Lost in Time (Doctor Who)

"Doctor Who - Lost in Time: Collection of Rare Episodes" is a BBC three-disc boxset DVD released in 2004. It is a collection of restored "Doctor Who" episodes and clips from stories that are incomplete or otherwise missing from the Corporation's archives. There are 108 episodes of the programme not known to exist, all from the black-and-white 1960s era; although the search goes on, many or all of them may be lost forever, hence this collection's title. Audio recordings of all the episodes' soundtracks do exist – made off-air at the time of transmission by fans – and have been archived by the BBC. The visual and audio quality of episodes and clips as originally recovered varies, although the BBC-affiliated Doctor Who Restoration Team has worked to improve the quality for release.

Footage found in the set varies from complete episodes to extremely short surviving clips that were cut either for time or for censorship reasons. Several episodes in the set include commentary tracks moderated by Gary Russell and featuring actors and crew from the original productions.

In the UK, the set was only available as a single, 3-disc set. In North America, it was available either as separate 1-disc William Hartnell and 2-disc Patrick Troughton sets or in a box with both collections.

Content

Hartnell Era stories

* 008: "The Reign of Terror" – Brief clips 8 mm made by a fan pointing a mute cine camera at a TV screen during transmission. These have been synced up with the appropriate sections from another fan's recording of the soundtrack.
* 014: "The Crusade" – episodes 1 and 3, plus soundtracks for 2 and 4, and introduction and linking material provided by actor William Russell in character as Ian Chesterton (these sequences, originally recorded for the 1999 VHS release of the story, are accessible as an 'Easter egg' when the story is viewed via the 'Play all' option for the story). Ep 1 has a commentary option featuring actor Julian Glover.
* 018: "Galaxy 4" – a lengthy sequence from episode 1 (see "The Missing Years", below) plus off-air film recording clips.
* 020: "The Myth Makers" – off-air film recording clips.
* 021: "The Daleks' Master Plan" – episodes 2, 5 and 10, plus clips from other episodes. Ep 2 has a commentary option featuring actors Peter Purves and Kevin Stoney, and designer Raymond Cusick.
* 024: "The Celestial Toymaker" episode 4.
* 026: "The Savages" off-air film recording clips.
* 028: "The Smugglers" (brief) clips and amateur footage showing the filming on location.
* 029: "The Tenth Planet" clips including off-air film recordings.

Troughton Era stories

* 030: "The Power of the Daleks" clips including footage re-used in surviving programs, off-air film recordings and a trailer aired on the BBC ahead of the original transmission. (Brief further footage has been discovered since "Lost in Time" was released.)
* 031: "The Highlanders" censored clips and some on-location footage.
* 032: "The Underwater Menace" episode 3 and censored clips from other episodes. (Actor Frazer Hines's introduction to this episode from an earlier VHS boxset ("The Ice Warriors") is also here as an 'Easter egg'.)
* 033: "The Moonbase" - episodes 2 and 4, plus soundtracks for 1 and 3.
* 034: "The Macra Terror" clips including censored footage and off-air film recordings.
* 035: "The Faceless Ones" episodes 1 and 3, plus a clip from an off-air film recording.
* 036: "The Evil of the Daleks" episode 2, with a commentary option featuring actor Deborah Watling. Also "The Last Dalek" – footage showing the filming of model and effects sequences at Ealing Studios, and a recreated climactic sequence combining this footage with the original soundtrack (see "The Missing Years", below).
* 038: "The Abominable Snowmen" episode 2, clips from episode 4, plus amateur footage showing the filming on location. There is a commentary option on the episode featuring Deborah Watling.
* 040: "The Enemy of the World" episode 3.
* 041: "The Web of Fear" episode 1 plus censored clips from other episodes, with a commentary option on the episode featuring Deborah Watling and story editor Derrick Sherwin.
* 042: "Fury from the Deep" censored clips, footage from the filming of the final episode in studio, and a recreated climactic sequence combining such footage with the original soundtrack.
* 043: "The Wheel in Space" episodes 3 and 6 plus censored clips from other episodes, the latter episode offering a commentary option featuring story editor Derrick Sherwin and director Tristan de Vere Cole.
* 049: "The Space Pirates" episode 2 plus surviving film sequences from episode 1.

The Missing Years

In addition, the 1998 documentary "The Missing Years" is included on disc 3. It details the loss and recovery of 1960s "Doctor Who" episodes and is presented by Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling. It features the longest extant clip from an otherwise missing "Doctor Who" episode – over six minutes of episode one of "Galaxy 4"; a version of "The Final End" recreating the climax of "The Evil of the Daleks"; fan Ian Levine stating that he believes there will never be fewer than 110 missing episodes, then begging to be proven wrong (he was); and a lengthy recreation of the first regeneration sequence put together from all that exists of the end of "The Tenth Planet" and the start of "The Power of the Daleks". In its original form, this documentary was presented in an earlier VHS boxset ("The Ice Warriors", although in North America it was instead packaged with "Edge of Destruction/The Original Pilot", and either way shared the tape with the one surviving episode of "The Underwater Menace" with Hines' intro mentioned above), which pre-dates the rediscovery of some of the "Lost in Time" content. The DVD presentation includes some new footage documenting the return of two previously missing episodes. "The Lion", the first episode of "The Crusade" was discovered in New Zealand in 1999, while "Day of Armageddon", the second part of the "The Daleks' Master Plan" was returned in 2004 by a former BBC employee. This addendum ends the documentary.

ee also

*Doctor Who missing episodes