Jay G.

The Mirror article says its episodes featuring the first two doctors William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton, not that it's only two episodes. There's still speculation about how many episodes it could be:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/l...veiled-2345526

Would the BBC hold a press conference to announce only two found episodes?

Josh-da-man

Did you see that thirty minute circle jerk they ran to announce that Peter Capaldi is going to be the next Doctor?

Jay G.

To me, it seems like announcing who the next Doctor is amounts to "Big News" for Doctor Who fans, while the announcement of one or two odd episodes of the old series would appeal to a smaller subset of fans, and even then it could just be issued as a press release. An actual press conference seems to indicate something a bit bigger than two episodes, but not as big as who will play the Doctor next.

The Valeyard

One of the other press releases (and something Rich Johnson hinted on a few months back) mentions that many Hartnell and Troughton episodes have returned to the BBC archives but only a few of them were actually missing episodes. The rest are better copies of what's already in the archive.

Some Gally Base members say that Ethiopia only received 77 Hartnell episodes and no Troughton ones so it couldn't be 100 missing episodes. But once again, we'll see on Tuesday. Seriously tho, the return of ANY missing episode would be fantastic. 1 or 1000.

rogerrobert69

Personally for me its the other way around! I'm mildly interested in the new series and who will play the main guy, but recoveries of any old missing episodes is a major orgasm (well, an intellectual one!). But as Valeyard said, Ethiopia didn't get all the first two doctors so the rumour is probably just another one of those.
I'm also wondering why it says BBC are going to make these two episodes available online instead of waiting for a DVD release to complete - or at least furbish and then add animation - a story. Maybe if they exist they are from a zero-surviving episode Troughton story like Fury from the Deep or Power of the Daleks? Can't wait till tuesday to get disapointed though

Jay G.

Are you sure you mean a press release, as in an official BBC statement? Or do you mean another rumor article?

On a personal level, yes, individual fans may be exited about different things. However, on the whole, a New Doctor announcement is going to garner more attention than recovered episodes.

The ratings on the New Doctor special were pretty impressive:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...n-draws-599582
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/rating...0130807bbca01/

It's not just Ethiopia, there's also the slightly older rumors of episodes found in Sierra Leone:
http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-...1960s---or-not

The article is just rumors, so it's possible that even if some of it's true, they got details wrong, or mixed up.

mythmaker18

I think a lot of you are setting yourselves up for a big letdown on Tuesday. DW Restoration Team member Paul Vanezis has categorically debunked the "Mirror" (actually, The Sunday People) story, saying on his Twitter account that although he wished it were true, there have not been any Ethiopian recoveries.

As to the Radio Times article, there are no first-person quotes in the story. Just more of the same "we've been led to believe", etc., so it's likely they were fed a rumour by someone, too.

Tuesday's announcement could quite possibly be nothing more than an announcement about the BBC's new iPlayer.

So, don't start making extra room on your DVD shelves, or setting aside time to watch episodes of Enemy of the World or Web of Fear on your laptop just yet.

At least this particular story should expire on Tuesday evening.

milo bloom

Isn't the other reason they could be doing them online only first is because they don't have to get the BBFC rating which would be made public months ahead of time?

And count me as another more excited by the idea of finding lost episodes than the announcement of a new Doctor. I'm looking forward to the new guy, certainly, but the armchair curator in me would be having kittens over the idea of recovered eps.

The Valeyard

You're right. I should have worded that different. It wasn't a press release from the BBC. It was one of the rumor articles.

The Valeyard

The Daily Mirror is reporting that the upcoming BBC press conference has been delayed from Wednesday until the end of the week.

rogerrobert69

Oh no! It means I won't sleep for another 4 days!!! I don't want to get my hopes up so I wish that rumour would come to and end one way (preferably) or the other (probably).

Josh-da-man

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. It certainly appears that they have something.

It's fascinating to see all of the contradictory information flying around. On one hand, we hear that Ethiopia received no Troughton episodes, yet his episodes keep coming up in the rumored finds. And then claims that no episodes have been recovered in Ethiopia.

And, yeah, it's also one of those things where 90 episodes could have been found, but then most of those could be ones that already exist, which is kind of bittersweet.

Darkgod

Bbc reporting it now. .. http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24448063

mythmaker18

Now that is a source I can believe. Of course, it will do nothing (much) to quell speculation over exactly how much has been found, but at least it seems to be confirmation that at least some (i.e. more than one) episodes have been found!

Jay G.

That article's odd, because I'm pretty sure it's just BBC News reporting on the rumor, and not a confirmation at all. It'd be like if ABC News reported on a rumor of Disney releasing Song of the South.

Darkgod

Thats what i was thinking as well

The Valeyard

On Ian Levine's Facebook, he's suggesting that they have found a slew of missing episodes but are only going to announce a couple to gauge interest. If enough people buy episodes off of iTunes, more missing episodes will "re-appear." He's telling all his followers to buy like there's no tomorrow incase this story is true.

There's another story he mentions that the person who found these missing episodes is actually hoarding them and has only given the BBC a few of them, holding onto the rest like the Bleeding Cool rumor suggested.

Never thought I'd see so much behind-the-scenes drama surround Doctor Who.

mythmaker18

Not to belittle his past contributions to the archive state of Doctor Who, but over the past few years (and in particular, the past few months), Levine has proven himself to be an out and out loon!

I'm sure there is absolutely no truth to what he suggest about the episodes being "held hostage" (particularly, by the BBC themselves). He's insane if he thinks the release of any future re-discovered stories will be based on how many iTunes sales are made. The BBC made a commitment to release all Doctor Who episodes on DVD (at least in the UK) and I see no reason for them to switch.

I'm sure any potential "initial release" of episodes onto iTunes is merely to serve one (or both) of the following:

1. to get them "out there" to fans faster (and in a legal fashion, as opposed to the illegal "leaks" of the past)
2. to generate more revenue (from fans who might buy the download first and the DVD later)

If they don't sell huge quantities of downloads, I don't for a minute think this will spell the "doom" of them coming out on DVD. This is just Ian Levine (as usual) over-reacting.

The Valeyard

I find it kind of funny when someone disagrees with him and he goes into tantrum mode.

Josh-da-man

Levine is kind of... what's the word I'm looking for?... I'll just say an interesting character... but the way the BBC treats Doctor Who and milks the fans for everything they're worth, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if this was true.

There's always been drama behind Doctor Who. From the old episodes being destroyed, to the behind-the-scenes drama in the 80s that led to Colin Baker being fired and the series ultimately being canceled, to the TV movie not being able to be released onto home video for ages, to Terry Nation and the Daleks, it seems there's always something going on behind the scenes.

The Valeyard

Okay. Here's some posts from Ian's Facebook:



Here's where the magic number 9 shows up. "Nine missing episodes" is starting to make the rounds. They include Marco Polo, Enemy of the World and Web of Fear. Those numbers don't add up tho. All of Marco Polo is missing (7 episodes) while Web of Fear and Enemy of the world are missing 5 out of 6 episodes. That would total 17 missing episodes. And if I remember right, Marco Polo and Enemy of the World were part of Bleeding Cool's original article. Rumors are starting to merge together.



And here's where the other Bleeding Cool rumor kicks in. Someone is holding onto more missing episodes until the BBC forks over more cash. Or did the guy want Moffat fired as show runner? Supposedly, negotiations are currently underway for the rest of the missing episodes and the BBC wants to gauge public interest which is why Ian is crying out for fans to buy the episodes on iTunes. And he's frantic about it.

Yeah. I'm bored at work today.

rogerrobert69

A quick survey for fun. If say only two complete stories did surface, one Hartnell and one Troughton, which ones would you guys like to see?
I'd go for Daleks' Master Plan and Enemy of the World. The first one because its 12 episodes and the reconstruction I saw seemed nice and the second because its a different plot than the usual Alien invasion or Mad scientist. It looked more like it could be a script from the Avengers or something. And Troughton in two roles must be nice.

The Valeyard

Tough to narrow it down. For Hartnell, I'd want The Daleks' Master Plan, The Celestial Toymaker and The Tenth Planet. But for history sake, I'd go with Marco Polo. I'm a sucker for a purely historical story and the pictures make the set design look fantastic.

For Troughton, I'd want The Power of the Daleks. It's his first story and it'd be fun to see his performance at the start. Follow ups would be Evil of the Daleks, The Highlanders and Enemy of the World.

Autotelik

Damn tough choices for sure. I will go with Daleks Masterplan (Marco Polo a close 2nd), and Power Of the Daleks (Fury being a close 2nd).

mythmaker18

The "nine" is supposedly the five missing episodes of Enemy along with four of the five missing Web episodes. The "nine" has nothing to do with Marco Polo


Unfortunately, DMP was never sold anywhere outside of the UK (though evaluation prints were sent to Australia), so if these return(s) are indeed from Africa, they almost 100% certainly won't include DMP (unfortunately).