Honestly, I wasn't crazy about any of the animations other than "The Invasion." I actually preferred the telesnap recon on "The Web of Fear."
I vastly prefer animation over telesnaps. Hell, its a TV show, not a sideshow. Its either a full-on audio story, or a TV story. I hope, if they truly never, ever find any other episode, they'll employ decent animation to present the rest of the missing episodes.
Most of the animation of Missing Episodes is Sub-par, but, I generally prefer the Animation to the Recons. The one exceptions is The Tenth Planet episode 4, which has such a good Telesnap recon (The Telesnaps moving changing very often), that I barely notice it's a recon, rather than an existing episode, so, in this specific case, I do prefer the Recon.
I enjoy the animated reconstructions, even if they mostly look similar to Adult Swim flash animation shows.
I don't normally bother watching the animations. I thought the Reign of Terror and Tenth Planet ones were well done but the rest were average to poor. I'd rather listen to the audio recordings again.
See, those were my least favorite animations. I didn't like those attempts at some kind of 3D realism. They really backfired in "The Reign of Terror." Barbara looked hideous. Susan's neck looked enormous. And Ian looked unrecognizable. And everyone had such deep shadows under their lower lips that it looked like they all had soul patches.
But at least they tried to realism. The animation for The Invasion looked like a poor Nickelodeon cartoon.
Please. The Invasion animation looks great. Visual dis-continuity aside with Zoe's clothing in the first episode, the episodes animated actually improve the narrative. Reign of Terror's animationis a unprincipled mess. Literally ruins the flow. I lament the Levine-sided animation team didn't get to present their Reign of Terror animation properly. Tenth Planet is OK, I suppose.
Let's not forget that the budget for doing those animations was a fraction of what people would normally spend to produce an episode of a TV show. And the reason there haven't been any more or a release for ready-to-go TUM is pure economics. Unlike the rest of the BBC these releases have to make a profit and with the DVD market they way it is that's unlikely. We're living in a world where even current shows are no longer getting released (The Simpsons!) or if they were getting a Blu-Ray and DVD release now only get a DVD one (too many to list). So half-missing black and white shows from 50 years ago... The other problem is that with Dan Hall having moved on from BBC Worldwide there apparently isn't anyone there now who sees any point in making any effort with Classic Series material. So we get stuff like this, where the non New Series episodes are a "Bonus Feature".
I am disappointed that there won't be a release of The Underwater Menace. It seems that BBC thinks, and from what I have seen online, that the Classic Doctor Who is for a small number of fans and is slowly being forgotten, and that the New Doctor Who is the Who for a new generation of fans. I was born in the last year of the Apollo missions to the Moon. Children who were born decades after me have no connection to the Apollo missions. It is "ancient" history to them. So, like the Apollo missions, so is Doctor Who. I grew up with Classic Doctor Who, so I have connection to the original. I think that some of the younger kids might view the original for curiosity or be introduced to it by the older generation; however, a good number of them will I feel have more connection with the new Doctor Who. C'est la vie. (I don't have an intention to get "The Daleks" DVD coming out in July. I have the bonus material, and I will have before year's end all of the modern Who, save for TSJA and Torchwood.) P.S. Am I the only to notice the price disparity between the blu-ray and the dvd editions of the modern Who? I went to Amazon. Blu-ray of the fifth series is $34, and dvd for the same series is $70. Why is an older medium twice the amount of a newer medium?
Because there's less of a market for it? If there's less demand for a product, you need to charge more to break even, or so I understand it.
any news on what's now been discovered, or are there episodes that have to date completed a serial, other then the highly publicized enemy of the world find? I really wish we could get the final Abominable snowmen episodes found, and the Troughton Daleks, and Hartnell Dalek episodes back.. would love to see the one with Mavic Chen in it's entirety!! Not to mention the underwater menace! I would love to have seen that Atlantis episode. they need to send Capaldi back to Atlantis.. with the current CGI, it would be amazing!
No news, starsuperion. All parties involved have clammed up and refused to say anything more on the subject, confirm, deny or anywhere in between. The fandom's pretty much decided that Philip Morris struck it lucky with EOTW/WOF and then confidently predicted more missing episodes (maybe even ALL of them) that it ended up he wasn't able to deliver. That or he's more-than-half-nuts and won't come across with anymore until a) He's certain there's no more missing episodes anywhere in the world to find b) The BBC ponies up a HUGE paycheck c) Steven Moffat is no longer in charge of Doctor Who d) All of the above.
They're not wrong. I've seen all of the revival, and all of Torchwood, but only two episodes of the original (plus the McGann TV movie). I respect the older material, and I wish it was out there for you. I should give it another chance sometime (thinking about starting with either Four or Five). But it's not something I'm really attached to.
Try the Second Doctor. It is black and white but somehow I still like his episodes. Maybe because Matt Smith's Doctor has echos of Patrick Troughton in his performance.
BBC is offering as well a compilation of the Modern Who Cybermen stories, along with "Earthshock" as a bonus. Personally, I think "Tomb of the Cybermen" is more of a classic episode than "Earthshock". I suppose its age is a mark against it.
I found Tomb of the Cybermen to be overrated, though we do get that wonderful scene between the Doctor and Victoria when he tells her how he remembers his family. I thought Earthshock was a better episode.
I think the more likely reason for Earthshock being chosen is the fact that its DVD release is now out of circulation, while Tomb of the Cybermen has a special edition DVD still in circulation and is available with the Doctors Revisited set from the 50th anniversary. Then again, so is Earthshock, though it doesn't have a special edition available.