This archive article from 1998 contains several out of date links. It is presented here in its original form as a historical document.
THE DISUSED YETI
THE NEWSLETTER ON EARLY DOCTOR WHO
ISSUE 12
10 MAY 1998
Edited by Bruce Robinson (robinsba@ozemail.com.au) &
Robert Franks (TelesnapGuy@compuserve.com)
- “No one on the colony believes in Macra.”
“There is no such thing as Macra.”
“Macra do not exist.”
“There are no Macra!”
(The Controller — The Macra Terror Episode 2)
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
| HISTORY OF THE RECONSTRUCTIONS |
| JUST WHO IS PAMELA NASH? |
| FEEDBACK FROM 1997 SURVEY |
| THE AZTECS STORY GUIDE |
| THE SEASON 2 CLIFFHANGERS COMMENCE … |
WELCOME!
We’d just like to start by mentioning a small milestone – this is the first issue of the newsletter to be received by over five hundred people!
Recently, we’ve been receiving a few E-mails asking us how we go about creating the reconstructions. Although our methods aren’t a trade secret or anything, we generally don’t discuss this in the newsletter for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we usually have more interesting things to talk about (believe us, the actual process of creating a story is not that exciting!). And secondly, we don’t want to give the impression that there’s only one definitive method for creating a reconstruction. Just about every person to have created one of these videos has gone about it in a different way.
We should also point out that creating reconstructions is far from easy. In fact, it involves a dedication of nearly all your spare time and energy. When you have seen a particular episode numerous times, it almost makes you want to break down and cry (well OK, that’s going a little too far!). But when an entire episode can be recited from memory, you know you’re spending too much time on this! At the end of day though, the joy of seeing the finished product is all that matters.
Take care and enjoy the newsletter!
Bruce and Robert
RECONSTRUCTION UPDATES
THE CRUSADE [COI6] (update by Bruce Robinson)
At this stage, only a limited amount of work has been performed on the text captions (eg trying to decipher some rather unintelligible dialogue!). Due to the limited number of photographs that exist from the story, the existing third episode (The Wheel of Fortune) will be relied on heavily for photo-visual material. The story is expected to be complete in two to three months’ time.
THE EVIL OF THE DALEKS [JV2] (update by Michael Palmer)
The JV version of Evil is nearly complete, and should be available by the time this issue is released. Although the reconstruction is in the same style as The Web of Fear, the picture quality of the Evil telesnaps is generally better than that of Web. Also, there are an increased number of text captions for Evil, due to there being more action not evident from the dialogue. The captions are slightly larger, and the text has been positioned further in from the edges. This means that the captions should be readable on all TV sets.
THE ENEMY OF THE WORLD [COI5] (update by Bruce Robinson)
Unfortunately, the VCR related problems that were mentioned in the last issue, turned out to be more problematic than originally thought. In fact, the whole of Enemy had to be re-recorded, as the first recording was inflicted with a number of incurable problems (eg flickery yellow text). However, the good news is that the second recording appears to have been a success. This means that your local distributors should have a copy of Enemy by the time this issue is released.
THE TERROR OF THE MACRA
Recently, an American fan by the name of Rick Brindell, completed a reconstruction of the Troughton story, The Macra Terror. In his own words, Rick describes the endeavour ..
I seriously started the Macra project last December. I would like to say that I picked Macra because I loved the story, or because it had not been reconstructed at that point. But in reality, I picked Macra because it was the only set of telesnaps I had. A fairly lame reason, but the truth, I assure you.
From the outset, my ambition was to create a different style of reconstruction to previous efforts. To this end, I included screen captions to explain parts of the story that could not be comprehended based on the pictures and audio alone. I also wanted to keep the photos as large as possible, so I scrolled the captions from right to left at the bottom of the screen.
The project was actually a lot harder, and took a lot longer than expected. I had to rescan all the photos, sometimes several times, and the video editing was extremely tedious and painstaking. I worked almost every night and weekend for 3 months before the project was completed. In fact, I now have a greater appreciation of all the hard work and money it takes to complete a project like this – I take my hat off to the other creators.
With the help of the regular distribution network, I hope fans all over the world obtain a copy of The Macra Terror. Please enjoy!
(RICK BRINDELL)
JUST WHO IS PAMELA NASH?
In issue #10, we published a few suggestions for the new name of this newsletter. One of the suggestions received was the ‘Pamela Nash Appreciation Society’. However, it appears that many people aren’t familiar with the name “Pamela Nash”. Therefore, a quick explanation is in order.
By the early seventies, BBC Enterprises’ stock of telerecordings had grown considerably. It became apparent to Enterprises that they could no longer continue to retain prints of serials unable to be sold in the future (due to contractual reasons). The full reasons are still unclear today, but a very sad era of British television was about to begin.
Pamela Nash was the person in charge of maintaining Enterprises’ cache of telerecording prints. Initially, she had ordered the creation of many of the film negatives from the original videotapes. However in 1972, it was Pamela Nash who ordered the destruction of many of the original prints. It is uncertain whether Ms Nash was aware that she might be destroying the only copies of the episodes.
Enterprises dealt solely with 16mm telerecorded film prints for overseas sales. When the rights to sell these prints expired, they were considered to just be taking up valuable space. The only archive in operation at the BBC during this time was the Film Library. The FL had a mandate to keep programs recorded on film and to preserve certain telerecordings of historical value or representative of a series.
This led to the situation in the early seventies, where for several years, Pamela Nash ordered the destruction of many early British television series. It wasn’t until Ian Levine visited Enterprises’ repository at Villiers House in 1977, that the full impact of these actions was realised. In fact, as Ian Levine has often pointed out, Ms Nash’s response in 1977 was “no one wants them, they’re only old black and white prints.”
Almost immediately, the practice of destroying old prints was ceased, as was the wiping of original videotapes, with the creation of the new Film and Videotape Library. The new Library would house not only film prints as previously, but as the name implies, the original broadcast tapes as well. This was the first full “Archive” at the BBC, but the damage had already been caused.
Pamela Nash was partially responsible for the destruction of a large portion of television history – whether unwittingly or deliberately. Thus the ‘Pamela Nash Appreciation Society’ pays homage to the woman we have to largely thank for the missing episodes. Without her, we couldn’t have newsletters on missing episodes today!
HISTORY OF THE RECONSTRUCTIONS
This newsletter, in all its various guises, has been around for about 18 months now. In that time, a variety of information has been published on the reconstructions, such as updates on the new releases, and short articles of a technical nature. However, at no time has the newsletter presented any material on the history of the reconstructions. How did they all start? What stories have all the creators completed? What can we look forward to in the future?
This article, presented in two parts, will concern itself mainly with the reconstructions created by three people – Richard Develyn, Michael Palmer, and Bruce Robinson. It will also highlight the involvement of other people towards the whole endeavour, such as Robert Franks. However, this is not to say that these are the only people to have ever created a reconstruction. Other efforts do exist — in particular, one other reconstruction is definitely worth a mention. In the late 1980s, ex-DWM editor Richard Landen created a reconstruction of The Power of the Daleks. This appears to have been the first serious attempt by a fan to complete a reconstruction.
RICHARD DEVELYN
In 1993, a UK fan by the name of Richard Shipton was attempting to complete a reconstruction of The Savages. Although the telesnaps for The Savages were available at the time (courtesy of director Christopher Barry), the majority of the current telesnaps had yet to be discovered. Richard Develyn then came forward, and offered to help out with the reconstruction process. Apart from The Savages, Richard assisted Richard Shipton with the picture processing for The Highlanders. However, these plans were altered by the discovery of the other telesnaps in late 1993. Richard immediately offered to complete the picture scripting for the newly-discovered Fury From the Deep.
In early 1994, Richard managed to acquire improved copies of the missing episode soundtracks. This, in conjunction with the newly-discovered telesnaps, made him think more seriously about the whole idea of completing reconstructions. In May 1994, Richard purchased a VCR with picture editing capabilities, a hand-scanner, and a TV coder card. Around about September 1994, Richard commenced his first reconstruction – The Web of Fear.
Originally, Richard had the ambition to reconstruct all 64 “telesnapped” episodes. This did not include The Tenth Planet:4, but did include The Enemy of the World:4 (for which no telesnaps exist). Three and a half years later, Richard would still like to fulfil his ambitions, but in the “JV” format (see Part II for further details).
Richard’s approach to creating the reconstructions has remained fairly constant over the years. In the pre-JV days, he would commence by hand-scanning the telesnaps at 400 dots per inch. He would then process the telesnaps in Corel Photo Paint (nowadays, Adobe Photoshop is used). Then, Richard prepared a “script” for the episode, which listed the exact places where all the telesnap changes occur. As a general rule, there would be approximately one hundred picture changes per episode. At this point, Richard may have decided to create “new” telesnaps due to the lack of material for certain scenes. This would usually be performed by modifying existing telesnaps (eg by cropping out unwanted material).
Once the script and telesnaps have been prepared, Richard then picture inserted each telesnap on to video tape. Initially, the video tape only had a copy of the soundtrack recorded on to it. Using the following procedure, Richard inserted each of the telesnaps one-by-one :
(a) wait for the audio cue;
(b) press pause;
(c) rewind the tape by 14 frames (Richard’s average reaction time);
(d) display the photo on screen;
(e) press “picture insert”, which commences the recording;
(f) wait for the next audio cue, and then stop the tape;
(g) rewind the tape and check.
Richard estimates that the above procedure worked successfully around eighty percent of the time. For the other twenty percent, it is simply a case of repeating the entire process.
Richard completed Web in November 1994. However, he then struck an unforeseen problem. In Richard’s own words, his attempts to re-create the credits were “pretty useless”. Therefore, Richard asked a friend of his, Stephen Cranford, whether he would able to complete the credits for the reconstructions. Stephen agreed, and the result was four very impressive sets of credits for The Web of Fear, Fury From the Deep, The Wheel in Space, and The Ice Warriors.
However, due to other commitments, Stephen was unable to complete the credits for the remaining stories. Richard them found himself with many “credit-less” reconstructions, meaning that the story could not be distributed. This problem was rectified when Robert Franks stepped into the picture …
ROBERT FRANKS
Robert’s first involvement with the reconstructions was in 1991, when he managed to obtain a copy of the Richard Landen version of The Power of the Daleks. Although Robert points out that the tape quality of the reconstruction was not great, he was “bowled over” by the whole concept. However, due to lack of material, Robert realised there was nothing further he could do towards the reconstructions.
This changed in late 1995, when Robert first became connected to the Internet. Almost immediately, he discovered the existence of the “crystal clear” audios. When Robert received the new version of The Power of the Daleks, he considered whether it was possible to replace the soundtrack on the Richard Landen reconstruction, with a copy of the new soundtrack. However, Robert realised this was almost impossible due to the fact that a soundtrack seldom runs at the same speed twice.
Not to be deterred, Robert then decided to create his own reconstructions. Robert purchased some special lenses for his camcorder, and tried to capture the stills on to video tape. He then purchased a video-mixer, with the intent of creating the reconstruction by a purely video-orientated approach (ie with no PC assistance at all). However, Robert admits that his experiments were “awful”, and he started to have second thoughts about the whole idea of creating reconstructions.
It was around this time that Robert first discovered the Richard Develyn reconstructions. Robert eventually made contact with Richard, and discovered that Richard was having problems releasing his stories due to the lack of credits. Since Robert already possessed the sufficient video equipment, he offered to complete the credit work. Therefore, from The Underwater Menace onwards, Robert inserted the credits (and the existing video footage) into Richard’s reconstruction.
Nowadays, apart from his contribution towards the credits, Robert also performs a significant role in ensuring the videos are distributed to fans. In particular, Robert has created a web-page for the reconstructions, which, as of writing, has received over 14,000 “hits”.
MICHAEL PALMER
Michael Palmer first entered in the scene in early 1995. Michael’s first encounter with the reconstructions was when he obtained a copy of Richard Develyn’s The Web of Fear. Michael points out that the reconstructions were generally an unknown commodity in those days, meaning that the original version of Web was only distributed to six people! As a result of seeing Web, Michael decided that he would like to try his own hand at creating a reconstruction. In discussion with Ian Davenport (then UK distributor), Michael realised that the non-telesnap stories would be the best option. Therefore, the first episode that Michael decided to reconstruct was Mission to the Unknown.
However, during the planning stages for Mission, the silent 8mm clips were discovered. Michael decided to temporarily postpone Mission, so that he could attempt to adjust the 8mm clips to their correct speed. From this initial project, his reconstruction of The Tenth Planet:4 was born.
Because of Michael’s desire to concentrate on the non-telesnap stories, this required more creative techniques to bring the reconstruction to life. In the “pre-JV” days, Michael would commence a reconstruction by firstly collecting as many photos and clips from the story as possible. If he was unable to find photos of a particular actor from the story, he would then resort to utilising clips from other productions. For instance, in The Reign of Terror, Michael was unable to locate any photographs of Ronald Pickup (the Physician). In the end, he managed to obtain a few screen grabs of the actor from a JAMES BOND movie!
The next stage performed by Michael was to listen to a few seconds of the audio at the time, and then choose an appropriate clip or still to bring the scene to life. This process would be repeated numerous times until the whole episode was complete. Michael would use (and still does use) video editing software which enables the whole production to be laid out as one long film “strip”. This means that the production can be edited like a real piece of film, such as cutting out scenes, or splicing two separate pieces of film together.
Michael’s approach has changed slightly as a result of the “JV” reconstructions. This will be discussed in Part II of this article.
BRUCE ROBINSON
In Bruce’s case, his involvement with the reconstructions commenced in 1990. Armed with a Commodore 64 and an abysmal copy of the Marco Polo soundtrack, Bruce decided to create a simple text only reconstruction. The results weren’t very successful, but the first six episodes were recorded on to video tape. Unfortunately, it was during the reconstruction of the final episode, that Bruce’s C64 decided it had had enough, and promptly blew a few circuits! Frustrated, Bruce archived his old Marco Polo tape, never thinking it would be dug out again in 6 years time, with another ambitious idea in mind …
Similar to Robert, Bruce joined the Internet in late 1995, and also discovered the existence of the “crystal clear” audios. After making an initial “order” in early 1996, with one of the first stories obtained being Marco Polo, Bruce then noticed the old C64 reconstruction sitting on the shelf. With his new PC equipment, he realised it should be an elementary task to reconstruct the final episode. However, as Bruce was preparing the text only reconstruction, it suddenly occurred to him that there was no reason why he couldn’t make the reconstruction more presentable. Suddenly, a whole range of possibilities presented themselves, and Bruce realised that maybe he should look at the idea more seriously.
Towards the middle of 1996, Bruce decided to attempt his first “major” reconstruction. He decided to abandon Marco Polo temporarily, as he realised it was not a good choice for a first-up reconstruction. Instead, he decided that a four-part telesnap story would be the ideal way to go – since Bruce already had all the material for The Savages, this seemed like the logical choice. At this stage, he was unaware of the other reconstructions being completed. So the fact that he chose a story that had yet to be reconstructed, was more due to luck than anything else!
After obtaining the necessary hardware upgrades, Bruce began to experiment with different software packages. He eventually settled for a relatively well known package – Microsoft Powerpoint. Because of his text-only reconstruction back in 1990, and his interest in the DWB photo-novels, Bruce was always keen to incorporate text into his reconstructions (ie his ambition was almost to create a photo-novel on video tape). Therefore, Powerpoint seemed the ideal choice as it made the process of matching up text to photos relatively straight-forward.
The Savages was released in August 1996 to a small, but enthusiastic, audience. The initial response seemed positive, although right from the start, people were divided on the issue of including the script. As Bruce was half-way through completing his second story, The Power of the Daleks, he started to become aware of the Richard Develyn reconstructions. When Bruce noticed that Richard’s reconstructions were “script-less”, he realised there was no need for him to consider two versions of the reconstructions. Therefore, it was at this point that Bruce made a commitment to continue using the script in all future reconstructions.
Apart from some minor modifications, Bruce’s approach to the reconstructions is still basically the same as it was in the early days. That is, prepare the text captions, and then match up each caption with the most appropriate photograph. Although this approach may sound simplistic (and from a technical view-point, it is), there is still an enormous amount of work required to put an episode together. In particular, each story requires extensive preliminary research, such as hunting around for every available photograph, and studying the original camera script for details that may be missing from contemporary material.
TO CONCLUDE PART I …
This brings us to the end of Part I, which has mainly concerned itself with the reconstruction creators. Hopefully, this has provided a better idea as to how these videos are put together. In Part II, we consider, amongst other matters, how the creators have pooled their efforts, what motivates them to keep going, and what we can expect to see in the future.
FEEDBACK FROM THE 1997 COI SURVEY
Following, is a sample of some of the feedback received from the 1997 Change of Identity survey results :
~~~~~~~~~~
I certainly don’t think the availability of the reconstructions makes the audios redundant. The reconstructions are a great endeavour, and very enjoyable, but they, out of the lack of suitable moving material most of the time, reduce an episode to a parade of stills. Like the TV version of THE HITCH-HIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, which didn’t make the radio series redundant, the audios are still just as vital to me as they were before seeing the reconstructions. In my imagination, when listening to an audio, the pictures move! In fact, after watching a reconstruction, you can listen to the audio separately again, and incorporate the pictures so that your imagination becomes more accurate! So, what I’m saying is, please consider the audios as a separate product, whether or not a reconstruction is available.
(ALAN HAYES)
I think the “Don’t Knows” should be separate from the “Don’t Cares”. For instance, I don’t know how many missing episodes are “out there”, but I do care. I don’t care how the BBC reconstructs missing episodes, as I know that the fan versions will always be better.
(IAN RILEY)
I have come to the conclusion, through looking at the survey and comments, that there are two different groups of people viewing the reconstructions. One group want to study and digest every single detail of an episode. For them, the COI ones are perfect. The other group just want to watch a story to obtain a feel of the original production. This group considers a continuous running script to be a distraction. These people will lean more towards the JV style, and are more likely to enjoy the Mission to the Unknown and The Tenth Planet:4 reconstructions. In fact, I was surprised how high up The Tenth Planet reconstruction was in the results, seeing that it is the reconstruction I have received the most diverse comments on. I’ve received everything from “it is the best reconstruction I have ever seen” to “it looks like a badly dubbed foreign movie”.
(MICHAEL PALMER)
Please in the next survey can you put in a section on the name of the newsletter. I mean, come on, The Disused Yeti? Stinks like a dead dog on a hot day mate!
(PAUL EBBS)
I was very interested in the survey results – the low polling of Galaxy 4 being typical. Most people seem to ignore this story, but it’s one of my favourites! It was strange to see how many people believed that “most” of the missing episodes existed – I fear as a result of unsubstantiated optimism from a lifetime of missing episode rumours. Anyway, it made for fascinating reading. Keep up the good work!
(SIMON HUNT)
THE SEASON 2 CLIFFHANGERS
We now continue our look at the exact cliffhangers featured at the conclusion of the Hartnell serials. This time, it’s the first third of Season 2 …
Planet of Giants – Crisis
Scene — The Doctor is upset that the scanner does not appear to be working properly. As the TARDIS starts to materialize, the Doctor looks up, hopeful that he might be able to work out where they are. The picture on the scanner continues to roll…
Caption — ‘Next Episode WORLD’S END’ appears over the rolling scanner screen and the end title music commences. The picture fades to black and the caption is replaced by the credits scroll.
Notes — There is no reprise in World’s End.
The Dalek Invasion of Earth – Flashpoint
Scene — As David leads Susan away, Susan drops the last remnant of her old life – the key to the TARDIS. A close-up of the key fades to a picture of a starfield.
Caption — ‘Next Episode THE POWERFUL ENEMY’ appears over the starfield. As the credit scroll commences, the picture slowly fades to black.
Notes — There is no reprise in The Powerful Enemy.
The Rescue – Desperate Measures
Scene — The TARDIS has materialized, but the travellers are immediately rocked about. The Doctor warns his companions to hold on as the console room tilts sideways. Outside, the TARDIS teeters over a precipice and slowly falls…
Caption — The picture fades to black and ‘Next Episode THE SLAVE TRADERS’ fades up with the end title music. The credit scroll quickly replaces this.
Notes — A 35mm film insert is used at the beginning of The Slave Traders to reprise this literal cliffhanger.
STORY GUIDES
SEASON 1 STORY 6
F : The Aztecs
(a) GENERAL
4 episodes
| Episode | TX | TI | DU | VA | CP | AA |
| The Temple of Evil | 23 May 64 | 17.16 | 23’56” | 7.4 | 25 | 62 |
| The Warriors of Death | 30 May 64 | 17.16 | 24’11” | 7.4 | 34 | 62 |
| The Bride of Sacrifice | 06 Jun 64 | 17.15 | 25’27” | 7.9 | 19 | 57 |
| The Day of Darkness | 13 Jun 64 | 17.15 | 25’30” | 7.4 | 34 | 58 |
Total Duration = 99’04” (approx)
Average Viewing Audience = 7.5 million
Average Chart Position = 28.0
Repeat Screenings — nil on BBC1, although the story has been repeated on BSB and UK Gold.
Countries Sold To — Abu Dhabi (dubbed in Arabic), Aden, Algeria, Arabia, Australia, Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, Chile (Spanish), Costa Rica (Spanish), Cyprus, Dominican Republic (Spanish), Ethiopia, Ghana, Gibraltar, Guam, Hong Kong, Iran, Jamacia, Jordan (Arabic), Kenya, Libya (Arabic), Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco (Arabic), Nigeria, Rhodesia, Saudi Arabia (Arabic), Sierra Leone, Singapore, Thailand, Trinidad, Tunisia, Uganda, United States, Venezuela, Zambia.
(b) VIDEO FOOTAGE
Status — all four episodes were originally destroyed at an unknown time between 1972 and 1977. The complete serial now exists on 16mm monochrome film (negative film prints were recovered from BBC Enterprises in 1977/78).
Clips — n/a
Notes —
- released by BBC Video in UK and Australia in 1992 (BBCV 4743). The North American release followed in 1994 (CBS/Fox Video 8100). The cover illustration was provided by Andrew Skilleter. All episodes were uncut, apart from the deletion of the cliffhanger and the next episode caption at the conclusion of The Day of Darkness (episode 4).
- an Arabic dubbed version of The Day of Darkness exists as a 16mm monochrome film print. This print is held by a private collector.
(c) AUDIO RECORDINGS
n/a
(d) RECONSTRUCTIONS
n/a
(e) PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL
Telesnaps — currently missing. Although PasB (Programme-as-Broadcast) documentation does not provide any mention of John Cura’s services for The Aztecs, it is probable that telesnaps were taken of all four episodes.
Behind-the-Scenes Shots — colour and black/white rehearsal photos exist for many of the episodes. Designer Barry Newbery holds photographs of a number of the sets designed for the story. These were published in The Frame issue 18.
Publicity Shots —
- 01 May 64 – photocall at Lime Grove Studio D (tomb, sacrifice)
- 15 May 64 – photocall at TC3 (further details unknown)
(f) AUSTRALIAN CENSOR CUTS
| Episode | DR | FT | RA | CUTS |
| The Temple of Evil | 30 Dec 64 | 905 | G | none |
| The Warriors of Death | 30 Dec 64 | 915 | G | none |
| The Bride of Sacrifice | 30 Dec 64 | 962 | G | none |
| The Day of Darkness | 30 Dec 64 | 961 | G | none |
(g) OTHER NOTES
- recording occurred at both Lime Grove Studio D and TC3 (Television Centre). The Temple of Evil and The Day of Darkness were recorded at Lime Grove on 01 May 64 and 22 May 64 respectively. The Warriors of Death and The Bride of Sacrifice were recorded at TC3 on 08 May 64 and 15 May 64 respectively. Film inserts were recorded at Ealing on 13 & 14 April 64. Therefore, The Warriors of Death (episode 2) marks the first episode of DOCTOR WHO to be recorded outside of Lime Grove Studio D.
- Carole Ann Ford took two weeks’ holiday during the rehearsal and recording of The Warriors of Death and The Bride of Sacrifice (episodes 2 & 3). Ford was released during rehearsals of The Keys of Marinus so that pre-recorded film inserts could be made. These were subsequently inserted into episodes 2 & 3.
- novelised by John Lucarotti, Doctor Who — The Aztecs (#88) was first published in hardback by W. H. Allen in June 1984, with the paperback release following two months later. The cover was provided by Nick Spender. In 1992, Virgin re-issued the story with a new cover illustration by Andrew Skilleter.
ERRATA : in The Keys of Marinus story guide last issue, we omitted to mention the repeat screening over the BSB weekend. We also incorrectly stated that the serial had been sold to New Zealand.
REVIEWS AND COMMENTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE POWER OF THE DALEKS [COI2]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I really loved The Power of the Daleks – you did a great job! I planned to watch it an episode at a time over a few days, but I ended up watching it all in one go. The script works really well, and more than anything else, it explained the story clearly. Reconstructing episodes is fine, but it must be more than just combining telesnaps and audio into one medium. The aim should always be to tell the story as originally told, and the Power reconstruction did this extremely well.
The only criticism I have is that the soundtrack, whilst generally excellent, is still a bit muffled at times. If I was playing it through a stereo, it would be fine as I could just tweak the high frequencies on the graphic EQ. But on a TV, this can’t usually be done.
(DYLAN CRAWFOOT)
I have just received a copy of the enhanced Power – WOW!! It is very, very impressive indeed. The quality of the images is just wonderful – I can’t really express how impressed I am by this one! Perhaps the following will give you some idea of the impact that your reconstructions have. A friend of mine who has seen a lot of the reconstructions has told me that watching the COI Power reconstruction has made him reconsider his “list” of Troughton favourites. Power is now up there at the top! This is from someone old enough to have seen the episodes when originally broadcast. Praise indeed, and all this as a result of seeing your wonderful enhanced version!
(ROGER ANDERSON)
LETTERS AND OPINIONS
Just read DY11 – great stuff as usual. I was intrigued to read Steve Phillips’ comments about Mal Tanner’s redubbing of the 8mm cine clips. I do have a copy of Mal’s version, which is expertly done. However, I also have another version, less well done, but which has that mysterious Hartnell clip dubbed with dialogue. Hartnell mutters “it’s not good…not good at all”, then something like “take care, Vicki” then Vicki says something to him (which I can’t understand because the sound on this copy is too fast!). Perhaps this is the scene near the end of The Horse of Destruction (The Myth Makers:4) which Mr Phillips says doesn’t fit?
(DAVID MAY)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have actually read all the newsletters, A Change of Identity and The Disused Yeti – “wonderful names, all of them!” But I do love the new name, brilliant! Names apart, the whole blooming thing is superb. For starters, the fact that you are all producing this for free is very much appreciated. All your hard work and dedication shows in the finished product. The newsletter is very informative and interesting, containing articles that I don’t think other magazines/fanzines would carry (to their shame!). I have particularly enjoyed the interviews with those wonderful individuals who recorded the audios in the first place – thank god for them!!
(ROGER ANDERSON)
THE MEMORY CHEATS
We never had a telly until I was 14. This probably explains why I spent the next 21 years making up for lost time. Every Saturday afternoon when I was a kid, we would make the trip over to my Gran’s and watch the wrestling on WORLD OF SPORT, or maybe the rugby. I hated the rugby – it always made the afternoon go on so much longer. After what seemed like a whole year of sport, we had the news and then to cap it all, another 5 minutes of bloody sport, with FINAL SCORE. Then, in what I would class as the best years of DOCTOR WHO, we would have Pertwee followed by THE GENERATION GAME (which I hated as well!).
Meanwhile, I’ll return to my even more formative years. My first memory of DOCTOR WHO was The Tomb of the Cybermen. All I remember was being at my Gran’s, and crying because it was dark and spooky and there were Cybermen in it (Tomb that is, not my Gran’s). I knew what DOCTOR WHO was and what Cybermen were (kind of), but I’m not entirely sure how I knew.
Eventually, because I was too upset to watch any more, we turned over to watch THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW. After that, we didn’t watch DW much over at Gran’s place until Pertwee, for fear of scaring me. So the only DW I caught was when I went over to friends’ places for birthday parties and the like. For instance, I remember writing about an episode of The Wheel In Space in my “What I did at the week-end” diary at school. I remember this because I drew a Cyberman hypnotising this man. Recently, I looked in the loft for the original drawing, but it was long gone. I dare say this could have been the very first attempt at a telesnap reconstruction, which means you are all in breach of copyright and owe me millions.
Maybe it’s because I wasn’t at my Gran’s and got confused with the days, but I always maintained that DW was broadcast on a Sunday. I know I’m probably wrong, but I still can’t bring myself to look at the original transmission dates for fear of shattering the warm nostalgic glow that still creeps over me. The Web of Fear, with the soldiers shooting at and retreating from a number of Yeti in the London Underground, was at another kid’s party. Out of all the stories that went AWOL over the next 10 years, I think that this is the one my poor memory misses the most. Happily when Tomb was found, and subsequently released on video, I started to watch it with great expectancy and sure enough, it was just like at my Gran’s.
(IAN FOULSHAM)
REQUESTS
The current UK distribution system for the reconstructions is almost one year old. In recognition of this, Dominic Jackson would like to hear of your experiences with the system. Reports of problems would be appreciated, as would suggestions on how the system can be improved. Please send Dominic an E-mail at :
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Winston Engle <englew@pop.wwa.com> is interesting in attempting a reconstruction of The Space Pirates. If you think you can help (especially in the gathering of photographs), please send Winston a note.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Patrick Furlong <patrick.j.furlong@usa.net> would like to announce that his web-page has recently changed address to :
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Zone/4239/
Patrick would also like to hear from those who have a link to his site, as he is keen to return the favour.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to the following for help with this issue : Rick Brindell, Richard Develyn, Ian Foulsham, Dominic Jackson, Michael Palmer and Steve Roberts.
BORING STUFF
The DOCTOR WHO reconstructions are fan-produced endeavours completed without the consent of BBC Worldwide, BBC Television, or any holders of the DOCTOR WHO licence. No infringement on any such copyright holder is intended nor are the tapes produced for any sort of monetary compensation. Tapes are distributed through the worldwide DOCTOR WHO fan network. Support the BBC releases!
All material published in this newsletter is copyright Change of Identity Productions. Please do not reprint any of the contents in other publications (whether electronic or print) without obtaining the prior permission from the editors.
The newsletter is available in three formats – plain text, Word 6 and HTML. Send an E-mail to Bruce if you wish to be added to one of the three lists. The back-issues (in HTML format) can be located at the following web-site :
