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Decades after the BBC trashed classic episodes of its long-running show Doctor Who, fans of the sci-fi series are filling in the gaps with their own remakes.
No one knows who authorized the destruction of the Doctor Who episodes, but whoever tore the pre-1970s heart out of the show should go down in history as one of the genuine villains in the real-world history of science fiction.
Beginning in 1967 and continuing into the early 1970s, the keepers of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s videotape library decided to remedy a growing overcrowding problem by trashing several episodes of Doctor Who and other less notable shows. At the time, Who was successful, but no BBC executive envisioned that new episodes would be in production 45 years later for the enjoyment of an international fan base.
When the more devoted members of that same fan base turn to the show’s black-and-white history (1963 to 1968) and the adventures of the first two Doctors (William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton), they find huge gaps in the visual record — 108 episodes lost of a total 253.
Episodes turn up occasionally from dusty attics across the BBC’s once far-flung empire, but such discoveries are scarce. Though the archives destroyed the videotapes of the lost shows, the audio tracks remain. The "Beeb" offers narrated audio productions of the lost stories. In addition, the section of BBC’s website covering classic Doctor Who offers free photo novels using the old programs’ original scripts and still photographs taken during production.
But, there remain whole stories — some considered well-written science fiction — from which no significant footage remains. So, some industrious fans took it upon themselves to fill in the gaps. Borrowing the audio tracks, they merge their own visuals to reconstruct the missing story — sharing the videos freely on services such as YouTube.
Some utilize computer animation, be it simple or elaborate.
Others match the soundtracks of the audio adventures to the still photographs of the BBC’s photo-novels to provide an effective, if less visual, assembly job.
John Peterson of Milton Keynes in the United Kingdom combines photo montages and simple animation in his assemblies.
"(Working on a reconstruction) was something I’ve been mulling around in my head since 1992," Peterson said. "I bought the BBC soundtrack tape to Evil of the Daleks, and the pictures that it created in my head as a 14-year-old were incredible."
After watching other reconstruction attempts from fans around the world, Peterson decided to take a shot at it himself under the YouTube name Mistymisterwisty. Since the feedback has been generally positive, Peterson intends to keep devoting hobby time to the painstaking work.
"It takes forever," he said. "For the last episode I’ve used photo-editing software, filmed models against green screens, used digital matting software, built mini-sets out of cardboard and green cloth. I even bought films that had filmed in the same locations as Evil of the Daleks was filmed and used a few clips and pics on the sly as they matched really well."
When contacted, many of the other more active unofficial reconstruction artists refused to comment on their work out of concern that the mighty BBC might unleash its legal fury upon them. But, Peterson hasn’t heard any threats.
"I do hear that the BBC quite rightly comes down hard on pirated clips on YouTube or people selling recons, but I assume that since recons are done solely by loving fans, they couldn’t really complain."
In fact, Sharon Hanley, communications manager for BBC1, Drama, Programme Acquisition and BBC Film, reports that the Beeb is aware of the private reconstructions and lives in peace with them.
"Because there are so many of these websites and reconstructed episodes around the globe and similar films in existence," Hanley said, "we generally don’t comment."
She added that the policy changes if it’s clear someone is profiting from the sale of anything assembled from original BBC material.
The Manchester, England-based animation firm Cosgrove Hall teamed with the BBC to produce the network’s only official animated reconstruction to date. The animators re-created the first and fourth episodes of the eight-part Patrick Troughton story The Invasion, featuring the dreaded Cybermen.
Cosgrove Hall’s lead animator Steve Maher said it was "surreal" animating a black-and-white show to match the tones of the mid-1960s. But all parties enjoyed bringing the late Troughton’s performance as The Doctor to life again.
"(Troughton) had a wonderfully animate-able face, so he was a gift," Maher said.
Sadly, rumors persist among fans that DVD sales figures for the The Invasion were not lucrative enough to encourage the BBC to pursue any additional animated reproductions any time soon. So, it might be up to devoted fans to keep bringing lost Doctor Who home.
Images courtesy Videogamer, Fraust66
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