Tomb of the Cybermen

[Alexjones8]

Though not strictly a missing story anymore, I'm curious about the form in which this story was found. I understand that it was recovered from Hong Kong in an edited state in that some scenes had been deleted either for broadcast time or censorship reasons. Due to the relatively recent discovery of censor clips from the Commonwealth Archive in Australia, have any trimmed scenes been "re-united" with their respective episodes (perhaps by the restoration team)? If so, were these previously absent clips included on any edition the DVD release? Please forgive any glaring ignorance on my part.

[John Sewell]

I think the edited Tomb story is a fan myth, like the supposedly redundant second copy that was alleged to have been returned after the story was found in Hong Kong. ISTR that the edit in question was supposedly the Cybercontroller's death scene.

The Doctor Who Programme Guide states that the prints were complete and unedited, and I think it's been mentioned on the Restoration Team site a couple of times. As far as I know, the only Who stories (so far) which have had edited-out bits reinstated are The Time Meddler (episode 1 Tardis scene put back in from a privately held copy, some fight scenes in later eps still missing), The War Machines (various talky, fight and battle scenes from the Aussie censor clips, and the scene with the man in the phone box from (I think) Blue Peter, still some incomplete scenes) and The Deadly Assassin (episode 3's cliffhanger, edited out of the master tape, put back in from an off-air source)

[Mark Parmerter]

I've just recently published an online article reviewing the recovery of "Tomb of the Cybermen" on my missing Doctor Who episodes website. Paul Vanezis, Stephen James Walker, and David Buck discuss the details regarding its recovery, and nowhere in my research did I come across mention - let alone confirmation - that the prints returned from Hong Kong were in any way edited. If you'd like to read the article you will find it at www.geocities.com/markles2000/excavatingcybermen.html


All the best,
Mark Parmerter
Doctor Who Gateway, www.geocities.com/markles2000/index.html

[Alexjones8]

Many thanks, gents.

[andrew martin]

The existing episodes of "Tomb" are the same length as the transmitted durations - if anything they are longer by a second or two (which is the normal allowance to avoid the viewer's picture suddenly going black at the end of programmes!) - so, no, the prints returned from Hong Kong are not cut.