TME > Video > Commercial Releases
The 'Years' Tapes / Lost in Time
The 'Years' Videos (1991-1994, 1997)
A series of videos produced by 80s producer John Nathan-Turner (at the time essentially running the Doctor Who VHS range), originally intended to make rare episodes available to the public (along with interviews with various production personnel), but which also expanded to include videos on the Tom and Colin Baker eras.
All British releases were handled by BBC Worldwide, Australasian releases by Polygram and American releases by CBS/Fox. The CBS/Fox releases were later reissued by Warner Home Video
in 2001, and therefore a second set of release codes for that area was generated. All ratings are for 'U' (in the UK) and 'G' (in Australia) except where stated.
The Hartnell Years
The Troughton Years
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Presented by Jon
Pertwee
The
Abominable Snowmen: Episode 2 (cut slightly due to a film fault -
see below)
The Enemy Of The World: Episode 3
The Space Pirates: Episode Two.
03/06/1991: UK - BBCV4609
??/??/1991: US - 3402 / E1097
04/03/1992: Aus/NZ BBC46092
Passed 08/05/91 (83'31") by the BBFC and 10/07/91 (94m) by the OFLC.
The clip to the left shows the original film of The Abominable
Snowmen with the eight second audio
"hole", which includes most of the Doctor's line "You were right
about one thing, Victoria." For this VHS, the scene of the monks was
slowed down and Troughton's line removed. For the DVD release below,
Mark Ayres recreated the audio using syllables from other sources. |
The Pertwee Years
   |
 Presented
by Jon Pertwee
Inferno: Episode
7 (story released in full in 1994)
Frontier In Space: Episode Six (released in full in 1995)
The Dæmons: Episode Five (in b/w - the recoloured version was released
1993).
02/03/1992: UK - BBCV4756
??/??/1992: US - 5732 / E1182
20/10/1992: Aus/NZ - BBC47562 [Deleted January 1996]
Passed 05/03/92 (87'48") by the BBFC and 05/05/92 (88m) by the OFLC as
'PG' for 'Low Level Violence and Adult Themes'
(Alternate early UK cover displayed to the right) |
Daleks: The Early Years
Cybermen: The Early Years
The Tom Baker Years
The Colin Baker Years
For the most part, these episodes
would never have seen a video release at the time, so Nathan-Turner's efforts in
producing these videos was to be commended by fans. In 1993 the BBC,
unfortunately, refused to fund production of videos dedicated to the Davison and
McCoy eras.
As part of the 'Ice Warriors' collection box set (BBCV5387) released for
Christmas 1997, the Restoration Team prepared a special video documentary hosted
by Frazer Hines and Debbie Watling. This video detailed the return of many of
the episodes and clips that now represent incomplete stories. Included in this
documentary was every surviving clip discovered up to that point (bar the '8mm home cine footage' and,
erroneously, the Late Night Line Up clip from 'The Abominable Snowmen') and also
The Underwater Menace: Episode 3, introduced by Hines.
When 'The Ice Warriors' was released in America, it came without this extra
video. The documentary would, however, come as part of a double-pack version of
'The Edge of Destruction/The Original Pilot' (released on its own in the UK).
The release, one of the first to be distributed by Warner Home Video, was
recalled when it was discovered that the first video contained an unrestored
'Edge' and the first episode of '100,000BC' instead of the pilot. The catalogue
number E1497 was replaced with E1578.
The
Missing Years
Presented by Frazer Hines and Debbie Watling
Features almost every surviving
clip from otherwise missing episodes and The Underwater Menace: Episode 3.
09/11/1998: UK - BBCV6766 (as part of BBCV6387)
14/12/1998: Aus/NZ - B00312 / Z00312
??/??/1999: US - E14973 / E1578
Passed 19/11/98 as 'PG' (35'30" for the documentary and 25'48" for the episode)
The Reign of Terror (with The Web of Fear and The Faceless Ones)
Only episodes of The Faceless Ones and The Web of Fear to be found a
home - eventually these were paired with The Reign of Terror to form a VHS
release in 2003. Surviving episodes from The Crusade, The Tenth Planet and The
Invasion had already received full releases.
07/10/2003: US - Warner Home Video - E1853
24/11/2003: UK - BBC Worldwide Ltd - BBCV7335
04/12/2003 - Aus/NZ - Roadshow Entertainment, Ltd - Z00780/B00780 [not pictured]
The cassettes also featured in the US "End of the Universe" collection, a
compilation of the final BBC videos released in an effort to clear up the
remaining releases quickly (E1840).
The Faceless Ones had long been assumed to be unreleasable due to the various
missing frames in the third episode. With a lot of work put in by Jonathan Wood
and Peter Finklestone, however, a releasable edit was created.
With the audio providing a guide (and thus ensuring the episode was as complete
as possible), Wood and Finklestone used a combination of two methods (clips made
up using motion estimation software and cutaway clips from other moments)
to create as complete a version as possible. Below are two demonstrations to
explain. On the left is the original film, on the right is Finklestone's
attempts to bridge:
UK cover by Black Sheep.Lost in Time (2004)
Contrary to the very bitty release of "orphaned" footage on VHS described above, the DVD collection Lost in Time brought together every bit of footage from every
story that was no greater than 50% complete..
Disc
One (William Hartnell)
The Lion, The Wheel of Fortune*, Day of Armageddon* (recovered earlier that
year), Counter Plot, Escape Switch, The Final Test
Plus
- Audios of the second and fourth episodes of The Crusade, and the video
links from the VHS release of the same story (only viewable through the Play All
feature).
-
Every William Hartnell clip discovered until that point, including the
previously-unreleased 8mm cine footage (parts of which had appeared on the Reign
of Terror release).
-
Behind the scenes footage of The Smugglers, previously unreleased.
- A trailer for the BBC Audiobooks.
- Easter Egg: The Wheel of Fortune countdown slate (When the circles around
Hartnell's head stop spinning, press 'up').
Disc Two (Patrick Troughton Season 4)
The Underwater Menace Episode 3, The Moonbase Episodes 2 and 4, The Faceless
Ones Episodes 1 and 3, The Evil of the Daleks Episode 2*
Plus
- Audios of the first and third episodes of The Moonbase
-
Every Troughton Season 4 clip discovered until that point, including the
previously-unreleased 8mm cine footage.
-
Previously unreleased trailer
for The Power of the Daleks
-
Behind the scenes footage of The Evil of the Daleks, previously on the Seeds of
Death DVD.
- Easter Egg: Underwater Menace intro from the Ice Warriors VHS (When the
circles around Troughton's head stop spinning, press 'up').
Disc Three (Patrick Troughton Seasons 5 and 6)
The Abominable Snowmen Episodes 2*, The Enemy of the World Episode 3, The
Web of Fear Episode 1*, The Wheel in Space Episodes 3 and 6*, The Space Pirates
Episode 2
Plus
- Every Troughton Seasons 5/6 clip discovered to that point, including newly
discovered modelwork from The Space Pirates.
-
Behind the scenes footage of The Abominable Snowmen and Fury From The Deep,
previously unreleased.
-
The Missing Years documentary, from the Ice Warriors VHS.
*also feature commentaries
With
the release of this, the BBC were left with only The Reign of Terror, The Tenth
Planet, The Ice Warriors, The Invasion, and any further clips/episodes that
would reappear post-2004 to release.
01/11/2004: UK - BBC Worldwide - BBCDVD1353
02/11/2003: US - Warner - E2081 (Hartnell), E2082 (Troughton), E2083 (Both)
02/12/2004: Aus/NZ - Roadshow - Cat# Unknown
Cover designs by Clayton Hickman for the UK and Black Sheep for the US.
The BBFC cleared the menus as U on 21/09/2004, the extra clips and footage as PG
on 02/08/2004, The Lion as U on 01/04/2005, The Underwater Menace as PG on
02/11/2004 and The Abominable Snowmen as U on the same day. The OFLC cleared
discs 1 and 2 on 19/10/2004 and disc 3 the following day, all as PG for Low
Level Violence.
