The Official Doctor Who Thread Pt 1

[Mountain Man]

I agree with that, hence my saying BBC America. They'd be more inclined to run all of it than Sci-Fi channel would.
I think BBC America tried that early on. When the channel first started, they listened to fans who said the series should air in broadcast order starting with the first Hartnell story. Unfortunately, the ratings weren't very good at all, so they canned the idea.

[Dave-ros]

Joe, about the DVD version of Remembrance, take a look here (http://www.purpleville.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rtwebsite/remembrancedvd.htm) and scroll down to the red text at the bottom... this was AFAIK confined to Region 2, which somehow makes it even more galling :tinyted: (so if I ever get it on DVD, it'll be a Region 1 copy!)

[Joe Siegler]

Joe, about the DVD version of Remembrance, take a look here (http://www.purpleville.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rtwebsite/remembrancedvd.htm) and scroll down to the red text at the bottom... this was AFAIK confined to Region 2, which somehow makes it even more galling :tinyted: (so if I ever get it on DVD, it'll be a Region 1 copy!)

That still doesn't seem like the bad version that was in US syndication for years. That version affected Episodes 3 & 4 (or Episode 2 as originally broadcast <g>), though.

If I read that before (likely), I just forgot about it (more likely). :D

Forget that. I thought you were talking about Davison's Dalek story. You're talking about McCoy's. Yeah, mine is fine.

The missing bits I'm talking about was for the US syndicated version of Davison's Dalek story. The last episode (I think Ep 3 too) was missing all sound effects. Made it quite odd to watch.

[Dave-ros]

Yes, I heard about Resurrection of the Daleks having missing sound effects -- think it was a letter in Doctor Who Magazine back in the 1980s, presumably when it was first broadcast on your side of the pond. (You get that publication in the USA, don't you? I have to admit, I haven't bought it regularly since 1998 :o)

Edit: the DVD version of Resurrection also has some changed sound effects -- I think it was to stop the mercenaries' guns mysteriously sounding like the base personnel's guns when the base personnel stole and used them :p

[Joe Siegler]

It was quite weird, as it was unprocessed soundtrack, which means that you heard things like the real on stage sounds (doors sliding, props hitting counters); things that would normally be edited out in the mix.

It was particularly funny when folks were trying to use laser guns, as they'd point, but there'd be no sound or effect. :)

Made the back end of the episode quite a different feel with no music or sfx. :)

[Mountain Man]

First time I saw it, I actually thought it was an intentional if odd artistic decision.

[Joe Siegler]

First time I saw it, I actually thought it was an intentional if odd artistic decision.

Same here - I didn't know there was a problem. Just thought it was supposed to be that way. This wasn't long after I had started watching Dr Who in the first place.

[Joe Siegler]

Here's a few more pictures I found at home. I would have posted these with the picture bomb from before, but I didn't know where they were at the time.

Nicola Bryant:

Two more from Nicola. One was from 2006, and the other was presumably before she did Doctor Who.

Janet Fielding:

She loved her 80's Sheena Easton look, that's for sure.

[Dave-ros]

Hot damn! :eek: :D

I'm tempted to mention Janet Fielding's famous "wardrobe malfunction" during the filming of Enlightenment, but I won't ;)

[DOSGuy]

I like the one where Nicola Bryant is wearing glasses and casual clothes. Maybe I'm strange that way, but I like beauty that doesn't have to try too hard.

I'm really enjoying seeing classic Doctor Who on BBC Kids. As a child I could tell that the Doctor's assistants were usually beautiful women, but I hadn't figured out that it was intentional. They're up to Part 11 of Trial of a Timelord, so I've seen two of the Sixth Doctor's assistants now. With all due respect to them, they seem to have been chosen more for their beauty than their acting abilities. Maybe it's the fault of the writers. At any rate, it's still a winning formula: an ancient alien with multiple incarnations who travels time and space in a giant ship that fits in the space of a police box, with beautiful travel companions. Frankly, I'm surprised that it wasn't considered scandalous for an unmarried man to live with beautiful single women all the time.

[supermeerkat]

http://www.alteredvistas.co.uk/index.html

Altered Vistas Productions are fan endeavours produced for love, not money. No profit has been made, or will be made, from the creation or distribution of our films (in fact, quite the reverse). All copyrights remain with the original copyright holders. Altered Vistas Productions are in no way a substitute for official BBC Doctor Who merchandising.
Support the BBC releases.

Anyone know anything about this? Is it worth further investigation?

Intriguing looking comic strip about the Cybermen.


In search of the ultimate weapon, Cyberleader Maxel explores the catacombs beneath the city.

A particularly nasty fate awaits Maxel’s troops. This is junior Cyberleader Loktar. He’s in a fairly bad way, all things considered.

Something rather unpleasant creeps up on Cyberleader Maxel.


The 404 error is rather amusing (http://www.alteredvistas.co.uk/html/mystery.html).

[Mountain Man]

I like the one where Nicola Bryant is wearing glasses and casual clothes. Maybe I'm strange that way, but I like beauty that doesn't have to try too hard.
I was thinking the same thing. But mind you, I'm not complaining about the Nicola Bryant bikini pic, either! :p

On a more general note, I just finished watching the 10-part Patrick Troughton story "The War Games". I really like how this one builds up and keeps throwing twists and turns at you until the very end. I also really enjoyed parts 9 and 10 which explored, I believe for the first time in the program's history, the Doctor's past and his reasons for leaving his people. It was also intriguing meeting another Time Lord in the character of the War Chief, and even more interestingly, he and the Doctor apparently knew each other! I suspect that the War Chief was the inspiration for the Master as both characters seem to share the same megalomaniacal ambitions.

Another bit I enjoyed is how the transport boxes started to sound more and more like a TARDIS as the story progressed, which was a subtle way of revealing to the audience what they actually were before the revelation was explicitly made.

Curiously, I believe this is the only regeneration story in which the Doctor didn't regenerate because he was injured in some fashion, and it's also the only regeneration story not to reveal his successor (then of course there's Colin Baker who didn't get a regeneration story! Oh, and Paul McGann.).

I would love to see this story remastered for DVD as the official VHS copy is a bit beat up looking with a lot of uneven audio. There is also considerable misframing of the picture throughout, probably because of a misaligned film camera when the story was converted to film, but I'm not sure there is anything that can be done about that as I suspect that it may be the only copy of this story still existing.

Good stuff nonetheless, and what a fantastic send-off for Pat Troughton!

[Dave-ros]

Haven't seen this story, but read the novelisation (somehow they managed to cram 10 episodes into the usual 144 pages for a Target book :p) -- the "transport boxes" were called SIDRATs, weren't they? The book had some really contrived explanation for what that stood for that I can't remember -- but it's blatantly TARDIS backwards ;)

[supermeerkat]

It's a shame there aren't anymore Troughton stories about: out of 21, only 6 are known to exist in entirity and 1 more has been completed (The Invasion).

[Joe Siegler]

When I started writing this, I didn't think I was going to write another novel of a post. But I tend to write a lot about Doctor Who. I'm such a dork. :)

I like the one where Nicola Bryant is wearing glasses and casual clothes. Maybe I'm strange that way, but I like beauty that doesn't have to try too hard.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I am in full agreement here. She's aged very VERY nicely. For most of us, we knew her as a nice pair of boobs in Doctor Who. But the real life woman is obviously more than that, and the more modern pictures have shown God has gifted her very nicely.

They're up to Part 11 of Trial of a Timelord, so I've seen two of the Sixth Doctor's assistants now.

That's all of them. Colin Baker had just two - Nicola & Bonnie.

With all due respect to them, they seem to have been chosen more for their beauty than their acting abilities. Maybe it's the fault of the writers.

With Bonnie Langford, I agree. I don't know what you know of her past, but it shares a little with Billie Piper. Ms. Langford has been a dancing and singing person since she was a little kid. As I understand it when it was first announced she was the companion, there was much groaning from the UK - "Her? What are they thinking?" She was a classic screamer in the mold of some Hartnell & Troughton era companions though. Time & the Rani had some serious screaming going on. :)

For Nicola, it's obvious her first couple of stories weren't terribly well acted. However, in Trial of a Time Lord, she was much better played. I remember at the time they said it was a conscious effort to make the Doctor/Peri relationship not bitchy like it was the first season, that alone could have something to do with it. But Nicola's portrayal wasn't as crabby as it was before, and it was nice. Too bad we didn't get MORE of that, might have changed the overall perception of Peri as a weak character.

http://www.alteredvistas.co.uk/index.html
Anyone know anything about this? Is it worth further investigation?

Never heard of it.

On a more general note, I just finished watching the 10-part Patrick Troughton story "The War Games". I really like how this one builds up and keeps throwing twists and turns at you until the very end.

I felt it went on a bit TOO long. Part of that is due to production problems at the time. There was supposed to be another story which they couldn't get their shit together on, so the episodes for that were sucked into War Games and made longer.

I also really enjoyed parts 9 and 10 which explored, I believe for the first time in the program's history, the Doctor's past and his reasons for leaving his people.

Correct. War Games Episode 10 is required watching, right after Unearthly Child Episode 1.


Time Meddler was the first time we ever met someone from the Doctor's race
War Games was the first time they were called Time Lords
War Games was the first time we visited the Doctor's Home Planet (Gallifrey had not yet been invented as a name)
War Games was the last story made in black and white
War Games was the last story of the 1960's


Curiously, I believe this is the only regeneration story in which the Doctor didn't regenerate because he was injured in some fashion, and it's also the only regeneration story not to reveal his successor (then of course there's Colin Baker who didn't get a regeneration story! Oh, and Paul McGann.).

Yeah, well..

Hartnell to Troughton: Old age, "worn out"
Troughton to Pertwee: Forced by Time Lords
Pertwee to T Baker: Body ravaged by events on Metebelis 3
T Baker to Davison: Fell off radio tower
Davison to C Baker: Poisioned
C Baker to McCoy: Fell off exercise bike, apparently (weak)
McCoy to McGann: Shot, then poisioned
McGann to Eccleston: Unknown, presumed to be events of Time War
Eccleston to Tennant: Absorbed energy of Time Vortex

The first regeneration appears to be the only "true" regeneration of the lot. :)

I would love to see this story remastered for DVD as the official VHS copy is a bit beat up looking with a lot of uneven audio. There is also considerable misframing of the picture throughout, probably because of a misaligned film camera when the story was converted to film, but I'm not sure there is anything that can be done about that as I suspect that it may be the only copy of this story still existing.

Don't bet on that. Have you ever read in detail the pages on the Restoration Team's website (http://www.restoration-team.co.uk/) as to how they do these things? They'll make it look great when they get to it. I would imagine they'll get to it soon enough, because I have a feeling they'll do that story before Krotons or the Dominators.

The "transport boxes" were called SIDRATs, weren't they? The book had some really contrived explanation for what that stood for that I can't remember -- but it's blatantly TARDIS backwards ;)

Correct. I recall reading that too thinking - "Uh, it's Tardis backwards!"

It's a shame there aren't anymore Troughton stories about: out of 21, only 6 are known to exist in entirity and 1 more has been completed (The Invasion).

Agreed. If you don't have the set "Lost in Time (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002OXVF0/73407921)", you should get it. It has most of the existing clips and orphaned episodes on it. Well worth your time if you enjoy the 60's black and white era of Doctor Who.

Troughton Story Status:

Season Four:
Power of the Daleks [ No episodes, some clips exist, on Lost in Time set ]
The Highlanders [ No episodes, some clips exist, on Lost in Time set ]
The Underwater Menace [ Episode 3 exists, on Lost in Time set ]
The Moonbase [ Episodes 2 & 4 exist, on Lost in Time set ]
The Macra Terror [ No episodes or clips exist ]
The Faceless Ones [ Episodes 1 & 3 exist, on Lost in Time set ]
The Evil of the Daleks [ Episode 2 & clips exist, on Lost in Time set ]

Season Five:
Tomb of the Cybermen [ Complete, on DVD (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000067FPD/73407921) ]
The Abominable Snowmen [ Episode 2 exists, on Lost in Time set ]
The Ice Warriors [ Episodes 1, 4-6 exist, unreleased. See note below ]
The Enemy of the World [ Episode 3 exists, on Lost in Time set ]
The Web of Fear [ Episode 1 exists, on Lost in Time set ]
Fury from the Deep [ No episodes exist, some clips on Lost in Time set ]
The Wheel in Space [ Episodes 3 & 6 exist, on Lost in Time set ]

Season Six:
The Dominators [ Complete, unreleased ]
The Mind Robber [ Complete, on DVD (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009PVZG4/73407921) ]
The Invasion [ Complete, on DVD (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000KGGIR8/73407921) ]
The Krotons [ Complete, unreleased ]
The Seeds of Death [ Complete, on DVD (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000WN0Z0/73407921) ]
The Space Pirates [ Episode 2 exists, on Lost on Time set ]
The War Games [ Complete, unreleased ]

The Ice Warriors will probably be released too. That was a 6 parter, and four of them exist. They could do them the same way that The Invasion was "completed". No bits from Invasion were on the Lost in Time set, and neither were any from Ice Warriors, so it'll probably get released at some point in the future, I would imagine.

That leaves three remaining stories from Troughton's era (Dominators, Mind Robber, Ice Warriors) that can be released, barring any attempts to totally re-create stories via animation, and not just an episode or two to complete a story, like they did with the Invasion.

If I could restore one single episode (not a story, just an episode), it would be Episode 1 of Power of the Daleks. It's the first post regeneration episode made, and it's lost. There's a couple of EXTREMELY short clips, which are available on the Lost in Time set. It's also available as a recon, but that's not the same as the original episode, of course.

[Dave-ros]

^ Four, including The War Games -- though one imagines that'd be at least a double CD...

They released The Ice Warriors on video/CD, didn't they? With a photonovel for parts 2 and 3? I reckon they could do that on DVD too -- unless they've got their heart set on another animated one...

[Mountain Man]

I felt it went on a bit TOO long.
I didn't. I thought it stayed pretty strong throughout. While it was a slow moving story, I didn't feel it was a lethargic one.

Don't bet on that.
Don't bet on what? That the version on VHS is the only existing version? Or that there's not much they can do about the misframing? If the master tapes are misframed, then I don't see what they could do about it, unless they set about doing something like an elaborate digital reconstruction of the cropped edges of the screen, which I imagine would be very expensive.

Agreed. If you don't have the set "Lost in Time (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002OXVF0/73407921)", you should get it. It has most of the existing clips and orphaned episodes on it. Well worth your time if you enjoy the 60's black and white era of Doctor Who.
I've heard that this set can be frustrating since it gives you glimpses of stories that you will never see in their entirety (or I suppose I should say original entirety as opposed to reconstructed in some fashion).

I'm curious, did Troughton ever comment about the fact that the majority of his work with Doctor Who no longer exists? I'm curious what his take on it was.

...unless they've got their heart set on another animated one...
I've read various postings at Outpost Gallifrey that suggest that the animated "The Invasion" reconstruction may have been a fluke. Apparently, whatever company it was that commissioned it had some money left over from another project which they used to pay for the reconstruction, and while the DVD has sold better than expected, it hasn't sold nearly well enough for the BBC to want to invest more money in similar projects. Also, Cosgrove Hall, the animation studio responsible for episodes 1 and 4, is rumored to be closing its doors soon thanks to funding cuts.

Much of this information comes from postings by people directly involved with "The Invasion" reconstruction.

[supermeerkat]

I've gotten hold of the Power of the Daleks by Loose Cannon. First time I've come across that particular story - and the recon is brilliant, not too mention the story. There are two pieces in particular in the first epsiode in which screen captures morph into a few seconds of surviving TV footage, and then back into stills.

I also have a recon of ep 4 of the "Tenth Planet" which doesn't look like the Loose Canon recon, or if it is it's a very early one. It's not as good anyway.

But, when I watch ep4 of LP and ep1 of Power together, I get a real buzz and at the same time get frustrated at only seeing a glimpse of what the real things might have been like. Oh well. Perhaps the originals will be found tomorrow, or maybe next year.

[supermeerkat]

A Tenth Planet cyberman. I really like those designs: really distinct, and odd looking. Still recognisably human as well, unlike the later versions.

[Joe Siegler]

I enjoyed the way the Tenth Planet Cybermen talked and sounded. A lot creepier than later incarnations for sure.

[Joe Siegler]

OK, I removed all the posts about the link to the site with the wmv for download, as I don't want to provide links to things with viruses in them!

Anyway, I'm closing this thread due to size. Part 2:

http://forums.3drealms.com/vb/showthread.php?t=25709