Wiped Episode Discoveries

Discussion in 'Doctor Who' started by Allyn Gibson, Jun 13, 2013.

  1. Candlelight

    Candlelight Admiral Admiral

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    They said a couple of years ago they were trying to get out of Who and do other restoration work. Looks like they succeeded!
     
  2. N-121973

    N-121973 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Thats a possibility as is more special edition re-releases of existing stories. The Two Doctors, The War Machines and The Horror of Fang Rock are just a few that spring to mind.
     
  3. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

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    I just can't imagine the BBC releasing a statement saying 'You know all those rumours about missing episodes that we've been denying ? Well, we DO have them. We just wouldn't admit it.'
     
  4. Lonemagpie

    Lonemagpie Writer Admiral

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    Ideally, Blake's 7, Quatermass, etc...

    Or they may have figured out something to do with Blu-Ray or online streaming.
     
  5. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

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    I think Blake's needs rather more than restoring. I rewatched some not so long ago and many of the effects and model shots are truly shocking.

    It needs a TOS style do-over.
     
  6. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    Yea, they looked at Doctor Who's Budget and drooled, LOL. It's part of the show's charm, though. But, yea, I've seen a couple minutes trailer of someone upping the effects with CGI and it looked really nice.
     
  7. diankra

    diankra Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    B7 was a science fiction series, but it inherited the budget (and schedule) of a recently ended police series (not, as sometimes reported, Z Cars, which didn't end till later that year, but its spin-off Softly Softly, which did end a year before B7 started). Added to which the BBC special effects department wasn't given any extra money or staff, even though B7 meant it had to do an extra 13 'hours' of SF a year .
    Still, I can't think of much the Restoration Team could really do to Blake's 7, aside from cleaning up film inserts (which were probably a bit grotty on the original transmission, so sorting them out changes the original episode).
    But I would love to see a DVD-option redo of the start to season three, which makes the Intergalactic War look like a proper space battle, not a random assembly of old model footage.
     
  8. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

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    Every single space shot and most of the live action effects need redoing and the Doctor Who Restoration Team need to clean up the rest.

    Its not worth the money to the BBC to do it, but if they gave the effects shots to the fans who are already producing good results...
     
  9. N-121973

    N-121973 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Does anyone think that if there was anything to this whole wiped episodes being recovered rumour they would have taken the opportunity to have made an announcement on yesterday's Doctor Who special? Or do you think if true it would trump the revelation that Peter Capaldi is the new Doctor?
     
  10. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    Nah, if there is anything to the episode recovery rumor, they are holding the information secret for now (Most likely reason would be negotiations or an Anniversary surprise of some sort), so, announcing the New Doctor wouldn't up their urgency to get the news out. And, as you said, no need to ruin the Media Hype of the New Doctor by throwing more news out there.
     
  11. Rarewolf

    Rarewolf Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    They did Quatermass.

    http://www.purpleville.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rtwebsite/quatermass-article.htm
     
  12. Lonemagpie

    Lonemagpie Writer Admiral

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    Which I should have remembered, cos I've got that set!
     
  13. diankra

    diankra Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Btw.. rumour is Moonbase has been postponed. But it's hold ups on the extras, not clearing a slot for secret missing eps, etc.
     
  14. Candlelight

    Candlelight Admiral Admiral

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    The whole anniversary thing aside, very rarely do they mix new series and old series material together. IF something was to be announced - and I really don't think there will be - they wouldn't have stolen Capaldi's thunder.

    Paul Vanezis has said time and again that he would announce a missing episode recovery once it was safely back at the BBC, and not hold anything back for the anniversary.
     
  15. Brendan Moody

    Brendan Moody Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The issue is less trumping the Capaldi revelation, and more wasting any missing episode announcement on people who wouldn't care. There's a reason that the 2011 returns were announced at a pre-existing missing TV event rather than becoming an event in themselves. The number of people who would react to even a sizable find with anything other than a bored "Oh, that's nice" is a fraction of those who will pay attention to big new series news.

    If there's anything to announce, which I still doubt but you never know, it'll be done in comparatively low-key fashion, at Missing Believed Wiped or with an ordinary press release.
     
  16. N-121973

    N-121973 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I don't know, if, IF the rumours are true not just about there being missing episodes found, but also the scale of the find then I would say that's cause for a massive announcement. In fact didn't the rumours imply it wasn't just Dr Who but other things as well thought lost? I'll be honest its hard to keep track of whats been claimed to have been found, it seems to change with every telling like Senator McCarthy's communists in the State Department. But if it is a big find thats even more reason to heavily publicise it.
     
  17. Brendan Moody

    Brendan Moody Vice Admiral Admiral

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    They could find every single piece of missing TV that someone somewhere wants (and at this point that's basically what some rumors are claiming), and it still wouldn't rate more than a quick "lighter side" mention on the news, because the number of people who care about any archive television is comparatively quite small. If there's been a big find, it'll be promoted heavily by archive TV organizations and websites and discussed less if at all in wider media. It certainly would never be at any risk of overshadowing word of a new Doctor.
     
  18. Candlelight

    Candlelight Admiral Admiral

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    On the flipside, Doctor Who merchandising does generate a fair bit of revenue for the BBC. If there were a dozen new DVDs suddenly available for release they'd be keen to advertise it.

    I can't fully remember how big the announcements were in 2011 but I remember most news sites covered it in a standard news story, and it was on twitter a fair bit (thanks to Moffat, Levine, etc).
     
  19. Brendan Moody

    Brendan Moody Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I would imagine that most of the merchandising money Doctor Who brings in is new series stuff. The classic series DVDs certainly aren't big money-makers; they're niche material, marketed to a small, devoted group, all of whom will find out about any recovery without any need for glitzy, general-audience publicity.

    I'm sure there were brief, not-heavily-promoted articles about the 2011 recoveries on a lot of general-interest news sites. That's the thing about news on the web: it's not bound by time and space constraints, so it doesn't have to ignore relatively unimportant stories. But I doubt the recoveries got anything like the blitz coverage in print and TV that a new Doctor or other big new series story does.

    Even when material of great cultural import is found, it doesn't make much of a splash. The 2008 recovery of a complete print of Metropolis was arguably the biggest archival recovery ever in terms of the historical and artistic significance of what was found, but it was hardly national or world news.
     
  20. Candlelight

    Candlelight Admiral Admiral

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    Actually in New Zealand it's pretty much the same. Capaldi was announced Monday morning our time, but it was forgotten 12 hours later.