ckuppe@spock.UUCP (Charles A. Kupperman '87 ) (05/05/85)
Wallingford, Connecticut.) Not since Time-Life got a hold of the first four seasons of Baker in 1978 have I seen such horrible adulteration. I refer to Lionheart's already executed scheme to mutilate and/or annhialate two specific Pertwee episodes. Many parts of the country are simultaneously seeing a new Pertwee package, necessarily including some Black-and-white adventures. All the previously shown B/W adventures had had some episodes existing in colour, but Lionheart had a complete B/W print of the story, so they showed that. Fine. But Planet of the Daleks and Invasion of the Dinosaurs do not exist in complete colour or complete B/W. Episodes 3 and 1 respectively are only B/W and several of the other episodes are only colour. Therefore, Lionheart couldn't show a complete B/W adventure without spending some money changing colour episodes to B/W. But Lionheart is a cheapskate organisation. Rather than spend the money, they had the option of either showing a part colour/part B/W adventure, or somehow editing out the one B/W episode in each adventure. Somehow, they accomplished this impossible and dastardly mission. Planet of the Daleks and Invasion of the Dinosaurs are now both 5 parters!! How this was done, I don't know yet. It could have been done Howard DaSilva style, with a narrator telling the confused audience briefly what happened in the episode. This would have been tough- to explain in a few seconds a whole episode of character and plot development. It could have been done by some clever editing, changing the episode lengths to nearly a 1/2 hour and somehow editing episode 3 into episodes 2 and 4 using out-takes or something. Who knows? The point is, it's too late to stop it now. From a Dr. Who fannish, an ethical, and a broadcasting point of view Lionheart have perpetrated a terrible misdeed. Added to this is their tragic REMOVAL of Planet of Fire and Caves of Androzani from the Davison package. Those of you who have seen these adventures, treasure the memory. If you have a videotape, hold on to it with both hands. As I believe I posted once before, these adventures are gone- Until the time when, in a couple of years, we finally get the Colin Baker adventures. At that time, Caves of Androzani will have been edited- to make the regeneration less ambiguous in some way. To end a dismal note on a lighter one... 1986 is just around the corner, as a friend of mine said. In order to preserve the true course of history, I'm counting on eight of you true Dr. Who fans out there to dress up in spray-painted ski masks with a flashlight taped on top, or some other approximation of a Tenth Planet cyberman, and go out to Antarctica and attack some unsuspecting research base! If we want Dr. Who regarded as a truthful record of life in the universe, while the UNIT stories did not affect the whole globe, it is necessary to safeguard the true course of history. Also, for those of you struggling to keep Dr. Who on the air, it would be a premier publicity stunt! Charles Kupperman, "Dr. Who is required. Bring him here." "Chap with wings- eight rounds rapid," was from the Daemons, part 5. The ONLY Pertwee five-parter, until Lionheart got their hands on them all.
dr37@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Joanna Bryson) (05/07/85)
I've seen the Doctor both in Chicago, the all color, spliced-into-one- or-two-episodes and also seen a few in North Carolina, where they are shown in the orriginal half hour format, and I've noticed that the former often loose entire scenes. for example, in the Pertwee episode with the Sontaurin (?) (I belive it was called "Warrior from the Stars") I've seen it twice in Chicago since NC and it definately does not have the scene where the proffesor releases the doctor from the control pannel. He's just suddenly out hiding behind doors after we see his unsuccesful escape attempts. I belive they've done this to the Baker episodes too, though I can't think of a specific example. Joanna
brown@nic_vax.UUCP (05/08/85)
> Not since Time-Life got a hold of the first four seasons of Baker in 1978 > have I seen such horrible adulteration. I refer to Lionheart's already > executed scheme to mutilate and/or annhialate two specific Pertwee episodes. > Many parts of the country are simultaneously seeing a new Pertwee > package, necessarily including some Black-and-white adventures. All the > previously shown B/W adventures had had some episodes existing in > colour, but Lionheart had a complete B/W print of the story, so they > showed that. Fine. But Planet of the Daleks and Invasion of the > Dinosaurs do not exist in complete colour or complete B/W. Episodes 3 > and 1 respectively are only B/W and several of the other episodes are > only colour. Therefore, Lionheart couldn't show a complete B/W > adventure without spending some money changing colour episodes to B/W. I hate to disagree here, but with today's equipment, no money is spent to make B&W out of color. All one does is kill the chroma level, even better yet, kill the color burst. Killing th color burst is necessary by FCC rules when the program is in B&W. So that isn't the reason. > But Lionheart is a cheapskate organisation. Rather than spend the > money, they had the option of either showing a part colour/part B/W adventure, > or somehow editing out the one B/W episode in each adventure. Somehow, > they accomplished this impossible and dastardly mission. I called the man in charge at Lionheart (forgot his name, but I do have it at work) said that the missing episodes were not available. I told him otherwise and he said that he would check with the BBC about it. It think that it is time that I call him back. If I can't put pressure on him, my local program director can, as WHA-TV spends plenty of money on Dr Who. > Planet of the Daleks and Invasion of the Dinosaurs are now both 5 parters!! > > How this was done, I don't know yet. It could have been done Howard > DaSilva style, with a narrator telling the confused audience briefly > what happened in the episode. This would have been tough- to explain > in a few seconds a whole episode of character and plot development. > It could have been done by some clever editing, changing the episode > lengths to nearly a 1/2 hour and somehow editing episode 3 into episodes > 2 and 4 using out-takes or something. Who knows? Well I know, as I have them on tape. Invasion was done by just leaving off the first episode. Planet of the Daleks just left out the missing episode. The story had a jump in the story line. The Doctor goes inside the Dalek joint, the next thing you know, he has returned and is telling a little about what he saw. > The point is, it's too late to stop it now. From a Dr. Who fannish, an > ethical, and a broadcasting point of view Lionheart have perpetrated a > terrible misdeed. It may not be too late, like I mentioned above. > Added to this is their tragic REMOVAL of Planet of Fire and Caves of > Androzani from the Davison package. Those of you who have seen these > adventures, treasure the memory. If you have a videotape, hold on to it > with both hands. As I believe I posted once before, these adventures > are gone- Until the time when, in a couple of years, we finally get the > Colin Baker adventures. At that time, Caves of Androzani will have been > edited- to make the regeneration less ambiguous in some way. I beg to differ. Around Wisconsin, Planet of Fire and Caves Of Androzani are shown without edits. They are on the shelves of WHA-TV and WMVS TV in Milwaukee. Yes, I do have them on tape. Check with your local station, maybe they don't want to air them, or Lionheart pulled them AFTER we got our hands on them. The current air contract is not up yet. -- |------------| | |-------| o| JVC HRD725U Mr. Video | | | o| |--------------| | | | | | |----| o o o | | |-------| O| |--------------| |------------| VHS Hi-Fi (the only way to go) (!ihnp4!uwvax!astroatc!nic_vax!brown)
percus@acf4.UUCP (Allon G. Percus) (05/09/85)
> I've seen the Doctor both in Chicago, the all color, spliced-into-one- > or-two-episodes and also seen a few in North Carolina, where they are shown in > the orriginal half hour format, and I've noticed that the former often loose > entire scenes. The funny thing is that it seems to be done the reverse way with the "Five Doctors." I can think of two scenes, the one where Tegan tells the first Doctor to "hurry up, Doc" and the scene outside Sarah's house, where the camera focuses up on a sign "Beware of Dog." These two were not in the single episode, 90 minute special aired on the BBC. However, here in US, when I saw it in 4 episodes, they were added so that it became about 94 minutes long. Has anyone else noticed this, or is it my imagination? A. G. Percus (ARPA) percus@acf4 (NYU) percus.acf4 (UUCP) ...!ihnp4!cmcl2!acf4!percus
nyssa@abnji.UUCP (nyssa of traken) (05/14/85)
> >The funny thing is that it seems to be done the reverse way with the >"Five Doctors." I can think of two scenes, the one where Tegan tells >the first Doctor to "hurry up, Doc" and the scene outside Sarah's >house, where the camera focuses up on a sign "Beware of Dog." These >two were not in the single episode, 90 minute special aired on the >BBC. However, here in US, when I saw it in 4 episodes, they were >added so that it became about 94 minutes long. > >Has anyone else noticed this, or is it my imagination? It is entirely your imagination. The version I saw on the BBC had both those scenes you mentioned. I have the original broadcast on video tape, if you find a PAL machine, I shall show you. (I even have some of the bloody fund raising by the BBC for the Hospital for Sick Children, or some such rot.) 4 episodes together added up to 94 min due to repeated credits, and scene overlap. -- James C Armstrong, Jnr. ihnp4!abnji!nyssa The Boss gave me one of these, ten seconds, he said. Let's see if it works...
brown@nicmad.UUCP (05/16/85)
[] If you see 'The Five Doctors' in four episodes, it is NOT the natural airing. The story was produced as one 90 minute special, which the U.S. got to see two days before Great Britain. -- |------------| | |-------| o| JVC HRD725U Mr. Video | | | o| |--------------| | | | | | |----| o o o | | |-------| O| |--------------| |------------| VHS Hi-Fi (the only way to go) ({!seismo,!ihnp4}!uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!brown)
percus@acf4.UUCP (Allon G. Percus) (05/18/85)
Well...It's still early for senility to come upon me, but I watched
a tape of "The Five Doctors" as recently broadcast on Channel 31
in New York City, and saw neither of those scenes again.
I may be mistaken about the "Beware of Dog" sign, as I do not
get wonderful reception, but neither I nor a friend saw the
"Come on, Doc" scene, and both of us were looking out for it.
Maybe I should see a Doctor...
(or anyone who can master the art
of finding what's wrong)
A. G. Percus
(ARPA) percus@acf4
(NYU) percus.acf4
(UUCP) ...!ihnp4!cmcl2!acf4!percus