http://www.comicmix.com/news/2009/0...abwes-mugabe-holding-missing-dr-who-episodes/
Of course this came from the Sun so consider the source.
Of course this came from the Sun so consider the source.
Missing Doctor Who Eps. In Zimbabwe?
- Thread starter DWF
- Start date
Yeah, I'll wait until I hear this from a more reliable source before I celebrate...
In yet more evidence that the Sun visits Doctor Who boards to get its stories, all this seems to stem from a discussion on the Restoration Team forum. As you'll see if you read that thread, Zimbabwe (or rather Rhodesia, as it was known at the time) did purchase some of the early Hartnell stories, so at one point they would have had copies of "Marco Polo" and "The Reign of Terror," but there's no more reason to suspect that those copies survive than in any other case of Who being sold abroad. The people who are actually involved in researching missing episodes don't regard any African nation as a likely prospect for returns.
How narrow minded of them.... I think Zimbabwe and other countries the series was exported to could be one of early Doctor Who's best hopes. Where do they think that episodes are more likely to be? If we knew we, we wouldnt be looking... all possibilities should be explored and none dismissed.
And what's with all the digs at The Sun? Shit newspaper I know but it is one of the biggest selling newspapers in the country, we should be GLAD that it supports Doctor Who so much... if it didn't and instead started slating it, then the mindless morons who buy the paper and are told what to think by the paper (in this case, that Doctor Who is cool again!) would probably start to reflect the papers attitude.
The Sun, however disliked, is a multi million pound media power house, and it's supports Doctor Who. Isn't that a good thing?
^Do you work for Murdoch?
Great I can see it now, new Dr Who footage unearthed in Zimbabwe...then we all get to watch as Mugabe burns it live on national television!
I'm going to have nightmares tonight...
What's narrow-minded is for people who know next to nothing about the process to pass judgment on professionals who have been involved with the missing episode search for years. The remaining missing episodes aren't "more likely to be" anywhere; it is and has always been overwhelmingly likely that they're gone forever, as the BBC intended them to be.
My wording in the earlier post was vague. The researchers have investigated Africa as much as is possible given the circumstances, and concluded that it's unlikely that there's anything there. Prints of Who episodes (and all foreign TV sales) were routinely "bicycled" from one overseas nation to another, so it's not even clear that prints sent to Africa would have been destroyed there. Researchers explored the possibility and then dismissed it. Suggesting that every dimmest prospect should be explored to the fullest is a nice high-minded sentiment, but it's not remotely feasible. If you want to hop a plane to Zimbabwe and ask everyone you meet if they happen to have Doctor Who episodes in attic trunks, you should feel free, though.
The BBC has recently been in contact with the archives of African nations that bought Doctor Who, and those nations have all reported that they don't have any missing episodes. This would include Kenya, which at one time had the same two now-missing stories as Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. Obviously it's possible that missing material exists somewhere in those archives and no one has noticed (or that the archives are secretly hoarding, or whatever other theory), but that's a dim hope and difficult to follow up on. Even if some material still exists unnoticed, it's possible that time and the African climate have rendered the film unusable.
That's a joke, right?
As sad as it is, erasing the tapes was standard practice at the time - this was before home video even started up, and even if they did predict that, who would have thought some old B & W show would be profitable?
Considering how few pre-Tom Baker shows survived as the original masters, we should really consider ourselves lucky we have as much as we do.
it was because Equity the actor's union thought that actors could be made jobless if the TV stations had archives of reruns to constantly air.
of course, this was before satellite TV and channels that now air NOTHING BUT RERUNS!
That would kill me.
Oh, I know. Burning missing tapes of Doctor Who is small potatoes compared to the true atrocities that man has done.
Still, that would kill me.
Still, that would kill me.
Oh I do hope that an episode turns up in Zimbabwe so I can quote this again.
I bet Mugabe is watching old Hartnel episodes as we speak, having a good old belly laugh at the BBC.
