The cruellest rumour of them all...

[thisbluespirit]

So I don't know why I'm even posting this, except I want to make everybody else suffer along with me, but the worst DW rumour is going around - that they have found or are hot on the trail of lots - yes, lots - of the missing episodes.

It's here: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/06/13/wqill-doctor-who-have-a-very-special-surprise-for-us-in-november/ (caught via the excellent who_at_50)

I should be laughing cynically, of course, and I don't really believe it. The cruelty of it this time is that when they found two episodes in 2011, the articles surrounding it sounded quite definitely hopeful about finding more (and this has not been the case since Tomb's appearance in 1996 - ever after, when something's turned up it's been followed by gloomy warnings that there is NO MORE, no, we have checked the back of the cupboard and on top of the wardrobe and under the bed, and no. No.). Which made me wonder if they were on the trail of something specific and I've been vaguely hoping for something ever since - and since the anniversary is close to the BFI's Missing Believed Wiped event that if they did find something it'd be announced then. So... I am looking at this so wistfully! But... lots! That's just too much to swallow. It couldn't be true, and if it was, it'd have to be a general haul, so that would mean other lost TV as well and... well, yes. It would be very very amazing. But obviously either not true or massively exaggerated from "we've found another episode down the back of the sofa!" (Obviously, I want badly to be proved wrong on that. That's why it's so cruel.)

Also I hate burninated TV generally, have I mentioned that? Oh, yes, I have. Quite a bit. It's understandable from various reasons, but actually it's not okay to throw your only copies of nationally broadcast, professionally produced drama into tips and/or generally wipe/burn/lose them. In the 1970s when everyone was making such a concerted effort to preserve almost everything else, too, and VHS was just around the corner. And, in fact, ITV companies were still doing it in the 1980s and even 90s, when there were mergers and things. /o\

Anyway, let's make there be a point to this post. Let's have the evergreen chestnut - if there has been a serial recovered, what would you most want it to be? What other old and lost TV (if you have any interest in such things) would you want to have been uncovered sitting beside it?

Comments

[taiyou_to_tsuki.livejournal.com]

The Gunfighters is so wonderful though! I really don't understand why it got such a bad rep. Is it too silly? Is it the fact that they tried to make a musical with only one song? Looking at the sort of material produced at the time (like the New Adventures, but actually most pop culture in the 90s seemed to suffer from "dark and gritty is cooler" syndrome) I sometimes get the impression some fans in the 90s took themselves a bit too seriously.

I love the historicals. Partly because they're just generally good stories, partly because I am the kind of nerd no one wants to watch The Time Monster with in case I start lecturing about Minoan art and architecture.

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's all right. All the best people are nerdy about something!

"The Gunfighters" suffered because it was unwatchable for so many years. All that most of us knew about it was what we'd read in guides; so the opinions of a couple of writers became gospel. We were told that it was a dreadful story, and with no evidence to the contrary, we believed it. You're right about fans taking themselves too seriously though, certainly. I know that some people don't like the jokey tone of stories like "The Gunfighters" and "The Romans", but I like both of them. There's room for a bit of fun, as well as the really serious stories like "The Crusade". It's not like DW doesn't give us plenty to choose from!

[taiyou_to_tsuki.livejournal.com]

Ah, the infamous program guides. And yes, I think one of the strengths of Doctor Who is that it can be extremely genre-defying, even within the boundaries of one particular era with its own trademark feel. Personally I adore The Romans and The Gunfighters, but they can't be to everyone's taste. There's always going to be someone who likes a serial most fans find terrible though(speaking as someone who considers The Trial of a Time Lord the charming and somewhat nonsensical comfort food of the soul...).

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

I knew it had to have a fan somewhere! ;) Still, I can't talk. I hate "Genesis of The Daleks", which is generally seen as a classic, and I'm oddly fond of "Time-Flight", which is one of the most hated adventures of all.

Although I'm still not entirely sure if I like it for the story, or for the blatantly giggling guest cast...