Quatermass: Missing episodes?

[Jay]

Could someone expand upon the list of missing episodes on the main site, please? Are there missing episodes? I thought they all existed (and are available on Region 2 DVD).

Thanks.

[William Martin]

I take it you mean the series 1 story the quatermass experiment , these were all broadcast live and only the first two were experimentaly Tele-recorded as far as we know the rest went out live only

[John Sewell]

Yeah, the last four episodes of The Quatermass Experiment were never officially recorded, though the odd rumour about them has surfaced from time to time.

Thankfully, Quatermass II and Quatermass And The Pit, which were also transmitted live, were telerecorded, and both still exist, as do the two episodes of Experiment which were recorded. Of these, Pit has been issued on video and dvd, albeit in an edited compilation format.

Jay, The Hammer film adaptations of the first two serials were given a region 2 dvd release fairly recently, and should be available down at your local MVC! Their later version of Pit is available in the UK as part of a pricey Hammer box set. As for getting the BBC's QII and an unexpurgated Pit on dvd, well, we can hope...

[Jay]

Thanks for your replies - I'm still a little confused though.

The Hammer films aside, am I correct in assuming that the BBC produced three television series of Quatermass?

The Quatermass Experiment: The first two episodes exist, but the latter four are believed not to have been recorded.
Quatermass II: A six-part series existing in its entirety?
Quatermass and the Pit: Ditto.

Is that right?

What is that recent Quatermass - The Conclusion box set released on Region 2? (Quatermass and the Pit?)

Thanks again.

[Jay]

Do any soundtracks, as with Doctor Who, exist for the missing episodes? Or was it too early for audio recordings?

[Mark Brown]

Jay said:

What is that recent Quatermass - The Conclusion box set released on Region 2? (Quatermass and the Pit?)

Thanks again.

That is a series produced by thames in the 70s starring John Mills, it's in colour and rather good actually.

[Jay]

Thanks - I understand now. Appreciate your replies.

[William Martin]

Jay said:

Do any soundtracks, as with Doctor Who, exist for the missing episodes? Or was it too early for audio recordings?

no but a tape machine would have been very very very very very expensive and the tapes likewise remember they had only been around for a few years in the uk, the technology was developed in german before the war and taken by the allies after the war, I think frank sinatra helped popularies it by recording his songs on tape masters rather than disk.

Jay said:

Thanks for your replies - I'm still a little confused though.

The Hammer films aside, am I correct in assuming that the BBC produced three television series of Quatermass?

The Quatermass Experiment: The first two episodes exist, but the latter four are believed not to have been recorded.
Quatermass II: A six-part series existing in its entirety?
Quatermass and the Pit: Ditto.

Is that right?

abosloutly 100% correct

[Martin]

Has anyone seen the two epsiodes of The Quatermass Experiment?
Are they likley to ever be commercially released?

[Laurence Piper]

The rumour being that eps 3-5 were also recorded in some form to allow edited recaps of previous eps at the start every week. Whether this is true (and whether they still survive) is unclear...

[Brian Pearce]

William said:

no but a tape machine would have been very very very very very expensive and the tapes likewise remember they had only been around for a few years in the uk, the technology was developed in german before the war and taken by the allies after the war, I think frank sinatra helped popularies it by recording his songs on tape masters rather than disk.

Actually, it was Bing Crosby who used it to record his radio programs for the 1947-1948 season; recording them on the new audiotape medium allowed a degree of editing that wasn't really possible with transcription discs. (Crosby invested $50,000 US in the new Ampex, and his company became the West Coast distributor for the product.)

[William Martin]

Yes, bing not sinatra he certainly saw the potential people were still using wire recorders then, is it true that the early tapes were made of paper rather than plastic?

[Adrian H]

www.bbctv-ap.freeserve.co.uk/quater.htm

[Richard Berry]

Guest-Laurence said:

The rumour being that eps 3-5 were also recorded in some form to allow edited recaps of previous eps at the start every week. Whether this is true (and whether they still survive) is unclear...

I think it's unlikely that any telerecorded clips were used for the recaps. In the surviving episode 2 the recap is given in voiceover over a slow tracking shot of the main cast acting pensive. Maybe clips from film sequences shot for the production (eg the three astronauts together, establishing shots of park) could have been used? Telerecorded recaps WERE used on the two subsequent serials however.

According to Nigel Kneale the final episodes were not telerecorded because the results of the first two were so bad. It's true that episode 2 in particular is very dark, with the scene with the three astronauts talking together almost in silhouette. And a fly was attracted to the screen being telerecorded at the time so can still be seen crawling around on the print today!

And Kneale still has the original "glove" monster he made for the final episode of EXPERIMENT, as well as one of the martian models from THE PIT.

[William Martin]

for which he used his own hand
perhaps home cine is a possible for clips at least?