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Post by Richard Bignell on Aug 5, 2005 23:56:47 GMT
If TV archives have been searched before and found to have nothing why would anyone be making official requests in the future? Because Doctor Who represents only a minute drop in the ocean of missing television and when others who *do* have official reasons to enquire about the existence of such material get in touch with former sales territories, they'd rather not have the door slammed in their face because those archives have found themselves heartily sick of DW fans asking about film recordings of episodes they had for a fortnight over 40 years ago! And if anybody thinks that any overseas television station is simply going to open their archives to a fan simply because they knock on the door asking to be let in so that they can physically search their stocks, they're going to be in for some disappointment. Richard |
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Post by phil morris on Aug 6, 2005 0:32:49 GMT
i can see exactly,the problem now ian levine is right i can see why his post was taken down,as for being unofficial i have made a lot of friends in the tv industry now in africa,i am not cold calling,im going to leave it there,when or if i find anything i will of course return it to its proper place,for all true fans to enjoy....wish me luck
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Post by Darren Menzie on Aug 6, 2005 1:47:59 GMT
[quote author=richardbignell board=who thread=1122964338 post=1123286207
And if anybody thinks that any overseas television station is simply going to open their archives to a fan simply because they knock on the door asking to be let in so that they can physically search their stocks, they're going to be in for some disappointment.
Richard[/quote]
I can see where you are coming from and am not disagreeing with you . For anyone to gain access to an archive they either have to have some "clout" in the industry or know some-one. If someone asks an archive about Dr Who or any other missing material and they have none I'm sure all it takes is a simple "sorry but we have none of the asked about material in our possession."
Surely that isn't hard to do and takes 2 min max. I cannot see any archive getting asked more than 5 times a week if that many. Hardly worth getting pissed off about.
If some-one can get in the door then I cannot see any problem. Like you said they won't let every Tom,Dick or Harry who asks into their archive.
I could be wrong though and archives get asked about Dr Who episodes every hour of the day.
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Post by Stuart Douglas on Aug 6, 2005 9:58:33 GMT
If someone asks an archive about Dr Who or any other missing material and they have none I'm sure all it takes is a simple "sorry but we have none of the asked about material in our possession." Surely that isn't hard to do and takes 2 min max. I cannot see any archive getting asked more than 5 times a week if that many. Hardly worth getting pissed off about. I must be quite a grumpy person, but if I had to field five phone calls a week from people asking basically the same daft question, I'd get sick of it very quickly... Stuart |
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Post by Ash Stewart on Aug 6, 2005 13:28:53 GMT
If someone asks an archive about Dr Who or any other missing material and they have none I'm sure all it takes is a simple "sorry but we have none of the asked about material in our possession." Surely that isn't hard to do and takes 2 min max. I cannot see any archive getting asked more than 5 times a week if that many. Hardly worth getting pissed off about. I must be quite a grumpy person, but if I had to field five phone calls a week from people asking basically the same daft question, I'd get sick of it very quickly... Stuart Same here. And then I'd be tempted to reply things like "We had this one about some giant crabs we found at the back of a cupboard last week, but we threw it in the bin 'cos it was just some old black and white thing."  |
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Post by Darren Menzie on Aug 7, 2005 1:08:14 GMT
I'm sorry but i can't see TV archives getting bombarded every day off the week with requests to search their archives.
I agree with Richard that they won't just let anyone into their "vaults" for a squiz and agree that its probably a pointless exercise.
I just cannot fathom any tv station getting enough requests from fans that when an "official enquiry" comes along they will "slam the door in their face"
Has this really ever happened?
Is there really that many Dr Who fans that bother archives. Maybe there is and I'm ignorant sitting here at the bottom of the world in Tasmania.
How many requests do other readers of this forum think get put to archives each day?
Just curious, I have never approached any archive but how many readers of this forum have?
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Post by Wright Blan on Aug 7, 2005 2:49:30 GMT
If TV archives have been searched before and found to have nothing why would anyone be making official requests in the future? Because Doctor Who represents only a minute drop in the ocean of missing television and when others who *do* have official reasons to enquire about the existence of such material get in touch with former sales territories, they'd rather not have the door slammed in their face because those archives have found themselves heartily sick of DW fans asking about film recordings of episodes they had for a fortnight over 40 years ago! And if anybody thinks that any overseas television station is simply going to open their archives to a fan simply because they knock on the door asking to be let in so that they can physically search their stocks, they're going to be in for some disappointment. Richard And how many people with "official" reasons to go looking for missing episodes have been refused entrance to foreign broadcaster's archives because of an overwhelming number of letters from "Doctor Who" fans asking for an archive search? Do you have personal experience with this, Richard? And who are those "official"people anyway? I can only recall one time where someone was sent to Africa by the BBC looking for missing Doctor Who eps., and that was sometime in 1984. The BBC seem to have left the job of episode retrieval to the "non-officials", or at least those in the broadcast industry who search for missing episodes on their free time. And if you had read Phil's posts you would have found out he has contacts in the African broadcast industry. It's not like he's going to go down to Africa and stage a sit in untill they let him into the vaults. |
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Post by Ian Levine on Aug 7, 2005 14:46:55 GMT
From Ian Levine
Phil Morris, please contact me.
Unlike Richard Bignell, I believe with the right approach we CAN turn something up. When I found fourteen episodes in Nigeria, I did so with my own initiative. If you have contacts in Africa, I want to encourage you to help us.
I can't post up my private e-mail address, but if you e-mail Paul Vanezis, he will give it to you, and he's a moderator on here.
Please don't be put off by the others, and please do indeed contact me.
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Post by Richard Bignell on Aug 7, 2005 18:48:36 GMT
And how many people with "official" reasons to go looking for missing episodes have been refused entrance to foreign broadcaster's archives because of an overwhelming number of letters from "Doctor Who" fans asking for an archive search? Who's talking about being refused entrance to a foreign broadcaster's archive? I'm talking on a more basic level than that - an archive even taking time to look at a letter for more than five seconds. And in answer to your question, yes, it has happened in the past with archives getting fed-up of third party requests. And if *you'd* read the posts correctly, Wright, you would have clearly seen that Phil stated this after I had made my posting. ;D Richard |
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Post by Richard Bignell on Aug 7, 2005 19:03:56 GMT
Unlike Richard Bignell, I believe with the right approach we CAN turn something up. I'm not aware that I've ever suggested that there is no more material to find, Ian. But to quote your own words, it is about taking the *right* approach and putting in the time and effort to contact the correct people who will understand that the request is a sincere and genuine one. For instance, back in the 80s when you were actively episode hunting, I gather you spent a small fortune on the telephone making the effort to talk to right people and engage their interest. Of course, at that time, you and a few others like Paul were pretty much the only ones doing it. Another twenty years on, and with *many* fans having sent letters making enquiries of overseas archives about missing DW episodes, the ball-game may well be rather different now! But I'll certainly be as pleased as anyone if you managed to find some long-lost gem! ;D Richard |
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Post by Stephen Neve on Aug 11, 2005 16:07:13 GMT
From Ian Levine Phil Morris, please contact me. Unlike Richard Bignell, I believe with the right approach we CAN turn something up. When I found fourteen episodes in Nigeria, I did so with my own initiative. If you have contacts in Africa, I want to encourage you to help us. I can't post up my private e-mail address, but if you e-mail Paul Vanezis, he will give it to you, and he's a moderator on here. Please don't be put off by the others, and please do indeed contact me. Hi Ian, Don't get dishartened by what others have said on this forum. In fact they are right in saying that tv stations are less likely to listen to an enquiry from a fan than someone with AUTHORITY from the BBC, but on the otherhand, those that the TV stations are more likely to answer any enquries from are not interested in contacting stations again. Probally for a a number of reasons. 1. They don't belive anymore episodes could still be lurking in the archives. 2. An exhaustive search was conducted through the 80's and early 90's and so if there was anything there, they would have come across it. At the end of the day it comes down to the fans to exstensivly scour the worlds archives in case anything was missed the first time, nobody else is going to do it. I wish you the best of luck Ian, its great to know that summon is prepared to investigate the possiblitiy that episodes may still be in foreign Archive. As a suggestion Ian I still belive it is possible Iran may have lost episodes, they have never been coopreative with any offical enquries over the years. Many Regards Stephen  |
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Post by Bill Spiby on Aug 14, 2005 22:24:40 GMT
Speaking as someone who has personally contacted over 500 stations and provided information to enable others to contact another 750+, I can honestly say I've never had any significantly negative responses from any stations whatsoever. In fact to the contrary I have been pleasantly surprised at how friendly and full of encouragement they have been (some examples are displayed over on my thread on the OG Forum in the DVD section).
In all my dealings, I have never once encountered a station that has complained about being overwhelmed with requests to search their archives. In fact I've never had any responses that have indicated that a station has had a similar request at all.
Phil Morris has been one of the biggest supporters of my own search initiative. His work circumstances are such that he is able to make personal contact with stations. He has an understanding of local cultural issues which are often completely lost on the rest of us.
I must say that I never cease to be amazed at how quick people are to discourage people like Phil and myself. Keep up the good work Phil and best wishes to Ian Slitheen and Paul Vanezis for their new push.
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Post by Jon Preddle on Aug 16, 2005 6:52:19 GMT
A good place to start with any extensive search of this nature is not film archives - but newspaper archives.
I found micro-fiched copies of Singapore and Rhodesian newspapers from the 1960s at my local University here in New Zealand!
And by perusing these papers I was able to find the air-dates for Doctor Who episodes. By knowing what eps screened - and more importantly when these aired and on what channel- it helps narrow down the field of what to look for.
If the foreign stations could be informed in the letters going out to them when they aired the programme it might aid them in the search.
Micro-fiched or archives of old newspapers for a number of countries that did screen Who - such as Hong Kong - must be held not only in that country but also around the world in University or EMBASSY archives.
It's worth checking.
Jon Preddle
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Post by Richard Bignell on Aug 16, 2005 7:35:02 GMT
I found micro-fiched copies of Singapore and Rhodesian newspapers from the 1960s at my local University here in New Zealand! Funnily enough, I was discussing your research from Singapore and Rhodesia with Paul V last night! ;D Richard |
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Post by Jon Preddle on Aug 17, 2005 0:49:18 GMT
I found micro-fiched copies of Singapore and Rhodesian newspapers from the 1960s at my local University here in New Zealand! Funnily enough, I was discussing your research from Singapore and Rhodesia with Paul V last night! ;D Richard Hi Richard And I got an email from Paul about this last night, too! Jon |
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