That's my recollection of how I saw most of Baker's series. I remember the Curse of Peladon playing once or twice, while the Monster of Peladon being played a lot, I mean A lot! I loved it tho. Between those and the Davison era playing on local PBS, there also was the fabulous after show.. Red Dwarf. I was in love with PBS at that time. Great quirky shows, while TNG was airing live, and TOS was on reruns on TV. It was kind of a glorious time to be into Scifi. Other SciFi/Science shows I saw at that time: the Greatest American Hero, The Incredible Hulk, Captain Powers and the Soldiers of the future, The Misfits of Science, Mr. Wizards world was a favorite, (Nickelodeon) Star Trek TAS, (Danger Mouse was also cool), The Highwayman Excellent truck!, Knight Rider, Shadow Chasers, V the series, Automan, The Pheonix (Wrath of Khan star Judson Scott) and of course Transformers G-1, Buck Rogers, BSG Original, Quantum Leap, Land of the Lost, Alien Nation, MST3K, Amazing Stories, Voyagers, Airwolf, and Kinda Weird but Max Headroom was en-vogue for a bit.. Yep, a great time for new and funky.. some lasted, some forgotten, but still known and once mentioned, does bring up distant memories of a time when new Imaginative concepts led the Tellie over derivative rehashes and corporate formulas. Even tho it was years behind the actual airing in the UK, Doctor Who had a niche of uniqueness along with Red Dwarf that was refreshing and wonderful.
See, Red Dwarf was never on Chicago PBS. Milwaukee PBS (which I could get fuzzily once in a blue moon) sure, but never Chicago. I didn't get into RD till the 90's, but I'm all in since then. Chicago had Monty Python, The Two Ronnies or Dave Allen At Large before and/or after DW late Sunday nites.
I was in Louisiana at the time, the Texarkana (Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas) PBS for the area as I was in Bossier city, played 4 Serials of Classic Doctor Who, then followed By 3 Episodes of Red Dwarf, usually Series 1 and 2. Rarely a new one would air, usually 2 seasons behind the actual airings. We also had Faulty Towers, Bob Ross (loved his work), then Black Adder after. It was Pre-BBCA so it was all one could get. Baker was an absolute Fav of mine to be sure. I remember Middle School, and going to spend the night at a friends house. He broke out the 5 Doctors, which I had yet to see, on VHS no less.. Then he showed me the best comic book of the 4th Doctor ever, it was a Marvel version, but the art, the quirky story and style was such a draw, it is still held up as the best Doctor Who comic in my entire collection to this day. The beginning scene alone was enough to make me even more a fan of Baker and his portrayal. This is the HOLY Grail of My Doctor Who Comic Collection! My most Favourite Book of all time. I think what I like about the comic is it's art, the story is fun, and the Cyberman looks like a Troughton Version with a Tenth Planet head.. It's a great book overall, and the nostalgia factor is pretty up there. If you are a Baker Fan, hunt your local back issues. Find all the original issues of the Marvel Baker Run. They are like Mining and finding Bit coin Gold! LOL By the time of the 6th Doctor's debut on PBS, I was a little older and had such a HUGE crush on Peri (Nichola Bryant) who was just absolutely HOT, tho I did have a thing for Jo Grant as well. I remember making my own Dalek from a Plastic Milk Carton, and Plastic parts I cannibalised from various Model kits and things around the house. Plastic Ball Beads were used for the base of the figure. I took a GI Joe action figure, and converted it into the 4th Doctor. LOL Doctor Who Magazine at that time was an obsession to try to find to read the latest Stories. I remember while watching the Davison era, the DWM had the 6th Doctor featured in the comics section. For me, I was like Damn.. a New Doctor and I can't see it?? We had to wait two years for the latest episodes to start trickling in. It was a bit of a drag, but fun to cobble the scraps we could get together to collect something.. anything Whovian. I spent a lot of my childhood trying to design a TARDIS interior, the engines and so on.. A passion I seem to have held onto, it harkens me back to those fun and enjoyable times. I even cannibalised other models and created a pretty good facsimile of the RED DWARF ship! I loved that show and together with Baker, Pertwee, Davison, and Baker it made the perfect night time viewing before bed. We did also have Monty Python at times, but not as often. I wasn't really a fan of it that much. I remember Showtime would air Benny Hill..LMAO! Red Dwarf also came on late Saturdays, and after Saturday morning cartoons were over and the Snorks began, I would then go play outside with my latest Transformers, or Star Trek Megos my mum would get from Garage Sales. even then in the mid 80s I felt like those Megos were older and knew they were probably from the 70s. I did have the entire Doctor Who set one time. I also had the Wizard of OZ set including the cardboard and plastic covered Emerald City, complete with cardboard fold out yellow brick road. After playing with my friends, and supper time, I would turn on the PBS channel and watch Doctor Who until around 9pm, then Red Dwarf to 11pm, and they would end the night's programming with Are You being Served yet..(loved that show too) Anyhow back on Topic. I think that the BBC finally making the Classic series into a Season collection for sale is what many people have wanted to see for a long time now. I dreaded having to buy DVDs individually. Tho I have a Bluray and DVD all in one, I still prefer DVD to the Bluray. HD is great in DVD, Bluray is better yes to some extent, but I just can't justify the cost of Bluray with Doctor Who because the DVD cost is so much more cost effective for me. I want the episode, yes.. But I don't need to get a slightly better version, because I have other things I like to spend my money on, and sometimes it comes down to necessity or luxury. For me, I will take necessity over luxury any day. Owning a Classic Doctor Who DVD is a Necessity, because let's face it, there are no more PBS showings of it, I have seen, and BBCA only focuses on contemporary shows. It's not like in the UK where BBC3 would show classic episodes back when RTD's run was airing. anyhow, the Baker years do bring back fond memories for us across the pond, in a slightly different way then in the UK, but we share that fondness none the less.
My brother gave me a good sized set of those comics (the Marvel ones #1-#23, plus Marvel Premiere #57-#60) a few x-mas' ago. Add in every time the Simpsons or Futurama showed a Doctor, it was Tom Baker. He's more on an international folk figure than a character, at least to us sci-fi geeks
Remember the Iron Legion storyline? That one was amazing. The art, fantastic. I also liked the story of the Doctor and the library planet "this is your life" story, and the issue 1-2 story with the Red Dalek and the story in that was exceptional. the classic books tended more then not, and classic DWM, captured the spirit of the characters, and made those times between seeing the episodes on PBS fun and enjoyable. If they ever decide to do the iron legion Planet in the new series, that would be a dream come true. Those golden Roman robot birds were unique and cool.
I am not saying I agree with the rumour, I am saying what every hint said is alluding to. I have no opinion on Levine whatsoever except as one of those fans that pops up in discussions of the show, like Gary Russell or Andrew Pixley.
That's my opinion as well. People tend to give far too much credence to scurrilous gossip on the Internet. He does appear to attract a lot of bile and vitriol but I have no idea what the agendas of his detractors are. If he really were in possession of a lot of missing tapes, it is his right to do with them as he wishes, no matter what anyone else thinks.
I actually suspect, on the basis of him popping up now and then, that if he had the tapes, he would have handed them over years ago to be honest. But then, I have seen some of those forums where secretive film club members claim to have meets to see such lost things...and still find it impossible to believe people function that way *shrug* Artworks...books...things that Re not easily reproducible, sure. But film ? Nah. Silliness. If he had tapes he would have copied them by now for sure.
Are we talking about black-and-white, 405-line videotape or film taken from a TV screen (telerecording)? Anything a collector has is very unlikely to have been cleaned up. It might also not have been stored in the best conditions to preserve it. Unless Mr Levine is enormously wealthy, I doubt he has more than a handful of missing episodes. It would be very difficult to hide evidence of film/videotape having been covertly recovered from all over the world. It seems to me more probable that someone has made up the story to denigrate him. He did save The Daleks from being wiped after all.
He is, I believe, enormously wealthy. However, that aside, I think he would have handed them over within the last twenty years, as the beeb got more who and fan friendly.
Perhaps not if he believed that he hadn't been given the recognition and gratitude that he felt he deserved for his previous contributions to Whodom. If I said that people are rude about him, that would be an understatement. It's so vicious that I doubt even a saint wouldn't feel tempted to think "stuff the lot of them". I am, however, not familiar with the exact details of his ostracism and I'm not sure I want to be.
Well I was told he's giving contributions to a certain fan pub 1972, which I was invited to join for art contribution, and a private FB group. I can ask him in messenger format about that stuff. hmmm.. would be cool to interview him if he wants to allow it. Plus get his takes on all sorts of Whovian Stuff.
Good luck - I'd sort of gathered he'd moved on from Doctor Who as a primary interest. Again, that might be misinformation that's been spread by others.
I'd say so since he's working on this 1972 Annual fan pub. That comes from the director of the project himself and is in the link I posted in the Whovian toy thread announcing the book project.
No clue who the person is claimed to be. Assuming it's true, which I doubt, the films still have to be carefully preserved. The DW discoveries from 2013 were lucky; many films in that station had already "decomposed" and were unusable. And while I could anyone can guess a name and likely be incorrect and there are so many rumors about so many people to begin with, and depending on issue, who could blame them for being buried with such films? The real question is, depending on issue and assuming this stash of episodes really does exist, will they make up? If so, how?