Doctor Who: The Collection Season 2 (1 Viewer)

[Lord Dalek]

This is the most complete black and white season in the archives (just two episodes missing out of 39) so no surprise its the first one to make it onto blu.

THAT BEING SAID... this is going to be upscales of upscales of upscales. The Hartnell era was shot entirely in Marconi-EMI which was actually inferior to NTSC in quality (376p50i), and of course none of the tapes exist sooooo... prepare for a rocky experience.

 

[Capt D McMars]

This is the most complete black and white season in the archives (just two episodes missing out of 39) so no surprise its the first one to make it onto blu.

THAT BEING SAID... this is going to be upscales of upscales of upscales. The Hartnell era was shot entirely in Marconi-EMI which was actually inferior to NTSC in quality (376p50i), and of course none of the tapes exist sooooo... prepare for a rocky experience.

It's amazing to me that the studios saw no worth to these classic episodes and taped over many to save tape...Sad...with both Hartnell and Troughton being the victims.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Finally we get the announcement. Sweet! Great to be getting a black-and-white 1960s season collection Blu-Ray set at last. Cheers for the heads-up, Joel!

 

[The Obsolete Man]

It's amazing to me that the studios saw no worth to these classic episodes and taped over many to save tape...Sad...with both Hartnell and Troughton being the victims.

Tape was expensive, the BBC had different contracts that didn't allow for reruns the way US shows did, and even in the US a lot of stuff got wiped because of lack of foresight.

Either way, I can understand wiping the tape, but not keeping at least a kinescope of the episodes was shortsighted.

 

[Lord Dalek]

EMI-Marconi recordings had no useful lifespan after 1970 so its not really surprising that the BBC wiped most of them.

As for the kiniscopes, that's the unfortunate result of incompetence at BBC Worldwide's old headquarters at Villiers House. They thought they just had copies of everything but instead they were destroying all the negatives and prints of Pat Troughton's run. The fact that anything exists of Season 6 at all is because of some fortunate donations to the BFI earlier in the decade.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Tape was expensive, the BBC had different contracts that didn't allow for reruns the way US shows did, and even in the US a lot of stuff got wiped because of lack of foresight.

Either way, I can understand wiping the tape, but not keeping at least a kinescope of the episodes was shortsighted.

agreed, shortsghtedness is not the sole realm of the BBC. Many US shows were taped over and we are all lesser for it!!!

 

[Dave Jessup]

... this is going to be upscales of upscales of upscales. The Hartnell era was shot entirely in Marconi-EMI which was actually inferior to NTSC in quality (376p50i), and of course none of the tapes exist sooooo... prepare for a rocky experience.

Looking at a few minutes of "The Chase," followed by the first episode of "Planet of Giants," I"m quite happy with the picture quality. Also happy with the copious bonus material. And happily anticipating rewatching hours of Hartnell fun.

The burning question is answered: for US audiences, The Beatles are still missing from this release. I'd hoped otherwise. So my off-air recording from around 1986 has moved from being tucked into the DVD case to tucked into the blu-ray case.

 

[mark27b]

It was tape costs saving money re-using wiped tapes, saving money on storage, they didn't think about home media, streaming and multi-channel tv also actors contracts and unions wanting to employ actors in brand new productions

Why So Many Classic Doctor Who Episodes Are Missing

What happened to Doctor Who's missing episodes?

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