It ’s arduous to imagine that a franchise with such an importanthistory as Doctor Whodoesn’t have a consummate archive of its journeys across time and space . But that ’s been the case for Who since the ‘ 70s , and the impact of a controversial BBC plan that impacted many show of the ‘ L and ‘ 60s is still felt today .
Although much of the BBC ’s early TV programing from the 1930s through the previous ‘ 70s is lost to clip , its most celebrate sci - fi series is arguably one of the most famous victims of “ junking”—the archival destruction of old videotapes and movie recordings to make way for more mod platform recorded on modern formats . As the BBC slowly begins bring entire seasons of classic Doctor Who to Blu - ray and animating what it can of the missing stories still out there , here ’s everything you need to eff about the how s and why sec of Doctor Who ’s lost chronicle .
What’s Actually Missing?
Of the 253 episodes of Doctor Who that were circularise in the ‘ 60s — from its beginnings in 1963 with William Hartnell ’s Doctor , all the way through the geological era of his successor , Patrick Troughton — initially only 156 ( more than one-half ) survived in the BBC ’s archive , give the serial publication a just survival rate than many other programs of the time . When the BBC first actively started maintaining its archives in the tardy ‘ 70s , the number of missing Who episodes bear at 152 , but over the years there have been several recovery — primarily thanks to the return of tapes that had been sold to international broadcasters in the ‘ 60s . Currently , 97 episodes across 26 “ serials ” ( in the classical era , a single story , or serial , was separate across multiple episodes , unlike innovative Doctor Who , where it ’s a undivided episode per account outside of the periodic multipart episode ) stay bemused , but thanks to devotee campaign , the BBC actually has a accomplished audio archive of even the missing Doctor Who episodes .
https://gizmodo.com/the-io9-guide-to-doctor-who-1709344756
Most of that 97 make up full serials of Doctor Who . Between Hartnell and Troughton ’s Doctors , 10 serials are missing in their entirety , including illustrious stories like “ Power of the Daleks , ” Troughton ’s first story as the 2nd Doctor . Beyond that , eight have more than one-half of their episodes missing , while the stay lost episode make up individual episodes across another eight .
A telesnap—a snapshot from a TV broadcast in a method pioneered by archivist John Cura—from the missing third “The Power of the Daleks” episode.Image: BBC
Here ’s the crack-up :
“ Marco Polo ” – 7 episode of 7 escape
“ The Reign of Terror ” – 2 episodes of 6 missing
A completely animated reconstruction of “The Power of the Daleks” was released in 2016, one of several missing serials to have been remade in animation.Image: BBC
“ The cause ” – 2 episodes of 4 neglect
“ Galaxy 4 ” – 3 episodes of 4 missing
“ missionary post to the Unknown ” – 1 episode miss
“ The Myth Makers ” – 4 episodes of 4 missing
“ The Daleks ’ Master Plan ” – 9 episodes of 12 miss
“ The Massacre of St. Bartholomew ’s Eve ” – 4 episodes of 4 missing
“ The Celestial Toymaker ” – 3 instalment of 4 missing
“ The Savages ” – 4 episodes of 4 missing
“ The Smugglers ” – 4 episodes of 4 missing
“ The Tenth Planet ” – 1 episodes of 4 lack
“ The Power of the Daleks ” – 6 instalment of 6 miss
“ The Highlanders ” – 4 episodes of 4 missing
“ The Underwater Menace ” – 2 episodes of 4 neglect
“ The Moon Base ” – 2 episodes of 4 miss
“ The Macra Terror ” – 4 episodes of 4 lack
“ The Faceless Ones ” – 4 sequence of 6 missing
“ The Evil of the Daleks ” – 6 sequence of 7 missing
“ The Abominable Snowmen ” – 5 episode of 6 missing
“ The Ice warrior ” – 2 sequence of 6 pretermit
“ The connection of care ” – 1 episode of 6 missing
“ ferocity From the Deep ” – 6 instalment of 6 missing
“ The Wheel in Space ” – 4 episodes of 6 overleap
“ The Invasion ” – 2 episodes of 8 missing
“ The Space Pirates ” – 5 episode of 6 missing
Why Are They Missing?
The BBC did n’t have a concrete policy on archiving its programs until the late seventies . Before then , the BBC ’s Film and Engineering departments destroyed or recorded over much of their archived programming on a even basis . And different groups kept different recordings — technology kept the original 2″ videotapes ( known as quadruplex videotape ) the episodes were shot on , while Film maintain the 16 millimeter motion picture version that were “ telerecordings”—known as television tube in America , literally just film transcription of the original videotapes transpose the footage into a more widely used formatting — to be sell to international broadcasters .
The ground were infinite — as the TV industry moved toward semblance broadcasts in the recent ‘ 60s and onwards , there was less angle of inclination to keep monochrome programs in the archives over new color show . Culturally , in an era before the idea of repetition broadcasts and home video recording even existed , television was seen in a much more different light to how it is today . In its early Day , boob tube was treated almost like a live event , with few shows in the ‘ XL and ‘ 50s really being telerecorded for archival or sale . actor North likeEquityeven crusade against repetition programme of plays , demanding studios simply rehire the doer for a 2d performance or else of repeating a recording of the original . The opinion of keeping some of these sure-enough shows around was meet as inconsequential at the time , even for a pop culture sensation like Doctor Who had become ( even if it had not quite attain its apex in the classic era yet , with the arrival of Tom Baker ’s fourth Doctor ) .
In some cases , copies were destroyed when sure actors or writer ’ contractual right hand over the international sales agreement of the material expired . In others , they were destroyed due to human computer error , because a lack of communication between the BBC ’s Film and Engineering library and the Enterprises division — who were in bang of “ exploitable ” archival programming , as in things that could be sold for broadcast outside the UK — meant no one was sure just who was meant to be responsible for maintaining an archived copy , run to all three departments destroy their copies . In some cases , it was a subject of forcible space , with film and tape reels taking up the limited content the BBC had at its studio .
But the Second Coming of home TV as a new securities industry for archival computer programming in the late ‘ 70s , as well as a renewed desire to maintain an archive for cultural and historical merits , contribute the systematic junking process at the BBCto an remainder , even if the BBC itself would n’t enshrine a duty to maintain an official archive of all its programming in thecorporation ’s royal charteruntil 1981 . From 1979 onwards , the Film and Videotape libraries were combine into a undivided archive , pool together what they had between them of the ‘ 60s episodes of Doctor Who . With the takings of several outside reels from BBC Enterprises — brought about in part by fan efforts , most notably by music producer and infamous Doctor Whosuperfan Ian Levine — the bit of missing Who episodes in the BBC archives was rationalise down to 152 .
Over the age there have been several discoveries — most recently in 2013 , when the convalescence of nine previously neglect episode led to the consummate restoration of the 2nd Doctor serial publication “ The Enemy of the World , ” as well as the retrieval of most of another , “ The Web of Fear . ” That ’s lend down the number of missing episode as of today to 97 .
What’s Being Done About It?
candidly ? There is n’t really much the BBC can do other than wait and desire that not only are mag tape still out there , but that they ’ll one 24-hour interval be come back to the corporation . Third party opening move spearhead by the likes of the British Film Institute’sMissing Believed Wipedor theRadio Timeshave attempted to get collectors and fans to come ahead if tapes are incur . In 2006 , BBC small fry ’s variety show Blue Petereven offered fanstheir very own Dalek ! Some could be just lost somewhere , unrecognized as missing pieces of chronicle . Some could be kept in secret appeal , out from public access to maintain their rare note value ( or in many cases , not know their value ) . There might simply be no more tape to be found , and what ’s lost will remain lost forever . More of late , the BBC has commence to turn to an alternative approach to “ fill out ” missing episodes : animation .
From “ The Wheel in Space ” to “ mightiness of the Daleks , ” from “ The Macra Terror ” to theupcoming “ The Faceless Ones,”the company has begin turning to totally exalt lacking installment or series in their entirety . It can do this , in most part , thanks to the work of dedicated fans ( like Graham Strong , whopassed away in 2018 , and was singlehandedly responsible for some the high - quality recordings of former Who episodes in the BBC archives ) who , with no choice , actually register the audio of episodesto listen back to when they were first programme , leave behind an real soundtrack and dialogue the animation can be equal to . For many years , the BBC also secrete these recordings on CD , just to have some phonograph record of these episodes out there , or matched them to found clips or pictures from the episodes to be released as fillip textile on home releases .
Outside of the rare miracle of uncovering actual original flick reels — there still could be some out there!—these animated reconstruction are go to be the only way many Dr. Who fans will get to feel these stories going forward . These recordings are the only factual thoroughgoing versions of these neglect stories the BBC has . Which intend , at least for now , animation might be our right promise at getting to expose a doc Who past that has been tragically lost to time .
In a modern era where digital copy of film and television receiver episodes — whether they were first broadcast in 2019 or 1969 — are beamed to our computers , earpiece , and other devices every day , just as part of the way we consume media , the thought process of such crucial parts of early broadcasting industry justbeing gone foreverseems unthinkable . But just as sensitive itself has germinate over the retiring century , the conflict to file away our multimedia history has grown and evolved too — the battleground no longer being the film and TV tapes of early broadcast history , butinstead the cyberspace itself , asdigital “ hoarders”archive terabytes of isolated text that would otherwise be lost to the transitory ephemera of the digital ether . The more thing change , the more they stay the same — whether you ’re a Time Lord or otherwise .
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