https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/nov/11/lost-do...
[1]: https://www.thestarwarstrilogy.com/project-4k77/ [2]: https://www.youtube.com/c/kinekovideo
This of course has various IP implications...
I just pray that we'll get to see a few more Troughton episodes. He's the doctor that set the standard that all future doctors followed, yet the least known because the moronic BBC wiped basically his entire run, and now we only have about half of it.
Tom Baker was "my Doctor" because he's the one who made me love the show when I was a kid, but Troughton (and Zoë and Jamie) are my favorite era.
edit: Zoë and Jamie are from way back when the companions were expected to be useful, before Sarah Jane. Zoë was better at math than the Doctor; imagine them doing anything like that now.
Hope more are found sooner than another 13 years from now.
There was probably a renaissance period when conversion equipment was being actively developed and available, but that time is probably gone. For example I think a good film scanner would be the Nikon Super Coolscan 8000 ED, but current state of the art falls far short. For film, vcr tapes and more we should be doing so much better.
I have old family super-8 films that are kind of convertible, but not the magnetic sound strip.
Lost Doctor Who episodes are one of them. Dad's Army also has lost black and white episodes (the colour ones have been repeated ad nauseam all my lifetime).
I can think of a few others. Scotch on the Rocks was a political hit piece written by Douglas Hurd showing an armed Scottish uprising along the lines of Northern Ireland. It was supposed to frighten people away from Scottish nationalism, but ended up causing copycat incidents. It vanished shortly after being broadcast probably because of its unintended effects.
The ultimate would be some of the pre-WW2 television broadcasts. Most of these were broadcast in the London area and practically nowhere else. Almost no one had recording equipment back then and they were often broadcast live.
wrong doctor
The earliest episode to survive on its original videotape is Ambassadors of Death episode 1 from 1970. None of the original 60s tapes still survive, though I believe there is at least one tape that we know used to have Doctor Who on it but which now has another programme.
The earliest episode to survive in its original medium is possibly The Dalek Invasion of Earth episode 5 (The Waking Ally). That's because, while this was shot on electronic studio cameras as usual, there were no videotape machines available to record.
Instead the output of those cameras was telerecorded straight to 35mm film. AIUI the negative of that telerecording still exists.
The US pushed a lot harder than Europe for videotape because kinescopes dropped frames off of American 60i frame rates, but worked really well for European 50i frame rates. Thus the BBC continued to use kinescopes for a long time.
> “It has to be worth it for the pleasure it’s brought me to see them,” Levine said. “Doctor Who runs all night in my bedroom, complete, nothing missing.”
Recording over another recording does not completely erase the other. I wonder if it could be recovered.
In the Hartnell era, the Doctor was a grandfather I think, looked old (although Hartnell was much younger than he appeared, thanks to the war etc) and seems to have been human.
Make up your own mind I suppose, I doubt you will find them rewarding: https://youtu.be/rQabMPpdQnk?si=Fm9Yqj7EwAjYp5np
There would be as much value in an "AI-recreated" missing episode as there would be in taking the audio of a modern episode and using AI to create a new video track for it.
Speak for yourself!
He said: "It was really touching, and what a privilege.
"We never thought we'd see these episodes again. It was a real factory process, no time for post-production or anything like that, never repeated, never sold abroad.
"People will be thrilled. The thing about Doctor Who is it's a connection to your childhood.
"I'm a grown man and I've been wishing I could see The Nightmare Begins since I saw the name on a list of missing episodes of Doctor Who 30 years ago.
"Forget Glastonbury, I think if you put on a screening of these tomorrow it would sell out in seconds.
"They really are the holy grail."
A special screening of the two episodes organised by FIF, with Purves as guest of honour, is being held in London on 4 April.
Details of the event are yet to be announced, but it will take place on the same day the two restored episodes are made available in full on BBC iPlayer.
Episode one sees the Tardis landing on the planet Kembel in search of help for the Doctor's injured companion, only to learn the Daleks are planning with Guardian of the Solar System Mavic Chen to conquer the Earth.
By episode three, the Doctor has stolen a vital component needed for the conquest, but after leaving Kembel they are forced to land on penal planet Desperus - pursued by the Daleks.
Noreen Adams, director of BBC Archives, said she was "thrilled" the episodes would be released on BBC iPlayer.
She said: "BBC Archives has been working to restore the original recordings and update these to broadcast quality, ensuring fans can enjoy a little extra treat with their Easter Eggs this April."