The Omnirumour: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Believe Completely

I talked about recently (read it here) the fact that there are many (97) missing episodes of Doctor Who from the first few years and first two Doctors of the show.

I also talked about how there was a rumor (or in British terms, rumour) that many, many more episodes had been found as well.

At the time, I didn't consider those reports to be credible.

I did, however, feel that Marco Polo had also been found and that perhaps its return was imminent.

I still feel that way about Marco Polo (and there have been a few rumblings that perhaps that return is very, very imminent, perhaps even this weekend imminent, we'll have to wait and see on that).

However, I now also believe that there are in fact many, many more returns to look forward to.

Yes, even perhaps all of them.

In that previous post on missing episodes I talked about how Feast for Steven (the seventh episode in the epic twelve part The Dalek's Master Plan) would never be found since it was never copied for an overseas sell.  Well, now I am even convinced that its return is possible.

You see, there were copies made of each of these stories, and many of them instead of being destroyed the way they were supposed to be found their way into the hands of private collectors.

When Phillip Morris (not the tobacco one, the one who returned Enemy of the World and Web of Fear) went in search of lost episodes throughout Africa, there are records that tens of thousands of film canisters were shipped by him back to England.  And the rumors were (by many of the same people who then told us that Web of Fear and Enemy of the World would be released via iTunes before the 50th Anniversary even amidst the BBC's denials that anything at all had been found, in other words, people who have been proven correct in the recent past on these very subjects) that over 90 missing episodes were amongst the missing.  This rumor has come to be known as the Omnirumour.  Counting the nine we have already received, this meant that only 16 episodes were still missing.

Those 90 episodes recovered (if recovered they indeed were, because remember this is all just rumor, if rumor with some pretty strong credence to it) were the result of over five years searching and working towards recovery throughout Africa by Phil Morris, which included some truly scary moments such as being held hostage at gunpoint.

Five years of searching, however, apparently was rewarded with 90 of the 106 missing episodes.

Is it so hard to believe then that in the year since this discovery (because that shipment occurred over a year ago now) that Morris has been able to recover the final 16 as well?

I don't think that it is.

And the reason that I believe this is because the private collectors, who held episodes that no one else had, were now in danger of holding onto episodes that might be amongst Morris's finds.  In other words, the value of those episodes would never be higher than they were at that very moment.

Once the find was officially announced, they might be holding onto something that anyone with an iTunes account could have.

It isn't that hard to believe that the BBC World Wide and Phil Morris were able to approach these private collectors (and there are channels that know who a lot of these people are, and others have come forward trying to make the best of the situation when they've heard that many if not most of the episodes have already been found) and broker deals to return the episodes that they have.

There are a lot of things that need to happen before we actually start seeing a lot of these episodes.  Restoration work needs to occur on even the best quality film canisters.

There are probably a lot of reasons why we haven't heard definitively that every episode is returned, but if the Omnirumour is true, we will be hearing at some point in the not too distant future.  Many sources are reporting that a late April announcement is in the works if all parties can get together for that announcement.

The main thing to take away is that sources that were correct about Enemy of the World and Web of Fear also seem confident that many if not all of the episodes are in safe hands, and having read up extensively on the Omnirumour since my last post, I for one believe.

And as Phil Morris said to an audience at a British Film Institute event recently, "Expect the Unexpected!"  All 97 episodes returned would be quite the unexpected pleasure!

For now, all we can do is wait.

Until Next Time, Hopefully a new version of the 50 year old story Marco Polo will soon be a reward for our patience.

Missing, Believed Wiped, or How I Still Have Some Hope

Perhaps you heard the news.  Perhaps you follow this sort of thing with a close eye.  Perhaps you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Whichever of those fits you, let me assure you that the recent release of episodes of Doctor Who for these two stories (The Enemy of the World and Web of Fear) was big news.

MISSING BELIEVED WIPED

Film is expensive.  In the 1960s and 70s, the BBC had no idea how cherished past episodes of Doctor Who would become.

In fact, episodes were rarely repeated.  The reason for this was in part because actors feared that once studios had enough material, they would simply cycle through it, thereby taking out the hassle of having to pay actors.  Therefore, actors stipulated that use of reruns were limited, meaning studios had to consistently produce new material.  And remember, at the time, home video wasn't even a remote possibility.

Since shows weren't really ever re-aired, there was no thought of selling these episodes to viewers at home to watch at their leisure, and the BBC needed film for new shows they were shooting, many of the original episodes of Doctor Who were wiped in order for the film to be used for a new show.

EPISODE RECOVERY

Originally, 147 episodes were missing/believed wiped.  Thanks to a variety of sources (private collectors, foreign studios, etc.), 50 have been returned

The most recent returns, five episodes of The Enemy of the World (completing that serial) and four episodes of The Web of Fear (leaving only one missing episode from that serial), constitute the largest single recovery to this point, and that's a big deal.

The BBC upon announcing the find then released the episodes on iTunes, allowing people to watch these episodes for the first time in 45 years!

These episodes (and quite a few others) were recovered thanks to the fact that the BBC had sent copies of episodes overseas to other studios.  Tomb of the Cybermen was found in Hong Kong.  These episodes were found in Nigeria.  Other episodes have been found in Australia, Cyprus, New Zealand, and even Canada!

The Rumours

It is certainly very exciting that the largest single haul of all time of missing Doctor Who episodes was found and released in time for the 50th Anniversary of the show.

Some might also say it is a little convenient.

Just before the announcement that the rest of the episodes in Enemy of the World were found and all but one episode of Web of Fear had been recovered, there were many rumors that many (some reports said all, but sadly, that is impossible as the 7th episode from The Dalek's Master Plan, The Feast of Steven, was never copied and distributed, and more than likely neither were many of the other episodes from this serial, although three episodes have turned up, so with the exception of Feast of Steven, there is slight hope where these stories are concerned) episodes were recovered.

With the obviously erroneous reports that 106 (at the time, that was all the missing episodes) episodes had been recovered, there were also persistent rumors that 90+ episodes had been recovered.

The BBC denied the rumors wholeheartedly, claiming that no episodes had been recovered.

We now know, of course, that at least nine were recovered, so there is no doubt that the BBC's denies were to some extent lies.

The most believable rumor (because, let's face it, even the 90+ number is almost certainly false) claimed that three stories had been found, and even named the stories: Marco Polo, Enemy of the World, and Web of Fear, often referred to as the MEW rumor, taking the first letter from each story.  Considering that it turned out that Enemy of the World and Web of Fear actually were recovered, there is some hope that Marco Polo has been recovered as well, but that it is either still being restored, or that the BBC is holding off on announcing it until after the 50th Anniversary in order to extend the celebration.  What would make the finding of the episodes of Marco Polo significant is that it would mean the entire first season of Doctor Who would be available for the first time since 1963-64 when it aired (although two episodes from the final story, Reign of Terror, are missing, but have been animated for a DVD release).  A complete Season 1 Box Set would be sure to follow.  (I guarantee that I, for one, would purchase it, even though I've already seen and own many of the first season episodes, with, of course, the exception of Marco Polo).

Another possibility in regards to found episodes that people have floated is that Phillip Morris, who found and returned the 9 episodes of Enemy of the World and Web of Fear, actually found many more episodes (the episodes of Marco Polo among them perhaps), but is still negotiating their return.

In order to gauge consumer interest in previously missing episodes, two of the stories were released on iTunes.  Looking at the sales of these stories then would allow the BBC to more properly estimate what they should pay Morris in order to recover further missing episodes.

I actually hope that this is the case, because the response of the public to the two stories on iTunes was massive.  They immediately upon release became the top two seasons (as they were released as "seasons") sold on iTunes.  I bought both first thing in the morning after they were released, and I was not alone.

Myself, I think that at least Marco Polo has also been recovered, and perhaps some more episodes (and hopefully complete stories) as well.

Following the 50th Anniversary, we might finally hear of more episodes that we can finally see again (for many of us for the first time).

A particular date to watch for this info is December 21st.  On that date, the British Film Institute is holding it's Missing Believed Wipe event, where they have announced that they are showing an episode of Doctor Who that was long believed missing.  However, they haven't announced which one.  It could easily be one of the nine recovered episodes, but due to those episodes having (by that point) long been available to viewers for purchase, many believe that this episode will be something that no one in the public will have had an opportunity to view as of yet, like perhaps an episode from Marco Polo?

We'll have to wait and see.

Considering that it wasn't that long ago that there were 106 episodes missing, believed wiped, and today there are only 97, we need to celebrate the recent large find, even if no other episodes were actually recovered.

And if further episodes were recovered and are subsequently announced, that will merit a large celebration as well.

And we might as well be patient.  After all, these episodes have been missing for more than 40 years. If they are somehow returned to us, what is waiting a few extra months to find out about it?

Until Next Time, although, with that being said, I really do want to know if there are more episodes about to be announced and when I might be able to see them.  In case you were wondering, I fall into the "follow this sort of thing with a close eye" camp.  If and when there is any news on new episodes recovered, I will let you know!