Re-Editing the Original Program?

[FalTorPan]

As a thought experiment if nothing else, what might the original program be like if it were edited so that its pacing more closely resembled that of the new program?

My understanding is that each episode of the current program is about 45 minutes in length. Generally speaking the episodes of the original program were about 25 minutes in length. What might a four-part episode of the original program be like if it were edited as if it were two 45-minute episodes of the new program? What about butchering it even more, to fit the length of a 60-minute special?

I'm a huge fan of the original show, particularly the eras of the first four Doctors. I always want the original show to be available to consumers, and I hate that George Lucas didn't do a proper anamorphic DVD release of pre-special edition versions of the original three Star Wars films.

Having said that, I'm intrigued by fan-made "Next Time" trailers of the original show on YouTube, and they've made me wonder if a respectful re-edit of an original serial might make an earlier adventure of the Doctor more appealing to younger viewers of today.

What do you think?

 

[Demonland]

Not sure this could be done through editing of the existing footage. The way they were written was for that type of slow story telling. Conversely, today's show is written to be fast paced.

 

[Candlelight]

It's pretty easy to do. Done a couple in my time.

 

[Demonland]

^ Got any links. Would be interested to see that.

 

[23skidoo]

This has actually already been done by the BBC itself.

One of the very first stories to be released to home video was The Brain of Morbius, a 4-part story. BBC Video decided - for reasons unknown - to edit it down to about 50 minutes for the home video release. The result is one of the most hated pieces of Doctor Who merchandise ever issued to the public. (CBS/Fox Video issued it in North America under its Playhouse Video children's label). Such an experiment was never attempted again and there was much fanfare when Morbius was reissued in a complete version a few years later. I believe the hue and cry was also the reasons why in the early VHS era the BBC decided to issue the stories in their original multi-episode format instead of issuing the "movie edits" that were being shown on PBS.

As noted, classic Who was not paced for "editing down". The development of characters and plotlines does not allow for it. Yes, we have heard comments from writers like Terrance Dicks about some episodes being little more than filler, but these are rare.

And as it is, some stories come off as being TOO SHORT. I just watched Remembrance of the Daleks on DVD, and there were some wonderful moments that were cut to fit everything into 4 episodes. It would have been a stronger story if they'd had 5 or even 6 episodes. Likewise, some of the 2-episode stories in the classic series came off as being rushed, even though they had the equivalent running time of one of today's regular episodes.

I do believe the same could be said if someone were to try and re-edit the current series into 25-minute cliffhanger episodes. They tried doing that when they syndicated the Colin Baker season with the 45-minute episodes, and it didn't work either, because the stories were and are paced for the episodes. Similarly, if some creative soul were to follow the James Cawley route and film new scenes of supporting characters and the like and insert them into the new-series episodes, perhaps to, say, make a 6-episode story out of something like the Empty Child/Doctor Dances 2-parter, I don't believe it would work, either.

I know the idea of "editing down" has been floated before. It just won't work. If someone is interested in watching older Doctor Who, they'll put up with, and enjoy, the longer stories. In fact you'd think they'd appeal more to today's fast-paced lifestyle because you can watch them in bite-sized pieces. I watched the War Games, all 10 episodes, over the course of a week, one episode at a time fit in between work assignments. It was actually a lot of fun.

Alex

 

[Lonemagpie]

The Brain Of Morbius was 60s minutes when cut down.

The Black Guardian trilogy DVD set has a nu-Who style recut of Enlightenment on as an extra.

 

[Starkers]

Actually quite a few stories were edited togeather for Video (I used to own Robots of Death in such a format) I don't know as they lost much content but obviously the cliffhangers/reslotions were shortened.

The BBC did worse with the early VHS releases of Blakes 7, hacking three episodes togeather to make a sort of film. They were awful and god alone knows why they did it.

I love the 25 minute format of the classic show as well. Like you say perfect to watch in bite sized chunks.

 

[23skidoo]

Actually quite a few stories were edited togeather for Video (I used to own Robots of Death in such a format) I don't know as they lost much content but obviously the cliffhangers/reslotions were shortened.

Yeah, early on BBC Video did release the "PBS edits" to home video, which as you described were the episodes edited together. I don't think they cut much beyond the beginnings and ends of the episodes, but I remember watching these on PBS back in the 80s (I never saw Doctor Who in its original format until about 1989) and some of the edits were pretty sloppy, especially with regards to things like music and sound effects, which would naturally build to a crescendo. I remember a few Davison's were so sloppily done the "scream" would be left in and so occasional scenes would be punctuated by this sound effect for no apparent (to anyone not familiar with the format) reason. The worst case I saw (again a Davison) they accidentally left in the last 10 seconds or so of the opening credits, so the scene would be suddenly interrupted by the last few bars of the DW Theme and the title and writer and episode credit, then continue.

Apparently the 1960s episodes were the hardest to do PBS edits of because they often reenacted the cliffhangers the next week, so whoever did the editing had to choose which version to use.

Fortunately, BBC Video came to its senses and began issuing them in the original format. And (except I guess for that Enlightenment bonus feature mentioned above) since the DVD line began it's never been a consideration.

Alex

 

[Starkers]

Actually the DVD of Fenric has a choice of an original and a remastered with new effects 'film' version.

 

[ClayinCA]

The Black Guardian trilogy DVD set has a nu-Who style recut of Enlightenment on as an extra.

I own this and haven't watched it yet. I really need to rectify that; I'm very curious to see if it works...

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

The Black Guardian trilogy DVD set has a nu-Who style recut of Enlightenment on as an extra.

I own this and haven't watched it yet. I really need to rectify that; I'm very curious to see if it works...

It's not a new Who-style recut, though. It's just the original director getting back to the editing room and adding some new special effects. I don't think there was any intention to make it look like modern Who.

 

[Lonemagpie]

The Black Guardian trilogy DVD set has a nu-Who style recut of Enlightenment on as an extra.

I own this and haven't watched it yet. I really need to rectify that; I'm very curious to see if it works...

It's not a new Who-style recut, though. It's just the original director getting back to the editing room and adding some new special effects. I don't think there was any intention to make it look like modern Who.

No, but it's cut down to the current story length as well, 45 minutes

 

[Mr. Adventure]

This has actually already been done by the BBC itself.

One of the very first stories to be released to home video was The Brain of Morbius, a 4-part story. BBC Video decided - for reasons unknown - to edit it down to about 50 minutes for the home video release. The result is one of the most hated pieces of Doctor Who merchandise ever issued to the public. (CBS/Fox Video issued it in North America under its Playhouse Video children's label). Such an experiment was never attempted again and there was much fanfare when Morbius was reissued in a complete version a few years later. I believe the hue and cry was also the reasons why in the early VHS era the BBC decided to issue the stories in their original multi-episode format instead of issuing the "movie edits" that were being shown on PBS.

As noted, classic Who was not paced for "editing down". The development of characters and plotlines does not allow for it. Yes, we have heard comments from writers like Terrance Dicks about some episodes being little more than filler, but these are rare.

And as it is, some stories come off as being TOO SHORT. I just watched Remembrance of the Daleks on DVD, and there were some wonderful moments that were cut to fit everything into 4 episodes. It would have been a stronger story if they'd had 5 or even 6 episodes. Likewise, some of the 2-episode stories in the classic series came off as being rushed, even though they had the equivalent running time of one of today's regular episodes.

I think the hue and cry about that would be if the original version was unavailable. It would be interesting to see some editing strictly for pacing even if the notion is a bit heretical. I've seen some fan edits of movies that were worthwhile, my favorite being one for Terminator 3.

Speaking of Rememberance, I think that has a pretty good pace to it and holds up fairly well.

 

[diankra]

I own this and haven't watched it yet. I really need to rectify that; I'm very curious to see if it works...

It's not a new Who-style recut, though. It's just the original director getting back to the editing room and adding some new special effects. I don't think there was any intention to make it look like modern Who.

No, but it's cut down to the current story length as well, 45 minutes

But unfortunately it's let down by the new CGI effects (not a patch, for once, on the originals) and by the score - it's been partly rescored, where the original music doesn't fit the re-edit, and the new bits don't really match Malcolm Clarke's original score well enough not to jar.

 

[Phillip Culley]

No, but it's cut down to the current story length as well, 45 minutes

Nah - it was closer to 75 minutes long.

Although I wonder whether the forthcoming Planet of Fire edit is going to be of similar length...

 

[Lonemagpie]

No, but it's cut down to the current story length as well, 45 minutes

Nah - it was closer to 75 minutes long.
.

Oh, it was supposed to be 45 when first announced (no, I haven't got this set yet...)

 

[Kelso]

It wouldn't be Doctor Who if 1/3 of each episode wasn't wasted on people wandering around in corridors/stumbling up and down unsteep hills/lost in the woods/etc.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I've wondered about this myself. Of course, the old school purists would likely never stand for it, but I don't think this would be for them anyway. I think this would be more likely an experiment to market the old series to the new generation of Doctor Who fans, perhaps specifically designed for CBBC or something. I'd suggest starting by remastering Tom Baker's 1st season this way, even going so far as to use the opening credits & music from the new series.

If it's OK to remaster the original Star Trek, why not Doctor Who?

 

[FalTorPan]

One impossibility is to bring the original show's look up to film-level quality, since much of the show exists only on videotape.

 

[Starkers]

I've wondered about this myself. Of course, the old school purists would likely never stand for it, but I don't think this would be for them anyway. I think this would be more likely an experiment to market the old series to the new generation of Doctor Who fans, perhaps specifically designed for CBBC or something. I'd suggest starting by remastering Tom Baker's 1st season this way, even going so far as to use the opening credits & music from the new series.

If it's OK to remaster the original Star Trek, why not Doctor Who?

Who said it was ok to remaster TOS

Hopefully the whole fad thing will last about as long as colourising B&W films did (and some of those were God awful)

That said I loved the Cgi Liberator they did for the Blakes 7 DVDs...Just not sure how happy I'd be if they put it in the episodes.