Doctor Who from the beginning

[Ian Symes]

I’ve just realised I’ve never plugged this on here. Last year, I decided I wanted to watch all of Doctor Who right from the very beginning, at a rate of one individual episode per day. Later, I decided to blog about it, mainly for my own benefit, so that I can chart my reactions and discoveries along the way.

That blog is this blog:
http://curiosityinajunkyard.tumblr.com/

Currently, I’ve not long started the Second Doctor, and unfortunately I’m mired down in episodes that don’t actually exist…

Topic

[Karnie]

A friend and I started doing this last year (well, watching the episodes, not documenting them)… the reconstructions were AGONIZING to get through, partly because most times we hadn’t a clue what was going on, but partly because they were mostly in Troughton’s run, and what we HAD seen of Troughton made us lament the loss of most of his episodes even more. Currently, we just finished Series 10.

[Ben Paddon]

My friend Dino and his other half are working their way through Doctor Who an episode at a time, but after trying to watch a few recons they ended up reading the TARDIS Data Core entries for missing episodes and skipping to the next available one (in part using the Lost in Time box set, so they still got to see bits of some missing stories).

Presently they’re about to start “Revenge of the Cybermen”. They started their runthrough about four or so years ago.

[Ian Symes]

You people and your friends are pussies. It’s a slog, I must admit, but there is still plenty to be enjoyed in the missing episodes. I’ve found myself enjoying the experience of “watching” the best missing ones (Marco Polo, The Myth Makers, The Highlanders) more than actually watching the rubbish ones (The Web Planet… mostly just The Web Planet).

[Karnie]

The Web Planet is my favorite bad episode, if only for the Zarbi bumping into the camera.

[si]

I decided to try this. Sadly, I only got up to episode one of The Daleks before other stuff got in the way. I’ll try again soon.

[Ian Symes]

I’d recommend setting a specific pace and sticking to it. For me, one episode a day works because a) 25 minutes isn’t much to squeeze in when I’m busy, b) the self-imposed limit usually leaves me wanting more, and stops me from getting sick of it.

Your man Ellard is also in the midst of a rewatch, and he’s doing a story per week. I think the trick is to just set any old schedule, because it’s just a mammoth task that it needs to be broken down.

[International Debris]

There’s a chap over on DWO doing the same thing, he’s nearly finished in fact:
http://news.drwho-online.co.uk/

There are a handful of gaps in my Who knowledge, entirely from the ’80s, so I’ve been watching from the start with my girlfriend. She’s a complete Who virgin, right down to not knowing when enemies are returning, and even when Doctors regenerate, and as I’m not even showing her the DVD sleeves she’s coming to it fresher than most people ever get the chance, which is a real joy to experience. We’ve not set a specific limit on episodes per day – it’s been between one and ten (the whole of The War Games) so far – and we’re in the middle of an enforced week-long break between Planet of Evil episodes 2 and 3 at the moment – but it’s very rewarding, and watching it like this I’m finally able to really appreciate some of the companions in the way I’d never had chance to before.

[ori-STUDFARM]

I tried doing this a while back. I took a break after the first Doctor and a combination of the Cadmium 2 Podcast ending (I hadn’t discovered The Time Vault then) and having better things to watch stopped me from going into the second Doctor era.

I used the Loose Cannon recreations where the episodes were missing. I loved their recreation of Marco Polo…but found most a real slog to ghet through with my eyes open.

I should pick up and start where I left off actually….but having just discovered The Shield TV show, I doubt I will. Not for a while anyways… (The Shield is awesome by the way!)

[Jonsmad]

I’ve been watching the DVD’s. Not in orders though, for a few years, ten or so left to get.

[McAleeCh]

Did this myself in the lead-up to the 50th anniversary – didn’t do any proper write-ups, though, unless you count the odd forum post here or there. Always interested in other people’s experiences doing marathons like this – will have to give your blog a proper read-through when I have a mo.

Flicked through the recent entries and was pleased to see you enjoyed “The Underwater Menace” – yes, it’s very much a B-movie sort of experience, but I agree wholeheartedly that it’s just such fun! Having said that – are you aware that the BBC have removed their DVD release of the story from the release schedule? It would have been the first official release of Episode 2 (recovered in 2011) and has had a completed suite of DVD extras sat on the shelf since 2013. There’s a petition here to show support for its release on DVD: http://tinyurl.com/savethefishpeople/

I also agree that anyone who’s not watching the recons doesn’t know what they’re missing – case in point; my marathon took place before “The Enemy of the World” and “The Web of Fear” were recovered. General reception of “Enemy” wasn’t that favourable, but I bloody loved the recon – and was pleased to see its reputation raised significantly when it was recovered later that year!

Anyway – looking forward to reading your journey so far when I’m able! Will be sure to keep it in my bookmarks for future reference. = )

[Ian Symes]

Cheers! I’m really, really enjoying this era of the show. The best thing is going into episodes with very little idea of what’s going to happen (unless they’re called X of the Daleks or have Cybermen on the DVD cover), or the received fan opinion on the quality. I remember being stunned to discover that The Space Museum had a bad rep.

And yes, I’m very much aware of the Underwater Menace issue – I was racing with BBC Worldwide for a while to see which of us would get round to it first. Luckily, the unreleased episode is out there on the interwebs.

[Ben Kirkham]

That’s a brave, bold undertaking. The amount of times I’ve considered doing this but chickened out. You have a huge advantage if you’re coming to a lot of it new. As you said, you’re unaware of a lot of fan opinion so you won’t ever dread what’s coming up next.

Which era are you on now, Ian?

I don’t want to spoil anything, just enjoy the ride. But I will just tell you in case you weren’t already aware that almost all of the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith era strikes pure gold, particularly ‘The Seeds of Doom’.

[Ian Symes]

Just about to come to the end of season four – Troughton’s first. I’ve seen plenty of bits and bobs of classic Who over the years (mostly Troughton, Pertwee and Baker, T), so I kind of know what to expect in places, but it’s such a joy to watch it all unfold as nature intended. But before this, I hadn’t seen a scrap of Dodo, Ben or Polly, for instance. I don’t think I’ve seen any Leela, Turlough or Mel either. All the gaps in my knowledge are being beautifully filled.

[Ben Kirkham]

Troughton’s stuff is brilliant, such a fucking shame so much is missing. Are you filling in the missing episode gaps with soundtracks or reconstructions? The animated episodes and, obviously, the discovery of The Underwater Menace Episode 3, The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear massively help his era. Troughton could make the weakest script excellent. My three personal favourites are Power of the Daleks, The Mind Robber and The War Games.

I think you’ve set a good pace to watch them at. With Doctor Who, there’s loads of change just around the corner. Check this out:

Running Through Corridors: Rob and Toby’s Marathon Watch of Doctor Who (Vol. 1: The 60s)

Volume 2 and 3 seem to be taking near enough a decade to get released, but the first volume is a thoroughly engaging, funny and thought-provoking read (apart from the typos, unfortunately). Anything Rob Shearman is involved in is bound to be good.

[Ian Symes]

Mostly using Loose Cannon Reconstructions, which are made from soundtracks and telesnaps, along with whatever tiny clips are available and occasionally some animation. I use the proper animations from the DVDs where available. Not got many more missing episodes to go, thankfully!

[Ben Kirkham]

Loose Cannon are fantastic! Particularly their Marco Polo recon. We’re so lucky that people recorded the soundtracks off-air all those years ago. There’s no way of experiencing series 1 episodes of The Avengers in its original form, for example.

One you get passed Episode 6 of The Space Pirates, you’re free of missing episodes! And every Pertwee episode is now watchable in colour too :)

[Ian Symes]

I’ve got the Bluray of Spearhead, so looking forward to going straight from black and white to HD!

[ori-STUDFARM]

>Loose Cannon are fantastic! Particularly their Marco Polo recon

I loved this too. When the Cadmium 2 Podcast reviewed it (Now no longer available after a falling out) they didn’t enjoy it. But they were using the BBC audio only releases, not the reconstructions.

But there were also some reconstructions I didn’t like that they really rated well from the BBC audio’s.

Has anyone experienced both audio only and reconstructions of the same episodes? I’ve always wondered if one format was more enjoyable than the other, or whether some stories worked better only as audio

[Ben Kirkham]

> “Has anyone experienced both audio only and reconstructions of the same episodes? I’ve always wondered if one format was more enjoyable than the other, or whether some stories worked better only as audio”

I have and I can say that it does make a difference to certain stories. Marco Polo is such a strong story that it’s fantastic either way, but there are loads of production photos and telesnaps that help the recon, particularly the colour recon. Stories such as The Celestial Toymaker greatly benefit from a reconstruction because it’s very visual in its storytelling; all the games work much better when enjoyed this way.

Most of the Troughton stuff is better through a reconstruction too, because there tends to be a bit more action and incident in Troughton’s era than Hartnell’s.

[Ben Kirkham]

And, btw, Spearhead from Space looks STUNNING in HD.

[si]

I bought the SfS bluray about a year ago, and still haven’t watched it. Silly me.

[Ben Kirkham]

There was initially a feeling of overkill with Spearhead from Space; it was released on DVD twice then BD. But the BD is meant as a companion to the second DVD release. There’s a superb Jon Pertwee documentary on the BD that I’d highly recommend.

[Karnie]

I hope you guys don’t mind a little self-promotional plug here, but it happens to be somewhat on-topic. We have a book out by Matthew J. Elliott (Lost in Time and Space: An Unofficial Guide to the Uncharted Journeys of Doctor Who) that chronicles all the travels, adventures and encounters the Doctor speaks of, but which is never seen onscreen. It’s a chronological timeline of these events, and lists them between or before whatever episodes they’re most likely to have taken place. It’s unlike any of our other books, which are typically straight encyclopedias or chronologies. It’s available on Amazon; you can also check it out and download a sample at our site: http://hassleinbooks.com/pages/book_lostWho.php

/Shameless plug

[Yaron Ru]

Episodes that don’t exist – what do you mean by that? Some episodes are unavailable online/on Dvd?

[Ian Symes]

Some episodes had their master tapes destroyed or recycled in the 60s and 70s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes

[Author]

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