Is that it for film inserts?

[johngrundy]

We frequently talk about the hope of whole episodes being in the hands of private film collectors, but how likely is it that some might still have film inserts, A/B roll negatives as yet not known about in existence? Or is it more than likely what has already been salvaged or discovered is the lot, with all else having gone straight in the bin at editing stage, long ago?

[RWels]

Two come to mind: Terry Jones who had the filmed inserts for Complete and Utter History - but not all of them. (He was writing and acting in it.)
And there was that collector who had some DW that was borrowed for DVD and again for the BR.

So yes but I don't think that it happens a lot. Usually it's pre-edited.

[John Wall]

All sorts of things might turn up.

[Rob Moss]

Nov 14, 2024 11:01:31 GMT johngrundy said:

We frequently talk about the hope of whole episodes being in the hands of private film collectors, but how likely is it that some might still have film inserts, A/B roll negatives as yet not known about in existence? Or is it more than likely what has already been salvaged or discovered is the lot, with all else having gone straight in the bin at editing stage, long ago?

As with all missing footage questions, the answer is “no idea”. There’s every possibility that someone may have snatched something from a skip, or just pocketed it before it was junked. Equally, there’s every possibility that we’ve had everything that was saved and the rest is gone forever. We won’t know unless it turns up.

[alanreilly1978]

And with Ian Levine saving the very first dalek stories,who knows what other treasure trove of missing stuff that the fans have and might
still part with,we still live in hope?

[Richard Bignell]

Nov 15, 2024 17:01:14 GMT alanreilly1978 said:

And with Ian Levine saving the very first dalek stories,who knows what other treasure trove of missing stuff that the fans have and might
still part with,we still live in hope?

The one thing really doesn't have anything to do with the other.

[John Green]

I think it was on Footage Detectives, a while ago, that they were trying to identify individual frames (not Doctor Who) that someone had retained. Not quite the last scene of Cinema Paradiso!

[timothyk]

There was a recent Radio Free Skaro interview with 1960s film editor Chris Hayden, in which he revealed he has some film material from The War Games! (he used it for his showreel). I expect we'll have to wait for an official release before finding out exactly what it is, but it proves original film material can still turn up!

[Nicholas Fitzpatrick]

I suspect there was likely to be more film inserts and the like in circulation than full episodes back in the day. Both because of the portability, and the more sporadic nature of the disposal.

[johngrundy]

Thanks for the encouraging feedback. Let's hope something does indeed resurface, like The War Games material mentioned above.

Can anyone clarify this as I'm not sure if it is correct, but I was informed by someone at a convention once that a certain individual who worked at BBC Villers House 'had it in' for Doctor Who, and took great pleasure in destroying many episodes as well as many original film inserts, such as those belonging to Genesis of the Daleks, Pyramids of Mars, and Power of the Daleks? Apparently Sue Malden stepped in to put a stop to this. Is there any documented proof of this? What a great shame if true...

[RWels]

Nov 17, 2024 19:54:09 GMT Nicholas Fitzpatrick said:

I suspect there was likely to be more film inserts and the like in circulation than full episodes back in the day. Both because of the portability, and the more sporadic nature of the disposal.

I was thinking in the opposite direction myself. There's only ever one copy of the edited filmed inserts, which goes through less hands than the full episode.
It seems to me like film inserts must therefore be much rarer than film copies. Certainly rarer in private hands.

[John Green]

Didn't a Dalek episode (a negative?) turn up at the BFI (?) recently? missingepisodes.proboards.com/thread/13742/missing-doctor-who-negative-located And enough colour material from a David Attenborough series from the 50s, discovered at the BBC to form the basis of a documentary?
missingepisodes.proboards.com/thread/11487/colour-zoo-quest-finds-23rd

Since film inserts are smaller than, say, a complete run of Marco Polo, there could be a chance of one or two turning up somewhere in the archives-at least I hope so!

[stevegerald]

Nov 16, 2024 14:00:01 GMT timothyk said:

There was a recent Radio Free Skaro interview with 1960s film editor Chris Hayden, in which he revealed he has some film material from The War Games! (he used it for his showreel). I expect we'll have to wait for an official release before finding out exactly what it is, but it proves original film material can still turn up!

He said it was the "first dramatic section" from The War Games.