THE DALEK MASTER PLAN

[VERNON LEE ROBERTS]

Was just wondering if anyone out there thinks that more prints of this story might be out there just saw the recon and its a great story have to say one of Hartnells best

[Richard Develyn]

I believe I'm right in saying that part 7 is the one episode which we know is less likely to be found than any other, but apart from that they have the same chance of recovery as any other missing episode.

Richard

[Simon B Kelly]

The whole of Episode 7 was animated (unofficially) and posted on YouTube earlier this year:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WeakujB2nA

And there's the excellent Loose Cannon recon for the other missing episodes - also available now on YouTube...

Well worth watching! One of the better Dalek stories, in my opinion...

[davidthrelfall7]

Bearing in mind that only one overseas country reviewed the story and the australian censors rejected the story and Mission to the Unknown as well I am amazed that three episodes out of the thirteen episodes (12+1) have been found at all for the Dalek's Masterplan. If other episodes exist then I think a private film collector or an ex BBC employee are the most likely source for this story.

[Richard Marple]

There was a rumour that William Hartnell was given a home movie prints of episode 7, but I assume that has long being exposed as a fan myth.

Almost all the accounts for the recovery of episodes 5 & 10 mention they were found in a church basement, but the actual locations to differ with each account.

Wherever it was it's still a mystery how they ended up there.

[Richard Bignell]

Jan 1, 2012 19:15:43 GMT Richard Marple said:

There was a rumour that William Hartnell was given a home movie prints of episode 7, but I assume that has long being exposed as a fan myth.

Yes, long exposed! ;D

[Barry Hodge]

Jan 1, 2012 19:15:43 GMT Richard Marple said:

Almost all the accounts for the recovery of episodes 5 & 10 mention they were found in a church basement, but the actual locations to differ with each account.

Wherever it was it's still a mystery how they ended up there.

Wasn't it an old BBC building that was then sold and turned into a (Mormon, IIRC) church?

[LanceM]

Thank You!!! I am not the only one! Seems to be in that every so often, have to state again in regards to the EX-BBC property purchased by the Mormon church. This is more of a misconception than a mystery I would say, a very old typo which continually has to be corrected. Are going off Deborah Watling's quote I wager, in

" What They Were Doing In The Basement Of A Mormon Church However, Remains a Mystery To This Day" (Missing Years BBC Documentary).

Thank you for assisting here as well Barry in setting the record straight so to speak.

Cheers, Lance.

[Maurice Harfmann]

Well, "Feast of Steven" (Episode 7) is regarded as being completely lost, as no copies were ever made because Masterplan was sold as a 11-parter. This means we only had one film reel of the episode which has been junked by the BBC, no hopes there.

[John F Brayshaw]

Time to animate the rest then......

[David Cann]

Jan 8, 2012 18:17:47 GMT Maurice Harfmann said:

Well, "Feast of Steven" (Episode 7) is regarded as being completely lost, as no copies were ever made because Masterplan was sold as a 11-parter. This means we only had one film reel of the episode which has been junked by the BBC, no hopes there.

In fact, we never (to our knowledge) had a single film reel of the episode at all - just the two-inch transmission tape, which was wiped. 16mm film telerecordings were used only for overseas sales (while occasionally odd episodes were transmitted from 35mm film, this was not the case with 'The Feast of Steven'), so as this film was never recorded for sale, we would never have had a reel of it on film. The only copy ever in existance was the transmission videotape (a different format entirely - and sadly one that could be wiped and re-used, so their was no incentive to even consider keeping it).

[Paul Vanezis]

Jan 8, 2012 22:29:17 GMT David Cann said:

The only copy ever in existance was the transmission videotape (a different format entirely - and sadly one that could be wiped and re-used, so their was no incentive to even consider keeping it).

Actually, we don't know that to be the case. Film recordings to 16mm were also routinely ordered for programme review purposes and these have turned up in the past. Usually it was for pilot programmes or programmes which were made many months in advance. Film recordings were not the exclusive domain of BBC Enterprises. Just because they didn't request a recording, doesn't mean to say one wasn't done to make some kind of viewing copy.

Paul

[David Cann]

Good point Paul - I didn't think of that. Let's hope that a viewing copy managed to survive somehow, though of course it's still unlikely. What I really meant to say was that, to our knowledge, we didn't have a film reel of the episode, just the videotape. There are no records of a telerecording beign made, but as you say, there's always a chance that one may have been made anyway for viewing purposes... after all, that's how the pilot episode turned up!

[Richard Tipple]

Jan 1, 2012 12:16:33 GMT Richard Develyn said:

I believe I'm right in saying that part 7 is the one episode which we know is less likely to be found than any other, but apart from that they have the same chance of recovery as any other missing episode.

Richard

Interesting you should say that.

Now it's all rather hypothetical but I was always of the belief that DMP7 is almost certainly lost forever, whereas Marco Polo is the most likely of the missing episodes to be rediscovered - with everything else swimming around in the middle.

[Martin Dunne]

Jan 1, 2012 19:15:43 GMT Richard Marple said:

Almost all the accounts for the recovery of episodes 5 & 10 mention they were found in a church basement, but the actual locations to differ with each account.

I've asked before; does anyone have first hand knowledge of this recovery?