"There's No Such Thing As Macra..." Well, Now There is!

[Nightowl1701]

How is the audio on those episodes? I read that many lost episodes cannot be animated because the audio quality isn't as good.

The late Graham Strong started his 'crystal clear' recording around DMP 8, so from there through The Wheel in Space the audio quality's just fine. The ones before that came from David Holman (used in the Loose Cannon stuff and a couple BBC CD releases), and some Australian recordings brought us the animated Invasion and cover The Space Pirates. It's all listenable, I don't see why they should have any trouble using it.

 

[The Wormhole]

As expected, Ian Levine hated it,

So, because of this I went and looked up Ian Levine's twitter.

Ugh.

Where to start? He's got something like five tweets complaining about The Macra Terror animated recon, he's mouthing off that someone hacked his twitter feed to make it look like he's selling tickets to a screening of his animated Shada,* and he's re-tweeting tweets from cronies of his complaining that Doctor Who is no longer a friendly franchise to males born before 1990 because, well, I think you can figure out why there. You know, I used to get a laugh out of his tirades, but this is just starting to get sad.

*I might actually believe him on that one. Levine might be an idiot, but he's not quite that idiotic, otherwise he'd have tried to release his Shada by now. Still, he's really getting himself worked up over the accusations.

 

[zarkon]

Ian Levine's relevance to doctor who ended with those eps he saved decades ago. Best to just ignore him.

 

[Qonundrum]

Hey, I am one! The cut has dropped Macra from "Buy on the day" to "Get it in cex". Equally, poor sales might read as 'make no more' rather than 'Do not cut!'

I got my copy. Watched it. Nicely done, how they got around the excised scene.

Especially given the sheer quality OF the animation, which I dare say is by far the best quality of any animated DW release to date - it is fairly well-detailed already and the animators did a remarkable job with the time and other constraints, a few seconds of a magic wardrobe changing/haircut making machine being cut for the sake of technical impracticality is hardly a reason to not partake.

Yes, I understand Ian Levine's gripe. He's not wrong - none of us likes the idea of cutting a scene from an episode being given animation because the original episodes were junked and he did rather a huge service in getting a large number of episodes recovered, which may not have been otherwise. I'd say he's entitled to gripe - he put his soul into finding episodes. If you did the episode searching and had such emotional investment, part of you would feel upset just the same. Most of us probably would.

All things considered, is it a big issue? Given how smooth and comparatively detailed the episodes are, seeing them walk into a box and watching it boing up and down a couple times would easily be jarring if they didn't get the feel to match up with the rest of the story.

The improvements on the Macra alone make this a worthwhile purchase. No big stupid non-scary plastic claw.

And now I'm going to go make stuffed crab legs for dinner. Yum.

 

[Christopher]

Especially given the sheer quality OF the animation, which I dare say is by far the best quality of any animated DW release to date - it is fairly well-detailed already and the animators did a remarkable job with the time and other constraints, a few seconds of a magic wardrobe changing/haircut making machine being cut for the sake of technical impracticality is hardly a reason to not partake.

I still don't get why they don't just hand-animate these, which would make it far easier to do wardrobe and hair changes.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

The problem with Levine often stems from his behavioral incapacities rather than his reasoning... He's absolutely right that no scene from an existing audio should ever be excised from the animation process. I could undertand cutting some of the dead space, sure, but not scenes outright. That said, I'd still pay for it, and gladly will.

Now, can someone tell me how was the ending altered from the original for this release? Someone noted that this was the case with this.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Eh, a broken clock. He's often wrong to go with his gross attitude.

 

[Nightowl1701]

And it's full speed ahead on the next animated 'recovery' - The Faceless Ones. (Interesting to note that they seem to be animating the two existing episodes as well.)https://www.zoom.co.uk/product/doctor_who_the_faceless_ones_blu_ray#

With The Evil of the Daleks, The Abominable Snowmen, Fury from the Deep and The Wheel in Space all said to be on the animation short-list, there seems a definite drive on to finish - or at least fill out - the Troughton era. Wonder when/where they're finally going to delve into the Hartnell era?

 

[Csalem]

And it's full speed ahead on the next animated 'recovery' - The Faceless Ones. (Interesting to note that they seem to be animating the two existing episodes as well.)

With The Evil of the Daleks, The Abominable Snowmen, Fury from the Deep and The Wheel in Space all said to be on the animation short-list, there seems a definite drive on to finish - or at least fill out - the Troughton era. Wonder when/where they're finally going to delve into the Hartnell era?

There is a preview clip in this article on Doctor Who site:
https://www.doctorwho.tv/news/?article=the-faceless-ones-animation-to-be-released

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Damn, it's amazing how just a few years ago (let alone when this all started), the idea that more than just a few of the serials with missing episodes would be animated was unfathomable, but now it's beginning to feel like a forgone conclusion. I love it!

 

[Mr Awe]

And it's full speed ahead on the next animated 'recovery' - The Faceless Ones. (Interesting to note that they seem to be animating the two existing episodes as well.)

With The Evil of the Daleks, The Abominable Snowmen, Fury from the Deep and The Wheel in Space all said to be on the animation short-list, there seems a definite drive on to finish - or at least fill out - the Troughton era. Wonder when/where they're finally going to delve into the Hartnell era?

I hope this is true. But, I'd like something more concrete than what appears to be some estore I've never heard of. Ok, now I see it on the Doctor Who news site. Whew! So glad!

Damn, it's amazing how just a few years ago (let alone when this all started), the idea that more than just a few of the serials with missing episodes would be animated was unfathomable, but now it's beginning to feel like a forgone conclusion. I love it!

It is amazing. Although, I remember those discussion from back then and the consensus was that only a few stories would be animated but I mentioned that the costs are always falling and it would become more affordable over time. I'm glad that is happening! I love these animations. I never really could get into the reconstructions but these animations ironically bring the story to life!

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Awesome, but two questions:

1) Why not this year?
2) Why go through the effort of animating the existing episodes?

 

[Nightowl1701]

Awesome, but two questions:

1) Why not this year?
2) Why go through the effort of animating the existing episodes?

1: Auntie Beeb pleading poverty again, maybe? Or they’re clearing the decks for something else...
2: When you want to market an HD, widescreen full color version? Easier to animate afresh than fiddle with 52 year old footage. Probably cheaper too.

 

[Mr Awe]

^ As long as they provide the option to view the original episodes, I'm ok with it.

 

[Turtletrekker]

^ As long as they provide the option to view the original episodes, I'm ok with it.

This exactly. As long as the original episodes are available as bonus features or something.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Well, the B&W episode could have a branch option to allow to play the surviving two episodes with the remaining animated ones. Thats how I'd want to view the story, anyway.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Also, I'm surprised The Abominable Snowmen would be on a short list. Its a fairly slow-moving serial. In fact, I'm kinda afraid that the Norton team will muck it up - its the only story that I watched as a recon more than once and I've actually immensly enjoyed. Its eerie and atmospheric and the slow pace actually is beneficiery towards it.

 

[Jinn]

And the next animated serial will be... Fury From the Deep!

 

[The Wormhole]

WOO!
And that means that 2020 is getting two animated reconstructions.
Allow me to repeat WOO!

 

[Marc]

And the next animated serial will be... Fury From the Deep!

Isn't there a better story they could do?

Don't think I ever managed to get through the novelisation.