The key thing I remember from the 90s about those "orphaned" episodes is how positively obscure, almost illusionary they all seemed; even more so than with the almost-complete stories, we had no idea what the BBC's plans were to release some of them, and even when they did, the supporting material, soundtracks and the like, wasn't easily available to fill in the gaps. Looking at how beautifully they've been treated on DVD and blu-ray causes me to have a bit of an old man moment; the younger generation of fans will never know just how unattainable those stories seemed to be at the time.
I remember the early days of r.a.dw when I found out that not only were more orphan episodes circulating than were commercially available at the time, but there were fans willing to share them with each other. I got blurry copies of a several of the stories on this tape and was enamored to have new to me Dr Who again.
Great comment! I was born in '68 and outside of Doctor Who Weekly and the Target novels accessing 'historical ' Who as a kid was next to impossible. These VHS releases were like a form of magical TV archaeology. The very idea that I might one day own all of the available classic material in the way I do now would have been mind blowing to my ten year old self. I've been buying the limited edition blu ray releases as well and am even toying with the idea of buying up the classic vhs range again if only for nostalgia reasons. It always annoyed me the artwork and logo wasn't kept uniform throughout the run, but this can now be rectified with fan made covers.
I also like how the Doctor Who Restoration Team has treated even the not-so-well-written stories from each of the Doctors' eras with the same love and care as the masterpieces.
I won a copy from DWM, along with Daleks: The Early Years, which I watched when I got home from school that day. I was feeling poorly the next morning, and watched the Cybermen tape to cheer me up instead of going to school. Even got my name in the magazine's competition winners column.
I first saw The Moonbase on the Lost in Time DVD. Seeing these comparison videos with the unrestored versions really puts into perspective the hard work the restoration team did to make these episodes look as good as they do now. Excellent video!
Sadly it seems dirty cuts are very much still alive in the restoration industry as a lot of Fortune Star movies have frame cuts applied to them during the remastering process. I don’t think it’s a huge loss but it’s an annoyance that they would just rather cut a damaged frame than repair it.
I had this tape and good grief comparing the quality on Moonbase and part 3 of Wheel in Space to the restored versions really shows the work they do. Also I didn't realised they had uploaded aome unrestored versions to iPlayer, that's cool.
I find it peculiar that the BBC have uploaded some unrestored episodes to iPlayer, as opposed to remastered copies - does anyone know why, or even (without sifting through the entire catalogue) which episodes these are? I already know of some stories affected by this, but it would be good for a list to be compiled somewhere, or know if the BBC intend to rectify this? Sure, some copies could be considered ‘archival treats’ by fans such as ourselves, however I don’t feel that the Restoration Team’s incredible work is being represented by the current uploads of some episodes…
Love the opening titles you've done. Do you plan to do comparisons for the Daleks tape and the ones for Docs 1-3? Pity Colin Baker never gave a summary of The Wheel in Space eps 4 & 5 before 6.
I saw The Moonbase on the Cybermen -The Early Years VHS. I loved it, especially the tray over the hole in the dome part. Weirdly watching is now on DVD it's kinda...not disappointing, but it's a story with lots of ideas being chucked around, but the resolution is kinda simple and not as engaging as all the separate parts would suggest.
I got my copy belatedly from the market in Milton Keynes, only to find that it cut out and went blank just after Pat removes the boot in 'The Moonbase' and continued only towards the end of part four when they were mucking about with the Gravitron controls. So I literally had to wait until 'Lost in Time' to see the whole thing.
From what I can see, it seems to be only the ones from incomplete serials. The Invasion is unrestored on iPlayer, for example, while Enemy of the World is restored.
This was the first ever Doctor Who video I got, and it was a Christmas present. It started my love of the Cybermen and I'm sorry I don't still have it (even if I have the episodes on DVD).
'There's no such thing as Macra.' I got my copy of Daleks The Early Years, Cybermen the Early Years and Shada (with the script book) in a double video box, from the gift shop of the Museum of the Moving Image (M.O.M.I.), but I can't remember where I got the Lost In Time set from, but I have seen the intro for The Tenth Planet by Ben, but I don't remember where it was. Any plans to do the other Years tapes? Seeing as The Hartnell Years had clips from both copies of the unaired pilot, Edge of Destruction, The Crusade, The Celestial Toymaker and The Troughton Years, The Pertwee Years and The Tom Baker Years.
I had this, the Daleks, the First and Second Doctor tapes. All single VHS tapes, and my they got plenty of watching. As I recall, the Third and Fourth Doctor sets were Double VHS packs
Odd how the VHS moonbase has more picture information to the tip and the left of frame and the player has more to the right and bottom... I wonder if both have been combined for full picture
Episode 4 on VHS and DVD are two separate/different prints transferred at different points in time via different methods. When they came to restore episodes for DVD they always scanned the full frame for maximum picture area, something that wasn't previously considered. For some Pertwee episodes in 'The Collection' they've actually included both film and videotape versions because they each contain unique picture information and it wouldn't be possible to seamlessly combine the two.
I think I technically saw the VHS version first. It was uploaded on either TH-cam or Dailymotion, back when videos could only be 10 mins Maximum! You always hoped there would be a playlist so you wouldn't have to search about; inevitably there would be one random part blocked. Lol.
Absolutely love your attempt at recreating the opening for the specials, I believe it may have been produced using Quantel Mirage. Is doing 3-D, texture map to polygons in video production, as far as I know you mainly went to Quantel for that
I remember seeing the two surviving episodes of The Moonbase tacked on to a VHS tape that the son of one of my father's colleagues had copied (I think the main feature might have been a painfully low-quality copy of The Invasion of TIme that kept losing colour). Doctor Who fans today don't realise how lucky they are!
Still have my original vhs copy Cybermen - The Early Years originally bought in 1992 (as with most of my collection). It was the first time I saw 60s Cybermen. It was a shame The Tenth Planet clips were such bad quality.
I first saw the orphan episodes on The Moonbase on the VHS release. I only had the funds to buy either the Cybermen or Daleks tape and went with the Cybermen because it had four episodes with Troughton. I was able to get the Daleks tape later.
The key thing I remember from the 90s about those "orphaned" episodes is how positively obscure, almost illusionary they all seemed; even more so than with the almost-complete stories, we had no idea what the BBC's plans were to release some of them, and even when they did, the supporting material, soundtracks and the like, wasn't easily available to fill in the gaps. Looking at how beautifully they've been treated on DVD and blu-ray causes me to have a bit of an old man moment; the younger generation of fans will never know just how unattainable those stories seemed to be at the time.
I remember the early days of r.a.dw when I found out that not only were more orphan episodes circulating than were commercially available at the time, but there were fans willing to share them with each other. I got blurry copies of a several of the stories on this tape and was enamored to have new to me Dr Who again.
Great comment! I was born in '68 and outside of Doctor Who Weekly and the Target novels accessing 'historical ' Who as a kid was next to impossible. These VHS releases were like a form of magical TV archaeology. The very idea that I might one day own all of the available classic material in the way I do now would have been mind blowing to my ten year old self. I've been buying the limited edition blu ray releases as well and am even toying with the idea of buying up the classic vhs range again if only for nostalgia reasons. It always annoyed me the artwork and logo wasn't kept uniform throughout the run, but this can now be rectified with fan made covers.
So true stories passed from parents and grandparents
Remember the SkyBSB showing of Wargames was so grainy and faded. Still have a copy on CD
I also like how the Doctor Who Restoration Team has treated even the not-so-well-written stories from each of the Doctors' eras with the same love and care as the masterpieces.
I won a copy from DWM, along with Daleks: The Early Years, which I watched when I got home from school that day. I was feeling poorly the next morning, and watched the Cybermen tape to cheer me up instead of going to school. Even got my name in the magazine's competition winners column.
Makes me appreciate the restoration team for the DVDs all the more.
I first saw The Moonbase on the Lost in Time DVD. Seeing these comparison videos with the unrestored versions really puts into perspective the hard work the restoration team did to make these episodes look as good as they do now. Excellent video!
For Episode 4, the VHS release used the Hong Kong/Singapore/Zambia print, while the DVD releases used the Australia print.
Thanks for this pal. Your longevity is assured.
Great memories of this VHS, and the Dalek one 😊
Sadly it seems dirty cuts are very much still alive in the restoration industry as a lot of Fortune Star movies have frame cuts applied to them during the remastering process. I don’t think it’s a huge loss but it’s an annoyance that they would just rather cut a damaged frame than repair it.
I had this tape and good grief comparing the quality on Moonbase and part 3 of Wheel in Space to the restored versions really shows the work they do. Also I didn't realised they had uploaded aome unrestored versions to iPlayer, that's cool.
I find it peculiar that the BBC have uploaded some unrestored episodes to iPlayer, as opposed to remastered copies - does anyone know why, or even (without sifting through the entire catalogue) which episodes these are? I already know of some stories affected by this, but it would be good for a list to be compiled somewhere, or know if the BBC intend to rectify this? Sure, some copies could be considered ‘archival treats’ by fans such as ourselves, however I don’t feel that the Restoration Team’s incredible work is being represented by the current uploads of some episodes…
I'd forgotten how bad the picture quality was on these releases. No remastering & worst source material used
I had this vhs as well. Even if the films were not restored, it was amazing to view the episodes.
Do you have doctor who the revenge of the cybermen on vhs
Yes thanks.
Love the opening titles you've done. Do you plan to do comparisons for the Daleks tape and the ones for Docs 1-3?
Pity Colin Baker never gave a summary of The Wheel in Space eps 4 & 5 before 6.
Thanks! And sure, in time :)
I saw The Moonbase on the Cybermen -The Early Years VHS. I loved it, especially the tray over the hole in the dome part. Weirdly watching is now on DVD it's kinda...not disappointing, but it's a story with lots of ideas being chucked around, but the resolution is kinda simple and not as engaging as all the separate parts would suggest.
Probably one of my favourite VHS releases back in the day which I would watch over and over.
Maybe the links will be on the animated Wheel in Space (assuming that ever happens)
Amazing work as always; so beautiflly presented
I got my copy belatedly from the market in Milton Keynes, only to find that it cut out and went blank just after Pat removes the boot in 'The Moonbase' and continued only towards the end of part four when they were mucking about with the Gravitron controls. So I literally had to wait until 'Lost in Time' to see the whole thing.
5:22 -- "Give the Restoration Team a hand..." I see what you did there.
Thank you for putting this together. I still have this and The Daleks years VHS tapes, good memories 👍
So does iPlayer use unrestored versions of all episodes, or just the ones from incomplete serials?
From what I can see, it seems to be only the ones from incomplete serials. The Invasion is unrestored on iPlayer, for example, while Enemy of the World is restored.
Not going to lie, the non-digitally replaced text actually looks WAY nicer. 3:55
Thank you for your work on these videos. We tend to forget how lucky we are with dvd/Blu-ray just what we used to put up with. Brilliant as ever.
Can you do a comparison between the 1995 Special Edition VHS and the 2008 anniversary DVD of The Five Doctors?
Imagine if we can finally name a source who is giving the 16mm film print of a Doctor Who episode to Rodger Stevens during 1981?
This was the first ever Doctor Who video I got, and it was a Christmas present. It started my love of the Cybermen and I'm sorry I don't still have it (even if I have the episodes on DVD).
'There's no such thing as Macra.' I got my copy of Daleks The Early Years, Cybermen the Early Years and Shada (with the script book) in a double video box, from the gift shop of the Museum of the Moving Image (M.O.M.I.), but I can't remember where I got the Lost In Time set from, but I have seen the intro for The Tenth Planet by Ben, but I don't remember where it was. Any plans to do the other Years tapes? Seeing as The Hartnell Years had clips from both copies of the unaired pilot, Edge of Destruction, The Crusade, The Celestial Toymaker and The Troughton Years, The Pertwee Years and The Tom Baker Years.
I do miss warblery sound
Pip you are an actual wizard!
Good ol' days!!!
Loved these tapes.
That's very interesting. I hope you do the other six Years tapes (or at the very least the four with whole episodes).
When is Doctor Who: The Years on William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker and Colin Baker VHS/DVD comparisons?
Whenever I get round to doing them.
I had this, the Daleks, the First and Second Doctor tapes. All single VHS tapes, and my they got plenty of watching. As I recall, the Third and Fourth Doctor sets were Double VHS packs
The Tom Baker Years was a double video, the rest of the Years tapes were singles.
I have this on vhs somehwere.
Odd how the VHS moonbase has more picture information to the tip and the left of frame and the player has more to the right and bottom... I wonder if both have been combined for full picture
Episode 4 on VHS and DVD are two separate/different prints transferred at different points in time via different methods. When they came to restore episodes for DVD they always scanned the full frame for maximum picture area, something that wasn't previously considered.
For some Pertwee episodes in 'The Collection' they've actually included both film and videotape versions because they each contain unique picture information and it wouldn't be possible to seamlessly combine the two.
Cracking stuff! This video, along with The Troughton Years cemented Pat as my favourite Doctor.
Hello Pip I'm a huge fan of your technically brilliant work. I'm sure Verity Lambert and Delia Derbyshire would have been too. 😊
I think I technically saw the VHS version first. It was uploaded on either TH-cam or Dailymotion, back when videos could only be 10 mins Maximum!
You always hoped there would be a playlist so you wouldn't have to search about; inevitably there would be one random part blocked. Lol.
Wow, amazing how much The Moonbase scrubbed up. Lost in Time was my first viewing, I’ve been completely spoiled by all the DVDs!
I first watched The Moonbase about a month ago, on DVD 😅
I never realised you could clearly see the eyes even in the video. For years I never realised we were supposed to see them.
The first time I saw the moonbase was on the lost in time dvd.
Absolutely love your attempt at recreating the opening for the specials, I believe it may have been produced using Quantel Mirage. Is doing 3-D, texture map to polygons in video production, as far as I know you mainly went to Quantel for that
Thanks very much, and yes, it would have likely been Quantel at the time.
I remember seeing the two surviving episodes of The Moonbase tacked on to a VHS tape that the son of one of my father's colleagues had copied (I think the main feature might have been a painfully low-quality copy of The Invasion of TIme that kept losing colour). Doctor Who fans today don't realise how lucky they are!
Still have my original vhs copy Cybermen - The Early Years originally bought in 1992 (as with most of my collection). It was the first time I saw 60s Cybermen. It was a shame The Tenth Planet clips were such bad quality.
I first saw the orphan episodes on The Moonbase on the VHS release. I only had the funds to buy either the Cybermen or Daleks tape and went with the Cybermen because it had four episodes with Troughton. I was able to get the Daleks tape later.