| The sad fact faced by all fans of the BBC's long-running science fiction series Doctor Who is that nearly half of the 200+ episodes are considered lost or incomplete due to improper storage. However, episodes and tantalizing glimpses of "orphaned" stories from the reign of the first Doctor, William Hartnell (1963-66) have been culled together from 16 and 35mm prints and restored for this set. The most noteworthy treasure is "Day of Armageddon," the second episode in the epic 12-part story from season 3, "The Daleks' Master Plan," which has been unseen by the public since its initial airing in 1965. Also among the recently recovered is "The Lion," the first episode of season's 2's "The Crusade." The only other surviving episodes from these stories--episodes 5 and 10 from "The Daleks' Master Plan," and episode 3 from "The Crusade" (audio tracks and narrative links for the second and fourth episodes of this story are also included), as well as the sole remaining episode (#4, "The Final Test") from "The Celestial Toymaker" (featuring veteran actor Michael Gough) round out the disc. The DVD extras include fragments from the lost episodes of "The Daleks' Master Plan" and season 4's "The Smugglers" and "The Tenth Planet," all rescued from a variety of far-flung places; also included is commentary by actor Julian Glover for episode 3 of "The Crusade" and actors Peter Purves and Kevin Stoney, along with designer Raymond Cusick for "Day of Armaggedon," and some 8mm off-screen footage from the Hartnell era. Viewers can also access introductions to and an afterword for "The Crusade" (taken from the original VHS release) by accessing the "Play All" option on the main menu. As with the First Doctor, a number of episodes and stories from Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor tenure (1966-69) are also incomplete or missing altogether, so The Patrick Troughton Years attempts to reconstruct the "orphaned" stories through episodes and clips culled from a variety of sources. For Who historians, the most important footage here is from Troughton's first appearance as the Doctor in season 5's "The Power of the Daleks," which is missing in its entirety; a rough glimpse of the transition from actor William Hartnell to Troughton is included, along with other surviving fragments. The complete episodes offered here are the sole remaining episode from season 4's "The Underwater Menace" (fragments from this story are included in the extras), episodes 2 and 4 from "The Moonbase," which features the return of the Cybermen (audio from episodes 1 and 3 is featured in the extras), episodes 1 and 3 from "The Faceless Ones," and episode 2 from "The Evil of the Daleks" (which includes commentary by actress Deborah Watling, who played the Doctor's companion, Victoria). Disc 2 marks the only episode from the Yetis' debut in "The Abominable Snowmen" (Watling again provides commentary), two episodes from "The Wheel in Space" (with commentary by director Tristan de Vere Cole and story editor Derrick Sherwin) and just one apiece for "The Web of Fear," "The Space Pirates," and "The Enemy of the World." Chief among the extras is the 1998 documentary The Missing Years, which interviews several of the film collectors responsible for rescuing these lost episodes and fragments (the doc has been updated to reflect the 2004 discovery of two William Hartnell episodes); the supplemental features offer fragments and behind-the-scenes footage from "The Macra Terror" (with a rare clip of the monsters), "Fury from the Deep" (which includes a scene reconstruction), "The Highlanders," and the aforementioned stories. The William Hartnell Years and the Patrick Troughton Years are also available individually. Either scenario is sure to please the die-hard Doctor Who fan. --Paul Gaita |
|
 Although it makes you crave for more, still worth the wait |
| Review Date: September 3, 2004 |
| Reviewer: El Kabong, Bethesda, Maryland United States |
The Lost In Time set is something hardcore Doctor Who fans, including me, have been looking forward to for a long time. For those who aren't familiar with the history of this show, back in the 70's, a bunch of BBC executives decided they wanted to save money in storage space by destroying a bunch of tapes containing episodes of many of their old shows. This was a time before there was a market for video compilations, and they figured no one would want to see these again. Also responsible were some of the short-sighted agreements the actors/musician unions had with the BBC which limited how many times one could rerun programs. But before they destroyed their copies, they transferred many of them onto film for exporting to other TV stations around the world. By the time they saw the error of their ways, it was too late, and the search was on for the stories they exported which continue to this day. Although I heard that the number of Dr. Who episodes destroyed pales in comparison to other archived shows, it was still a short-sighted move on their part, regardless of their rationale at the time.
So unless a miracle occurs, these restored episodes from stories where half or less of the episodes survive are all we have left of some of the early 60's stories when William Hartnell and later Patrick Troughton portrayed the Doctor. The set includes the remaining episodes as well as surviving clips of some of the stories where none of the episodes exist, and a 1998 BBC special on the missing episodes hosted by Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling.
Some of the stories featured:
1) The Crusade (ep's 1 & 3) - Historical story during the Hartnell era which includes Episode 1 that was recovered in 1999. Some parts of the episode could not be fully restored, but considering the circumstances, we should be lucky to even have it.
2) The Dalek Masterplan (ep's 2, 5, 10) - Epic 12-episode Dalek story. Included is episode 2 "Day of Armageddon", returned to the BBC in January 2004. First appearance of actor Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon. He would later return as longtime recurring character Colonel (later Brigadier) Lethbridge-Stewart.
3) The Evil of the Daleks (ep. 2) - Only surviving episode of this 7-parter. Debut of Deborah Watling as travel companion Victoria Waterfield.
4) The Web of Fear (ep. 1) - The second story to feature the Yeti invading the London Underground, and was the debut of Nicholas Courtney as Lethbridge-Stewart, although he's not featured in episode 1.
5) The Wheel In Space (ep. 3 & 6) - Cybermen story and the debut of companion Zoe Herriot (Wendy Padbury).
As enjoyable as this collection is, it nevertheless makes you crave for more for obvious reasons. It's frustrating to be able to see stories at only the beginning or middle or end. This is the sad legacy of the BBC's short-sightedness that we can only hope there are some private collectors who are secretly stashing episodes and are just waiting for the right time to come out with them (what those reasons are I have no idea). If you are a beginner Dr. Who fan, then wait until you see some of the complete stories first before checking this out. |
Your only chance to glimpse the missing stories...
|
| Review Date: February 3, 2005 |
| Reviewer: JohnD, Winnipeg Manitoba Canada |
| The first reviewer was right. If you aren't a big fan of Doctor Who, this release might not be the best purchase for you. If, however, you know all about how the BBC decided back in the mid 70s that they had too many tapes lying around of the show, and decided to incinerate a bunch to save space, and wish the people doing it had thrown themselves in the incinerator instead, this release is for you. This is your only chance to catch a glimpse of classic stories we, but for bad luck and bad decision making, might be able to watch in their entireties. One bad thing, you'll be asking yourself when watching part 3 of The Celestial Toymaker "they junked The Web of Fear and kept this?!".... There are some really good episodes in this set. Your enjoyment of them will be tempered only by the realization that you'll never get to see what happens next. Excellent set though. I'd give it 6 stars if that were possible! |
"People spend all their time making nice things, and then other people come along and break them."
|
| Review Date: February 9, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Crazy Fox, Chicago, IL USA |
Something about "Doctor Who" certainly inspires dedication in the show's fans. There is not really a single complete storyline in this whole DVD set, just scattered, random fragments of storylines. One or two episodes out of four or six, three episodes out of twelve--merely bits and pieces. And yet we find ourselves watching them with all the enthusiasm of a classical scholar who has come across some stray pages from the Library of Alexandria. Sure, it'd be nice to have the whole archive complete, but barring that, these fragmentary glimpses of the show in its formative years are a treasure.
Different folks will come to this with different preferences, of course. I myself was especially enthralled by the bits from "The Moonbase" and "The Wheel in Space"--both for the vintage early appearances of the Cybermen and for the classic "space age" manner in which the future was envisioned. The long, fantastically involved bits from "The Dalek's Masterplan" were neat for similar reasons, though set in a much more distant future. As someone with an interest in Asian religions, I found the setting of "The Abominable Snowmen" in a Buddhist monastery to be particularly noteworthy. And in "The Faceless Ones" seeing the Tardis materialize on an airport landing strip (of all places) was priceless. These were some of the highlights for me, but the whole thing was enjoyable overall.
Of course, it must be said that this is enjoyment of a very masochistic sort. There you are, getting into the story, mesmerized by William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton's incredible performances, thrilled by the threats of enemies familiar and unfamiliar, following along as the plot thickens and the suspense quickens...right up until the episode's cliffhanger. And that's it. You'll never see what happens next. I found myself shouting in dismay almost every time, as if I didn't know this was inevitable from the start. But for diehard followers of the renegade Time Lord's saga, it's well worth it. |
A great release but maybe more for diehard fans who already know the stories.
|
| Review Date: August 12, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Dark Star-The Other One, The Bus To Never Ever Land |
As many of should know by now this 3 dvd set is made up of incomplete stories. You see, back in the mid 70's, part of the Daleks Master Pl...er...uh, the BBC's Master Plan was to erase and throw out old shows which were no longer considered of any value. Many shows along with Doctor Who were discarded so what we have here is a collection of episodes to which the full story doesn't (currently anyway) exist in the BBC's vaults. All of the stories featured here have been novelised in books as well as cd audio releases taken from the original broadcasts and taped by fans with new narraration by former cast members. You can also find the entire plots for these stories at the BBC, wikipedia and a few fan sites which have made reconstructions of the missing episodes. It's a shame that things like the Second Doctor's perchant for playing the recorder seems to be lost for the ages on video. Still what is here is quite good and will, without a doubt, please any fanatic or at least until more full episodes are found.
|
At Last!
|
| Review Date: December 10, 2004 |
| Reviewer: J. Kelley, Mid-Atlantic coast |
If you are not a "fan of the programme", then you will be wasting your time with this set.
However, if you are as big a ner(oops!) fan as me, then you will have heard about these episodes.
I've read through the scripts for these shows, and am very very happy to finally see the extant film. Sadly, this also makes you realize what a tragedy it is that the Beeb lost or destroyed so many of the early stories. (Yes, destroyed. They're trying to back out of that now, but some of the episodes in this set exist only because someone was fan enough to get ahold of any and all extant film or copies.)
Anyway, we have end of the first regeneration scene (Pat Troughton replacing William Hartnell); and episode of The Celestial Toymaker-- this is one I'd really like to surface as a complete story, and others. Ben and Polly finally have a little more screen time (the only complete story with these companions is "The War Machines").
Wonderful for the fan who knows what is gone, but merely a sidebar for the casual sci-fi fan. |
|
No details are available for this product
No video reviews found for this product.
Leave a Reply