Currently working through the missing episode audios...

[Christopher]

Yes, that's what he's saying:

http://www.purpleville.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rtwebsite/archive.htm

A few were re-used: for example the two-inch tape that once contained episode 3 of ‘The Enemy of the World’ still exists, but with an episode of ‘Blue Peter’ now recorded onto it.

Oh, it's too bad that the one erased original they've identified had an otherwise extant episode on it. If it were a still-missing episode, then maybe a palimpsest reconstruction could be attempted. (I suppose they could try it with the one they have just as proof of concept -- since they do have a surviving version to compare their results against -- but it would be kind of pointless if they have no other palimpsests to work with.)

 

[diankra]

Posted by diankra:
From Seasons 7 to 19 they were recorded onto 2" tapes, then the new 1" format took over as of Arc of Infinity.

Warriors of the Deep; the last 2" tape was The Five Doctors. From the same link:

From ‘Castrovalva’ through to ‘The Five Doctors’, the format for ‘Doctor Who’ remained the two-inch tape. From ‘Warriors of the Deep’, the format switched to one-inch tape

D'oh! Quite right. Had remembered that the change was season 20, but not that it was at the end of it rather than the beginning! (which makes better sense anyway, given when the season breaks were in production terms).

 

[Candlelight]

THE REIGN OF TERROR
8/10

I made the decision that I wasn't going to listen to the 'over-fifty-percenters' (The Reign of Terror, The Tenth Planet, The Ice Warriors and The Invasion) in their entirity, but after hearing Marco Polo right the way through I decided I would make an exception for this story.

The season one historicals are very good, it has to be said and The Reign of Terror is no exception. Sadly only The Aztecs is complete (a story I have still yet to see!) and it's a real shame the two missing episodes pop up right when the story hits high gear. I remember purchasing the VHS in the early 2000s and really enjoying the story, the first episode in particular is well written, has good pacing and for once, an honest-to-god actual decent cliffhanger! I sold the VHS with the rest of my collection about four years later but always enjoyed this story.

My only gripe is the script would bounce between first and last names, and I'd often forget that Lyon was a traitor but then Colbert got shot - then remembering that the guy's name was Lyon Colbert! Such a pity that from The Romans next season the production team began to see Historicals as merely comedic fillers.

Next up, I think I'll dive in and tackle the one story I've always found dull and lifeless - The Space Pirates...

 

[Candlelight]

The Tenth Planet
8/10

I've only listened to the fourth episode as I've already seen the other three and felt I wouldn't gain anything from hearing them again in audio only.

Very good episode, such a pity Hartnell's health kept him from much of the action. That said, the final 10 minutes are superb.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Plus companions were coming and going a lot in those days and they weren't considered very important as can be seen by the pretty feeble exits they were getting.

Speaking of 1960s companion exits, whatever happened to Vicki, Sara Kingdom, Ben, Polly, & Victoria?

Of course, the departures of Susan, Ian, Barbara, Dodo(), Jamie, & Zoe all still exist. Katarina's death is just about the only portion of that episode that still exists. Steven's departure in "The Savages" no longer exists but Peter Purves talks about it a little bit in the Season 3 overview documentary included as a bonus feature on the DVD of "The Gunfighters."

There's also the possibility of contacting aliens and discovering that they've been monitoring Earth from hidden satellites for decades and have recorded all our broadcasts...

While they may have recorded many of our broadcasts, I'll bet they would have wiped most of Doctor Who because aliens would find it racist.

I'm still holding onto the hope that for a 50th Anniversary Gift, the Doctor will leave behind a case containing all the missing episodes, which he has collected up prior to destruction for us over the years (This may even be why some of them went missing in the first place, because he grabbed the copies to rpesent us for the 50th)

I've wondered about this myself. I mean, didn't the last known copies of "The Traitors" & "The Tenth Planet, Part 4" mysteriously go missing from the Blue Peter offices shortly after clips of them were edited into a Blue Peter episode commemorating Doctor Who's 10th season?

I also think this could be a funny episode of the new series: The Doctor arrives on an alien planet that he previously visited, only to find that they've now turned his adventures into a cheesy TV series. But because of some nefarious alien subliminal messages hidden in the episodes, the Doctor has to steal or erase much of the series.

Come to think of it, the new series has occasionally made nods to this concept. One of Shakespeare's plays was destroyed because witches hid a magic spell in the final speech in "The Shakespeare Code." And Vincent Van Gogh painted over one of own paintings so that he could draw the Doctor a quick sketch of the invisible alien that they were fighting in "Vincent & the Doctor."

 

[Christopher]

Speaking of 1960s companion exits, whatever happened to Vicki, Sara Kingdom, Ben, Polly, & Victoria?

Became Cressida, died, went home, went home, got adopted by a 1970s family. Poor Victoria's the only classic companion residing on modern Earth that didn't get a namecheck in The Sarah Jane Adventures: "Death of the Doctor."

 

[VDCNI]

Victoria is in a newly released Big Finish audio alongside the Sixth Doctor and Peri. Part of their lost stories range of scripts that were almost made for the TV show. Haven't listened to it yet though.

 

[Candlelight]

Steven's departure in "The Savages" no longer exists but Peter Purves talks about it a little bit in the Season 3 overview documentary included as a bonus feature on the DVD of "The Gunfighters."

8mm footage exists of his departure. It's not the complete scene but has Steven saying he'll stay, Dodo crying like a baby and the Doctor being upset.

I've wondered about this myself. I mean, didn't the last known copies of "The Traitors" & "The Tenth Planet, Part 4" mysteriously go missing from the Blue Peter offices shortly after clips of them were edited into a Blue Peter episode commemorating Doctor Who's 10th season?

The Traitors, likely yes. The Tenth Planet 4, no. The Tenth Planet was still being offered for sale in 1974 (AKA the following year) so the negatives still existed at this stage. The 'myth' about the episode going missing snowballed into a legend, especially given the episode in question.

 

[diankra]

Speaking of 1960s companion exits, whatever happened to Vicki, Sara Kingdom, Ben, Polly, & Victoria?

Became Cressida, died, went home, went home, got adopted by a 1970s family. Poor Victoria's the only classic companion residing on modern Earth that didn't get a namecheck in The Sarah Jane Adventures: "Death of the Doctor."

That could be because of Sarah (and the Brigadier)'s 1990s dealings with Victoria in the spin-off video Downtime. Aside from any resulting bad feelings, the way Victoria slips away at the end implies she might be hiding out from them.

Oh, and Dodo didn't get a mention either (unless she's the Dorothy running the ACE foundation, by some bizarre coincidence, because the DWM comics are right about Ace being dead. Though it could be that the book You Killed Kennedy's right and Dodo's dead).

 

[diankra]

The Traitors, likely yes. The Tenth Planet 4, no. The Tenth Planet was still being offered for sale in 1974 (AKA the following year) so the negatives still existed at this stage. The 'myth' about the episode going missing snowballed into a legend, especially given the episode in question.

Well, Tenth Planet 4 did go AWOL from the Blue Peter offices. It just wasn't the only copy left (and if it had been sent back to Enterprises at the time they'd have destroyed it later along with their other copies).
Still, it is a pity that Blue Peter didn't mess up slightly differently, by sending The Traitors back to the film library as they should have done, but mistakenly sending 10P4 there as well... Then they'd both be around, as the library didn't destroy any complete episodes after 1969 (they had destroyed at least six before that, three of which have coincidentally been recovered).

 

[Christopher]

Oh, and Dodo didn't get a mention either...

Oh, forgot about her.

 

[Candlelight]

The Traitors, likely yes. The Tenth Planet 4, no. The Tenth Planet was still being offered for sale in 1974 (AKA the following year) so the negatives still existed at this stage. The 'myth' about the episode going missing snowballed into a legend, especially given the episode in question.

Well, Tenth Planet 4 did go AWOL from the Blue Peter offices. It just wasn't the only copy left (and if it had been sent back to Enterprises at the time they'd have destroyed it later along with their other copies).
Still, it is a pity that Blue Peter didn't mess up slightly differently, by sending The Traitors back to the film library as they should have done, but mistakenly sending 10P4 there as well... Then they'd both be around, as the library didn't destroy any complete episodes after 1969 (they had destroyed at least six before that, three of which have coincidentally been recovered).

Some things are very lucky to have survived. From the sounds of it the poor quality viewing prints of The Tenth Planet 1-3 made it back there by accident. Pity others didn't.

 

[diankra]

Exactly. There's a good dozen episodes that seem to have survived by what Richard Molesworth calls '"Why's this in my office? Oh well, it's a film print, better send it to the film library" route.

 

[DWF]

Exactly. There's a good dozen episodes that seem to have survived by what Richard Molesworth calls '"Why's this in my office? Oh well, it's a film print, better send it to the film library" route.

Where's Ian Levene when you need him?

 

[Candlelight]

THE SPACE PIRATES
(5/10)

It got better. The first few episodes suffered from the same curse that The Keys of Marinus and The Chase had, namely the story suffered from not being locked down to a single location. The Doctor mingles with less characters in this story than I've ever seen (Milo, Dom, Madeleine, that wounded pilot), and doesn't have any screen time with the pirates or the space patrol! It's very much a removed adventure for the Tardis crew. That said, the final episode is well handled, and good pacing as well. Not one of the best, but what I'd expect in Troughton's final season.

THE ICE WARRIORS (Eps 2 & 3 only)
(5/10)

When I first watched this story in 1998 I thought it was waaaay too long, and that was with two of it's episodes missing. Clent is too annoying to enjoy the story. At least 'Clent-clone' Robson from Fury managed to adapt and change throughout his story, Clent is just as annoying right the way through. Don't get me started on the whole computer-is-god storyline (but it was the sixties I guess).

Next, have got a long car journey coming up this weekend so will try and knock off a few on the way; probably the 100-percent-missing stories from season three.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Oh, and Dodo didn't get a mention [in "Death of the Doctor"] either (unless she's the Dorothy running the ACE foundation, by some bizarre coincidence, because the DWM comics are right about Ace being dead. Though it could be that the book You Killed Kennedy's right and Dodo's dead).

I'll bet Dodo just sent Sarah Jane a note saying that she wasn't coming.

Exactly. There's a good dozen episodes that seem to have survived by what Richard Molesworth calls '"Why's this in my office? Oh well, it's a film print, better send it to the film library" route.

Where's Ian Levene when you need him?

Pestering Eric Saward about nitpicky continuity errors in "Warriors of the Deep."

THE SPACE PIRATES
(5/10)

It got better. The first few episodes suffered from the same curse that The Keys of Marinus and The Chase had, namely the story suffered from not being locked down to a single location.

I'm not sure that that's a detriment to those stories. After all, I've encountered stories that got really boring because they were confined to a single location for the entire 6-parter (*cough*"Planet of the Daleks"*cough*). The problem with "The Chase" isn't its multiple locations. It's that almost every single one of those locations is rediculous!

Speaking of 1960s companion exits, whatever happened to Vicki, Sara Kingdom, Ben, Polly, & Victoria?

Became Cressida, died, went home, went home, got adopted by a 1970s family.

Yeah, I kinda knew most of that. I was hoping for more details.

 

[Christopher]

^Well, all those stories have been novelized. I'm sure you could find the books used somewhere.

 

[diankra]

Though in the case of The Myth Makers, the book won't really be that helpful about Vicki's departure, due to the rather brilliant first person way it's written. Better to try the CD.

 

[Candlelight]

I'm not sure that that's a detriment to those stories. After all, I've encountered stories that got really boring because they were confined to a single location for the entire 6-parter (*cough*"Planet of the Daleks"*cough*). The problem with "The Chase" isn't its multiple locations. It's that almost every single one of those locations is ridiculous!

I personally loved those two stories I mentioned but it's probably more the fact that in The Space Pirates for the first two episodes the Doctor and companions are merely stuck inside a beacon with little interaction with anyone else. The story is carried by others. In fact doesn't the first episode hold the record for the longest time before the Tardis arrives in a story?

 

[Candlelight]

MISSION TO THE UNKNOWN
8/10

Great little episode. Has always been a favourite of mine. I really believe that Terry Nation's notion - that the Daleks could maintain their own series - could probably work as indicated by this story, although they would have to win and lose at various times, otherwise it might get a little repetitive. Yes the music is a little out of place and Marc Cory ripped straight out of Ian Flemming's notes, but it's a fun little romp, and sets up the story well for The Dalek's Master Plan (which funnily enough had a different recording from Cory, but oh well...).