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BBC Unveils Newly Discovered Dr.Who Episodes

Posted by samzenpus on from the original-tardis dept.

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"

5 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. The public paid for them, the BBC threw them away by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    and now they want to charge for them. Making them available via Bittorrent would be the moral choice.

  2. OMG OMG OMG!!! by RedBear · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Oh my goodness I'm freaking out and waving my hands like a schoolgirl right now.

    But seriously, the Web of Fear is one of my favorite classic Doctor Who episodes, despite the fact that the only available version is almost entirely an audio reconstruction with still-photograph accompaniment. Notably, this episode is where the much beloved stiff-upper-lip character Lethbridge-Stewart is first introduced. He is of course instantly recognizable even as part of an audio-only soundtrack.

    As much as I enjoyed the 3rd (Jon Pertwee) and 4th (Tom Baker) Doctors, like everyone else, I'd go so far as to say that many of the 1st (William Hartnell) and 2nd (Patrick Troughton) Doctors' episodes were some of the most interesting and entertaining of the entire series, just as many of the most original and memorable episodes of Star Trek and TNG came during their first and second seasons. The more I watch the older episodes of Doctor Who the more I appreciate what they accomplished, especially in the context of the fact that the series started out in 1963 in seriously grainy black and white as basically a televised live-action play. So finding more old episodes is a big thing for me. I love 'em.

    I'm also one of those weirdos who thinks the most recent few seasons of the show are boot-licking, Doctor-worshiping, ultra-melodramatic, vomit-inducing crap that caused Doctor Who to go from one of my favorite shows of all time to something I cannot physically stomach watching anymore. But I digress.

    Hooray for more classic Doctor Who!

    1. Re:OMG OMG OMG!!! by jamesh · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Oh my goodness I'm freaking out and waving my hands like a schoolgirl right now.

      But seriously, the Web of Fear is one of my favorite classic Doctor Who episodes, despite the fact that the only available version is almost entirely an audio reconstruction with still-photograph accompaniment. Notably, this episode is where the much beloved stiff-upper-lip character Lethbridge-Stewart is first introduced. He is of course instantly recognizable even as part of an audio-only soundtrack.

      As much as I enjoyed the 3rd (Jon Pertwee) and 4th (Tom Baker) Doctors, like everyone else, I'd go so far as to say that many of the 1st (William Hartnell) and 2nd (Patrick Troughton) Doctors' episodes were some of the most interesting and entertaining of the entire series, just as many of the most original and memorable episodes of Star Trek and TNG came during their first and second seasons. The more I watch the older episodes of Doctor Who the more I appreciate what they accomplished, especially in the context of the fact that the series started out in 1963 in seriously grainy black and white as basically a televised live-action play. So finding more old episodes is a big thing for me. I love 'em.

      I'm also one of those weirdos who thinks the most recent few seasons of the show are boot-licking, Doctor-worshiping, ultra-melodramatic, vomit-inducing crap that caused Doctor Who to go from one of my favorite shows of all time to something I cannot physically stomach watching anymore. But I digress.

      Hooray for more classic Doctor Who!

      They started playing Doctor Who from the start here (Australia) a while back, and I really enjoyed it. One episode was entirely set in the tardis where the tardis seemed jammed and was trying to tell them something and they had to figure out what it was. And the hand to hand combat fighting was absolutely awful. And the Dalek's spaceship wobbled on the string it was suspended on. Awesome stuff :) Unfortunately The timeslot ended up conflicting with meal times and hungry kids aren't compatible with TV watching, so i gave up watching it. This was before I had a PVR or anything.

    2. Re:OMG OMG OMG!!! by RedBear · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They started playing Doctor Who from the start here (Australia) a while back, and I really enjoyed it. One episode was entirely set in the tardis where the tardis seemed jammed and was trying to tell them something and they had to figure out what it was. And the hand to hand combat fighting was absolutely awful. And the Dalek's spaceship wobbled on the string it was suspended on. Awesome stuff :) Unfortunately The timeslot ended up conflicting with meal times and hungry kids aren't compatible with TV watching, so i gave up watching it. This was before I had a PVR or anything.

      Sounds like "Edge of Destruction", the third episode. A short two-parter, but great. Fortunately you can find all the existing classic episodes and reconstructions on torrent sites these days.

      Every time I restart the series from the beginning I'm always amazed that the Daleks are introduced already in the seven-part second episode (The Mutants). One of the greatest things about the old stuff is that it was more of a serial format, where if they needed seven, eight or nine 23-minute parts to tell the complete story then that is how many parts were made to tell that story. Which resulted in quite a few "episodes" of classic Doctor Who that are really more like awesomely epic multi-threaded 2-hour and 3-hour movies. The modern "wrap it up in a single 41 minute episode or leave a cliffhanger for next season" seems incredibly lame and creatively limiting by comparison.

      I wish somebody today had the balls to start some new shows using the old serial formats and the same kind of shoestring budget special effects they used to use. If they had decent actors and compelling stories it would be an absolute gold mine.

    3. Re:OMG OMG OMG!!! by Dexter+Herbivore · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What about the first few seasons of the rebooted BSG? That was undoubtably an improvement on the original, took a vacuous but fun space opera into new territory as a dark and edgy SF psychodrama. "33" was one of the most sublime SF TV experiences that I've had in my life. Such a pity they ruined it towards the end... actually, that's unfair. They didn't ruin it, but it did drop dramatically in quallity.