Lost in Time (Doctor Who)
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Doctor Who - Lost in Time: Collection of Rare Episodes is a BBC three-disc boxset DVD released in 2004. It is a collection of restored Doctor Who episodes and clips from stories that are incomplete or otherwise missing from the Corporation's archives. There are 108 episodes of the programme not known to exist all from the black-and-white 1960s era; and that though the search goes on, many or all of them may be lost forever, hence this collection's title. Audio recordings of all the episodes' soundtracks do exist – made off-air at the time of transmission by fans – and have been archived by the BBC. The visual and audio quality of episodes and clips as originally recovered varies, although the BBC-affiliated Doctor Who Restoration Team has worked to improve the quality for release. For more information, see Doctor Who missing episodes.
Footage found in the set varies from complete episodes to extremely short surviving clips that were cut either for time or for censoring reasons. Several episodes in the set include commentary tracks moderated by Gary Russell and featuring actors and crew from the original productions.
In the UK, the set was only available as a single, 3-disc set. In North America, it was available either as separate 1-disc William Hartnell and 2-disc Patrick Troughton sets or in a box with both collections.
Contents |
[edit] Content
[edit] Hartnell Era stories
- 008: The Reign of Terror – off-air film recording clips (all excerpts such as these are pretty brief 8 mm home-movie material made by fans pointing a cine camera at a TV screen during the original (or a subsequent repeat) transmisison. Even cleaned up, they are not of broadcastable standard, though they have now had their soundtracks added).
- 014: The Crusade – episodes 1 and 3, plus soundtracks for 2 and 4, and introduction and linking material provided by actor William Russell in character as Ian Chesterton (these sequences, originally recorded for the 1999 VHS release of the story, are accessible as an 'Easter egg' when the story is viewed via the 'Play all' option for the story). Ep 3 has a commentary option featuring actor Julian Glover.
- 018: Galaxy 4 – a lengthy sequence from episode 1 (see The Missing Years, below) plus off-air film recording clips.
- 020: The Myth Makers – off-air film recording clips.
- 021: The Daleks' Master Plan – episodes 2, 5 and 10, plus clips from other episodes. Ep 2 has a commentary option featuring actors Peter Purves and Kevin Stoney, and designer Raymond Cusick.
- 024: The Celestial Toymaker episode 4.
- 026: The Savages off-air film recording clips.
- 028: The Smugglers (brief) clips and amateur footage showing the filming on location.
- 029: The Tenth Planet clips including off-air film recordings.
[edit] Troughton Era stories
- 030: The Power of the Daleks clips and a (brief) trailer aired on the BBC ahead of the original transmission. (Note that brief further footage has been discovered since Lost in Time was released.)
- 031: The Highlanders brief clips and some on-location footage.
- 032: The Underwater Menace episode 3 and (brief) clips from other episodes. (Actor Frazer Hines's introduction to this episode from an earlier VHS boxset (The Ice Warriors) is also here as an 'Easter egg'.)
- 033: The Moonbase - episodes 2 and 4, plus soundtracks for 1 and 3.
- 034: The Macra Terror (brief) clips including off-air film recordings.
- 035: The Faceless Ones episodes 1 and 3 (featuring some restoration to fill trimmed film sections).
- 036: The Evil of the Daleks episode 2, with a commentary option featuring actor Deborah Watling. Also, from The Last Dalek – footage showing the filming of model and effects sequences at Ealing Studios – a recreated climactic sequence combining such footage with the original soundtrack (see The Missing Years, below).
- 038: The Abominable Snowmen episode 2 (featuring a recreated snippet of dialogue where the film had been trimmed) and (brief) clips, plus amateur footage showing the filming on location. There is a commentary option on the episode featuring Deborah Watling.
- 040: The Enemy of the World episode 3.
- 041: The Web of Fear episode 1 plus clips, with a commentary option on the episode featuring Deborah Watling and story editor Derrick Sherwin.
- 042: Fury from the Deep clips, footage from the filming of the final episode in studio, and a recreated climactic sequence combining such footage with the original soundtrack.
- 043: The Wheel in Space episodes 3 and 6 plus brief clips, the latter episode offering a commentary option featuring story editor Derrick Sherwin and director Tristan de Vere Cole.
- 044: The Space Pirates episode 2 plus clips.
[edit] The Missing Years
In addition, there is the 1993 documentary The Missing Years on disc 3. It details the loss and recovery of 1960s Doctor Who episodes and is presented by Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling. It features the longest extant clip from an otherwise missing Doctor Who episode – over six minutes of episode one of Galaxy 4; a version of The Final End recreating the climax of The Evil of the Daleks; fan Ian Levine famously stating sadly that there will surely never be fewer than 110 missing episodes; and a lengthy recreation of the first regeneration sequence put together from all that exists of the end of The Tenth Planet and the start of The Power of the Daleks. In its original form, this documentary was presented in an earlier VHS boxset (The Ice Warriors), which pre-dates the rediscovery of some of the Lost in Time content.
