Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Dr Who Detective Philip Morris Hints At More Rediscovered Episodes

Posted by timothy on from the if-that-is-his-real-name dept.

BigBadBus writes: In late 2013, Philip Morris announced that he had found 9 missing episodes of 1960s Dr.Who, which completed the 1968 story "Enemy of the World" and most of "The Web of Fear." He has now gone on record to talk about the only episode of these stories that he didn't find — namely part 3 of "Web of Fear" and teases of more episode finds to come. Episodes keep trickling out of the past, it seems; we've mentioned a few small finds in 2004 and 2011, too.

48 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. A list of missing episodes by BigBadBus · · Score: 5, Informative

    As the submitter of this article, I thought readers might like to see a list of missing and recovered episodes, all from the first 6 years on my website

    --
    My web domain.
    1. Re:A list of missing episodes by BigBadBus · · Score: 2

      Unfortunately the episodes were destroyed or lost before 1978 so its unlikely they'd be on any recent website.

      --
      My web domain.
    2. Re:A list of missing episodes by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 2

      Can I ask where the idea that he has "teased more episodes to come" comes from? Because it doesn't seem to be borne out by anything in the article. Even inferring that he's hopeful he might find more seems a bit of a stretch to me.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    3. Re:A list of missing episodes by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      Do keep up. They've been missing for decades.

      What did you think, someone misplaced the DVDs last Wednesday?

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    4. Re:A list of missing episodes by BigBadBus · · Score: 1

      I think the original article has been amended as I am sure I saw it earlier on when I submitted the news. Other websites are starting to pick up on Morris's statements and some of them are also reporting "hints" and "teasing."

      --
      My web domain.
    5. Re: A list of missing episodes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well, then we only need to find a website made before 1978. Shouldn't be that hard.

    6. Re:A list of missing episodes by lgw · · Score: 5, Informative

      Doctor Who not Dr. Who

      Sheesh, if we're going to indulge in fan-wankery, let's at least do it right. "Dr. Who" was used in the title of the first of the two non-canon 60s Movies with Peter Cushing (I rather like them, and the colorful Daleks, but fans at the time weren't happy with the adaptation), and has never been used since. Everywhere else, it's always spelled out, never abbreviated.

      Nice to see more of the early works recovered. I'd especially love to see more of the second Doctor (Patrick Troughton). Troughton had a unique take on the character, and so little of his work survived.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    7. Re:A list of missing episodes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Look at the credits to many Doctor Who episodes, especially those in the 1960s. The character is called "Dr Who" not "Doctor Who."

    8. Re:A list of missing episodes by Nick · · Score: 1

      Thank you for this!

      --
      Fuck Ajit Pai
    9. Re:A list of missing episodes by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 2

      The character is called "Dr Who" not "Doctor Who."

      He's credited as Dr Who, sometimes. He's never called Doctor Who.

      Err, except in that one episode where he was...

      Anyway, point being, the name of the series has always been "Doctor Who," never "Dr Who."

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    10. Re:A list of missing episodes by Chaos+Incarnate · · Score: 1

      Yes it is. Everywhere else he's just "the Doctor".

      --
      Benford's Corollary to Clarke's Law: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."
    11. Re:A list of missing episodes by Panoptes · · Score: 1

      "Look at the credits to many Doctor Who episodes, especially those in the 1960s. The character is called "Dr Who" not "Doctor Who." Wrong. The opening credits have been 'Doctor Who' since series one, episode one.

    12. Re:A list of missing episodes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Only 55GB? Then what's this 286GB collection sitting on my ha^D^D^D^D^D^D^D^D^D^D^D^D^D^D^D^D^D^ED. That I've heard about?

    13. Re: A list of missing episodes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Try gopher

    14. Re:A list of missing episodes by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      Somewhere around Matt Smith's tenure, the show's logo were the letters "DRWHO" bent into the shape of a perspective view of a Tardis. So yes, on this instance, at least, the "Dr" form is observed, and that's just what I can think up off the top of my head.

      The standard gag (following "It's bigger on the inside!") is. "I'm The Doctor. / Doctor? Doctor Who?"

      As David Tennant, he identified himself as "Doctor Smith", just to avoid committing to an actual name and to play off "Doctor (Martha) Jones", alias Smith and Jones.

      The only time I ever heard him self-identify as "I am Doctor Who" was in the Peter Cushing" movie, and yes, it grated.

    15. Re:A list of missing episodes by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 2

      Somewhere around Matt Smith's tenure, the show's logo were the letters "DRWHO" bent into the shape of a perspective view of a Tardis.

      It's TARDIS, and no, it was the letters "DW", with "Doctor" to the left and "Who" to the right.

      As David Tennant, he identified himself as "Doctor Smith"

      Pretty sure 10 never did that...

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    16. Re:A list of missing episodes by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      In the last of the Key of Time serials (fourth doctor, Tom Baker), another Time Lord who was in school with him calls him "Sigma Theta". The Doctor, of course, asks the guy to use his title.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    17. Re:A list of missing episodes by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      Oh, so close! It was Theta Sigma, but thanks for playing! ;)

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  2. Isn't the solution obvious? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Use the TARDIS to travel back to the first broadcast, capture it on a VCR, and be done with it?

    1. Re:Isn't the solution obvious? by itsdapead · · Score: 1

      Use the TARDIS to travel back to the first broadcast, capture it on a VCR, and be done with it?

      It has been suggested...

      "Certainly better than television and a great deal easier to use than a video recorder. If I miss a programme I just pop back in time and watch it. I'm hopeless fiddling with all those buttons..."

      Douglas Adams: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (...but would probably have been in Doctor Who: Shada were it not for a strike at the BBC).

      --
      In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
    2. Re:Isn't the solution obvious? by Megane · · Score: 1

      Luckily, Doctor Who post-dates the introduction of PAL broadcasting by only a few years, so you won't have to go to an alternate universe to find a 405-line VCR.

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
  3. Re:Replacement video by JustOK · · Score: 1

    had to do something ever since he lost his dance instructor job.

    --
    rewriting history since 2109
  4. Didn't get them from the space? by martiniturbide · · Score: 2

    http://www.rimmell.com/bbc/new...

  5. Hands up by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 1

    Hands up if you never watched the show and only ever read the books, which by the way were brilliant.

    1. Re:Hands up by caseih · · Score: 1

      The books were good. Douglas Adams' unfinished episode Shada was turned into a novel and it was excellent. I listened to it in audio book form.

      I have also really enjoyed the various doctor who audio dramas over the years.

  6. Lets be honest by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

    Most of those episodes are a snooze fest.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  7. My nerdrage says: it's "Doctor Who" by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 2

    Dr Who Detective Philip Morris Hints At More Rediscovered Episodes

    It's called "Doctor Who." It's never been called Dr Who.

    And that's not just nerdly outrage talking. Dr Who is someone else entirely. Sort of.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:My nerdrage says: it's "Doctor Who" by itsdapead · · Score: 1

      It's called "Doctor Who." It's never been called Dr Who.

      Hang on. If you looking carefully at the end credits for 'An Unearthly Child' (which is widely available on the interwebs) you'll see that - all the nerdy NOOO!!! he is called THE DOCTOR!!! notwithstanding - the character is actually credited as "Dr. Who".

      If I'm found dead in a ditch with my head smashed in by a thermos flask (traces of Bovril detected) and fibres of imitation rabbit-fur under my nails (consistent with an anorak or parka) then we'll know that I should never have spoken of this...

      --
      In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
  8. Give it up, Philip Morris by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

    You're just trying to distract us from the hundreds of thousands of lung cancer deaths you're responsible for each and every year.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:Give it up, Philip Morris by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Who's to blame for your lack of a sense of humor?

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    2. Re:Give it up, Philip Morris by hackwrench · · Score: 1

      And the people who chose to live in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were clearly responsible for themselves getting bombed. They had a choice as to where to live and they clearly blew it.

      As for car accidents, does the BMV bear any responsibility for granting them a license? You didn't mention them at all.
      And if somebody doesn't like drunk people and decides to go after them, is it their fault or the fault of the drunk person for being around them.
      Surely the slaves were ultimately responsible for slavery. If they had wanted to be free they should have fought for it.
      Nah, the people who got shot were responsible because they should never have been anywhere they could get shot.
      Take some responsibility, man!

    3. Re:Give it up, Philip Morris by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      So, essentially, Heckler&Koch is a mass murder company?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    4. Re:Give it up, Philip Morris by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      That's what the the GP post implies. If PM is responsible for lung cancer, the logical conclusion is that H&K are responsible for murder.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re:Give it up, Philip Morris by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      Few people, if any, have made a well informed, decision to smoke.

      I'm afraid I must disagree. At this point, anyone over 3 years old has been informed that smoking is harmful, but new smokers are made daily. They know it's risky, but they discount it because it "makes them look cool" (actually, it makes them look stupid, IMHO). and they think they'll "just quit" before it gets too bad, despite all the evidence that people don't usually manage to do that.

      It is unquestionably one of the most effective illustrations that a "well-informed market" is not the same thing as an intelligent market, and why the Religion of the Free Market that bring Utopia to the world is a false faith.

    6. Re:Give it up, Philip Morris by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      So that's what the whole shit is about? That they lied about their product?

      I have been smoking. For a long time. I knew that it was unhealthy. Anyone who says he doesn't is an idiot and SHOULD be eliminated from the gene pool, preferably before breeding, for being too stupid to pollute the human genome. Yes, it may be what you want to hear, but that doesn't meant that it has any meaning. Going out and now blaming some tobacco company for your smoking is just childish.

      You're an adult. You made a decision. Live with it. Or die from it. Nobody put the cigarettes in your hand. Nobody lit it for you. Nobody forced you to put it to your mouth. Nobody made you inhale. You made that decision. You, and you alone. You wanted to smoke. You maybe got addicted in the end, yes, but don't claim now that some tobacco corporation "made" you. That's bullshit. And you believing their claim that it's "healthy" only means that you are by some margin too stupid for survival anyway.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  9. Surprised "The Power of the Daleks" was lost by Theovon · · Score: 2

    I will swear to you up and down that when I was a kid in Tampa, FL, I saw the full episode of "The Power of the Daleks" (first episode of the second doctor). But when I found it again a few years ago, there were only telesnaps. I'm willing to believe that my memory is faulty. But the thing is, the episode plot was totally familiar to me, and I recognized scenes. Also, I would be surprised if any PBS station (either WEDU or WUSF there) would play telesnap episodes.

    1. Re:Surprised "The Power of the Daleks" was lost by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 2

      I will swear to you up and down that when I was a kid in Tampa, FL.

      Yeah, and loads of people swear that Luke threw the grappling hook tw-

      I'm willing to believe that my memory is faulty.

      Aw. Spoilsport.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    2. Re:Surprised "The Power of the Daleks" was lost by BigBadBus · · Score: 1

      You know, I had a friend in Canada who swore blind he saw 1960s episodes broadcast that are now missing but when this was mentioned to the upper echelons of Dr.Who fandom, we were told it wasn't true, his memory was faulty, or that he was wrong. The man is sure he was right, but to those of Fandom Royalty, it seemed to be much effort to check the basis of this story. It was much easier to label it as "rumour" or "wrong."

      --
      My web domain.
    3. Re:Surprised "The Power of the Daleks" was lost by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And I remember that Han shot first. Sometimes things get lost in the annals of history.

    4. Re:Surprised "The Power of the Daleks" was lost by BigBadBus · · Score: 1

      The point is: Canada only bought up to and including Marco Polo in the mid 1960s. The US bought most of the first three Pertwee seasons in the early/mid 1970s. By the time they got round to buying other episodes, including black and white, the stories we've mentioned here didn't exist anymore. They weren't officially sold to Canada and yet my friend saw them.

      --
      My web domain.
    5. Re:Surprised "The Power of the Daleks" was lost by Garfong · · Score: 1

      Were they shown on broadcast TV in the US? Many places in Canada get some US broadcast TV.

    6. Re:Surprised "The Power of the Daleks" was lost by anyGould · · Score: 1

      You know, I had a friend in Canada who swore blind he saw 1960s episodes broadcast that are now missing but when this was mentioned to the upper echelons of Dr.Who fandom, we were told it wasn't true, his memory was faulty, or that he was wrong. The man is sure he was right, but to those of Fandom Royalty, it seemed to be much effort to check the basis of this story. It was much easier to label it as "rumour" or "wrong."

      And it's entirely possible that he's right - a lot of the lost episodes are being found in the archives of foreign television stations. So it's not impossible that the network *did* air it, and then did whatever you do with old shows you didn't care about pre-reruns.

  10. Headline lengths are limited by tepples · · Score: 1

    The Slash software limits headline lengths. Of the following two headlines, which have the same character count, which is preferable?

    • Dr Who Detective Philip Morris Hints At More Rediscovered Episodes
    • Doctor Who Detective Philip Morris Hints At More Rediscovered Epis
    1. Re:Headline lengths are limited by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      Doctor Who Detective Hints At More Rediscovered Episodes

      Then you name the guy in the summary.

      Irrelevant anyway, since there is plenty of room for more characters:

      FTC Begins Investigating Google For Antitrust Violations Over "Home Screen Advantage"

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  11. I'm in a bad mood: did your hear.. by BlueCoder · · Score: 1, Interesting

    There is a lost season of Gillian's Island out there.... I swear I saw 3 of the episodes.... plus secret commentary from the actors talking about the lost season themselves....

    1. Re:I'm in a bad mood: did your hear.. by Megane · · Score: 1

      It was called Dusty's Trail.

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
  12. Gillian's Island by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    There is a lost season of Gillian's Island out there.... I swear I saw 3 of the episodes.... plus secret commentary from the actors talking about the lost season themselves....

    It's entirely possible, in fact it seems that the entire series has gone missing! I can't find any mention of "Gillian's Island" anywhere.

  13. Re:Who wrote the article? by BigBadBus · · Score: 1

    I agree, badly worded. The rumours put the number of found episodes at anything from about 60 (which is what I heard from numerous sources), to 90.

    --
    My web domain.