How Doctor Who's Missing Episodes Came Back [Part 3]

Brief Summary

This video explores the recovery and restoration of missing episodes from Jon Pertwee's era of Doctor Who. It details the efforts of individuals like Sue Morden, Ian Levine, and dedicated fans who located and returned lost tapes from international broadcasters and private collections. The video also explains the various techniques used by the Doctor Who restoration team to bring color back to black and white copies, including chroma dot recovery, reverse standards conversion, and manual colorization.

• Sue Morden's initiative at the BBC Film and Videotape Library was crucial in recovering many episodes.
• International broadcasters, particularly in Canada and Australia, held key color copies of missing episodes.
• Fan contributions, such as Nick Tilizia's tip-off about BBC Canada's tapes, played a significant role.
• The Doctor Who restoration team employed innovative techniques like chroma dot recovery and manual colorization to restore color to black and white episodes.

The Initial Recovery Efforts

In 1978, Sue Morden, the archive selector at the BBC Film and Videotape Library, started a project to recover missing Doctor Who episodes. She found 60 original 2-inch video tapes and 16mm film prints of "Spearhead from Space," resulting in 64 available Pertwee episodes, but 124 were still missing. Many stories like "The Demons" and "The Time Monster" were considered missing classics.

International Broadcasts and Discoveries

Jon Pertwee's stories were sold overseas, with black and white 16mm film copies sent to international broadcasters because many countries broadcasted only in black and white until the "Invasion of the Dinosaurs". Sue Morden explored the archive at BBC Enterprises and recovered nearly all of Jon Pertwee's episodes in black and white, except for episode 1 of "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" and episode 1 of "Death to the Daleks". This resulted in 22 complete Pertwee stories, but only eight existed in their original color.

The Role of Ian Levine and BBC Canada

Ian Levine learned that KCET in Los Angeles had existing episodes of Doctor Who at BBC Canada. Despite initial denials, a physical search revealed many color tapes. Levine contacted Sue Morden, and copies were sent back to the BBC, including "The Claws of Axos" (episodes 1 and 2), "The Curse of Peladon" (full), "The Mutants" (episodes 1 and 2), "The Time Monster" (full), and "Death to the Daleks" (episode 1). This left only "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" episode 1 missing.

Fan Contributions and Further Recoveries

In September 1982, John Nathan-Turner received a letter from fan Nick Tilizia, who knew that BBC Canada held color transmission tapes of "Colony in Space" and "The Sea Devils". This led to the recovery of these stories in color. In June 1983, Ian Levine returned his 16mm black and white copy of "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" episode 1. Basil Sands from BBC Sydney informed Steve Bryant that they had color copies of Doctor Who stories from US broadcaster Lionheart, including "Frontier in Space". Lionheart also sent videotaped copies of "Inferno" to BBC Toronto, which were then returned to the BBC's archive.

Home Recordings and Archive Status by 1983

For the 20th anniversary of Doctor Who, a convention was held where a color copy of "Terror of the Autons" was screened, owned by Ian Levine. Levine had obtained duplicates of Pertwee episodes from American fan Tom Lundy, who recorded them off-air, including "Doctor Who and the Silurians", "Terror of the Autons", "Claws of Axos", "Day of the Daleks", and "The Sea Devils". Another US fan provided color home recordings of "Ambassadors of Death" and "Inferno". By the end of 1983, "Inferno" and "Frontier in Space" were in color, but "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" episode one was only in black and white.

Final Recoveries and the Puzzle of Restoration

"Death to the Daleks" episode 1 was returned in its original quality from the ABC in Australia, but it was missing a scene. David Steed found a color version of the episode at BBC Enterprises that included the missing scene, restoring the episode to its original quality. The video then transitions to explaining how the Doctor Who restoration team used various methods to colorize episodes.

Colorization Techniques: Matching and Conversion

The first colorization method involved matching lower quality color images from US fan Tom Lundy's off-air recordings with higher quality 16mm black and white film prints. The luminance from the black and white film was combined with the chroma from the off-air recordings. This process was used for "The Demons", "Terror of the Autons", and "Doctor Who and the Silurians". Reverse standards conversion was used to convert NTSC to PAL, improving the quality of Pertwee episodes from Canada, such as "Colony in Space", "The Curse of Peladon", "The Sea Devils", and "The Time Monster".

Chroma Dot Recovery and Combined Techniques

James Insell discovered that small patches of color, called chroma dots, could be used to restore the original color. A computer program analyzed the dot patterns and decoded the colors. This technique was used for "Planet of the Daleks" episode III, "Ambassadors of Death", "The Mind of Evil", and "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" episode 1, though the latter lacked enough blue chroma dots for a broadcast-appropriate colorization. A combination of reverse standards conversion and original color restoration was used, starting with "The Claws of Axos", using the 16mm tele-recording for luminance and the color information from NTSC via reverse standards conversion for chroma.

Manual Colorization and Final Thoughts

Manual colorization, done frame by frame, was used for "The Mind of Evil" episode 1 by Stuart Humphreys and Peter Crocker. Despite these efforts, "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" episode one remains in a state of either black and white or partial chroma dot recovery due to missing blue segments. The video concludes by appreciating the hard work of individuals who recovered and restored the missing episodes, emphasizing their importance and encouraging viewers to celebrate and watch these episodes.