About Those Missing Episodes…

About Those Missing Episodes…

For decades, we Doctor Who fans have had to live with the knowledge that in the early 1970’s, the BBC had a practice of destroying tapes of programs to make room in the warehouse, as space was limited. So, of the approximately 253 eps of Doctor Who made in the 1960’s, 152 were missing. That means a big chunk of first Doctor William Hartnell’s run and an even bigger selection of second Doctor Patrick Troughton’s run is missing. A good analogy: imagine here in America, if NBC had decided in 1972 to destroy the master tapes of almost half of the original series of Star Trek? It’s like that. And not just DW, but all types of shows were being destroyed. 

Luckily, at least one fan who was around the BBC at the time, Ian Levine, took notice and started bringing it to people’s attention. He also managed to save the second broadcast story, “The Daleks” from the incinerator. The practice of wiping had then stopped and ever since, there’s been a quest to find copies of old missing episodes. See, although the BBC was destroying tapes, they had also sold the episodes to other countries, so at one point, there were copies in 90 other countries. Many of these countries still had copies in archives and vaults, or just laying around in piles collecting dust. It was a matter of locating them. Over the years, various episodes have been recovered here and there. In the 1990’s, we were lucky enough to have the four episode Troughton story “Tomb of the Cybermen” recovered from one of these countries. That was a minor miracle. 

Part of the problem is that once countries or a certain facility realize the importance of the missing tapes, they sometimes go from disinterested observer, oblivious to what Doctor Who even is… to greedy protector of the Holy Grail, and are suddenly loathe to release them. Phillip Morris is a dedicated investigator/video archeologist who’s been to over 50 countries, searching for any and all missing episodes. The biggest find back around 2012, was when he unearthed 9 missing eps from some place in Africa. This was HUGE. the biggest haul since the start of the quest. Four eps were from The Web of Fear, a beloved Troughton story, bringing the total of existing eps to five out of the six. Five of the eps were from Troughton’s “Enemy of the World”, actually *completing* that six parter. 

This was like Christmas all over again. We’d all been familiar with Web of Fear, a story of the monstrous Yeti invading the London Underground, a heralded classic. But Enemy was very underrated. I don’t think kids were all that jazzed about it at the time it originally went out, as it was more of a James Bond meets Doctor Who type international intrigue story. It had been missing for 45 years, so the adults who’d seen it live were mostly dead and the kids who’d seen it, didn’t appreciate it. So this was kind of like an all new, brand new Doctor Who story, a real treat, showing up after 45 years, just in time for the 50th anniversary of the show. Due to the efforts of people like Levine and Morris, the missing count went from 152, down to 97.

But what OF those other remaining 97 eps? Well, in a recent interview, Phil Morris he said point blank that he knows of at *least* six more episodes that are currently in the hands of private collectors. He won’t say who or which episodes but they’re out there. As to the mind set of these private collectors… why are they hoarding these things–Ego? Power? Stature? Maybe, but Morris says that the most common response he gets from them is they fear how the fans will treat them. And that is a problem. Fans can be wonderful but also… not. Let’s go with “mercurial”. The fans get angry when these private collectors don’t share, thus depriving millions of fans. I get it. But if a collector hands over their prize, some might think the fans will gather with torches and string them up? Or that the BBC will give them the stink eye? Realistically, I can’t speak for all fans but mostly, I’d think they’d all be so happy to get the stories back, I think they’d happily forget whoever did the hoarding. 

Side note: One bright spot is that a number of missing episodes have been animated. In some cases, animation filled the gaps of missing eps, like Hartnell’s Reign of Terror (2 eps of the 5), Tenth Planet (1 ep of the 4), and Troughton’s  “The Moonbase” (2 eps of the 4), “The Ice Warriors” (2 eps of the 6) and “The Invasion” (2 eps of the 8). 

And in certain cases, entire stories, either totally or partially missing have also gotten the animated treatment like Troughton’s first story, the six part “Power of the Daleks”, “The Faceless Ones” (6 eps), “The Macra Terror” (4 eps) and “Fury from the Deep” (6 eps).

There was even a dedicated recreation of the unique Hartnell episode “Mission to the Unknown, a bit easier to recreate since neither the Doctor or his companions appeared in the one shot. 

Between animation and recreation, another 30 episodes are back in video form, but it still leaves 67 left missing entirely.

So there we are. Morris actually believes all the missing eps will eventually find their way home. Well, one can hope. One must also hope that they’ll be found and returned in one’s *lifetime*. I’m not sure exactly what type of relationship or incentives, if any, are being put forth by the BBC when it comes to possible negotiations for the tapes. I’m wondering if the Beeb is really doing all it reasonably can to make returning tapes a positive experience for the private collectors. Greasing the wheels, as it were. Not that I don’t trust big companies, but I don’t really trust them to always be on top of a situation, you know? I guess we’ll see.

Hopefully in my lifetime.