings, Dr. Who was getting more popular in terms of veiwing ratings??
Notably, the 17 million that tuned in for City of Death.
If this is true, one could question why we were destroying a programme which was getting more popular.

In the mid to late 1970's, Doctor Who was usually netting ratings of around eight million mark. The anomaly that effected the ratings of Destiny of the Daleks and City of Death (Low - 12.4M High - 16.1M) was purely down to the ITV strike that was taking place at the time. If you wanted to watch television in the autumn of 1979, you either watched the BBC or nothing at all. As soon as the strike was over, the ratings went back down to their normal level.

By the late 70's, the master videotapes of the early stories were already gone. What was left were the BBC Enterprises film prints and as they were achieving no further overseas sales, they simply disposed of the copies that they had bought and paid for.

Richard

[steve davies]

Thanks for clearing that one up Richard,

Wishing you, your family and all your colleagues at the RT all the best for Xmas and the best for 2005.
Thanks

Steve