Iraq?

[PeterinCanada]

Hello,

A Canadian DW fan here. I read on one website (I think the BBC's) that there may still be lost episodes in some of the Middle Eastern countries, but that politics makes it unlikely any investigation will be possible. Given the presumably temporary Western presence in Iraq, has anyone thought to seize the opportunity to check out their archives if any?

Just a thought, am interested to know if this has been tried.

I just watched a surviving episode of "The Moonbase" (#4); I immensely enjoyed it but it was very overexposed. Is this my copy or a general fault of the footage?

Thanks,

Peter

[sean martindill]

There is a similiar thread on Outpost Gallifrey; someone who grew up in Iraq said it was never shown - mainly American TV eas braodcast including Star Trek...

Iran is the best bet for missing Hartnell's someone also said on the same thread that up to the Revolution WHO was shown - it is a small chance it exists though, I would bet that most foreign programming was destroyed.

Iran was asked in 1984 and replied in the negative...

We do know that they purchased many stories from season 1 and 2 (bar Crusade) and the New Zealand sent unedited copies of parts 1 and 2 of Marco Polo to them for transmission (parts 3 -7 were edited by New Zealand).

[ethantyler]

Someone mentioned Iran recently. Did they ever buy any episodes?

[Richard Bignell]

ethantyler said:

Someone mentioned Iran recently. Did they ever buy any episodes?

They did indeed. It seems like it was only a few of the early Hartnell's, the only "missing" one being Marco Polo.

Richard

[David Zientara]

Rather than speculate on whether Iraq has missing episodes, isn't it much more fun to think of all the reasons why you have a better chance of seeing God than finding missing Doctor Who episodes in Iraq/Iran/the third world country of your choice?

[B Thomas]

Ooops - forgot the last line...

It's really not worth getting an ulcer over something we cannot control.

(All intended in the nicest way possible WrightBlan!

[Schnappi Das Kleine Krokodil]

What does the US presence in Iraq have to do with Doctor Who?

[Jon Preddle]

sean said:

Iran was asked in 1984 and replied in the negative...

We do know that they purchased many stories from season 1 and 2 (bar Crusade) and the New Zealand sent unedited copies of parts 1 and 2 of Marco Polo to them for transmission (parts 3 -7 were edited by New Zealand).

Another set of films sent to Iran from New Zealand (in 1972) was a wonderful little thing called Here Come the Double Deckers. I can only guess what the Iranians thought of it!

Following further research into the NZ TV records, I now have the strong belief that the two eps of Marco Polo sent to Iran in 1967 were only samples - if Iran liked what they saw then they would have purchased and acquired the rest of the serial.

Of course, one needs to source an air-date in Iran to be absolutley certain that Polo actually did air there!

I've seen records showing a number of programmes in which NZBC sent eps 1-2 of a 6 part serial to Pakistan for instance while eps 3-6 went into storage - where they gathered dust for 4 more years before being chucked because Pakistan passed on purchasing the programme!

So, if Iran TV did indeed pass Marco Polo, did they send eps 1-2 to another country for consideration?

Jon Preddle



.

[Clive Shaw]

Wasn't Iraqi TV one of the first things destroyed ? I seem to think the coalition had to bring in their own gear when they wanted to restart TV services in Iraq. Afghanistans TV was left un-touched and was still using 2" quad machines from a news report I remember seeing. The Taliban had either banned TV or broadcast purely propaganda. There was a wealth of Afghan culture recorded but never seen in their 2" archive.

Anyway, as the previous poster has said. The troops in Iraq have better things to do then go searching for something that is not going to be there in the first place. Let them get on with their real job and then get out of the country.

Fair enough, this is a missing episodes forum, but howsabout a few more achievable endeavours rather than the pipe dream fantasies of DW fandom. If you want to be taken seriously then you need to demonstrate that you understand how the world of media and television companies function.

[PeterinCanada]

I take the point of CliveUk, but I'm not sure what the more "practical" approaches suggested are. Enlighten me/us? I noted a similar debate around a NZ fan's idea of trying to get permission to go in and slowly look at everything in the NZTV archives.