2014 - August to December

August 2014

1 – On Outpost Skaro, Eddie posts that the “small thing” is still viable, and that it is indeed ME related, but no announcement is coming this week.

2 – On PMF, Mr. Ron goes on record to say that he believes Morris withheld Web 3 after initially promising to hand it over with the rest of the story.

Meanwhile Scot Ferre posts that he has heard that “most” recovered Who has been restored, and that the BBC wants to “get a lot ready in one go”. Cardiff is apparently involved, and that things are well underway despite delays being caused over the last three years by ALL parties (BBC, BBCWW, PM).

Subsequently, Mr. Ron re-posts one of his own from a year ago, in which he indicated he knew of the Capaldi Marco intro rumours then (see 5 August, 2013).

3 – Still on PMF, puquimark posts that he does not believe as much Who has been restored as Scot does. He also thinks intros have been recorded, definitely for Marco and perhaps as many as 12 titles. He does however also think things are progressing well despite “hiccups”. He believes an announcement “soon” could see two Who titles revealed. He also believes the upcoming Out of the Unknown DVD set will contain previously missing material.

Further on non-Who, puquimark says some of the best but “not all” OOTU are back, together with Z-Cars (found in Africa), and Callan which has “all been found”. He also says Adam Adamant “all back”, as well as “Beachhead” (OOTU). Ace of Wands and series one of The Avengers he’s not so sure of.

Puquimark goes on to give some ballpark figures from low to high of Doctor Who episodes he believes may be back. Figures range from 89 including Enemy and Web (that would make 80 still outstanding after last year’s reveal) but he believes more found since then. 

87 (excluding Enemy and Web) is a likely figure, which would leave 10 episodes still missing, but puquimark thinks it’s more in the vicinity of 94 (excluding Enemy and Web). This leaves 3, 4 or 5 still missing or unrecoverable due to damage, and he believes that it’s episodes of DMP and the late Troughtons (season 6) that are the likeliest candidates.

Further he does not believe the rumours of The Daleks’ Master Plan being found in Ireland, but rather it was found in Australia as audition prints after being stored away due to non-purchase. Found via a Damian Shanahan lead. He believes the Ireland rumour was an attempt to discredit the omnirumour.

In addition, there may have been a good find of most of season 6 missing eps in Singapore either late 2013 or early this year. Found by Phil and his team, shipped back to UK early this year.

Answering more questions about non-Who, puquimark says he hasn’t heard of any Doomwatch finds.

Interestingly, he adds that he believes Mission to the Unknown was found in Singapore!

Puquimark also gives ratings out of 10 for the latest rumours. He gives 8/10 for Marco Polo intro by Capaldi; 8/10 for MTTU found in Singapore; 7/10 for season 6 also found in Singapore; 6/10 for both DMP found in Australia and other intros for recovered serials being done.

He believes the odds of any colour Pertwees being found are low, despite hearing rumours. However, he believes some better B&W copies of existing Pertwees held only in B&W have been found so this could assist the colour recover process for these episodes (here, puquimark could be referring to any of Invasion, Planet of the Daleks 3, or The Mind of Evil).

Mr. Ron adds that he believes things like Invasion if found would be from private collectors, but lumped in with the overall TIEA finds. Puquimark agrees with this, saying he has heard similar.

Finally, Puquimark states that he believes his middle option from earlier (5 eps remain missing) to be the most likely, but with no episodes being beyond recovery.

3 – Meanwhile on OS, friendsofderek weighs in on the intro discussions, saying they’d heard this months back but were protecting their source. He agrees that it’s for Marco, but adds Jenna Coleman into the mix. They’ve also heard that Smith, Tennant and Dan Starkey (Strax) have also done intros for recovered stories.

He also speculates that August could see release of at least one story, possibly as many of three being Marco Polo/Power of the Daleks/Evil of the Daleks.

4 – Also on OS an intriguing post appears from member GollyGTFC to the effect that he wouldn’t be surprised if Marco Polo and 1 or 2 others were announced at an “after show special”, and that we get something back “when the new series starts broadcasting”.

Immediately after this, friendsofderek says it’s possible as Cardiff “definitely has a hand in the MEs”.

Then, moderator SpringheelJack states that Who is to be completely rebranded, as per the re-released new series boxsets, as one brand with consistent logos, etc. (This later proves correct, with the advent of the Jodie Whittaker era.)

4 – Eddie then adds that “modern Doctors have recorded commentaries” for the returned stories, most likely as Easter Eggs (as with The Five Doctors special edition). Further he states that there has been movement on the intros during the last couple of weeks and that he has access to sources “right in the heart of Cardiff”!

In response to a question about when the next announcement will be, Eddie says one minute he is told nothing happening; the next there are all these intros recorded and there is “movement”. The initial movement, he says, may well be “just” The Underwater Menace, but he is also told that Marco and Power are ready to go “or thereabouts”. As he readily admits, the situation is “confusing”.

Later, Steve Freestone adds in that he heard at London Comic Con a few weeks ago that The Massacre and The Power of the Daleks are both “done and ready – including covers”. Eddie responds that he has indeed seen a DVD cover for Power and “it looks the business”.

Going back to the intros, Eddie says Starkey filmed his (Galaxy 4) whilst in full Strax makeup during filming of Deep Breath. Peter and Jenna filmed theirs (Marco) back in March, and Tennant and Smith did one together (Toymaker?) during filming for Day of the Doctor. Smith recorded a separate piece (Power?) at the end of last year (2013).

Eddie later says that he saw the cover via “a non-fan route”.

However – later, Eddie completely backtracks on his earlier remarks, saying that the intros were for the special edition of Day of the Doctor. He says the confusion may have arisen over there being mention of a “missing adventure” included on the boxset, rather than a missing now returned serial.

5 – On PMF, Eddie’s backtrack is discussed and while Scot Ferre agrees, and that the Strax intro is for “projects unknown”, he says his sources did provide info that backs up “a few other things”. He will update later.

Just to add to the confusion, puquimark reiterates that he spoke to Phil Morris at the 50^th celebrations and that he said “there are more episodes coming”. He adds that someone he knows that regularly speaks to Morris says Phil does indeed have “most” of the missing episodes.

Puquimark goes on to say that he too heard that Capaldi and Jenna did “a secret bit of fliming” earlier this year, which was indeed for a trailer for Marco Polo. Further he was told it featured “scribbling on blackboards in the TARDIS”. His source confirmed that people were talking about filming trailers for Toymaker and Power. He again states that he believes “we will get every episode, either as the real episode or some kind of recon/animation”.

However in light of discussions, he says he is glad he shared his info as the filmed intros for MEs rumour could now be “put to bed”.

On MEF, Lou Singh says that “several people” on the forum have seen “nearly flawless” colour copies of Terror of the Autons and The Daemons, and implies that he himself has seen “bits” of The Daleks’ Master Plan and The Power of the Daleks.

7 – Incredibly, animation studios Planet 55 in Australia make a Facebook statement that the only Doctor Who projects they have worked on are The Reign of Terror, The Tenth Planet and The Moonbase. Fandom reacts to this on forums, pointing out that we were all under the impression that they had been commissioned to do work on The Underwater Menace.

8 – On PMF, in response to a question about Marco Polo, puquimark says the Australian-found copy is the best quality, with others in various states, a combination of all making the best possible copy.

9 – On PMF puquimark says that the PM documentary will be interesting, showing the arrival of the 64,000 film cans arriving in the UK. He says the footage will show that PM hit the motherlode.

Later he says that he believes announcing everything in one “big bang” is the easiest approach; just a nightmare getting all parties to agree on a date.

September 2014

2 – After no news in August, a new month kicks off with Philip Morris making the claim on the Facebook group that Anthony Horowitz is to take over from Steven Moffat on Doctor Who. He further posts that he does not like the current direction of Who under Moffat. 

Moreover, he states that The Web of Fear was indeed found prior to The Snowmen going to air – implying Moffat wrote the story based on information that Web had been found. Morris further says that he knows who leaked this information to Moffat.

In other posts now deleted but quoted on places like PMF, Morris also takes aim at one fan calling him an “entitled cretin”. All this seems to add fuel to the notion that Morris refuses to hand back episodes until Moffat is out of the picture. 

Bleeding Cool publish a new article to cover the incident.

Incredibly, Tony Horowitz responds to a query about the matter on Twitter with “Unlikely” – which would seem to be open to all manner of interpretation.

November 2014

9 - In a rather heart-breaking eventuation, Eddie from OS posts that the episodes may not have been recovered, as previously thought – only located (a range of episodes moved for storage into an African hub facility). However Eddie does believe that “some” episodes ARE back, albeit in varying condition with Marco being the best. He further says that no-one can give a date as to when this will all be resolved.

In another post, Eddie says that Morris managed to get “some” back “before the doors closed”. And Friendsofderek weighs in with an email he got that explains things in more detail:

“Phil approached the BBC with news of a massive find, but wanted funding.

They gave him in on condition. He gave them Web, Enemy and Marco. Promised hundreds more. That gets leaked to DWO who go WHAAAAA and are then told to shush.

The BBC gave Phil funding

Meanwhile the source of the eps realised they were worth money and changed the goal posts. Getting them became tricky.

The Beeb pushed Phil. He said he had them all but didn't so stalled. And stalled. And stalled.

He then started mouthing off about stuff, surmising and assuming. He told WW, the BFI, actors, the RT. He HAD this stuff, of course he does! People start to talk. We get wind of it from various avenues.

But he doesn't have it. Not really. In the meantime the Beeb are pointing every lead at him, because in their eyes he's the ME Guy. He's forced to precure shit copies of Power, Massacre and DMP but it's grainy and some of its soundless. Useless. HE reckons his source has better copies. So he stalls. Starts a small RT of his own to clean up what he had. It'll be better than nothing.

Web and Enemy come out. Actors go mental. It's not cleared properly. It stalls Marco.

An estate of an actor in that doesn't play ball. They've seen the popularity of the others and wants a bigger cut. Legality entails.

The BBC go for Phil. Does he have the stuff? Cos if not they need their money back. Or they could absorb TIEA into BBCWW?

Phil panics. Aarrgh. He's promised this stuff. He's told the BFI. He's tried to arrange Press Conferences. He's even showed Mark Gatiss bits of Power to prove it. But he doesn't have the majority of it. So he goes online in a charm offensive. The winds in the right direction. Stay tuned. Don't panic Captain Manwaring... etc etc

Meanwhile, he still tries to procure the remains.

So, in affect, everyone is RIGHT. And wrong.

This is actually what happened. We've all been listening to various amounts of Phil's spin.

Do you see? It all makes sense. No one has anything of worth. Power is in limbo. UM was halted for the same thing - Phil thinks he will get a better copy. Same with Massacre and DMP. Marco's in legal limbo. And no one can say whats what because until the RT get a hold of this stuff no one knows for sure if they have the Holy Grail or tins full of Balsamic.

The BBC and BFI have lost patience. Phil has started paying funding back. His only way out is to get these things back from Africa. He WILL, he's confident... but when? Could be tomorrow, could be 2019, could be in 100 years. He's not lying, no one is. He's just not being 100% truthful.”

10 – Puqui adds that Web was indeed held up by “rights issues”; one of the actors playing a UNIT soldier had not approved the DVD release.

12 – BC run the story of the “leaked email” but don’t add anything to the story.

                 

18 – After a post from King Womble on PMF mentioning four companies that could potentially be restoring or handling the recovered episodes, John Long posts that a friend of his works at one of those – Deluxe Digital Studios. Further he says that “they have assets for the missing DW material”. 

John also says they are “most likely performing simple film preservation services” and NOT restoration of the stories. John advises everyone not to call this company as they will not answer any questions. He does believe they hold Marco, possibly Power “and a few odds and ends”.

As for numbers, he says he doesn’t believe it’s anywhere near 90 but really it’s anyone guess.

December 2014

8 – In a subsequent post, JL clarifies once again that it’s “film services and asset management, not…authoring”.

Ssorguk then posts the following:

Deluxe Film Services is the parent company of Deluxe Digital. DFS are mainly involved with the physical handling , conservation and stabilisation of original film reels. DD transfers film to the digital domain and also offers digital restoration and DVD/BluRay authoring.

For the record, I first got wind of Deluxe Film Services being involved over a year ago. I mentioned it to Dano who then made a cryptic post here.

Effectively, John Long naming Deluxe Digital is independent corroboration of this, so personally, I believe his information is 100% kosher.

JL comes back with his belief that Deluxe has more than likely been performing “stabilisation” and “manual fixes” on the films, because they have the facilities. In his opinion, TIEA do not.

Ssorguk supports this by saying that Deluxe Films Services (DFS) would have done the initial conservation and stabilisation work before passing the films on to Deluxe Digital to transfer the films to digital. Restoration would only occur once this next step in the process is authorised. Ssorguk further backs up his claims by saying he “works in the industry”.

28 – BBC Radio 4 publishes a documentary by Shaun Ley about who the missing episodes came to be lost (see 27 December 2009).