Releasing the old series of Doctor Who on DVD

[Brian]

I have been keenly waiting for each of the old series of Doctor Who to be
released on DVD. It looks like the latest release of Doctor Who 'Planet of
Giants' must be he last of a complete Doctor Who series that can be
released on DVD that has the first doctor; unless someone knows of another
complete Doctor Who story that has William Hartnell not released on DVD
yet.

I feel the BBC is doing a great job in releasing past Doctor Who series on
DVD and I do enjoy viewing the technical production notes that are shown as
subtitles. There must be around 100 DVD's of the old Doctor Who series;
almost all of the old series. Does anyone know how many more of the old
Doctor Who series including all of the last century doctors that can be
released on DVD?


--
Regards Brian

[MDS]

They're almost finished as far as I know. The Reign of Terror, which is
a six-part Hartnell story with two parts missing, is due to be released;
the two missing episodes will be animated. That's the one I'm waiting
for.


--
MDS (Mister Doctor Sir)

[Monsieur Tabernac]

On Wed, 03 Oct 2012 01:07:33 GMT, Brian <bcl...@es.co.nz> wrote:

>I feel the BBC is doing a great job in releasing past Doctor Who series on
>DVD and I do enjoy viewing the technical production notes that are shown as
>subtitles.

On one hand it's a bit frustrating we've had to wait so many years for
these to come out on DVD, but I do appreciate that they take the time
and effort to do it right rather than release a version with
unrestored/poor video and no special features.

>Does anyone know how many more of the old
>Doctor Who series including all of the last century doctors that can be
>released on DVD?

According to Wikipedia, there are only two unreleased stories (that
currently exist in their entirety):

"The Mind of Evil" (3rd Doctor)
"Terror of the Zygons" (4th Doctor)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doctor_Who_DVD_and_Blu-ray_releases

[Adam H. Kerman]

MDS <M...@RADW.USENET> wrote:
>Brian wrote:

>>I have been keenly waiting for each of the old series of Doctor Who to be
>>released on DVD. It looks like the latest release of Doctor Who 'Planet of
>>Giants' must be he last of a complete Doctor Who series that can be
>>released on DVD that has the first doctor; unless someone knows of another
>>complete Doctor Who story that has William Hartnell not released on DVD
>>yet.

>>I feel the BBC is doing a great job in releasing past Doctor Who series on
>>DVD and I do enjoy viewing the technical production notes that are shown as
>>subtitles. There must be around 100 DVD's of the old Doctor Who series;
>>almost all of the old series. Does anyone know how many more of the old
>>Doctor Who series including all of the last century doctors that can be
>>released on DVD?

>They're almost finished as far as I know. The Reign of Terror, which is
>a six-part Hartnell story with two parts missing, is due to be released;
>the two missing episodes will be animated. That's the one I'm waiting
>for.

They have the soundtrack? Or will it be done with a new voice cast?

[MDS]

It is the original soundtrack, which was used for the fan
reconstructions as well.

[MDS]

I wonder why they chose to wait this long for Terror of the Zygons. It
was always one of my favorites. And for the record, I think the episode
one cliffhangers for that and The Mind of Evil are among the best.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Cool.

[Brian]

I was told that what was released on DVD first was decided by the Doctor
Who fans so stories such as the first encounter with the Daleks were
released early to the public.

For the episode 'The Dead Planet' (1963) there was a part in the video that
was cut out due to being over exposed. This was when they first walked out
of the Tardis and does not lose anything from the main story.

--
Regards Brian

[solar penguin]

Brian wrote:

> MDS <M...@RADW.USENET> wrote:
> > I wonder why they chose to wait this long for Terror of the Zygons. It
> > was always one of my favorites. And for the record, I think the episode
> > one cliffhangers for that and The Mind of Evil are among the best.
> >
>
> I was told that what was released on DVD first was decided by the Doctor
> Who fans so stories such as the first encounter with the Daleks were
> released early to the public.

Then whoever told you that was mistaken.

The earliest VHS releases were dictated by the fans. That's why a
crappy Cybermen story like "Revenge" was released first. In those pre-
internet days, fans didn't know much about it and just thought "Oooh,
it's got Cybermen, so it must be good."

The DVD releases have been dictated by the whims of a BBC engineer
called Steve Roberts who runs the team that restores the episodes for
release. "Terror of the Zygons" is his personal favourite story, so
he's deliberately held it back to last, just so that the range goes
out with a bang not a whimper.

>
> For the episode 'The Dead Planet' (1963) there was a part in the video that
> was cut out due to being over exposed. This was when they first walked out
> of the Tardis and does not lose anything from the main story.

Again, that's for the VHS, not the DVD.

[Brian]

solar penguin <solar....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Brian wrote:
>
>> MDS <M...@RADW.USENET> wrote:
>>> I wonder why they chose to wait this long for Terror of the Zygons. It
>>> was always one of my favorites. And for the record, I think the episode
>>> one cliffhangers for that and The Mind of Evil are among the best.
>>>
>>
>> I was told that what was released on DVD first was decided by the Doctor
>> Who fans so stories such as the first encounter with the Daleks were
>> released early to the public.
>
> Then whoever told you that was mistaken.
>
> The earliest VHS releases were dictated by the fans. That's why a
> crappy Cybermen story like "Revenge" was released first. In those pre-
> internet days, fans didn't know much about it and just thought "Oooh,
> it's got Cybermen, so it must be good."
>
> The DVD releases have been dictated by the whims of a BBC engineer
> called Steve Roberts who runs the team that restores the episodes for
> release. "Terror of the Zygons" is his personal favourite story, so
> he's deliberately held it back to last, just so that the range goes
> out with a bang not a whimper.

I wonder what the next step is after all the complete doctor who videos
have been released...maybe release box sets of the series. Too many DVD's
but maybe possible if released in blu-ray. In reality those that are
interested in the early series would have brought the DVD's so there may
not be a big market for box sets.

>
>>
>> For the episode 'The Dead Planet' (1963) there was a part in the video that
>> was cut out due to being over exposed. This was when they first walked out
>> of the Tardis and does not lose anything from the main story.
>
> Again, that's for the VHS, not the DVD.

The DVD version had the over exposed scene cut out.

--
Regards Brian

[powrwrap]

Isn't a fully colourised version of "Ambassadors of Death" being released next week?

[solar penguin]

According to the official restoration team website, they kept it in
but "smoothed out" the problems with the picture:
http://www.purpleville.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rtwebsite/beginningdvd.htm

[The Laughing Dalek]

On Wed, 3 Oct 2012 01:04:40 -0700 (PDT), solar penguin
<solar....@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
>Brian wrote:
>
>> MDS <M...@RADW.USENET> wrote:
>> > I wonder why they chose to wait this long for Terror of the Zygons. It
>> > was always one of my favorites. And for the record, I think the episode
>> > one cliffhangers for that and The Mind of Evil are among the best.
>> >
>>
>> I was told that what was released on DVD first was decided by the Doctor
>> Who fans so stories such as the first encounter with the Daleks were
>> released early to the public.
>
>Then whoever told you that was mistaken.
>
>The earliest VHS releases were dictated by the fans. That's why a
>crappy Cybermen story like "Revenge" was released first. In those pre-
>internet days, fans didn't know much about it and just thought "Oooh,
>it's got Cybermen, so it must be good."

Revenge was chose by a poll of the fans at the 20th Anniversary
Longleat convention IIRC. The VHS range was then released with largely
all the popular stories released first resulting in years and years of
largely poor stories at the end.

For the DVD range it was decided there would be a policy of mixing the
poor and good stories so the same thing did not happen again, hence
good episodes still being released very near the end of the range.

>
>The DVD releases have been dictated by the whims of a BBC engineer
>called Steve Roberts who runs the team that restores the episodes for
>release. "Terror of the Zygons" is his personal favourite story, so
>he's deliberately held it back to last, just so that the range goes
>out with a bang not a whimper.

Steve Roberts may have a little bit of say in the process but BBC
worldwide (or whatever it's called now) has the final say
specifically Dan Hall has the final say. Terror of the Zygons is going
to be a spectacular release I'm guessing lots of CG replacements for
the Skarasan

[007]

"powrwrap" <powr...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:84498b66-df68-4b4f...@googlegroups.com...

> Isn't a fully colourised version of "Ambassadors of Death" being released
> next week?
>

Yeah, on October 9th.

[007]

"MDS" <M...@RADW.USENET> wrote in message news:506B93...@RADW.USENET...

> They're almost finished as far as I know. The Reign of Terror, which is
> a six-part Hartnell story with two parts missing, is due to be released;
> the two missing episodes will be animated. That's the one I'm waiting
> for.

I hope you are not expecting that for Christmas. Rumor seems to be going
around the Internet that the final product wasn't delivered in time for a
release this year, and the release date has been pushed into January.

[MDS]

I'll buy myself a gift card!

[Keith W]

The early series were shot on video tape that was simply not
archived so almost all the Troughton era episodes are simply lost
as the practise at the time was to reuse the tapes after transmission.

Those that do exist were mostly restored from transcripts for
overseas customers.

Keith

[Brian]

It makes you wish that home VHS recorders existed in the 1960's then there
would be many recording of the old series.
To issue it to other countries then it may have been transferred to film
(I'm not certain what format other broadcasting places in the world used.
So maybe some of the Troughton episodes is still sitting in a cupboard
somewhere in the world.
If it was on tape then it might deteriorate with age.
However as must countries have been asked for Doctor Who taped (or film)
then the chances of finding something are getting smaller.

--
Regards Brian

[007]

"Brian" <bcl...@es.co.nz> wrote in message
news:481634967371032809.9...@free.teranews.com...

>
> It makes you wish that home VHS recorders existed in the 1960's then there
> would be many recording of the old series.
> To issue it to other countries then it may have been transferred to film
> (I'm not certain what format other broadcasting places in the world used.
> So maybe some of the Troughton episodes is still sitting in a cupboard
> somewhere in the world.
> If it was on tape then it might deteriorate with age.
> However as must countries have been asked for Doctor Who taped (or film)
> then the chances of finding something are getting smaller.
>
> --
> Regards Brian

Video recorders did exist back then, but they were extremely expensive, and
so was videotape. Up to this point, nobody has recorded a lost Hartnell or
Troughton episode on their TV set and returned it to the BBC.

[The Doctor]

Unless you were a TV station employee.
--
Member - Liberal International This is doc...@nl2k.ab.ca Ici doc...@nl2k.ab.ca
God,Queen and country!Never Satan President Republic!Beware AntiChrist rising!
http://www.fullyfollow.me/rootnl2k
USA petition to dissolve the Republic and vote to disoolve it in November 2012

[solar penguin]

007 wrote:

>
> Video recorders did exist back then, but they were extremely expensive, and
> so was videotape. Up to this point, nobody has recorded a lost Hartnell or
> Troughton episode on their TV set and returned it to the BBC.

OTOH someone did record and return lost Steptoe & Son episodes from
that era, so there is still some hope.

[Tim Roll-Pickering]

IIUC not quite. The show's writers arranged for home video copies to be made
from the master tapes, rather than recording off air. But you're talking
about two gentlemen who were on record breaking salaries and had the kind of
clout to obtain copies. Next to nobody on Doctor Who was in both such a
financially lucrative position and able to obtain such copies.

--
My blog: http://adf.ly/4hi4c

[Brian]

I'm surprised that all the Steptoe & Son episodes have been recovered. Like
you say there is still hope.

--
Regards Brian

[007]

"Tim Roll-Pickering" <T.C.Roll-...@qmul.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:ad80tu...@mid.individual.net...

In addition to that, anybody recording programs from their TV at home in the
60s would have to be a big fan since it would have been so expensive. For
that type of fan to not know that Hartnell and Troughton episodes are
missing today would be really incredible.

[Your Name]

In article <592083870371135223.6...@free.teranews.com>,

There are still episodes of Dad's Army that are "missing".

[Brian]

If they did the recordings would be worth a lot of money so it might be
expensive in the 1960's but they would get their money back. If only you
could see the future.

--
Regards Brian

[Brian]

The good thing about Dad's army is you can understand the episodes when you
hear audio only which they did you the missing episodes. Also the actor's
voices were easy to recognize.

--
Regards Brian

[Brian]

I can't see any reference to the over exposed bit in Doctor Who. You can
brighten a dark scene but fixing something badly over exposed can be
impossible as most of the information is not there all you have is mostly
white on the screen. They might have had several copies of the found Doctor
Who of this scene to work with if it was included in the DVD version.

--
Regards Brian

[Tim Roll-Pickering]

007 wrote:

> In addition to that, anybody recording programs from their TV at home in
> the 60s would have to be a big fan since it would have been so expensive.
> For that type of fan to not know that Hartnell and Troughton episodes are
> missing today would be really incredible.

We know of at least one person recording in the 1960s who didn't seem to
know - it was his daughter who came forward in 1998. Not everyone keeps
track of these things - nearly every private collector who's returned a film
copy of an episode has said they were unaware they were missing, and seems
to have missed the publicity round from the previous recovery. It's
surprisingly easy for people to be out of the loop on these things - it's no
different from the way the political world gets worked up about incidents
which pass the majority of the electorate by, or how some people are totally
switched off to the big stories in music, technology, soaps etc...

[The Doctor]

In article <ajgt90...@mid.individual.net>,

Well maybe these collectors could digitise their collections.

--
Member - Liberal International This is doc...@nl2k.ab.ca Ici doc...@nl2k.ab.ca
God,Queen and country!Never Satan President Republic!Beware AntiChrist rising!

http://www.fullyfollow.me/rootnl2k Merry Christmas 2012 and Happy New Year 2013

[BW]

On Dec 21, 12:38 am, "Tim Roll-Pickering" <T.C.Roll-

Also there was conjecture that since these shows were broadcast later
in other countries, perhaps years later, there was a small chance that
somebody had recorded them on the very expensive new-fangled video
recorders.

[The Doctor]

In article <c14dd861-bfcb-40fb...@ui9g2000pbc.googlegroups.com>,
BW <bru...@topmail.co.nz> wrote:
>On Dec 21, 12:38=A0am, "Tim Roll-Pickering" <T.C.Roll-
>Picker...@qmul.ac.uk> wrote:
>> 007 wrote:
>> > In addition to that, anybody recording programs from their TV at home i=
>n
>> > the 60s would have to be a big fan since it would have been so expensiv=
>e.
>> > For that type of fan to not know that Hartnell and Troughton episodes a=

>re
>> > missing today would be really incredible.
>>
>> We know of at least one person recording in the 1960s who didn't seem to
>> know - it was his daughter who came forward in 1998. Not everyone keeps

>> track of these things - nearly every private collector who's returned a f=
>ilm
>> copy of an episode has said they were unaware they were missing, and seem=

>s
>> to have missed the publicity round from the previous recovery. It's

>> surprisingly easy for people to be out of the loop on these things - it's=

> no
>> different from the way the political world gets worked up about incidents

>> which pass the majority of the electorate by, or how some people are tota=

>lly
>> switched off to the big stories in music, technology, soaps etc...
>>
>> --
>> My blog:http://adf.ly/4hi4c
>
>Also there was conjecture that since these shows were broadcast later
>in other countries, perhaps years later, there was a small chance that
>somebody had recorded them on the very expensive new-fangled video
>recorders.

Maybe!