This archive article from 1998 contains several out of date links. It is presented here in its original form as a historical document.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 11
8 MARCH 1998
Edited by Bruce Robinson (robinsba@ozemail.com.au) &
Robert Franks (TelesnapGuy@compuserve.com)
- Harold Chorley : “Any theories?”
- Anne Travers : “On what?”
- Chorley : “On what the Doctor and these two kids were doing in the tunnel.”
- Anne : “Mushrooming?”
(The Web of Fear Episode 2)
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
| STEVE ROBERTS ON VIDEO FORMATS |
| STEVE PHILLIPS ON EVERYTHING! |
| THE KEYS OF MARINUS STORY GUIDE |
| THE SEASON 1 CLIFFHANGERS CONTINUE |
| EXTENDED REVIEWS AND COMMENTS! |
WELCOME!
From Robert … Ahh, the smell of fresh videotape in the morning. No? Well, all right, at least the new reconstructions are just around the corner. It’s been a long time since anything new has come out, and we are eagerly awaiting the new reconstructions as much as you are. We hope everyone appreciates the improved quality, and particularly, the extra effort that has gone into their creation. As much fun as you have watching them, it still can’t compare to the joys of creating them.
From Bruce … as Robert said, a lot of effort goes into the reconstructions. And it’s not just effort involved in the actual reconstruction process itself. Many, many people are involved in various stages throughout the process – from discussing the original idea to completing a story, to placing the tape into the hands of the viewer. And unfortunately, a lot of the time, this uncredited “in-between” work is forgotten about. Therefore, I’d just like to conclude with a message to this hard-working group of individuals – THANKS!
As always, take care and enjoy the newsletter!
Robert and Bruce
RECONSTRUCTION UPDATES
After being in a hiatus for the last few months, the new reconstructions are finally starting to trickle out …
THE POWER OF THE DALEKS [COI2] (update by Bruce Robinson)
The last month has been quite a productive one for the Change of Identity releases. Apart from the completion of Enemy (see below), the enhanced version of Power has (finally!) been completed. This new version contains improvements such as clearer telesnaps, a clearer soundtrack, and more concise text captions. Distribution of Power will commence in approximately two to three weeks.
THE ENEMY OF THE WORLD [COI5] (update by Bruce Robinson)
The release of Enemy has been delayed due to a couple of unforeseen problems. In particular, it was discovered that the Graham Strong recording of Episode 6 was missing about one minute’s worth of material at the start of the episode. Also, VCR-related problems have caused the distribution to be delayed. However, the good news is that the story has now been completed, and general distribution should commence shortly.
THE WEB OF FEAR [JV1] (update by Michael Palmer)
The new “joint venture” (JV) version of this reconstruction is now available. I would be grateful if people could E-mail me with their comments at <mjp@swdal.win-uk.net> – preferably AFTER you have seen the story! This feedback will assist us in preparing all future JV reconstructions – the next one being The Evil of the Daleks (in about 2 months’ time).
AND IN SUMMARY…
The Evil of the Daleks [JV2] – April 98
The Faceless Ones [JV3] – June 98
The Crusade [COI6] – June 98
The Wheel in Space [JV4] – August 98
The Abominable Snowmen [COI7] – September 98
The Celestial Toymaker [JV5] – October 98
Of course, all of these dates are tentative, and can alter drastically depending on material availability.
MISSING CHRISTMAS GREETING NOW AVAILABLE
For many years, the Hartnell Christmas greeting to the audience in The Feast of Steven has been the subject of much fan speculation. Unfortunately, this portion had been deleted on most of the audio copies previously circulating. Thanks to Graham Strong and David Holman, everyone can now enjoy this piece of nostalgia. The clip has been added as a sound file to the main reconstruction web-site at:
http://members.aol.com/dwundergrd/
WAR MACHINES IN AUSTRALIA
Australian fans may have noticed the delay in The War Machines video. Alternatively, some people may have purchased the video and discovered that the Blue Peter footage was missing. Some reports have even indicated that the initial copy of The War Machines planned for Australian release was incomplete, in that the censored clips were not included.
However, as Steve Roberts reports, BBC Worldwide sent over a copy of the full master to Australia. The tape was subsequently edited by either ABC Video or Village Roadshow to insert their own trailers, etc. Presumably, whoever performed this task decided that the Blue Peter and the BBC1 ident were not relevant to an Australian audience, and therefore removed them. Steve points out that this action contravenes the sales agreement!
Contrary to rumours, nothing else has been removed from The War Machines (there is definitely no 30 minute documentary at the end of the tape!). Village Roadshow have now managed to obtain a new master from BBC Worldwide. This means that the Australian release of The War Machines should be imminent …
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO STEVE PHILLIPS
One of the interesting results of the 1997 Change of Identity survey, was the fact that many people have optimistic hopes on the recovery of future missing episodes. In the article below, Steve Phillips examines the missing episode situation in more detail. Steve also highlights his involvement with a number of surviving clips.
THE RECOVERY OF MISSING EPISODESMy own gut feeling is that there are perhaps half-a-dozen episodes waiting to be discovered. I would expect these to still lie forgotten in foreign TV stations, rather than being in the hands of “high up” fans as is so often rumoured. The trouble with material in the hands of TV stations, is that it is only going to be so long before the films are junked without being checked. I imagine if we knew what existed overseas when the missing episode hunt began in 1978, and has since been junked without anybody knowing, we would all be quite horrified! The end of the seventies must have seen quite a lot of TV companies ditch their monochrome recordings.
The idea that missing episodes circulate freely amongst fans in some kind of exclusive “club” is an idea I find nonsensical. I have never heard one concrete, traceable, provable rumour regarding complete missing episodes circulating in the UK. If there is the odd episode in private hands in the UK, I would expect it to be held by some fifty-something general TV collector rather than your archetypal twenty-something fanboy.
I fear the time between episode recoveries will grow longer and longer – it’s been five years since the last (The Tomb Of The Cybermen). It wouldn’t surprise me at all if we had to wait five more years for the next.
One thing is clear – fans should forget the idea of there ever being a complete set of “Who” in the archives, or indeed, of there ever being many more episodes than we have now. I know some people who still dream of the idea that they are going to be watching Fury From The Deep in a couple of years’ time. These people are only deluding themselves. The appearance on the Net of a couple of highly misleading articles hasn’t helped matters (i.e. prattling on about complete collections in America).THE GALAXY 4 CLIPIt’s a long clip (nearly 6 minutes) from near the end of Four Hundred Dawns (episode 1). It’s mostly dialogue inside the spaceship, but does feature the attempted destruction of a Chumbley. Its existence has been known for about fifteen years. The 16mm original is held by early DWAS member and TV Zone editor Jan-Vincent Rudzki. He was helping out with the compilation of the Whose Doctor Who documentary in 1977 – the section was lifted from a copy of Galaxy 4 (which still existed at that time). This was performed so that the show’s production team could choose a suitable segment for inclusion in the finished programme. The production team eventually settled upon a 30 second clip, and the offcuts were given to Rudzki.
The material then went underground for many years, with copies only existing with Rudzki and his early DWAS colleagues. A couple of years back, I met a fan on the Net who claimed to have a copy which had been duplicated for him back in the early eighties. He passed a copy on to me (it was about 5th generation VHS by this time) on the condition that I didn’t reveal his name (which I have never done).THE POWER OF THE DALEKS CLIPSFor many years, a rumour was doing the rounds that some mysterious ABC (Australia) TV programme called C For Computer was in existence. It was thought to contain a clip from The Power Of The Daleks described only as “the Dalek production line”. That was as far as the story went, although I do recall a fan showing me some off-screen stills way back in the eighties of this sequence, claming that the material existed. Later when John Cura’s telesnaps of Power came to light, I thought that the telesnaps explained nicely where the stills had originally derived! Now, I’m not so sure…
Anyway, in 1995, I was E-mailed by Robert Mammone (an Australian fan) who had been battling with the ABC in order to obtain a copy of the material. His original intention was to secure a VHS copy of the programme, and thus return it to the BBC. I explained that the BBC would really want a broadcast-quality copy. Due to his contact at the ABC being unusually helpful, Robert discovered both the transmission date of the programme and its full title – Perspectives (C For Computer was just the segment title). Both of these were crucial to the ABC archive being able to locate the programme. In fact, an earlier BBC attempt to secure the footage had failed because they were solely working on the C For Computer title.
To obtain a decent copy, I passed on Robert’s details to Steve Roberts at the Beeb. Steve set the wheels into motion formally. At the ABC, there was initially no sign of the complete programme. It was eventually discovered that a single film insert had been retained, which by chance, contained Dalek footage! Four new clips were discovered, two each from episodes 4 and 5. These consisted of : (a) a brief shot of model Daleks on a conveyor belt, (b) two Daleks passing through a doorway, (c) some Daleks assembling in a room, and (d) a weapon-less Dalek gliding up to the camera intoning “we are not yet ready to teach these humans the law of the Daleks!”. There was a fifth clip (the Daleks moving out of the capsule in Episode 5), but this was already held by the BBC. The information from the ABC did not say which episodes the clips came from, but I was able to deduce this by using the telesnaps and a copy of the audio.
Since the conveyor belt sequence was not a substantial part of the material, and since the programme title is not visible on screen during this sequence, we must wonder whether a full copy of the programme exists containing further clips. Otherwise, how would the earlier fan descriptions have been applied to the footage? My dim recollection of the off-screen stills (mentioned above) is of more varied views of the production line than those which are present in the existing C for Computer material.THE CLIPS LISTMy web-page consists of an extensive list of all the missing episode clips in existence. That list basically started because a few years back, there was no decent list of clips which survived from the missing episodes. Therefore, I decided to start one myself! Later on, I did some grabs from the clips, as I think a still is worth many lines of descriptive text. This also provides some idea of the picture quality of the clips. With the recent discovery of the Australian “censor” clips, the list has doubled in size. I still think it is the most complete list of such material – and it was certainly the first to document the long Galaxy 4 segment and the 8mm off-screen clips.
Identifying the 8mm clips within an episode, was along the same lines as the Power clips. However, for the 8mm clips, I determined these solely on the basis of the audio recordings. I watched the clips numerous times, and formed a mental image of what the characters could be saying. It then leaps out at you when you hear the correct dialogue on the audio.
I later obtained a VHS tape of the 8mm clips with the soundtracks reinstated. I was pleased to note that my guesses were exactly the same as those of Mal Tanner, the fan who had compiled the “audio” version.AND WHAT OF THAT HARTNELL 8mm CLIP …The 8mm footage consists of one intriguing clip of Hartnell talking to himself in a room – as of writing, no-one has been able to pinpoint exactly where this clip originates. My initial guess was that it was the Doctor musing upon the departure of Vicki at the end of The Horse of Destruction (The Myth Makers episode 4). The fact that it was mute on Mal Tanner’s tape made me recheck it, and I found it didn’t quite fit in as I first thought.
I heard a rumour that somebody had placed it as part of a spaceship scene from The Daleks Master Plan. However, I have been unable to confirm this. The 8mm clips are generally in transmission order, which would mean that the clip hails from somewhere between Small Prophet, Quick Return (The Myth Makers episode 2) and The Savages Episode 3 inclusive. That’s a lot of possible episodes (34 in total), so I am not surprised it hasn’t been located!
(STEVE PHILLIPS)
THE SEASON 1 CLIFFHANGERS
We now continue our look at the exact cliffhangers featured at the conclusion of the Hartnell stories …
The Keys of Marinus — ‘The Keys of Marinus’
Scene – The TARDIS dematerializes from the beach as the camera pans out to a long shot of the island (a reversal of the original film insert).
Caption – ‘Next Episode THE TEMPLE OF EVIL’ starts over the scene of the island and the scene slowly fades to black. The end title music starts, the caption fades out and the credit scroll begins.
Notes – There is a very short insert of the TARDIS on the beach at the beginning of The Temple of Evil.
The Aztecs — ‘The Day of Darkness’
Scene – In the console room, a perplexed Doctor notes that the TARDIS is still moving, even though the ship has stopped. Ian wonders if they have landed on top of something, and Barbara adds “Or inside something … ?”
Caption – ‘Next Episode STRANGERS IN SPACE’ is superimposed over a tight shot of Barbara’s face. The end title music cues and the picture slowly fades to black. The caption then fades, followed by the credit scroll.
Notes – The above scene is re-enacted for Strangers in Space.
The Sensorites — ‘A Desperate Venture’
Scene – As the travellers watch Maitland’s ship on the scanner, Ian comments “At least he knows where he’s going.” The Doctor is offended by Ian’s remark and vows to put the teachers off the ship at the next stop.
Caption – ‘Next Episode A LAND OF FEAR’ appears briefly over the Doctor busying himself at the controls. The end title music starts and the caption quickly fades replaced by the credit scroll.
Notes – There is no reprise in A Land of Fear.
The Reign of Terror — ‘Prisoners of Conciergerie’
Scene – Back in the TARDIS, Ian ponders “And what are we going to see and learn next, Doctor?” The Doctor replies (as his voice begins to fade out) “Well, unlike the old adage my boy, our destiny is in the stars, so let’s go and search for it.”
Caption – ‘Next Episode PLANET OF GIANTS’ – the end title music then commences over the starfield. As the caption fades, the scene continues to pan out over the starfield as all of the cast credits scroll. The starfield then fades quickly to black as the first technical credit appears.
Notes – There is no reprise in Planet of Giants.
FILM & VIDEO FORMATS GUIDE PART 2
In issue #10, Dominic Jackson examined film formats in some detail, and with particular reference to how film was utilised on Doctor Who. This issue sees Steve Roberts examining video in more detail …
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Videotape recording was first used by the BBC in 1961. The format was 405-line Quadraplex, pioneered by the American company Ampex, which would be the main broadcast format in the UK for nearly twenty years. To achieve sufficient head-to-tape speed to allow the recording of video signals onto tape, Quad used a system of four heads mounted on a drum, spinning at 15,000 rpm, writing onto 2-inch wide tape. The drum was mounted at ninety degrees to the direction of tape travel. The linear motion of the tape caused the tracks to be written across the tape. Each track recorded only 16 lines of the television signal, so the picture was made up of a number of segments.
Electronic misalignment of the heads in either record or replay, caused the characteristic “Quad banding” effect, which resulted in horizontal bars appearing on the picture. This is particularly noticeable on colour recordings, where slight head clogs begin to show up as an increase in the colour saturation. Mechanical misalignment could show up as “sawtoothing” on vertical lines in the picture. A good example of this can be seen at the very beginning of The Tomb of the Cybermen as the TARDIS dematerialises.
A 625-line variant of Quad first appeared in 1964, with the introduction of the monochrome service on BBC2 (colour machines first appeared around 1967). As far as Doctor Who is concerned, the programme was (normally) recorded on 405-line Quad up until The Enemy of the World. From Episode 3 of this story onwards, it was recorded on 625-line Quad in monochrome. From the first episode of Doctor Who and the Silurians in 1970, to the The Five Doctors in 1983, colour Quad was used for all episodes.
Although Quad was a remarkable format, it did suffer from certain problems. Apart from the aforementioned banding, there were two major difficulties. The first was that pictures could only be viewed in “play”. It was not possible to picture-search through a tape or still-frame it, which obviously made locating material quite difficult. Secondly, for the first few years of the format’s life, the tapes had to be manually edited. This involved finding and marking the required cut points, “developing” the magnetic track structure using a suspension of ferrous particles in alcohol so that the track structure could be seen, and then using a microscope to identify the beginning of the video frame. The tape was then cut with a razor blade and joined together with a metallic foil.
Electronic editing (frame accurate dubbing from one tape to another) began to appear in the mid-sixties and was in common use on colour material by 1967. However, it was not unknown for tapes to contain both cut edits and electronic edits.
Quad was the workhorse format within the BBC from its introduction until the early eighties. However, the format was still in use to record Breakfast Time until 1984.
In 1978, Ampex launched its successor to 2-inch Quad – the 1-inch C-format VTR. This was a radically different format to Quad. Instead of the segmented video tracks, 1-inch used separate single record, replay and erase heads, mounted on a large drum, with a helical tape wrap. This recorded a single field of video as one continuous diagonal track on the tape. By utilising an auto-tracking play head, 1-inch could produce usable pictures between -1 and +3 times normal play speed and viewable pictures in shuttle. The one thing that was ultimately not as good as Quad was the picture quality, particularly of multi-generational material. A properly aligned quad recording was noticeably “cleaner” than a 1-inch recording. 1-inch was the standard recording format of all Doctor Who stories from Warriors of the Deep in 1984, to Survival in 1989.
The next major breakthrough was the advent of digital video recorders in the late eighties. At last it was possible to dub one tape to another without incurring generational artefacts such as noise. The first digital format was Sony’s ¾-inch D1 component digital tape. This stored the luminance and colour components of the video signal separately, making it an ideal format for high-end post production work. It was soon followed by ¾-inch D2, a composite format which could directly record PAL video signals. The BBC moved to digital video recording in 1991, using Panasonic’s brand-new ½-inch D3 composite digital format. D3 offered several advantages over D2, including better error performance, smaller tapes and viewable pictures at x100 shuttle forward and reverse.
D3 remains the current production format in the BBC, although the move to digital broadcasting and away from PAL will eventually mean it will be phased out over the next few years. Its successor will undoubtedly be Sony’s Digital Betacam format, a ½-inch component tape format which has proven to be very robust. Digital Betacam is a development of Sony’s analogue Betacam SP format and utilises data compression (by roughly 2:1, using M-JPEG) to reduce the bit-rate sufficiently to allow it to be recorded on tape.
A couple of other formats are also worth mentioning:–
(a) U-Matic – a ¾-inch analogue format introduced in the early seventies. Primarily designed for news-gathering, U-Matic has in fact become one of the most enduring formats for low-end broadcast use and is still in common use today. In the UK, there have been three variants – Low Band (the original format), High Band (offering an increase in picture detail), and SP (Superior Performance – with even greater detail).
(b) Betacam is a ½-inch analogue composite format, developed in the mid-eighties as a replacement for U-Matic. An enhanced version, Betacam SP, was introduced in 1988 and has become a standard format for both acquisition and broadcast use. It is gradually being replaced by its successor, Digital Betacam, which has been designed to allow replay of analogue Betacam tapes (a shrewd move by Sony to protect its customer base).
(STEVE ROBERTS)
STORY GUIDES
SEASON 1 STORY 5
E : The Keys of Marinus
(a) GENERAL
6 episodes
| Episode | TX | TI | DU | VA | CP | AA |
| The Sea of Death | 11 Apr 64 | 17.32 | 23’20” | 9.9 | 22 | 62 |
| The Velvet Web | 18 Apr 64 | 17.31 | 25’37” | 9.4 | 25 | 60 |
| The Screaming Jungle | 25 Apr 64 | 17.30 | 23’45” | 9.9 | 22 | 61 |
| The Snows of Terror | 02 May 64 | 17.30 | 24’54” | 10.4 | 20 | 60 |
| Sentence of Death | 09 May 64 | 17.15 | 25’03” | 7.9 | 29 | 61 |
| The Keys of Marinus | 16 May 64 | 17.18 | 25’11” | 6.9 | 43 | 63 |
Total Duration (approx.) = 147’50”
Average Viewing Audience = 9.067 million
Average Chart Position = 26.83
Repeat Screenings — nil on BBC1, although the story has been screened on UK Gold.Countries Sold To — Abu Dhabi (dubbed in Arabic), Aden, Algeria, Australia, Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, Chile (Spanish), Costa Rica (Spanish), Cyprus, Dominican Republic (Spanish), Ethiopia, Ghana, Gibralta, Guam, Hong Kong, Iran, Jamaica, Jordan (Arabic), Kenya, Lebanon, Libya (Arabic), Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco (Arabic), New Zealand, Nigeria, Rhodesia, Saudi Arabia (Arabic), Sierra Leone, Singapore, Thailand, Trinidad, Tunisia, Uganda, United States, Venezuela, Zambia.
(b) VIDEO FOOTAGE
Status — Sentence of Death (episode 5) always existed as a 16 mm black/white telerecording held by the Film Library. It was believed that all of the BBC Enterprises prints had been destroyed some time between 1972 and 1977, however negative film prints of all 6 episodes was recovered from a vault in 1978. The newly discovered film print for episode 5 was an improvement over the existing copy.
Clips — n/a
Notes:–
- never released on BBC Video
- the Film & Video Tape Library also possess an Arabic dubbed version of The Sea of Death (episode 1) as a 16mm black/white telerecording.
(c) AUDIO RECORDINGS
n/a
(d) RECONSTRUCTIONS
n/a
(e) PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL
Telesnaps — currently missing. PasB (Programme-as-Broadcast) documentation indicates that John Cura created telesnaps for The Sea of Death and The Velvet Web only. However, it is probable that telesnaps were taken for all six episodes.
Behind-the-Scenes Shots — nil
Publicity Shots:–
- 20 Mar 64 – photocall at Lime Grove D (regular cast; submarines on the beach; Archive room)
- 10 Apr 64 – photocall at Lime Grove D (Carole Ann Ford and Voord (Peter Stenson))
(f) AUSTRALIAN CENSOR CUTS
| Episode | DR | FT | RA | CUTS |
| The Sea of Death | 25 Nov 64 | 872 | A | none |
| The Velvet Web | 25 Nov 64 | 944 | A | cut A |
| The Screaming Jungle | 25 Nov 64 | 892 | A | none |
| The Snows of Terror | 25 Nov 64 | 930 | A | none |
| Sentence of Death | 25 Nov 64 | 937 | A | none |
| The Keys of Marinus | 25 Nov 64 | 944 | A | none |
Cut A : “cuts … 8ft. Near end remove sequence in which girl smashed brain creatures. A brief flash or two may be allowed, but remove all screams and close up shots of creatures.” [this refers to the scene where Barbara smashes the glass casings of the Brains of Morphoton]
The above is a verbatim description of the cut as recorded by the Censorship Board. Additional comments appear in square brackets.
(g) OTHER NOTES
- all recording occurred at Lime Grove Studio D (from 20 Mar to 24 Apr 1964), with film inserts at Ealing (early March 1964, exact dates unknown).
- William Hartnell was absent on holidays during The Screaming Jungle and The Snows of Terror (episodes 3 & 4). Script editor David Whitaker was forced to make alterations to the scripts to cater for Hartnell’s absence.
- novelisation by Philip Hinchcliffe. Doctor Who and the Keys of Marinus (#38) was first published by W.H. Allen in August 1980 (hardcover and paperback). The cover was painted by David McAllister.
REVIEWS AND COMMENTS
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THE WEB OF FEAR (JV VERSION)
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For 30 years, the Yeti have been quiet… but now, they can be experienced in a newly released (and rather impressive!) reconstruction. I had previously seen the original reconstruction of The Web of Fear, and I remember being enthusiastic about seeing the story for the first time. Although the original was a good effort, I did criticise it for the following reasons:(a) lack of captions to explain unseen action,(b) some blurry photographs, and(c) quite a few photos were so dark, that they were impossible to make out.The new reconstruction has vastly improved the situation in all areas. The two most significant changes are (a) the occasional text captions to explain the narrative, and (b) clearer photographic material. There is a brilliant example of this at the beginning of the tape – this short segment highlights the difference in resolution between the old and new versions. These clearer images provide a more detailed view of the actors’ faces, the backgrounds, and the props.
The captions were very nice – white letters in a dark blue box towards the bottom of the screen. There were a few minor grammatical errors, and an awkward space in the middle of a sentence. However, I am sure that these will not detract from anyone’s enjoyment of the production (unless you’re an English Professor and this sort of thing drives you crazy). Even “the explosives explodes” is bearable.
During Episode 4, I noticed another effective touch to the reconstruction. Between certain scenes, there is a fade to black between the adjoining photographs. I imagine this was due to the original scripts calling for a fade at that point. It did seem very appropriate for the scenes in which it was utilised.
Bottom Line – a major improvement over the original reconstruction. The occasional captions help the viewer follow the story and keep track of who’s where doing what and are non-obtrusive to the flow of the production and story. Due to the good audio quality of the episodes a running script is not necessary. Web is a wonderful story, and one of the definitive classics of the Troughton era and Doctor Who itself. While it is unfortunate that only the first episode exists, this reconstruction performs a great job in presenting the story as close as possible to the original broadcast. In fact, I am convinced that Web could have been a successful “slide show adventure” before the invention of the VCR. This new version has been a giant leap in quality above all previous reconstructions I have seen. I can only hope that future releases maintain and build upon the level of professionalism and dedication so very evident here.
(CHARLES DANIELS)
The full version of Charlie’s review, which is significantly longer, can be located at Paul Cryer’s web-site (URL listed below).
LETTERS AND OPINIONS
The quality of the reconstructions are incredible. One element they provide to the viewer is the ability for “closure”. For instance, during the second episode of The Reign of Terror, the Doctor escapes from the taskmaster by hitting him on the head with a shovel. The camera pans away for a shot at the grimace of a peasant’s face. At that moment, the director has allowed the viewer to imagine what the blow looked like, how hard the hit was and exactly where on his head the blow occurred. The viewer has completed a story “closure”. This element, used frequently in the past, has been dropped from much of the popular media today. We are now shown (graphically) many things without the use of our own imagination. I don’t need to elaborate here – many articles have been written on the “idiotification of media”, or playing to the absolute lowest common denominator.
The reconstructions that I have seen are so well put together in linking the audio to visuals, that just by watching a few static images, an entire sequence of events can be played with much grander, more colourful (yes colourful!) action than even the original producers could achieve.
(STEPHEN COOK)
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I have recently paid a visit to Dominic Jackson’s web-site [ed : see ‘Requests’ below for the URL]. I have found it very useful and the various FAQs explain the whole thing very clearly. The ‘Doctor Who Video and Audio FAQ’, in particular, is superb. The site is also very user-friendly and it is easy to move to the other sites dealing with the telesnap reconstructions. In fact, I would say that all the related reconstruction sites are of the highest standard – informative and non gimmicky. A great many web sites are so image laden that they take ages to download. Then, they often provide little hard information or originality. These accusations could not be made about Dominic’s site and the others related to it. So, well done!
(ROGER ANDERSON)
THE MEMORY CHEATS
Back in issue #7, Chris Avery presented his thoughts on the first four Doctor Who stories that he can recall. Chris now continues his recollections from The Moonbase …
The Moonbase (age 4 years)
I was terrified of the Cybermen – they always scared me more than the Daleks. I can remember the Doctor, Jamie, Ben and Polly in their spacesuits floating across the Moon, and the victims of the plague with black veins on their faces. The memory of Jamie’s fear of the “Phantom Piper” is particularly strong as when we were on holiday in the Isle of Wight, a nearby resident used to go out to the hills at night to practice playing his Bagpipes. My Dad always referred to this eerie sound as the Phantom Piper!
The Macra Terror (age 4.5 years)
I was terrified of the Macra – they scared me more than the Daleks and the Cybermen! I’m not sure I would want to see this story again (oh all right, of course I would!), as my memories of the Macra are so vivid and chilling, that seeing it again as an adult might spoil it. Take it from me, they were terrifying! I remember Jamie being lost, and then being surrounded by mist. This great claw then came out of the darkness!The Faceless Ones (age 4.5 years)As we go on, my memories become clearer. I remember a lot of running around Gatwick Airport. Curiously, I remember specifically that it was Gatwick, as it was the first time I’d ever heard of it, and it was such an odd name (strange child!). I remember someone opening a drawer full of minituarised people and someone with no face (which also scared me). I also remember the departure of, as we referred to them, Pen and Bolly.
The Evil of the Daleks (age 4.5 years)
Please someone return this to the BBC!! It was totally wonderful – I remember a Dalek appearing out of nowhere in a secret room and exterminating someone with that wonderful negative effect. Other memories include – Edward Waterfield looked scary even though he wasn’t; Jamie and Kemel fighting, and then joining forces; a humanized Dalek chanting “Dizzy Dalek”; the awesome Emperor Dalek; and the final destruction of the Dalek city. I firmly believe that this story would still be excellent, even if viewed today!
(CHRIS AVERY)
REQUESTS
Patrick Furlong is seeking issues of DWM which contain archives of the Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee stories. If you think you can help, write to Patrick at <pjkf95@stvincent.ac.uk>.
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Dominique Boies is interested in receiving plot summaries for Doctor Who (to be published on his web-page). These must be original summaries, and not based on an existing source. Dominique is also after people to review his efforts so far. If you think you can help, please send Dominique an E-mail at <boies00@microtec.net>.
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UK fan Paul Cryer has recently set up a web-site which contains reviews of the reconstructions. Paul is interested in receiving further contributions for his page. If you think you can help, E-mail Paul at <paul@cryer.globalnet.co.uk>. The address of Paul’s site is:
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~cryer/DW.HTM (note the use of capitals for “DW.HTM”)
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Ordering details for the reconstructions can be located at the following web-sites :
- [Robert Franks’ site] http://members.aol.com/dwundergrd/
- [Dominic Jackson’s site] http://freespace.virgin.net/dominic.jackson/
The distributors would greatly appreciate you reading the relevant FAQ first! Also, Dominic points out that his service provider can be temperamental – “If you can’t get through first time, please keep trying (as they say!).”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to the following for help with this issue : Chris Avery, Charles Daniels, David Howe, Michael Palmer, Steve Phillips, and Steve Roberts. Also, we’d like to give the authors of the The Doctor Who Production Guide : Volume 2 a special thank you for providing such a fantastic reference source!
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:
