Doctor Who (1963 - present)

You could have a point there ... certainly the likes of the Gallifreyan symbols don't appear to bear much similarity to English.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/106-doctor-who-episodes-uncovered-2343474

Seems there may have been something to those rumours of feared-lost Hartnell and Troughton episodes being discovered  .

I'm still reluctant. It's hard for me to believe they found ALL 106 missing episodes. A lot of rumors are they were found in Ethiopia, but only 77 of the missing episodes were actually sold to them. Furthermore, the Feast of Steven was never sold overseas.

However, one never knows. Philip Morris was the man they outed as the guy behind it a few months ago. He denied it to Ian Levine back then. Now Ian Levine (Doctor Who fan/psycho) tweeted that he would keep silent on the subject with Morris replying "That would be a great idea" (or something to that effect), so.... it seems like Morris might have actually found something.

With that said, we should find out Tuesday. I suspect they might have found a handful of episodes, but less than a 100.



In other news, Matt Smith filmed his last scenes today as The Doctor, filming has wrapped on the Christmas Special.

Now....just waiting on a trailer for the 50th....hopefully soon....almost only a month away.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24448063

Confirmation of the find by the Beeb themselves.

Ian Levine is saying that they will only announce 9 of the episodes that have been found tomorrow, but that he still believes that the number is "ninety something" found. He says the BBC is testing out the waters to see if it is worth shelling out cash for the rest of the episodes from Philip Morris. Apparently Morris wants a good amount of $$$ for them.

This is terrific news, despite the source still strangely unbelievable..oh for it to be 'Abominable Snowmen' or 'Fury from the Deep' or 'Evil of the Daleks' or 'Marco Polo'....

If the rumor about them being found in Ethiopia is true, then there is a good chance something from Marco Polo might have been discovered. Ethiopia was the last country to the air the serial in 1971. So it definitely had a copy of them at some point in time.

It would be nice to get at least one surviving episode from the serials that don't have any footage at all surviving (not even any clips or fragments): Marco Polo and The Massacre of St. Batholomew's Eve. I could live without seeing the Doctor-less one off episode Mission to the Unknown,[/i] which has no footage surviving either. With that said, I would like to see something from the story it lead into... the Daleks' Master Plan.

It was the longest Who story. 12 episodes. Only 3 of them survive. Besides being a lengthy Dalek story, it was the first time a companion died during an adventure and it also saw Nicholas Courtney's first appearance in Doctor Who (although not yet the Brigadier.)

Troughton's debut story, The Power of the Daleks would also be nice.

The Watch TV channel (starting this weekend and presumably running right up to the anniversary)  is devoting Saturday and Sunday afternoons to Who-themed programming with classic stories, documentaries etc. This Saturday, Hartnell's 'The Aztecs' is on and on Sunday it's Troughton's 'Tomb Of The Cybermen'. The following weekend it's Pertwee's 'Spearhead From Space' and Tom Baker's 'Pyramids Of Mars'.

Full details - http://watch.uktv.co.uk/doctor-who/article/the-doctors-revisited/

Apparently a press conference has revealed more deatils but the news is subject to a BBC embargo till midnight tonight. Why the need for this jiggery pokery I have no clue, still any find is great and as it is suggested Frazer Hinds and Debbie Watling are lined up as part of the reveal it suggests their era has benefited to some degree. Trying to restrain my expectations is becoming increasingly difficult.

This link suggests that the missing 5 episodes of Enemy of the World have been returned along with 4 of the Web of Fear (presumably adding to episode 1 already held and leaving one episode missing). More reveals are possibly on the way. Good news indeed but in the scheme of things its perhaps less than many suggested could emerge, Web of Fear isn't complete and Enemy of the World is rather atypical of its season.

Link here Linky

Enemy of the World will be available on DVD November 23rd, The Web of Fear will be out on DVD in early 2014.

Since Web of Fear is still missing one episode, I wonder if they'll animate the missing episode or just use the reconstruction used on Itunes.

There will be plenty of suckers like me who get them on itunes and then again on dvd, quality is very good. Though I refuse to watch them on my ipad and need to rig up something to see them on the big screen the first moments of Enemy of the World are a real joy to behold.

Looks like those of you exercising caution about the lost episodes announcement were right; hard not to feel underwhelmed after the bandying-about of figures somewhere between 70-100 and then the figure is revealed as ... 9.

Granted, they could have found more and the announcement of those is being 'sat on' until another time. But still ...  

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Looks like those of you exercising caution about the lost episodes announcement were right; hard not to feel underwhelmed after the bandying-about of figures somewhere between 70-100 and then the figure is revealed as ... 9.

Granted, they could have found more and the announcement of those is being 'sat on' until another time. But still ...    

This is the real problem raised by withholding info, the longer it goes on the more speculation and expectation, despite your best efforts at caution, start to run away with you even to the point there could be no chance of fulfilment. If they had announced immediately that as many as nine episodes had been recovered it would have been absolutely incredible news, because it is incredible news - not only nine episodes but ones that nearly complete two stories something that hasn't happened since the early 90's. However that vague suggestion of something even more incredible was in the offing somehow unfairly leaves it feeling underwhelming - that's the vagaries of being a fan I guess.

I am still unsure what is gained by withholding such information, the releases could always have been geared to the anniversary, what have they additionally achieved?

Exactly, you'd have thought they'd have wanted to do a big 'TAH-DAH!!!' announcement about all the episodes discovered (assuming there are more, of course) with the anniversary imminent.

Have changed the picture at the beginning of the thread, the one of the action figures had stopped appearing for me. By the way, my heartfelt thanks to you all ... never dreamt a thread I started would reach 30 pages  . Geronimo!

While disappointing about it only being 9, the discovery itself leaves me optimistic. I remember an official documentary about missing episodes from maybe the late 90s/early 2000s said outright "We can not expect to find any more Doctor Who episodes. It will be almost impossible."

Yet since then we've discover an episode of the The Crusades, The Underwater Menace, Galaxy 4, etc. And then this haul today. Two (almost) complete serials. It gives me hope.

Plus...they were remastering and working on these episodes for a while before the made the announcement. Enemy of the World is being released on DVD in November and Web of Fear in February. So this was being worked on for quite sometime. We can always hope they are working on some more now, but I doubt it...

I watched the first 2 Who afternoons on Watch at the weekend ... The Aztecs was the Hartnell story and Tomb Of The Cybermen the Troughton. Gotta say, when 4-part stories from that era are shown in one big 2-hour 'lump' instead of as individual 25-minute episodes 'broken up' across a few evenings, the leisurely nature (by modern standards) of the pacing is VERY apparent ... my attention wandered more than once, if I'm honest. Still fun to watch, and the docus about various aspects of the show (which previously had only been screened on BBC America, I think) are entertaining.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

I watched the first 2 Who afternoons on Watch at the weekend ... The Aztecs was the Hartnell story and Tomb Of The Cybermen the Troughton. Gotta say, when 4-part stories from that era are shown in one big 2-hour 'lump' instead of as individual 25-minute episodes 'broken up' across a few evenings, the leisurely nature (by modern standards) of the pacing is VERY apparent ... my attention wandered more than once, if I'm honest. Still fun to watch, and the docus about various aspects of the show (which previously had only been screened on BBC America, I think) are entertaining.    

Two of my favourite stories there though I always prefer to watch an episode or two a day rather that hit the whole thing in one go. I actually have the opposite issue to you in that I find today's stories are so akin to real time experiences they end up feeling too superficial and discontinuous. I'm still smiling from the experience of watching 'Enemy of the World' and 'Web of Fear' they have an epic sweep to them and are filled with so may great character moments that 6 episodes barely seems enough. In general though I feel the old 4 episode arcs are the optimum length, I'd love to see them return to that and to stories that see both the Doctor and ourselves on an adventure of discovery (an element all but lost in the need for instant gratification).

Mmm ... I've watched the Troughton-era Cyberman story 'The Invasion', which was an EIGHT episode arc but never felt 'padded' or slow-moving ... then again, I didn't watch them all together.

The Moff has said that the anniversary special is of course about celebrating the first 50 years, but also for drawing a line under them because they're thinking about the show's future and the NEXT 50... so apparently something happens during it that causes the Doctor to have a fundamental rethink about how he's going to go about his adventures from now on.

Hmmm ...  

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Mmm ... I've watched the Troughton-era Cyberman story 'The Invasion', which was an EIGHT episode arc but never felt 'padded' or slow-moving ... then again, I didn't watch them all together.

It is always down to the individual story and character's I guess - The Invasion is another terrific story of course and like Web Of Fear has the great Douglas Camfield behind the camera which is a double bonus. But I loved the characters in both Tomb and Aztecs so even if the story is a little thin in places there always seems something to enjoy.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

The Moff has said that the anniversary special is of course about celebrating the first 50 years, but also for drawing a line under them because they're thinking about the show's future and the NEXT 50... so apparently something happens during it that causes the Doctor to have a fundamental rethink about how he's going to go about his adventures from now on.

Hmmm ... huh

The subject of the number of regenerations is certainly being questioned...apparently Moff has also said there is something we've all missed. Certainly we have seen more than 13 Doctors, so the prospect of something other than regeneration kick-starting a new sequence is possible. So often though I find the more they talk up the series the more its own scope and sense of self import work against it.

Den of Geek Article

Well, the fact that the Master once had his regenerations 'reset' is often cited ... and as I've mentioned before, doesn't River 'gift' the Doctor the rest of her regenerations in 'Let's Kill Hitler'?

http://www.cultbox.co.uk/blog/8263-50-years-of-doctor-who-the-day-of-the-doctor-trailer

 

Stuff from the series' entire history studded throughout, keep your eyes peeled!

Even if I'd been in time to get a ticket for the screening of 'The Day Of The Doctor' at Odeon Belfast, the price of £13 would've given me pause. Robbing shits ... no other cinemas here showing it either, from what I can see.

I'm not so sure the cinema is the right environment tbh, no sofa to hide behind!