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BBC Unveils Newly Discovered Dr.Who Episodes
BigBadBus writes "Putting an end to months of speculation, the BBC announced at a press conference today that it had recovered 9 previously lost episodes of Dr.Who, from the Patrick Troughton era (1966-69). The episodes complete 'The Enemy of the World' and almost complete 'The Web of Fear' (leaving one episode outstanding). The episodes were found in a relay station in Nigeria by Phillip Morris; previously Nigeria had been checked and had returned 6 lost episodes in 1984. The episodes are now available from UK and US iTune stores and can be for pre-ordered from Amazon.co.uk"
Suppose a person taped that missing episode at that time for themselves. Would they get a share of the profit they make for archiving their stuff for 50 years or would they be prosecuted for theft if they came forward? Copyright is very strange. I suppose it depends on the local laws. It seems there is a statute I recall from grade school called "Finders keepers, losers weepers".
Any quality is better than no quality.
I'm sure they'll air them at some point in the future, but for now there's a cost for remastering the episodes, and so I'd say it's fair for the beeb to try and recover some of the cost through iTunes/Amazon.
Is it more moral to make the public (license payers) pay more in order to give these episode away free, or is it better to draw more of their revenue from rich fans who will buy these old episodes? It's not like BBC lawyers are launching lawsuits against downloaders anyway.
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They were found by a 3rd party commercial firm who specialise in finding lost footage. The BBC would have had to pay them then cover the cost of restoration/remastering etc.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
They turned him into a trickster God. A bit different from what came before and what you want perhaps but I quite like a lot of the stories of the Doctor as a trickster God.
And they din't use the sonic screwdriver as a deux es machina to get out of any tricky situation, rather than the Doctor using his intelligence and wits. Today, the screwdriver is a euphemism for lazy, sloppy writing. No wonder John Nathan-Turner got rid of it in 1982!
My web domain.
They turned him into a trickster God. A bit different from what came before and what you want perhaps but I quite like a lot of the stories of the Doctor as a trickster God.
Yeah, that pretty much sums it up in one sentence. They turned a fun sci-fi show that happened to mainly star a quirky character called the Doctor who likes to travel to strange places and get himself into trouble and solve mysteries into a show that is almost entirely _about_ the Doctor, and changed the character so drastically he might as well be called Magical Space Jesus. You can practically see the stars in the eyes of every other character who looks at him or talks about him, as if he's the love child of Rassilon and Yahweh. Blech.
I'm glad there are lots of people who are enjoying the new show but as far as I'm concerned it is no longer Doctor Who and the character bears little resemblance to what the Doctor was as a character for the ~45 years prior to the Matt Smith seasons. It was a sad day when I realized that I just couldn't handle watching my favorite show anymore. I'll probably never find a true replacement either. Doctor Who has been quite a unique show from the very beginning.
Of course I am also one of those who hold the remarkably unpopular opinion that Man of Steel was a silly abomination directed by someone who is apparently incapable of comprehending what the Superman archetype is even supposed to represent, and that the new Star Trek films are dramatic but hollow imitations of things that already exist, but again I digress. Oh, look, explosions and lens flares 'n stuff!
And they din't use the sonic screwdriver as a deux es machina to get out of any tricky situation, rather than the Doctor using his intelligence and wits. Today, the screwdriver is a euphemism for lazy, sloppy writing. No wonder John Nathan-Turner got rid of it in 1982!
Indeed a good point. If I remember right it wasn't even introduced until episode 42 (Fury From the Deep) and used quite sparingly for the most part. Of course, since the Doctor has now transformed into Magical Space Jesus, he doesn't even need his now ridiculously powerful and versatile sonic screwdriver to work miracles. He can just stand up on a rooftop or a rock and tell a whole alien battle fleet to run away, and instead of him being immediately reduced to a pile of smoking ashes the powerful aliens actually run away! Isn't that great?
Aaaaand that pretty much sums up why I can no longer watch any new Doctor Who. Or Bond films, for that matter. Same phenomenon. So many things these days have become caricatures of themselves with no substance beneath the immaculate surface.
I think, by the end of the day, they WILL be available on bit torrent. So I wouldn't worry.
I don't care much for Dr Who, but this is another reason to oppose DRM and be cautious about streaming. If the producers can't be trusted to keep a copy of their works, it's up to the audience to do the archiving. Some works may not be considered popular or good, but may later have a huge cult (or mainstream, in this case) following