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Uganda
Dec 17, 2011 16:27:47 GMT
Post by Douglas Wulf on Dec 17, 2011 16:27:47 GMT
are there any cases where you can definitely say all the prints sold of a particular serial are accounted for as destroyed? No. I don't rule anything out. I am convinced there are more films with private collectors, less convinced about overseas. But regardless, I don't think anyone can rule out any episode from turning up. I wouldn't even rule out a rogue FR or 'Feast of Steven'; just because Ents didn't film record it, doesn't mean to say it wasn't FR'd for internal review. And no, don't read anything into that. I haven't found a copy of it! Regards, Paul Just one point ... You mention the possibility of more films with private collectors but with less of a chance of films turning up overseas. However, private collectors in other countries, especially in such places as Australia and New Zealand where lots of prints were sent, seem almost as feasible as those in the UK, given that 'The Lion' was found with an overseas private collector. Sadly, a private collector in Sierra Leone might be a bit too much to hope for, I'll admit!
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Post by Douglas Wulf on Dec 16, 2011 17:06:49 GMT
Was Troughton able to hammer a nail into his own nose? No, he wasn't. Now that's real talent. ;-)
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Post by Douglas Wulf on Dec 11, 2011 19:12:13 GMT
This is delightful news.
What would be even more delightful would be a box set of The Crusade and Galaxy 4 with the five missing episodes animated and a box set of The Underwater Menace and The Moonbase with the four missing episodes animated.
Three of these four stories have no more missing footage than The Reign of Terror (two episodes each). Galaxy 4 is still missing three full episodes, but we have about 8 minutes of the first episode to use as a guide, which would mean that making an animated version of that episode would be easier.
Also, there are telesnaps for the Underwater Menace and Moonbase episodes that would be helpful. This was not the case for animating missing episodes of The Invasion and The Reign of Terror.
Lastly, there would obviously be visual references for the end of Galaxy 4 episode 2 and the start of Galaxy 4 episode 4 and the other beginnings and endings of neighboring episodes. This is not the case for stories that are missing in full.
The only other stories with just one, two, or three missing episodes are Mission to the Unknown (1, but a special case given that it links with The Daleks' Masterplan), The Tenth Planet (1), The Ice Warriors (2), and The Celestial Toymaker (3). All others have four or more missing segments, so it would be a bigger job to fill in the gaps with animation.
What is also nice is that these two Troughton stories are in direct sequence and that these two Hartnell stories are also near to one another in the story sequence and have a full run of existing episodes between them. Thus, filling in the gaps with animation would allow for more than one story to be viewed in broadcast sequence.
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Post by Douglas Wulf on Dec 11, 2011 6:10:18 GMT
"They shouldn't have waited so long to check for those episodes" can now be added as a further regret on top of "They shouldn't have thrown away those episodes!" Hindsight is 20/20!
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Post by Douglas Wulf on Oct 26, 2011 3:48:16 GMT
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Post by Douglas Wulf on Oct 14, 2011 3:40:09 GMT
The more people involved in the broad search out in the wider public, the better. In other words, it is perhaps only through people contacting other people directly that film prints sitting in someone's attic or closet might be discovered.
On the other hand, in the case of film archives and broadcasters, official channels are certainly best. And, fortunately, efforts are now being made through official channels, as we hear from Paul.
It seems to me that fan efforts are therefore most usefully directed outward to the wider community where missing footage may be located in "unofficial" locations.
For example, I know two individuals who have gone to work in Zambia. Before they each left the U.S., I simply made them aware of the missing episode situation with British television generally, and told them if they ever happen across old film prints while traveling around Zambia, they should take note of them, since they might be highly valuable! If more and more people were simply made aware of the situation, something might someday turn up in some unexpected location.
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Post by Douglas Wulf on Jun 8, 2011 17:14:47 GMT
I don't know what the BBC has planned, but my own hope would be the following ...
1. Take one last good look worldwide (to the extent that such a search is feasible) for missing episodes of '60s Doctor Who and other lost BBC films as well. There is at least a chance that if a search is performed, something might be found, and any find would be sensational.
2. Once it is determined that additional lost episodes cannot be located through normal channels (setting aside mislabeled film cans, films in attics, and other other situations that are mostly impossible to check), it would be splendid one day to be able to view the remaining 104 (of 108) missing episodes also in animated form in a style roughly uniform to the Invasion (and, presumably, Reign of Terror). There is such an interest in animated versions, that I think it may very well come about eventually at some point in the future, but this may not happen quickly due to the costs involved. However, just as the full value of the original episodes (VHS and DVD release) was not realized when they were discarded, the long-term financial return on animated versions of the missing episodes created now might be greater than is presently understood. Yes, there are the immediate profits from the initial DVD sales, but there could also be season sets on DVD, Blu-ray re-releases, downloads, etc. etc. perhaps in the future. It could make good financial sense to have the entire classic series back in one visual format or another.
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Post by Douglas Wulf on Jun 1, 2011 17:49:31 GMT
Despite all the hoaxes, we should all be assured that the Restoration Team indeed faithfully follows up on these leads. They are not overlooked. That's why I posted "Good luck Restoration Team!" We hear rather quickly when the lead proves to be a dead end and we also hear when an episode is (once in a blue moon) actually recovered.
It is amazing that DG doesn't seem to realize that we are no longer likely to jump up and down with excitement shouting "Space Pirates 5! Space Pirates 5!" The most likely scenario with such postings is a hoax, the second most likely scenario is some sort of honest mistake (such as people who mix up hearing that someone has a recon of an episode with having a film of the missing original), and the least likely scenario is that there is indeed a real film print of a missing episode. We will only jump up and down with excitement shouting "Space Pirates 5! Space Pirates 5!" when the Restoration Team announces its recovery (if any additional episode of Space Pirates, of all the missing stories, would indeed prompt quite that level of excitement, though it would certainly be most welcome in any case).
Apparently, it is enough for DG just to get a call from the Restoration Team to satisfy his really pathetic need for attention. Fire fighters and police have to deal with fools who waste everyone's time with false alarms too. Aesop (c. 620-564 BC) wrote 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf,' so this pathology has been part of the human condition for a long time.
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Post by Douglas Wulf on May 31, 2011 5:09:03 GMT
The Pertwee Splink! P.I.F. is available on the Network "Charley Says" DVD set. Thanks!
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Post by Douglas Wulf on May 31, 2011 5:08:19 GMT
Good luck Restoration Team!
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Post by Douglas Wulf on May 30, 2011 5:18:00 GMT
With recent posts about lost Hartnell and Troughton interviews and such, I just wondered if there was only ever the one 30-second advert with Jon Pertwee for the Green Cross Code made.
'Splink' (even if only the one 30 second film is all there is) would certainly make a fun extra on some upcoming Pertwee DVD release. Pertwee seems to be very Doctor-ish in it.
If a longer extra were desired, from what I can see on YouTube, many of the Green Cross Code adverts have a sci fi theme to them (with David Prowse, a robot, and so forth appearing), so others could be included too potentially, even if not featuring Pertwee.
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Post by Douglas Wulf on May 18, 2011 16:36:27 GMT
Something that MAY be related is this question? "What is the average age of a film collector?" I imagine some of these people must be getting up there in age. Not to wish anyone to die or anything terrible like that, but it is still possible that there are people hoarding prints, and if they pass away their next of kin may return them to the BBC. Or their next of kin may toss such old films out. However, I don't think anyone is knowingly hoarding prints. When my wife left a job at an advertising agency, there were a few films in film cans of TV commercials that were being tossed out. She got them out of the trash because the film cans looked interesting. We have them in our basement, but because we have no projector, we have no idea exactly what is on them. That's the kind of situation that happened with Francis Watson and Day of Armageddon, as you can read about here ... lostdrwho.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=interviews&action=display&thread=61
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Post by Douglas Wulf on May 9, 2011 0:49:58 GMT
perhaps this thread should be renamed 'Africa no progress' as there doesnt appear to be any news of any progress on here The progress very well may not be an episode discovery. Rather, the progress being made here involves making progress on checking archives in Africa to see if something MIGHT be there. Progress on checking Africa at least holds the possibility of a recovery from an African archive, whereas not checking basically holds no such hope. We can't expect that recovery of lost footage would follow a particular timetable.
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Post by Douglas Wulf on Mar 30, 2011 2:43:11 GMT
I'm currently helping another person prepare to teach in Zambia. This is the second such person that I've helped. I'm just going to tell her about the situation with lost BBC TV in general and that any old film cans (especially with the BBC label) that might be laying around in that country could be something valuable. It can't hurt to make her aware.
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Post by Douglas Wulf on Mar 15, 2011 6:08:09 GMT
It is wonderful that the countries of Africa are being investigated. Some of them, it seems, can now basically be crossed off the list since there appears to be nothing in the film archives there.
However, it would seem that there is at least a slight possibility of films somewhere existing in private hands in perhaps some of these countries. I wonder if a local appeal for 16mm BBC film prints has been considered, perhaps through the newspaper or some other way.
In particular, something could be tried in those countries where the bicycling trail of known prints is believed to have stopped and where the exact fate of the prints is not known for sure.
Yes, it is a grasping at straws sort of strategy, but perhaps something along those lines could be considered just in the very odd circumstance that there's a Zambian counterpart to Francis Watson out there with upwards of 74 missing episodes of Doctor Who under his bed! :-)
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