Lost Stories / Copyrights

[23skidoo]

Someone already invoked Ian Levine - if there was a stash of episodes sitting around being held, we'd have heard about it. And Levine certainly wouldn't sit on them himself, not now that there's money to be made from the DVDs. (Levine's another one I don't understand the hatred for. As far as I understand if it weren't for him we'd have lost a number of early stories forever, including the first Daleks story. Far as I'm concerned he's a hero.)

The bit about the BBC prosecuting is hogwash. I remember the big press over the guy returning that one episode of The Crusade (and I think he later successfully retained ownership of the original film which he eBayed). He never got into trouble over that, nor did the Nigerian or Hong Kong fellow (I forget which) who returned Tomb of the Cybermen.

Let's put it another way: if the BBC legal department really gave a damn they'd have gone after the appropriate powers that be back in the 1970s when the tapes failed to return to London.

I haven't had the chance to obtain the book "Wiped" yet, but from all accounts it's the definitive word on the lost episodes - and probably contains within the BBC standpoint from a legal perspective. And once again, if there was some hidden stash that the BBC refuses to pay large sums for, this would have been mentioned in the book.

I guess my point is, this sort of "hoarding" simply cannot be kept secret. Now that's not to say OTHER series might not be subject to this. For example, maybe someone's garage is full of film cans of the first season of The Avengers, or Z Cars.

All that said, there is one bit of potential evidence supporting the notion of a cache: with only one missing episode, and with it being a key story featuring the first regeneration and the introduction of the Cybermen, I find it surprising that 2 Entertain chose to have Big Finish reconstruct the two episodes of Reign of Terror instead of the single missing episode of The Tenth Planet. Is it possible they're aware of a possible source for that last missing episode and are holding out in hopes it becomes available? Hmm....

Alex

 

[Allyn Gibson]

All that said, there is one bit of potential evidence supporting the notion of a cache: with only one missing episode, and with it being a key story featuring the first regeneration and the introduction of the Cybermen, I find it surprising that 2 Entertain chose to have Big Finish reconstruct the two episodes of Reign of Terror instead of the single missing episode of The Tenth Planet. Is it possible they're aware of a possible source for that last missing episode and are holding out in hopes it becomes available? Hmm....

The BBC has already created a reconstruction of "The Tenth Planet" 4. It's on the VHS release of about a decade ago. Why expend the resources doing another?

 

[Rarewolf]

And Levine certainly wouldn't sit on them himself, not now that there's money to be made from the DVDs.

He wouldn't be able to profit from it, all he'd get is a copy of the DVD. He's donated dozens of peices used as extras, even when he was openingly but regretfully critical of the DVD producers.

He doesn't have any missing episodes. He has gone to remarkable lengths to contribute in other ways -

Financing an animation of Mission To The Unknown.
Gathering most of the cast of Shada together, recording the unfilmed scenes and having it animated.

According to his forum, he's also doing a fully cast version of Terrance Dicks' novel - The Eight Doctors.

And the person in charge of the Planet Of Giants DVD said Ian would be directing if they recorded the dialogue from the missing episode's worth from that story (It was cut from 4 parts to 3 prior to transmission). That audio has now been recorded.

 

[Lonemagpie]

there is actually only one episode that is known to be (very likely) out there, and that is Dalek Masterplan episode 4 - because unlike all the wiped episodes that were destroyed according to proper forms and bureaucracy, that one was known to have been stolen.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

there is actually only one episode that is known to be (very likely) out there, and that is Dalek Masterplan episode 4 - because unlike all the wiped episodes that were destroyed according to proper forms and bureaucracy, that one was known to have been stolen.

Are you thinking of "Tenth Planet" 4, which was signed out by Blue Peter and then never returned?

 

[Sindatur]

there is actually only one episode that is known to be (very likely) out there, and that is Dalek Masterplan episode 4 - because unlike all the wiped episodes that were destroyed according to proper forms and bureaucracy, that one was known to have been stolen.

Alright, whoever has it, cough it up. We'll take up a collection to pay you for it. 4 out of 10 episodes is much better than 3 out out of 10. Though it would be truly awesome to have all 10

 

[Rarewolf]

4 out of 10 episodes is much better than 3 out out of 10. Though it would be truly awesome to have all 10

Or 12 even, you lost two

 

[Sindatur]

4 out of 10 episodes is much better than 3 out out of 10. Though it would be truly awesome to have all 10

Or 12 even, you lost two

Oh, ooops, so I did

OK, then 33% complete is much better than 25% complete

 

[Lonemagpie]

there is actually only one episode that is known to be (very likely) out there, and that is Dalek Masterplan episode 4 - because unlike all the wiped episodes that were destroyed according to proper forms and bureaucracy, that one was known to have been stolen.

Are you thinking of "Tenth Planet" 4, which was signed out by Blue Peter and then never returned?

Not quite- everybody thinks it was TP4, but it's actually DM4 (having been in the office to get the clip of Katarina's death from,) that was lifted....

Both episodes were signed out by then BP PA Justin Smith, and never signed back in, but TP4 was still being sold abroad a year later (and junked, IIRC, around 1975) whereas DM 4 was just never seen again

(This doesn't mean Smith kept it - anybody could have wandered in, and he clearly returned TP4 even though he didn't sign it back in...)

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

Let's all take a moment to make sure we're sitting on chairs or couches or what have you and not a large stack of old film canisters.