Why so few 3rd doc DVD's?

[diankra]

Terror exists in colour, but in the same reconstructed-from-two-sources form

I distinctly remember seeing a full color version at some point. I think it was sold on VHS tape. Is this the reconstructed version you are talking about?

It is, yes. The two sources are a black and white telecine (film print) copy, with better resolution, and an off-air colour recording made by a Canadian fan from an early US transmission, the flaws in this being that it's on NTSC Betamax which was then copied and converted to PAL um-matic for another fan (Ian Levine, to be precise). So that copy is a little ropey, but it could provide the colour info to turn the B&W version into the colour version that's been released, thanks to computer trickery that was frankly miraculous for the time.
16 years later, redoing it will produce a far better version, which has been done for the other stories where the colour version comes from these sources: The Daemons was, I believe, redone for a BBC4 transmission a couple of years ago, and The Silurians was redone for a 1999 BBC2 repeat, and then again for the DVD release two years back.
Ambassadors of Death has also been partly recreated using the same method, but the weather was bad on the day the Canadian fan taped it, so the colour sometimes drops out of his recordings, unfortunately.

 

[Rarewolf]

Daemons didn't have any further treatment for it's BBC4 transmission - not on a BBC4 budget!

Ironically the story has been shown on BBC1, BBC2 and BBC4, but never BBC3, which is amusing if you know the story.

Ambassadors suffers from interferance that created unwanted rainbow patterns. The video just uses usable bits fading to B&W where needed.

 

[diankra]

Terror exists in colour, but in the same reconstructed-from-two-sources form

I distinctly remember seeing a full color version at some point. I think it was sold on VHS tape. Is this the reconstructed version you are talking about?

It is, yes. The two sources are a black and white telecine (film print) copy, with better resolution, and an off-air colour recording made by a Canadian fan from an early US transmission, the flaws in this being that it's on NTSC Betamax which was then copied and converted to PAL um-matic for another fan (Ian Levine, to be precise). So that copy is a little ropey, but it could provide the colour info to turn the B&W version into the colour version that's been released, thanks to computer trickery that was frankly miraculous for the time.
16 years later, redoing it will produce a far better version, which has been done for the other stories where the colour version comes from these sources: The Daemons was, I believe, redone for a BBC4 transmission a couple of years ago, and The Silurians was redone for a 1999 BBC2 repeat, and then again for the DVD release two years back.
Ambassadors of Death has also been partly recreated using the same method, but the weather was bad on the day the Canadian fan taped it, so the colour sometimes drops out of his recordings, unfortunately.

Daemons didn't have any further treatment for it's BBC4 transmission - not on a BBC4 budget!

Ironically the story has been shown on BBC1, BBC2 and BBC4, but never BBC3, which is amusing if you know the story.

Ambassadors suffers from interferance that created unwanted rainbow patterns. The video just uses usable bits fading to B&W where needed.

Yes, I was simplifying, as the rainbow patterning means there's no useable colour data to capture.
If it's of any interest to the original poster (etc), I'll put up a quick summary of which formats which Pertwees survive in: once you know, it makes a lot of sense of why some stories have been held back from release so far (with the exception of Day of the Daleks and Planet of the Spiders, neither of which have any archive problems - at least no more than most Tom Bakers or later).

 

[Cutter John]

Ambassadors suffers from interferance that created unwanted rainbow patterns. The video just uses usable bits fading to B&W where needed.

Doesn't sound like that big a deal. Going by some of the featurettes on previous dvd's, the restoration team has been able to fix much worse problems than those in the past

 

[diankra]

Ambassadors suffers from interferance that created unwanted rainbow patterns. The video just uses usable bits fading to B&W where needed.

Doesn't sound like that big a deal. Going by some of the featurettes on previous dvd's, the restoration team has been able to fix much worse problems than those in the past

They've been trying to fix it for about 15 years now, but so far, no cigar (the VHS release includes the bits that could be salvaged). It's a classic case of GI,GO, so if the colour infor is dud, there's no point using it.
If the B&W film prints are suitable, the best bet now is probably the new interference-pattern colour-restoration technique which has been used on a Dad's Army episode (Room at the Bottom), parts of Planet of the Daleks 3 (as an alternate approach was already almost done when it was developed), and (if rumour is accurate) on the whole of Mind of Evil for DVD release early next year.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Terror exists in colour, but in the same reconstructed-from-two-sources form

I distinctly remember seeing a full color version at some point. I think it was sold on VHS tape. Is this the reconstructed version you are talking about?

Addendum: Never mind. I was thinking of "Spearhead from Space". I do remember that "Autons" was in B&W. Sorry about that.

 

[DWF]

Are they working on all of Jon Pertwee's stories? I mean they could be putting out some other ones surely.

 

[diankra]

Are they working on all of Jon Pertwee's stories? I mean they could be putting out some other ones surely.

16 of the 24 Pertwee stories exist in colour without any major problems (meaning they either exist entirely on the original PAL-625 British tapes - or, in the case of Spearhead, the 16mm film - and only need the usual amount of restoration that any story gets, or on NTSC-525 American copies, which can now be restored by the reverse-NTSC process), and nine of those have already been released (with another due out in the reportedly upcoming Peladon box set).
So for those, that's a comparable hit rate to releases of most other Doctors (aside from 2,6 and 8 where there were relatively few stories available at all).

The unreleased colour-intact Pertwees are: Colony in Space, Day of the Daleks, Mutants, Time Monster, Death to the Daleks and Planet of the Spiders.
The stories still needing colour restoration of some form are: Ambassadors of Death, Terror of the Autons, Mind of Evil (reportedly out in colour-restored form in early 2010), Daemons and Invasion of the Dinosaurs.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Mostly what I'm interested in is stories from the end of the Jon Pertwee years when he was paired up with Sarah Jane Smith. Are any of those stories out besides "The Time Warrior"?

 

[DWF]

Mostly what I'm interested in is stories from the end of the Jon Pertwee years when he was paired up with Sarah Jane Smith. Are any of those stories out besides "The Time Warrior"?

That's the only one so far, but next year Monster Of Paladon comes out in a two pack with The Curse Of Paladon.

 

[23skidoo]

The Doctor Who News Page reports that Nicholas Courtney, Terrance Dicks, and others recently recorded commentary for a future DVD release of Ambassadors of Death. As the blog says this doesn't mean it's coming soon (The Keeper of Traken, for example, wasn't released until several years after Anthony Ainley, who recorded commentary for it, had died). But it at least means they're working on it.

http://gallifreynewsbase.blogspot.com/2009/11/ambassadors-dvd-commentary.html

Alex

 

[Rarewolf]

He mentioned he saw Caroline John last week too.

 

[ClayinCA]

I just watched The Ambassadors of Death for the first time and really enjoyed it. You can pretty much tell who the villain's going to be a mile away, but it was a good story.

 

[Captain Pike]

Yeah it's a cracker..

 

[OmahaStar]

Any theories guys?

Looking at my DVD shelf he looks very under-represented for a guy who played the part for so long.

So far I've seen Doctors 1, 2, 3, (plenty of) 4, 9 and 10, but would like to see more 3. Guess I'm in the minority

It's all a matter of perspective, really. There are 13 unreleased Third Doctor stories. There are also 13 unreleased Fourth Doctor stories.

Based on this thread, I decided to figure out just how many stories are left for each Doctor, with some interesting results.

First Doctor - did 29 stories. Of those, 13 have been released. There are four which exist in their entirety and could be released today. The others are either partially or completely missing in video.

Second Doctor - did 21 stories. Of those, 5 have been released. There are only two more complete stories which could be released. The others are either partially or completely missing in video.

Third Doctor - did 24 stories. Of those, 11 have been released with 13 to be released.

Fourth Doctor - did 42 stories. Of those, 29 have been released, with 13 to be released.

Fifth Doctor - did 20 stories. Of those, 14 have been released, there are only 6 unreleased.

Sixth Doctor - did 11 stories. All Sixth Doctor stories have been released!

Seven Doctor - did 12 stories. Of those, 6 have been released, there are 6 unreleased.

For those questioning my numbers, I am counting everything that has been announced (Keys of Marinus, Twin Dilemma, Frontier in Space, etc.) as released, because we know for certain that they are coming, and have release dates. I am also counting Shada as unreleased, because we all know, sooner or later, it's coming.

There are additional First and Second Doctor stories that could, in theory, be released with animated video, as with The Invasion. We'll have to wait and see on those.

 

[23skidoo]

I am also counting Shada as unreleased, because we all know, sooner or later, it's coming.

I'm actually surprised they haven't reissued the 1992 video to DVD ages ago. I was half expecting it to be offered as a 2-pak with the not-well-regarded Horns of Nimon (which was the story that preceded it), but they're putting Nimon into that Myths and Legends set instead.

There are additional First and Second Doctor stories that could, in theory, be released with animated video, as with The Invasion. We'll have to wait and see on those.

Yeah, don't hold your breath on those. The BBC is being really cheap on this one. I refuse to believe it costs as much as some in fandom claim to animate the lost episodes, especially given the soundtracks exist so no recording/hiring of actors is necessary and all the stories have telesnaps so you don't even need to spend time coming up with character or background designs. If the company that did the Invasion animations is asking too much then find another. And if 2 Entertain is so close to the line budget-wise that the cost of animations is too high, then they're in big trouble. Frankly, if it meant releasing a "vanilla" version of a lost story and putting the budget for commentaries, featurettes, Easter eggs, etc, towards animating Episode 4 of The Tenth Planet, I'd be fine with that...

Alex

 

[diankra]

I am also counting Shada as unreleased, because we all know, sooner or later, it's coming.

I'm actually surprised they haven't reissued the 1992 video to DVD ages ago. I was half expecting it to be offered as a 2-pak with the not-well-regarded Horns of Nimon (which was the story that preceded it), but they're putting Nimon into that Myths and Legends set instead.

It might never come: it was reported at the time of the VHS release that Douglas Adams wasn't happy about the release of something half-finished, and which he frequently said with hindsight was remembered a lot better for not being made than it would have been if it had been shown.
But (reportedly) he'd signed the contract for the VHS release while rushing through a pile of other royalties paperwork, so he couldn't go back - though if you look at the VHS pack, it states that he was giving his royalties to charity.
IF (if stressed!) that's accurate, then the Adams estate might not give an Ok to a DVD version. Though of course, they did OK the Salmon of Doubt book (but have now cancelled the radio production), and the Shada animation.

 

[Captain Pike]

I am hoping for a Shada release with both Tom Bakers original linking narration and the complete BBCi McGann animation as DVD extras.

 

[Steve Roby]

Yeah, I'd like a Shada DVD release with both of those as well. Speaking of animated webcasts, I'd still like to see a DVD release of The Scream of the Shalka. And a Region 1 release of the TV movie.

Getting back to the original topic, I'd love to see more Pertwee episodes. He's not the first Doctor I ever saw on TV (that'd be Tom Baker), but he was the first one I saw a lot of.

 

[Captain Pike]

Us lowly peons in Region 4 are still waiting on the TV movie too. I wonder if it will ever happen?