Missing episodes: a hypothetical question

[diankra]

Maybe this should be a poll, but I was struck by something and wondered how others felt...

Suppose 10 missing episodes were found. Which option would you prefer:
a) They all come from stories which already exist in part (and complete those stories). Any combination you like (eg: Evil of the Daleks and Faceless Ones, or Masterplan and 10th Planet, or Web of Fear and Abominable Snowmen), but there's nothing at all from stories which are entirely missing (such as Marco Polo or Power of the Daleks).
or
b) One sample episode from each of the 10 stories that are entirely missing (which means we get one complete story, Mission to the Unknown).

I think I'd got for b), just so we've got an idea what the rest of them was like, even though a single episode can be misleading...

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I think I'd prefer the first option. Watching complete stories is generally easier than watching random smatterings of incomplete stories. If I could pick which stories would be re-completed, I think my first pick would be "The Web of Fear." It's a painful irony that the one episode of this story that still exists is the only one that doesn't have Col. Lethbridge-Stewart in it.

On the other hand, presuming we got some of the most important episodes back from the missing stories, that might be worth it. "Mission to the Unknown" would be interesting. Then you have Vicki's departure in "The Myth-makers," the titular massacre at the end of "The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve," Steven's departure at the end of "The Savages," Patrick Troughton's 1st full episode in "Power of the Daleks," and Jamie's introduction in "The Highlanders."

 

[Christopher]

How about c) They all come from stories that are entirely missing? Say, "Power of the Daleks" plus "The Highlanders." Or a mix of partially and entirely missing, like all of "Marco Polo" plus the rest of "The Crusade" plus the final episode of "The Tenth Planet."

 

[diankra]

Sorry Chris, no easy option c. It's either a frustrating single episode from the stories you've not seen at all, or the rest of stories you've seen part of (and the risk that the other episodes are a let down).

 

[Christopher]

Well, if I'm fantasizing, why do I have to settle for unsatisfying options?

But if those are my only choices, I'd go for the completion of partial stories.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Option A.

Reign of Terror 4 and 5. (2 episodes)
The Crusade 2 and 4. (2 episodes)
Evil of the Daleks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. (6 episodes).

There's my ten to complete stories.

 

[diankra]

Well, if I'm fantasizing, why do I have to settle for unsatisfying options?

'Cos even getting 10% of the missing episodes back would still be far too few, so the question is meant to be a choice between equally unsatisfying (but better than getting nothing back) options.

 

[Candlelight]

Going by the audio I'd choose my fav instalment:

Marco Polo 6
Mission to the Unknown
The Myth Makers 3
The Massacre 4
The Savages 2
The Smugglers 4
The Power of the Daleks 4 or 6
The Highlanders 1
The Macra Terror 3
Fury from the Deep 3

Or simply the final episode of each of those stories.

 

[John Clark]

I'd go for completion of series too.

Web of Fear is missing 5 episodes - and so is Abominable Snowman according to wiki.

Those would do for me

 

[Lonemagpie]

Option a)

Tenth Planet 4
Moonbase 2 & 4
Ice Warriors 2 & 3
Web Of Fear 2-6

would do nicely...

 

[Mr Awe]

I'm not really into watching isolated episodes from an incomplete story. So, I'd prefer to completely finish a story rather than a batch of island stories.

However, in all honestly, I'll be thrilled at any additional discoveries.

Mr Awe

 

[Candlelight]

If I were to pick option A)

The Reign of Terror 4 5
The Evil of the Daleks 1 3 4 5 6 7
The Invasion 1 4

 

[VDCNI]

I think I would prefer episodes from stories we have nothing from, completing stories like Web would use up 5 episodes all on its own while having one episode from various missing stories would at least give us an idea of what each story was like. Probably best to have the first episode as they work best in isolation.

Marco Polo - Episode 3 maybe - 1 takes a while to get to the main story and 2 lacks the Doctor while 3 is quite a busy episode for everyone.
The Myth Makers - Episode 1
The Massacre - Episode 1
The Savages - Episode 1
The Smugglers - Episode 1
The Power Of The Daleks - Episode 1
The Highlanders - Episode 1
The Macra Terror - Episode 1
Fury From The Deep - Episode 1

That's 9 episodes so for the tenth it would be Episode 3 of The Web Of Fear as I love that story and it is the first appearance of the Brig.

 

[Candlelight]

That's 9 episodes so for the tenth it would be Episode 3 of The Web Of Fear as I love that story and it is the first appearance of the Brig.

Has to be Mission to the Unknown by default; Web already has an existing episode.

 

[VDCNI]

Yes I forgot that - I always count it as part of Masterplan, oh well. I have no particular interest in the Daleks so its probably the episode I would be least bothered about being returned.

 

[Winterwind]

Option A. I'd rather have fewer complete stories than fragments of multiple stories.

 

[Count Zero]

I'd also prefer option A. I feel that would be ultimately more satisfactory than option B and I also prefer watching complete stories rather than just fragments.

There are more stories I'd like to see completed than the 10 episode limit allows. I'd really want The Tenth Planet to be complete so that's one episode down. The rest I'd split between The Evil of the Daleks and The Ice Warriors which leaves me with one single episode that wouldn't complete any other story and which could go either to The Celestial Toymaker (getting that up to only half of it missing with the two missing episodes possibly getting the animation treatment ), The Moonbase or The Underwater Menace (both of them with then only one episode missing which could be animated).

I didn't include The Invasion and The Reign of Terror in my deliberations because they either have been completed by animation or will be and that's good enough for me.

 

[Christopher]

Having seen the one surviving episode of "The Celestial Toymaker," I'm not sure that the absence of the rest of it is such a great loss. At least, if we could only get a finite number of episodes back, I wouldn't want to waste one of the slots on that.

 

[Takeru]

I pick a) and want everything else animated, they have audios it can't be that expensive, the BBC should find some money for it, don't they get billions every year?

 

[Rarewolf]

I'd go with B) 10 orphaned episodes. Given that there's 8 stories without anything that might be good odds for reducing that figure.

I'd be happy with anything. But I suppose everyone's first and last episodes would be more pleasing. so

Myth Makers 4, DMP 4, Massacre 4, Savages 4, Tenth Planet 4, Power 1, Highlanders 1, Fury 6, Wheel 2, plus Marco Polo 4, Smugglers 1.

Might of been A) if it was more than 10. I'd love to see Marco Polo and Power Of The Daleks.

Having seen the one surviving episode of "The Celestial Toymaker," I'm not sure that the absence of the rest of it is such a great loss.

The audio suggests 4 very different episodes, like Space Pirates 2 (without any Space Pirates!) its probably not the best to judge it by.

The few fans who've seen Underwater Menace part 2 have changed their opinion of the story from what they knew about part 3.

I pick a) and want everything else animated, they have audios it can't be that expensive, the BBC should find some money for it, don't they get billions every year?

The thing is though we've been told (for what that's worth!) they can't afford to do more than 2 episodes a story. So the best chance of a complete Wheel In Space (we have 2/6) would be find another 2. They'd then have the insentive to animate the remainder. Even if they just found 1 that would make it 50% complete, they might budge then.

On the other hand if episodes did start to be found they might thing it wasn't worth the risk! Recovering something just animated would be bittersweet.