Was Macra shown in New Zealand (revisited)?

[Brad Phipps]

Jul 29, 2013 4:01:36 GMT djwanda said:

at least one episode of The highlanders survived at TVNZ past its junking date as an ex TVNZ employee recalls viewing the print when he worked there.. his recollection came to light at The Time of The Crusade discovery and was reported in Paul Scoones excellent fanzine

What issue was that?

[djwanda]

Sometime around The Crusade discovery I only got 3 or 4 issues and ive never really participated in fandom/forums so I could only of read it there or on The Restoration site - the ex employee was very vague about the episode- which is natural due to the nature of his job and the length of time ago since he saw it but he remembered watching a b/w episode of Who in the late 70s which featured the Redcoats.sorry that's all I know.

[D. Frame]

Jul 29, 2013 5:04:02 GMT djwanda said:

Sometime around The Crusade discovery I only got 3 or 4 issues and ive never really participated in fandom/forums so I could only of read it there or on The Restoration site - the ex employee was very vague about the episode- which is natural due to the nature of his job and the length of time ago since he saw it but he remembered watching a b/w episode of Who in the late 70s which featured the Redcoats.sorry that's all I know.

It wasn't an advert for Butlins, by any chance?

[Rob Moss]

djwanda - glad you could join us, but would you mind changing your user name to display your real name, please, as per forum rules. Ta!

[richardlong]

Jul 29, 2013 5:04:02 GMT djwanda said:

Sometime around The Crusade discovery I only got 3 or 4 issues and ive never really participated in fandom/forums so I could only of read it there or on The Restoration site - the ex employee was very vague about the episode- which is natural due to the nature of his job and the length of time ago since he saw it but he remembered watching a b/w episode of Who in the late 70s which featured the Redcoats.sorry that's all I know.

Could that just be an episode of The War Games?

[Brad Phipps]

Jul 29, 2013 4:01:36 GMT djwanda said:

at least one episode of The highlanders survived at TVNZ past its junking date as an ex TVNZ employee recalls viewing the print when he worked there.. his recollection came to light at The Time of The Crusade discovery and was reported in Paul Scoones excellent fanzine

Ah, finally found it:

nzdwfc.tetrap.com/archive/tsv58/lifeandtimes.html

In late 1977 or 1978, my best friend Lance and I were avid sci-fi buffs and collected all the Target novelisations. This caused endless tears, as despite Masterton having a population of 18,000 people, only one copy of each novelisation came in, and whoever missed out on buying it had to wait months for a back order to turn up. In fact, it wasn't until 1992 that I finally got a copy of the Chris Achilleos-covered Doomsday Weapon! (Damn you Lance - not that I was holding a grudge or anything.)

Anyway, Lance's older brother's best friend worked in some capacity at the Avalon television studios in Wellington. One day, no doubt due to our incessant pestering about when Doctor Who was coming back, he mentioned that there were still episodes in storage at the Avalon studios. He mentioned that there was one about Scotsmen and a Scottish war - I didn't realise it at the time but it had to be The Highlanders, which indicates that it survived at least until 1978, and was in storage at Avalon. (At which stage a bandsaw probably ripped through the film and the remains were fed to the warthogs at Wellington Zoo!)

[Brad Phipps]

Jul 30, 2013 4:57:12 GMT Brad Phipps said:

Jul 29, 2013 4:01:36 GMT djwanda said:

at least one episode of The highlanders survived at TVNZ past its junking date as an ex TVNZ employee recalls viewing the print when he worked there.. his recollection came to light at The Time of The Crusade discovery and was reported in Paul Scoones excellent fanzine

Ah, finally found it:

nzdwfc.tetrap.com/archive/tsv58/lifeandtimes.html

In late 1977 or 1978, my best friend Lance and I were avid sci-fi buffs and collected all the Target novelisations. This caused endless tears, as despite Masterton having a population of 18,000 people, only one copy of each novelisation came in, and whoever missed out on buying it had to wait months for a back order to turn up. In fact, it wasn't until 1992 that I finally got a copy of the Chris Achilleos-covered Doomsday Weapon! (Damn you Lance - not that I was holding a grudge or anything.)

Anyway, Lance's older brother's best friend worked in some capacity at the Avalon television studios in Wellington. One day, no doubt due to our incessant pestering about when Doctor Who was coming back, he mentioned that there were still episodes in storage at the Avalon studios. He mentioned that there was one about Scotsmen and a Scottish war - I didn't realise it at the time but it had to be The Highlanders, which indicates that it survived at least until 1978, and was in storage at Avalon. (At which stage a bandsaw probably ripped through the film and the remains were fed to the warthogs at Wellington Zoo!)

This may also solve that other riddle - if Neil Lambess did indeed see the Macra Terror in 1974/75 after their known destruction dates then it could have been borrowed from Avalon...

[Brad Phipps]

Hell, let's go a step further and say they had a handful;

Marco Polo 7 (tin found in 1990)
The Highlanders (unknown, if they saw a 'Scottish war' then maybe the first ep)
The Moonbase 3 (tin found in 1990)
The Macra Terror (at least two eps)

[Sue Butcher]

Let's hope some of these escaped to collectors in NZ.

[Andrew Parker]

Jul 30, 2013 7:20:44 GMT Brad Phipps said:

Hell, let's go a step further and say they had a handful;

Marco Polo 7 (tin found in 1990)
The Highlanders (unknown, if they saw a 'Scottish war' then maybe the first ep)
The Moonbase 3 (tin found in 1990)
The Macra Terror (at least two eps)

If anyone of those was found that would be amazing (although more amazing if it was Moonbase part 3 or a Troughton episode!

[Peter Johnston]

Any new updates on this?

[Mark Vanderlinde-Abernathy]

Been talking about this in one of the other recent threads. Basically, no. No updates.

[Neil Lambess]

yep basicly im still looking for Macra...
David Creighton (thanks Mark ) did some excellent research and found old mates of mine who had also seen the school screening..
Jon Preddle thinks it may have been returned and Junked after the school screening (and he could be correct) I think its still out there somewhere....(but after 40 years the trails gone a bit cold..)
so much ex NZBC/TVNZ stuff turns up all over the place , i wouldnt rule out something else Who related turning up down here eventually......

[Neil Lambess]

Jul 30, 2013 5:30:34 GMT Brad Phipps said:

Jul 30, 2013 4:57:12 GMT Brad Phipps said:

Ah, finally found it:

This may also solve that other riddle - if Neil Lambess did indeed see the Macra Terror in 1974/75 after their known destruction dates then it could have been borrowed from Avalon...

....I did ! why does nobody believe me....

[Greg H]

May 14, 2014 13:44:06 GMT Neil Lambess said:

Jul 30, 2013 5:30:34 GMT Brad Phipps said:

This may also solve that other riddle - if Neil Lambess did indeed see the Macra Terror in 1974/75 after their known destruction dates then it could have been borrowed from Avalon...

....I did ! why does nobody believe me....

I believe you Neil. It would be an awfully weird thing to make up after finding an actual missing episode of Who Happy hunting dude!