October 2nd, 2013
124 comments
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Radio Times-Newly Found Episodes Released Soon
Doctor Who: newly discovered lost episodes to be released for sale this week
Make of this what you will…
Recently recovered missing Patrick Troughton episodes will be made available digitally later this week, RadioTimes.com can reveal
Read the full story at www.radiotimes.com
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Nick
October 8th, 2013 - 2:02pmSurely the BBC must realise that any genuine fan over about 35 will rush out and buy any missing episodes put out on DVD almost immediately, and they would much rather do that than download them?
Are the BBC a lot more hard up than we thought or is the seller driving such a hard bargain that they simply can’t afford to buy the episodes from him?
As the BBC owns the copyright anyway, surely the seller (if “seller” is indeed an appropriate term?) is bang out of order by demanding more than a nominal fee for their safe return to the archives in which they belong?
Anonymous
October 8th, 2013 - 1:46pmThat’s Ian Levine’s rant provided more details.
Seemingly these episodes were found 3 years ago, although the BBC have only just managed to get a hold of them. Seemingly further episodes are being held to ransom and if the iTunes sales are successful further episodes may be found.
Don’t know if there is any truth in this or it is just speculation on Levine’s part, but we certainly should be making an effort and getting a hold of these episodes when they go up regardless of what other rumours there are.
booboo
October 8th, 2013 - 1:49pmso the jist is they are putting them on itunes to make a quick buck so they can afford to buy the others that are being held to ransom?
Some bloke
October 8th, 2013 - 1:59pmI think that sounds a little stupid. I don’t think there’s any point in speculating stuff like that, when we’ll find out the full details (hopefully) on thursday
booboo
October 8th, 2013 - 2:20pmTrue but it wont stop people
HornsOfAzal
October 8th, 2013 - 2:16pmDoes that sound as bizarre to you as it does to me…..
Nick
October 8th, 2013 - 2:22pmToo right it does! Can’t speak for everyone, but I for one have already bought all of the official CDs of the missing eps as well as Lost In Time and the rest of the DVDs. Not to mention buying all the novelisations the BBC doubtless made some money from. I will definitely be buying any further discoveries on DVD in the hopes of completing a collection I’d assumed could never be completed….but I’m not happy about paying top dollar to download and subsequently buying the DVDs as well. If I’m going to have to buy these same stories two more times, they had better be offering me Web Of Fear or Evil Of The Daleks as downloads as opposed to The Massacre or The Myth Makers!
Nick
October 8th, 2013 - 1:40pmAnyone seen Ian Levine’s latest twitter? It was posted half an hour or so ago. He is telling us that if we want to see any more missing episodes we need to pay real money to download whatever they make available at the end of this week immediately….at £15.00 a shot. I’m assuming that’s £15.00 per story, NOT per episode?!
Are we supposed to believe that they won’t issue this stuff on DVD?! I would much rather buy the DVD as I’m far from 100% computer literate and on top of that, I won’t really feel like I’ve got this stuff until I’ve bought the DVDs.
I usually wait 2 or 3 years before buying the official DVDs as by then I can usually get them for half price or less. That suits me because I’m not exactly well off. As these new DVDs will feature eps I have never ever seen I may just go out and pay full price for them and do it a whole lot sooner than I would normally….but I ain’t gonna buy them TWICE!
Comments, guys…?
booboo
October 8th, 2013 - 1:52pmall sounds quite astonishing to me
If they are going to itunes 1st because they need some immediate return and its takes time to get them to DVD then fine, i will wait for the DVD.
you couldn’t make this up could you!
Nick
October 8th, 2013 - 8:46amAnon…. When I said “multi-million dollar”, of course I don’t know the precise budgets for the current incarnation of the show, but one thing is for sure, pro rata, it’s a hell of a lot more than was spent on the show back in the 60s, which if I remember rightly was about £2000 per episode. You only have to look at how many names are shown in the end credits, all of whom are presumably being paid, to see how big the current show is by comparison to its ancestor.
Horns of Azal…. I too take a very stern view of the new series. I have watched every episode at least 3 or 3 times. The Eccleston series didn’t impress me at all. The Smith episodes leave something to be desired too, in my opinion. But for me, probably two thirds of the Tennant material is absolutely wonderful. And there is absolutely nothing from the last eight years that is not ten times better than the McGann movie, which managed to win the dubious honour of being even worse than Time And The Rani, a singular feat I hoped and prayed would never come to pass. I watch Tomb Of The Cybermen and I think “Yeah, that’s okay, but it’s not as good as I imagined it would be when I read the book, and it’s certainly a disappointment following all the hype I’d been exposed to for so many years prior to and immediately after its discovery”. Just calling it like I see it. Personally I much prefer the Krotons or The Mind Robber as a complete story, and The Invasion for me beats all the other 60s cybermen shows hands down, even if it does have 2 eps missing.
Wouldn’t do for us all to agree on everything would it? Life would be so boring if we did. I do like both the Pertwee Auton stories too, but they were such a disappointment to me when I first saw them back in 1986. I had read both books about ten times. They were my favourites, and I ached to see the original shows with every particle of my being. I feel the same way about Planet Of The Spiders. I did see that one on transmission and thought it was fantastic. Seeing it again in 1986 I had a rude awakening. But I still love all that Pertwee stuff. My memories of the original broadcasts are so wonderful that what I see now I see through an all-forgiving nostalgic lens I unfortunately can’t see the 60s eps through because I never saw them at the time. I can only assess them on their own merits as a grown up. The truth is that some of them are an awful lot better than others. But I still want the missing eps returned. All of them. And even my least wanted stories I will happily sit through five times in the first week to get my fix. We all love this show and we’re all very precious about it. If only 10 or 20 missing episodes turn up it will still be the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my whole life.
HornsOfAzal
October 8th, 2013 - 11:25amYoure right it wouldnt do for us to agree on everything Im one of the few people who likes Time and the Rani especially the splendid scenes where the Tetrap attacks the 7th Doctor with its net gun in ep 1 and the Doctor is trapped into the Ranis brain reading device at the end of Part 3…
Problem is there are one or two stories that certain persons seem to think we SHOULDN’T like and that automatically boosts their appeal to me….
Nick
October 8th, 2013 - 11:59amI’m so with you on that one. I’ve always loved Time Monster, Planet Of The Daleks, Creature From The Pit, Timelash, Greatest Show In The Galaxy and several other stories that get a perennial bad press. Plus I always thought The Daemons and Deadly Assassin were a bit over-rated; despite being great, neither of them are as good as Pyramids Of Mars, Seeds Of Doom, or even Horror Of Fang Rock for me. At the end of the day it’s hard to find a classic Dr Who story that’s entirely without merit and it’s all down to personal preferences as to which One believes to be the best.
HornsOfAzal
October 8th, 2013 - 12:24pmNow thats odd because Ive always thought that one classic series which is overrated is The Daemons…Image of the Fendahl is a far better ‘black magic’ themed story…..
HornsOfAzal
October 8th, 2013 - 12:26pmGreatest Show gets bad press ?? I thought that was one people liked… ??
Nick
October 8th, 2013 - 12:29pmYou just agreed with me, I think…? I also think Daemons is over-rated (again, I thought the book was better). Also love Fendahl though – the only other great story from season 15 (along with Fang Rock). Sunmakers not bad but again over-rated in my opinion. Would gladly swap Underworld for practically anything lost from the 60s!
Nick
October 8th, 2013 - 12:34pmI have heard a lot of people dissing Greatest Show over the years. Some people moan about the black drapes thing; others don’t like the fact that the Doctor patently hasn’t spent his whole life fighting the Gods of Rrrragnarrrok; others still don’t like the hippy bus stuff and the stereotype nerdy fan on the BMX bike…. And many other gripes too!
Some people just like to whinge, I think. That’s as the McCoy era ever got in my opinion. I do like Survival and Curse Of Fenric, and – if I’m drunk enough – Battlefield and Ghostlight go down quite well too….but the rest of it I prefer not to think about for the most part.
Nick
October 8th, 2013 - 12:40pmOh, and Remembrance ain’t so bad either, lest we forget.
HornsOfAzal
October 8th, 2013 - 12:41pmAh I like Invasion of Time and Invisible enemy prefer em both to new Who…Odd that those Minyan robots from Underworld were almost resurrected in that Akhaten episode…..
Nick
October 8th, 2013 - 12:50pmAh…. Now I would pigeonhole both those as flawed masterpieces. Both have magical moments, but overall, I find it hard to score either at over 50%, mostly due to dodgy acting and budgetary restrictions. Also I belong to the K9 haters club. The only story I really love that K9 had a significant part is is Warrior’s Gate, which managed to turn budgetary restrictions to its advantage in such and original and interesting way.
I can still remember being utterly horrified the first time I saw that cliffhanger ending with “K9….destroy the Transduction Barrier” -CLASSIC!
In defence of Invasion Of Time….it’s so much better than Armageddon Factor it’s frightening.
Nick
October 8th, 2013 - 12:53pmAzal…. can you really tell me with a straight face that you don’t like Blink, Gridlock or Human Nature with a straight face…?!
Nick
October 8th, 2013 - 1:05pmTurn Left? That’s brilliant! And what about the 2-parter with the library that introduced River Song? All-time classic if you ask me!
One of the most annoying things about the new series for me is the fact that there are so many crappy and / or instantly forgettable titles .I understand that not everything can be called something awe-inspiring like Image Of The Fendahl or The Horror Of Fang Rock, but surely they can do better than…. The Doctor Dances?!
Anonymous
October 8th, 2013 - 1:17pmCurrent budget for a BBC drama of Doctor Who’s length is £750,000 (although it normally ends up costing them a million after the budget it blown).
They’ve said elsewhere they haven’t been given much extra for this, so it seemingly won’t be as much as the £1.5 million a drama of the special’s length “deserves”.
Dalek The Supreme
October 8th, 2013 - 1:20pmI understand how one might feel at liking something others seem to hate. I like the Sixth and Seventh Doctors, the Eleventh Doctor is my favorite, I think David Tennant is overrated, I like Paradise Towers, The Happiness Patrol, Asylum of the Daleks, and The Rings of Akhaten, all stories I’ve seen get considerable hate, and I don’t like Rose Tyler. I’ve often been criticized for feeling this way about these certain things on Youtube.
Nick
October 8th, 2013 - 1:33pmHey, Dalek Supreme…. The liquorice allsorts man from Happiness Patrol was awesome and deserved to be seen in a better story. Paradise Towers….well I did like the old ladies.
6th Doctor I thought was great, though like practically everyone else I hated that costume. In fact I hated the whole JN-T notion of the Doctor having an actual costume….and I especially hated the question marks. 7th Doctor I wasn’t particularly mad about but I feel he would have been a lot better if he’d had a better actress as his companion. Langford and Aldred I think do not rank highly with most fans, and I have to go along with the majority on that one.
I have trouble remembering the titles for many of the new series episodes as they are generally very poor and I think they made a mistake when they decided to stop using the Part One and Part Two thing. I don’t recall either of the two new series episodes you mention, though I have doubtless seen them. My favourite Matt Smith eps is the xmas special with the flying shark….whatever that one was called; it was by far the best “special” to date in my eyes. I think Smith and both of his companions have been excellent. Unfortunately, I don’t think they’ve had the quality of stories that Tennant was blessed with and the same goes for Eccleston. Rose I liked….but I didn’t care for her parents or her boyfriend. Donna’s family were just great. As were Martha’s.
HornsOfAzal
October 8th, 2013 - 2:21pmSorry Nick but Im not keen on any of em … I was quite suprised when the Macra resurfaced in Gridlock… but in those stories.. a human giving birth to kittens ?? Also the Doctor dropping in on a ‘nude’ couple’ (Davies trying to play the controversy card ?)the Doctor somehow imprisoning someone in neutron star chains or trapping ’em in every mirror you see and the sentimentatlity – tate and lyle could have canned it and sold it….the same for that overrated Blink episode with its stupid timey wimey bits …talk about dumbing down….
CG
October 7th, 2013 - 11:49pmOn our ABC news here in Australia it was said that they had found quite a few William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton episodes in a radio/tv studio in Ethiopia. The only other thing the report said was that the BBC were hoping to claim these episodes and turn them, eventually, into episodes.
Johnny
October 8th, 2013 - 8:25amThe last statement makes no real sense!
How can the BBC turn these episodes into espisodes! :-/
booboo
October 8th, 2013 - 9:07amwhole thing is causing a lot of ill feeling around the net, ,lost of accusations flying around at a Time we should be celebrating if indeed anything as been found.
not taking any notice of anything now until official word comes out
Nick
October 8th, 2013 - 8:56amSeconded! I don’t like the sound of “espisodes”!
CG
October 8th, 2013 - 11:18amI think they meant DVDs instead of episodes.
HornsOfAzal
October 8th, 2013 - 11:28amAh you’ve changed your opinion and are now beginning to doubt anything has been found yourself BooBoo..
booboo
October 8th, 2013 - 11:38amI have no doubt something has been found, if only from the radio Times article, but for all we know its 2 very poor quality 5 min clips that they are going to stick on itunes so we can see them as its not worth doing anything else.
Whatever is going it needs to be sorted, on i’ve seen some pretty hard hitting stuff on the internet the last few days.
HornsOfAzal
October 8th, 2013 - 11:57amOh well you never know I still remember being astounded when all 39 episodes of Space Patrol turned up in the possession of its creator Roberta Leigh so you never know…..
HornsOfAzal
October 8th, 2013 - 12:02pmPersonally I think one or too people were made to look like buffoons earlier this year and they’re still trying to retain some semblance of credibility – although lord knows why – by keeping this ludicrous saga going on….
I’d rather maintain the stance of the bemused cynic and have a laugh when this either all blows over and nothing turns up or be over the moon as I was when Underwater Menace and Galaxy 4 turned up – although I have to say the BBC want a RIGHT KICK UP THE BACKSIDE for holding the troughton episode back so long…..
Jamie Fletcher
October 7th, 2013 - 9:11pmThis is starting to get very silly, first it’s announced there’s been a find then there hasn’t been a find, then there’s a press conference on Tuesday then it’s postponed until ‘later in the week’. It’ll certainly be interesting to see what the actual outcome of all of this is.
The big problem seems to be comunication especially where the BBC and BBC Worldwide are concerned. I can understand the Restoration Team saying they don’t know anything as they are sworn to secrecy anyway, but the amount of ‘official’ and ‘semi offical’ sources saying there is no news and there has been no finds is just silly. And now people are saying the whole thing is fake and the press conference which was for Tuesday 8th October was never happenng anyway and won’t happen this week at all as the whole story is fake.
C’mon BBC get your act together!
Anonymous
October 7th, 2013 - 10:41pmIt’s still happening alright, just on Thursday. Needless to say Ian Levine has come out and confirmed he is aware of nine episodes that are back in the archives and he’s convinced there are more that he isn’t aware of.
HornsOfAzal
October 8th, 2013 - 12:19pmWhy do people take Levine so seriously …….
Nick
October 8th, 2013 - 12:23pmLevine takes himself very seriously….and love him or loathe him, his enthusiasm, conviction and commitment are infectious and inspiring. We all want this stuff to magically reappear and he is one of the few people who has actively done something to make our dreams come true. Yes, he rants and raves and makes a pratt of himself sometimes, but more power to him; he has a good heart and means well.
100000BC
October 7th, 2013 - 7:56pmThis Is Getting Silly. The BBC Should announce it; it’s almost selfish to not let us know. I’m having thoughts of someone sat at a computer watching all twelve episodes of The Daleks’ Master Plan over and over again…
MasterKasterborous
October 7th, 2013 - 8:05pmWell baring The Feast of Steven of course.
Some bloke
October 7th, 2013 - 8:07pmthat’s what i was going to say, beat me to it 🙂
HornsOfAzal
October 7th, 2013 - 8:30pmThe BBC already denied new stuff had been found ….. if they’re sticking to the same story why should they deny it again…its only a mass of rumour conjoured up by the daily mirror and the radio times site which from what I can see seems to be lacking in credibility among quite a few fans…
Persoanlly I think the greatest disclaimer is that the Beeb would be drawn over the coals going to the expense of a major press meeting only to cancel it – and theyd want to screw as much as possible via dvd even blue ray releases before putting it on line.
Anonymous
October 7th, 2013 - 10:42pmActually all the BBC said was there was nothing to announce at the time, and then there was another person saying they didn’t know if there had been a recovery or not.
Hardly very conclusive.
Nick
October 7th, 2013 - 7:36pmInteresting to note just how many people are more excited by the possibility of lost 60s eps being recovered than the forthcoming multi-million dollar spectaculars / regeneration / anniversary celebrations, isn’t it? I’m so glad it’s not just me!
Anonymous
October 7th, 2013 - 7:43pmWhich currency are you using, because if it is US dollars and we look at the conversion rate at the moment they most certainly are not “multi-million” (although they might be with the amount of advertising production certainly isn’t).
Nick
October 7th, 2013 - 7:32pmAre any of you guys actually old enough to have seen the b/w episodes when originally broadcast? I only started watching during season eight, so I’m seeing this stuff through rose tinted specs. I can still remember how disappointed I was with Tomb and Ice Warriors after reading the Target books several times as a kid. Likewise both of the auton stories, the novelisations of which were truly awesome. Surely others will be similarly disappointing. But when you look at the surviving clips and eps of Masterplan, Evil, Wheel, Faceless Ones, Fury and the Yeti shows you know they’re going to be brilliant. Savages and Macra do sound brilliant on audio but I’m bracing myself against the possibility of some serious disappointment there. But as somebody just said, Troughton and Hartnell are such a joy to watch, even in a so-so story.
The Monitor
October 7th, 2013 - 8:06pmAfter reading Target, I was disappointed with Spearhead from Space, but with each viewing since the original VHS release, it has grown in my opinion, and watching it again last year on DVD on a large 42in screen it ascended into my top ten. With the Blu Ray it could go higher. The Tomb of the Cyberman may not have been “perfect” in 1992, but on may subsequent revisits, it is easily the best Troughton story that is complete.
HornsOfAzal
October 7th, 2013 - 8:26pmI dont know how anyone can be disappointed with Tomb of the Cybermen – its a superb piece of well acted atmospheric tv…. I sat and watched my vhs copy agog in 1995 having been too terrified by the cybermen to watch as a seven year old when the original serial was shown…its worth an entire era of davies or moffatt Im afraid….