Missing episodes you are ambivilent about their return

[Candlelight]

Disclaimer: I know we all want all 108 episodes returned, that's a given. This is merely for discussion. Think of it as, if these episodes were in existence, would you be watching them on a regular basis or would they be shoved to the back of your collection?

For me, I realised the other day that I focus on some of the 27 affected stories more than others. I barely give any thought to The Space Pirates, or The Enemy of the World, or The Macra Terror. Even Galaxy 4 doesn't really interest me.

Am in the process of getting hold of the missing episode audios so am planning on listening to all the missing stories.

 

[Sindatur]

Disclaimer: I know we all want all 108 episodes returned, that's a given. This is merely for discussion. Think of it as, if these episodes were in existence, would you be watching them on a regular basis or would they be shoved to the back of your collection?

For me, I realised the other day that I focus on some of the 27 affected stories more than others. I barely give any thought to The Space Pirates, or The Enemy of the World, or The Macra Terror. Even Galaxy 4 doesn't really interest me.

Am in the process of getting hold of the missing episode audios so am planning on listening to all the missing stories.

I've never seen, read, nor heard any of the missing episodes (Nor for that matter, the any of the Stories missing those episodes), so, I'm interested in them for purely that reason, because it would be new Classic Who to me. Also, I've only seen Wargames and 8 Hartnells, so, I'd like to see the rest of what's available for them.

 

[Anachronus]

None of them. I want to see them all.

 

[Candlelight]

Disclaimer: I know we all want all 108 episodes returned, that's a given. This is merely for discussion. Think of it as, if these episodes were in existence, would you be watching them on a regular basis or would they be shoved to the back of your collection?

For me, I realised the other day that I focus on some of the 27 affected stories more than others. I barely give any thought to The Space Pirates, or The Enemy of the World, or The Macra Terror. Even Galaxy 4 doesn't really interest me.

Am in the process of getting hold of the missing episode audios so am planning on listening to all the missing stories.

I've never seen, read, nor heard any of the missing episodes (Nor for that matter, the any of the Stories missing those episodes), so, I'm interested in them for purely that reason, because it would be new Classic Who to me. Also, I've only seen Wargames and 8 Hartnells, so, I'd like to see the rest of what's available for them.

The Tomb of the Cybermen is probably the best surviving Troughton. Hartnell's Dalek stories are good too.

 

[Sindatur]

Disclaimer: I know we all want all 108 episodes returned, that's a given. This is merely for discussion. Think of it as, if these episodes were in existence, would you be watching them on a regular basis or would they be shoved to the back of your collection?

For me, I realised the other day that I focus on some of the 27 affected stories more than others. I barely give any thought to The Space Pirates, or The Enemy of the World, or The Macra Terror. Even Galaxy 4 doesn't really interest me.

Am in the process of getting hold of the missing episode audios so am planning on listening to all the missing stories.

I've never seen, read, nor heard any of the missing episodes (Nor for that matter, the any of the Stories missing those episodes), so, I'm interested in them for purely that reason, because it would be new Classic Who to me. Also, I've only seen Wargames and 8 Hartnells, so, I'd like to see the rest of what's available for them.

The Tomb of the Cybermen is probably the best surviving Troughton. Hartnell's Dalek stories are good too.

I've seen the First Hartnell Dalek Story (And have a 20 year old TV recording transferred onto DVD of it), but, don't know the other B&W Dalek Stories

 

[Candlelight]

The Dalek Invasion of Earth is really the first serial that features the traditional 'base under siege' storyline, although in this case it's the whole planet.

The Chase is a fun romp but is often a bit silly in parts and not everyone's cup of tea.

Mission to the Unknown is a single episode but is currently missing.

The Daleks Master Plan was probably epic but only 3 of the 12 exist.

Power of the Daleks is completely missing, and Evil of the Daleks only has a single episode in existence, which is really sad as they sound like the best Dalek stories of the era.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

The Macra Terror and The Enemy of the World are two stories I wish we could have back. I'd rate them a lot higher than say The Celestial Toymaker or The Abominable Snowmen. But that's just subjective. If only it were possible, I'd want them all back. Sixties Who is magical and strange, quite different from what we got later (I hesitate to say "better" but certainly it's something very special.) Thank God we've at least got the audio.

 

[23skidoo]

There is definitely a "memory cheats" element to the missing stories. For example, everyone says how fantastic Marco Polo would be. But would it? Yes, we have the audio to show the script and performances were strong, but how many people actually remember SEEING it, since the last time it was ever broadcast in its entirety was sometime in the early 1970s in Nigeria or some place like that. In some respects I almost don't want to see it recovered because I'd hate for people to go "that's IT?"

Indeed, I've read the same reaction to Tomb of the Cybermen, and this was before the revival. Of course it's won over a lot of people - not the least of which is Matt Smith who has gushed over the story in several talk show appearances and Patrick Troughton's performance clearly influenced his take on the Doctor. But at the same time, it built up a mystique over the decades it was lost, that it was almost impossible to meet the expectations.

All that said, as I repeat time and again, Doctor Who lives and dies by its scripts and its characters, not its budget. And in that light I will want to see all the lost episodes - I'd love to see Daleks Master Plan and Evil of the Daleks and Power of the Daleks complete. I hope one day to see the missing episodes of The Invasion (though the animateds are fine). And of course the final episode of The Tenth Planet.

Will they end up at the back of the collection? Probably, because all Doctor Whos end up at the back of the collection eventually!

Alex

 

[diankra]

Ypou can argue that it's the stories we never think of that would be most interesting to get back (whereas Web of Fear or Fury from the Deep might prove disappointing. Certainly, in 1992, Tomb's popularity slumped because some people couldn't see past the wires on the Controller dummy).
For instance, Space Pirates gets a bad reputation because it's episode two which survives - and that's fair, as all it's got to offer is General Hermack complaining that his flagship is too slow, Milo Clancy doing a comedy routine, and the TARDIS crew trapped in one room. The sadistic main villain doesn't even appear!
Go to some of the later episodes, and you've got a out-right nasty villain, a far more hard-edged Milo, space shoot-outs between Hermack's fleet and Caven's priate ship... I doubt it's brilliant, but people who saw it at the time remember it as being a bit too long, rather than an insomnia cure...

 

[Timby]

The Tomb of the Cybermen is probably the best surviving Troughton.

The War Games would like to have a word with you.

 

[Candlelight]

The Tomb of the Cybermen is probably the best surviving Troughton.

The War Games would like to have a word with you.

The poster said he'd already seen that one. I was offering other options.

 

[Candlelight]

Certainly, in 1992, Tomb's popularity slumped because some people couldn't see past the wires on the Controller dummy).

I only really found out about the missing episode saga around the same time Tomb was rediscovered (from Peter Haining's 25th anniversary book), so I never had the same anticipation and disappointment of a missing episode find. The Crusade 1 I wasn't that interested in, and The Daleks Master Plan 2 was great anyway. I personally think Tomb is Troughton's finest surviving story. The War Games, if it were a couple of episodes shorter, I place second.

I can't see myself being disappointed by Troughton's Dalek stories. I've been through them both dozens of times and they're just so good.

So someone bloody well find them!

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Power of the Daleks is completely missing, and Evil of the Daleks only has a single episode in existence, which is really sad as they sound like the best Dalek stories of the era.

And were, IIRC, the first 2 Dalek stories to have absolutely no writing involvement from Terry Nation. Coincidence?

The Macra Terror and The Enemy of the World are two stories I wish we could have back.

I don't know about "The Macra Terror." The few surviving deleted clips remind me too much of that rediculous scene in "Genesis of the Daleks" where Harry gets his foot stuck in a giant clam.

However, I'd really like to see "The Enemy of the World." It sounds like an interesting concept and the only thing better than Patrick Troughton is Patrick Troughton playing a double role!

"The Space Pirates" might not be the greatest but it's near the top of my list of stories I'd like to see recovered because I'm a big Zoe fan and I believe it's one of only two incomplete Zoe stories out there (the other being her debut in "The Wheel in Space").

As for the best surviving Patrick Troughton story, you're both wrong. It's "The Invasion;" an 8 parter that whizzes by as if it's half that length, introduces UNIT & a newly promoted Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and has one of the show's best ever human villains in Tobias Vaughn. I'm also quite fond of 1-off companion Isobel Watkins.

 

[Candlelight]

"The Space Pirates" might not be the greatest but it's near the top of my list of stories I'd like to see recovered because I'm a big Zoe fan and I believe it's one of only two incomplete Zoe stories out there (the other being her debut in "The Wheel in Space").

As for the best surviving Patrick Troughton story, you're both wrong. It's "The Invasion;" an 8 parter that whizzes by as if it's half that length, introduces UNIT & a newly promoted Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and has one of the show's best ever human villains in Tobias Vaughn. I'm also quite fond of 1-off companion Isobel Watkins.

You miss the forest for the trees; The Invasion is the third incomplete Zoe serial.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I don't count a story as incomplete if there are animated replacement episodes. (And those episodes are really cool. Because they're not constrained by a 1960s BBC TV budget, they have a great, almost noir-ish look to them. The trade-off is that the animators haven't quite captured the genius range of facial expressiveness in the performances of Patrick Troughton & Frazier Hines.)

 

[Candlelight]

I don't count a story as incomplete if there are animated replacement episodes.

Well, you can believe that if you wish, but the BBC still say 108 episodes missing so to me The Invasion is incomplete. Sadly.