this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 18 hours ago

Such a bummer. If I found out something I owned was this rare or special I’d share with the world.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago

There are certainly some Patrick Troughton serials I'd love to be able to watch in their original form. Also "Marco Polo", but mostly Troughton. I hope they'll materialise before my eyes give out.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Well, yeah...

The BBC didn't give a shit about archiving, especially pulp sci-fi like Dr Who.

So private collectors goobled up all the tapes as they were found in the closets of random BBC regional offices.

By now the BBC has almost certainly located multiple copies of "missing" episodes and know exactly who has what.

It's how they have a slow trickle of "found" episodes whenever they want.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

If that were remotely true, the BBC wouldn’t be so stuck releasing the early years on Blu-Ray.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If that's the case, why hasn't there been a missing episode released in over ten years? Not much of a trickle if you ask me.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago (2 children)

https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a64001894/doctor-who-update-missing-episodes/

Because they were filling in gaps of episodes with animation and that's done cheaper in bulk than one episode at a time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sorry I don't understand your argument. Are you saying animating the episodes is cheaper for the BBC than acquiring the originals from the private collectors?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Wasn't really an argument.

What's been found was found sitting in like a supply closet of African BBC stations forgotten about for decades.

Certain parts of the film are just fucked. So what they're gonna realize is original where it can be, and animated in the missing parts

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What you said in your first comment sounded like the BBC knows which episodes still exist in private collections (or elsewhere) and are holding them back from release to spread the releases out over time. I don't think that's the case at all since they haven't released anything in over ten years.

Then you started going on about animations and I honestly just don't get what you are trying to say.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

and I honestly just don’t get what you are trying to say.

No problem

[–] [email protected] 1 points 22 hours ago

Animation is hideously expensive, far more so than restoring an extant episode.