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Reverse Engineering Doctor Who Into Color
Lanxon writes "In 1967, the BBC set about junking its Doctor Who archive: a moment sci-fi fans wish they could travel back in time to prevent. There are 108 vintage episodes missing, but since 1978 a number have been rediscovered as 16mm black-and-white films. The BBC shot many of these series in color, but made monochrome copies for countries such as Australia, where many TV companies were still broadcasting in greyscale. The reels had sat in archives since. Now, the Doctor Who Restoration Team, an independent group contracted by the BBC, is using a new technique to regenerate The Doctor in color."
My mom told me once she was watching a black and white TV with her family, and someone walked on the screen with green hair. Everyone watching the TV instantly started laughing because the guy had green hair. I don't entirely understand your post, but it does verify that my mom was not crazy, and average people watching in those days could distinguish even if they didn't know what was going on.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
What you won't find in the FAQ is a list of all the changes the 'Restoration' Team have made to the stories - not only have they painted out boom shadows, camera reflections etc, but they've also messed up these changes on numerous occasions, resulting in missing sound effects, actors being left out of credits, credit backgrounds being the wrong colour, and everyone in Black Orchid looking like they're wearing bright red lipstick. But you can find a list here: http://tinypaste.com/c5441e
The point being that 'the BBC' didn't destroy these tapes, at most, ONE or TWO idiots who worked for the BBC destroyed these tapes - and you can bet your bottom dollar that they were managers, arrogant tossers with an overblown sense of their own importance, who destroyed forever all the hard work of scores of people, which can never be replicated.
Thanks for that, BBC!
I notice we are never given the NAMES of the idiots behind these decisions. Somebody must know who they are.