How were episodes selected for preservation?

[Guest]

I was wondering how (and which) episodes were selected for preserving... if any actually were. I've heard, for example, The Crusade: Episode 3 was saved as an example of a Season 2 historical, The Underwater Menace: Episode Three due to the apparent high cost of the underwater sequence and The Space Pirates: Episode Two as an example of a "space opera" episode. It seems odd that episodes such as An Unearthly Child (broadcast version), Mission to the Unknown, The Traitors, The Feast of Steven, The Tenth Planet: Episode Four, The Power of the Daleks: Episode One and The War Games: Episode Ten were not preserved.

[B Thomas]

It has been said numerous times in the past that episode selection was conducted in a largely arbitrary fashion. However this cannot be the case for all episodes:

"An Unearthly Child" - All four episodes of the first serial (the only full Hartnell serial to survive in its entirety) were apparently held by the BBC - possibly the reason may have been that it was the first serial and thus historically important.

"The Crusade": episode 3 (The Wheel of Fortune) - this is generally the highest regarded of the 4 episodes in terms of dramatic incident and dynamic dialogue - considered by some to be almost Shakespearan in it's writing and delivery.

"The Underwater Menace": episode 3 - as you rightly point out, this was saved as the BBC had spent rather a lot of money on this and were loath to throw this one out.

The fact remains that episodes 1-3 of "The Tenth Planet" were retained whilst the final episode remains missing would seem to suggest that the BBC intended preserving the entire serial. Certainly this one is also regarded by all and sundry as historically important. (In fact it has been put forward by others that the BBC originally had plans to keep both this story and "The Power of the Daleks" on the shelf in their entirety - strange then that all episodes of the latter serial remain missing to this day...)

Who knows why others were preserved or junked? Possibly film cans were grabbed at random?

The only thing most of us can say is that "The Feast of Steven" was not preserved is that it was considered a bit of Christmas fluff - not to be taken seriously - and a departure from the norm. This, therefore, seriously diminished it's commercial value and so it was never offered for overseas sales. As such it was never telerecorded and the only known copy - the original VT recording - was wiped sometime in 1967 (if I'm not mistaken). It was never intended to be kept and will never be recovered is it is gone for good. It's toast. Finito. Kaput. Full stop.

PS - Who knows what happened to "The Traitors"? Maybe it was lost? Maybe someone pinched it? Maybe it was returned and destroyed? None of us will ever know for sure unless it turns up one day... That's a pretty big IF...

PPS - No Tegan/"Castrovalva" references please...

[Richard Bignell]

Guest-B said:

However this cannot be the case for all episodes:

"An Unearthly Child" - All four episodes of the first serial (the only full Hartnell serial to survive in its entirety) were apparently held by the BBC - possibly the reason may have been that it was the first serial and thus historically important.

Not really. It's likely that an English version of Serial A was only returned to the archive between 1973 and 1976 (the point where the first internal archival lists exist). Indeed programmes such as the Blue Peter 10th anniversary item had to utilise the arabic print of The Firemaker when it wanted to show a clip from the first story.

"The Underwater Menace": episode 3 - as you rightly point out, this was saved as the BBC had spent rather a lot of money on this and were loath to throw this one out.

The episode wasn't preserved as such. It appears to have been retrieved after November 1976.

Richard

[Dan]

Rather than things being selected for preservation, wasn't it the case that things were selected at random for deletion, and what survived is whatever was left?

[Guest]

Thanks or the replies. Even though 108 episodes are lost (probably forever), we are extremely lucky to have 108 soundtracks for the missing episodes - something that I think some fans take for granted. At least I can still enjoy The Feast of Steven in half of its original format. (I can indeed understand why it wasn't preserved, but, personally, I would have preserved it due to its uniqueness.) Do soundtracks exist for many other series?

I wonder what state the archives would be in today if the junking didn't stop until the early eighties - a handful of black and white episodes? Maybe even the Tom Baker era would have suffered (I'd have been the first to burn Robot!). Wasn't Ian Levine (the man so hated by fans for some strange reason considering how much we have to thank him for) indirectly responsible for the end of the junking era?

Off-topic slightly, but the underwater sequence in "Underwater": Episode Three is actually still impressive today (when you can't see the wires, harnesses or shadows of the wire).

[Mark Brown]

would you mind using a name other than guest please?

[Ben]

Sorry.

[John Stewart Miller]

Guest said:

I was wondering how (and which) episodes were selected for preserving... if any actually were. I've heard, for example, The Crusade: Episode 3 was saved as an example of a Season 2 historical, The Underwater Menace: Episode Three due to the apparent high cost of the underwater sequence and The Space Pirates: Episode Two as an example of a "space opera" episode. It seems odd that episodes such as An Unearthly Child (broadcast version), Mission to the Unknown, The Traitors, The Feast of Steven, The Tenth Planet: Episode Four, The Power of the Daleks: Episode One and The War Games: Episode Ten were not preserved.

The theories that any grading criteria were placed on DR WHO originally were discussed many years ago in DWM.

It seems since then, that the ideas that i.e. 'Underwater menace ep 3 was kept for a set piece featuring the fish people' (quote DWM) were suppositions, particularly as some oddments (i.e. War machines 2 and Faceless ones 1) were found abroad in private hands, and thus not selected for individual merit.

In the case of Troughton, what existed in 1981 appears to be a glut of material from the end of his run. It wouldn't be unreasonable to conclude that what was held was simply 'the last on top of the pile', effectively leftovers, and that the odd story in there (i.e. Mind robber or Invasion) was a good example or featured a classic monster was more by chance than design. Some of the recordings were held probably because they were made on 35mm T/Rs for transmission, and thus more expensive to produce.

'Who' tends to be the type of programme which was regarded as general output rather than art, and one where most of the producers prior to Barry Letts didn't seem to take an intervention to ensure it was archived.

It has been quoted that Barry Letts was consulted by the tape holdings department which sometimes kept examples 'here or there to show what a programme was like'. Letts reccommend 'The Daemons' though it seems someone only remembered this at the last minute and saved episode 4.

If this consultation was made in Spring 74, to my knowledge the master reels for 'Macra terror' & 'War machines' still existed, but were subsequently recycled; so presumably there was a decision relating to the 7 year sales contract lapse and B/W being replaced by colour t.v. to concentrate only on colour stock holdings. Even there, only isolated episodes (i.e. Ambassadors of death part 1), pre 'Green death' were chosen.