Zimbabwe hoarding lost Doctor Who episodes

[Johonebesus]

Zimbabwe 'hoarding lost 'Who' episodes'
Friday, February 20 2009, 6:25am EST
By Lara Martin

Zimbabwe has been accused of hoarding long-lost episodes of Doctor Who, reports The Sun.

The BBC destroyed several early editions of the cult show in the 1960s and 1970s in order to make room for new programming.

However, the African nation is believed to have bought the first season of the programme, which ran from 1963 until 1966 and starred William Hartnell.

"We have looked all over the world for missing Doctor Who episodes but there are still some broadcasters we have not spoken to," revealed an unnamed BBC source. "Zimbabwe could prove a problem as there is so much red tape."

President Robert Mugabe has banned BBC personnel from entering the country, which has reportedly led the corporation to fear that they might never retrieve the missing serials.

Around 108 out of 752 episodes are believed to be missing. The most famous and sought-after is episode four of The Tenth Planet, which depicts Hartnell transforming into the second Doctor, Patrick Troughton.

Previously forgotten episodes have been uncovered in New Zealand, Hong Kong and through private collections. In 1983, two early outings were found at a car boot sale being sold for £8 each.

I don't know how reliable The Sun is. The report seems a bit confused, as it describes three years as a single "season". Nonetheless it would be nice if they could recover more episodes.


Sorry, forgot the link

[Captain Seafort]

I don't know how reliable The Sun is.

By and large, I'd put more faith in reading my horoscope in a pile of dog shit.

The report seems a bit confused, as it describes three years as a single "season".

They're almost certainly refering to the entire Hartnell era.

Nonetheless it would be nice if they could recover more episodes.

Absolutely - especially "The Tenth Planet part 4", and "Power of the Daleks"

[NecronLord]

It'd be nice. But The Sun is often full of what old Bill Hartnell would probably have described as 'twaddle.' They frequently publish just-plumb-made-up Doctor Who rumours, and anything that insults Zimbabwe gets them aroused.

[white_rabbit]

Sounds like the perfect excuse for invasion!

[Bounty]

What would be the point in hoarding the episodes? I'm sure the BBC would be more than happy to pay a nice sum for their return, and it's not as if whatever Zimbabwean broadcaster that oriignally bought them can release its own DVD's.

However, the African nation is believed to have bought the first season of the programme, which ran from 1963 until 1966 and starred William Hartnell.

This is also confusing; did they buy the serials in 1966? If so, I doubt there'd be much left of the material, unless it was kept in specialized storage. I don't think tape survives well in heat and humidity.

[Zixinus]

If any of the broadcasters would have something like it, they'd sell it. Zimbabwe relies on foreign currency and I'm sure that the TV channel broadcasters in question would gladly take British Quid or Euros.

[Instant Sunrise]

What would be the point in hoarding the episodes? I'm sure the BBC would be more than happy to pay a nice sum for their return, and it's not as if whatever Zimbabwean broadcaster that oriignally bought them can release its own DVD's.

However, the African nation is believed to have bought the first season of the programme, which ran from 1963 until 1966 and starred William Hartnell.

This is also confusing; did they buy the serials in 1966? If so, I doubt there'd be much left of the material, unless it was kept in specialized storage. I don't think tape survives well in heat and humidity.

IIRC, most programmes in that era were sent over on 16mm film, not on videotape. If they were kept in a cool, dry place they might have survived, although the chances of that happening in Zimbabwe is unlikely.

Plus a 16mm telecine is a lot easier to ship the ungainly monstrosities that VTR's were at the time. Doubly so if the country is under an international embargo.

In the 1950's and 60's electronic storage of video was expenisive as hell and required reel-to-reel VTR's that were the size of a fridge.

[Instant Sunrise]

Ghetto edit

I should also add that my parents grew up in Zimbabwe in this era, and they have said that Doctor Who was broadcast back at that time, so all I know is that Doctor Who was broadcast in Zimbabwe in that timeframe, I don't know what episodes were broadcast and when.

If anything though, the film has probably deteriorated from poor storage conditions, or it was been looted by somebody long ago looking for a quick buck. Honestly, the chance of that film turning up is so remote that it's not worth thinking about.

Basically, The Sun saw that a copy was sent to Zimbabwe in that time frame, and came to the conclusion that Zimbabwe has the first season of Doctor Who.

[Bounty]

IIRC, most programmes in that era were sent over on 16mm film, not on videotape.

Sorry, I didn't mean videotape in particular, just generic "tape". You know, the long dark strips of material with chemicals on it

[Jade Falcon]

If they want to blame anyone, the BBC should be blamed for the scrubbing of its archives. It's unlikely if there's any useable footage left in Zimbabwe after all this time, though there's always a very slim one. I don't think Cosgrove Hall who did the animation segments for stories like The Invasion are even still in business are they?

[Sea Skimmer]

If they want to blame anyone, the BBC should be blamed for the scrubbing of its archives.

Unfortunately that was really common back then, and many lost shows and events are lost, the NLF has an outstanding offer from any recording of the first NFL game for example, because it destroyed the first couple entire seasons in its own archives. The reason this happened was that early in the history of TV networks simply didn’t think anyone would ever want to see old shows again. It was meanwhile quite expensive to store large quantities of film under proper conditions, and even if you did the film decayed over time anyway. Many Hollywood films from as recently as the 1970s suffered significant degradation, now everything is being digitalized. So that gave even less reason for networks to save stuff.

I’d imagine any copies of Dr Who Zimbabwe might still have are sitting in a leaky un air conditioned warehouse or have been expended as toilet paper. I can't think its been too popular with the 99% of the population that isn't white British citizens.

[andrewgpaul]

IIRC, a lot of epidsodes were chucked out because there was nowhere to store them; they were junked because they were being stored in piles in stairwells, and were causing a health & safety hazard by blocking fire escapes.

[Jade Falcon]

If they want to blame anyone, the BBC should be blamed for the scrubbing of its archives.

Unfortunately that was really common back then, and many lost shows and events are lost, the NLF has an outstanding offer from any recording of the first NFL game for example, because it destroyed the first couple entire seasons in its own archives. The reason this happened was that early in the history of TV networks simply didn’t think anyone would ever want to see old shows again. It was meanwhile quite expensive to store large quantities of film under proper conditions, and even if you did the film decayed over time anyway. Many Hollywood films from as recently as the 1970s suffered significant degradation, now everything is being digitalized. So that gave even less reason for networks to save stuff.

I’d imagine any copies of Dr Who Zimbabwe might still have are sitting in a leaky un air conditioned warehouse or have been expended as toilet paper. I can't think its been too popular with the 99% of the population that isn't white British citizens.

That's true, Carlton released DVD's of Space:1999, the same prints were used by A&E Video in the USA and Network managed to get a significantly cleaned up version.

Look at the differences here

http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main ... duk2a.html

And that's minor compared to some. I hear that when the Star Wars trilogy was being released on DVD, ANH, TESB and ROTJ that is, that some of the film needed major cleanup and restoration, though the prints were apparently dirty rather than serious physical damage.