Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection: (1966-1967) 3 (BBC Audio) [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes collection - Volume 3 is where we finally start to see many classic Who serials that are now no longer held by the BBC in their original form {videotape}. In this collection of fine looking CD's we have some of the all time greats, the list as follows;

The Smugglers - 4 episodes - {0 exist}
The Tenth Planet - 4 episodes - {episodes 1,2,3 exist}
The Power of the Daleks - 6 episodes - {0 exist}
The Highlanders - 4 episodes - {0 exist}
The Underwater Menace - {4 episodes} - {episodes 2 + 3 exist} - Episode 2 discovered in December 2011.
The Moonbase - 4 episodes - {episodes 2 + 4 exist}

Ok, now we know all about them, lets start reviewing;

The Smugglers - All 4 episodes are missing of Brian Hayles the Smugglers, which is a shame really as I have always rather enjoyed it, I find it a quaint little serial that starts the season off with a laugh, everybody in the Smugglers were certainly having fun during the filming of this adventure and it comes across in their perfomances. William Hartnell is only 8 short episodes away at this point to regenerating in to the Second Doctor and leaving the show forever, its a shame as I always had a place in my heart for this tough bullish but ultimately sweet old boy. New companions Ben and Polly start off in this serial as all companions do, year right!! 17th century my a**, well they like all the others before and after them are soon proven wrong as they become embroiled in a quest for pirate treasure and deal with all sorts of nasty characters. Overall I really enjoyed the Smugglers, I know that it is slated by the fans but I have always enjoyed it and afterall its missing so they can't hold to much against it, surely?

The Tenth Planet - William Hartnell's final bow as the First Doctor begins and what a location to start off with, the south pole, how Doctor Who!!!, with the regeneration only a few episodes away, we start to see a much more relaxed character in old Billy, he certainly proves this by being absent for half the story and appearing only at the end to die, transforming in to Cosmic Hobo Patrick Troughton, let's not forget that while this is probably one of the most important serials ever because of the regeneration, its also the debut for the Doctor's 2nd most evil adversary - The Cybermen. Sock-faced or not this is the birth of a race that has endured past all the Doctor's and is still amongst on TV today. The Cybermen were born. All in all this is a great story and a true classic, the BBC DVD release should hopefully reconstruct or reanimate the missing 4th episode. 10/10.

The Power of the Daleks - Every Doctor has his moments but Patrick Troughton refused to wait like Peter Davison until the end of his run for a truly classic story. The Power of the Daleks is in my opinion the second greatest Dalek serial ever, the Evil of the Daleks coming first of course. This production just exudes class and expense, the sets are the best I have ever seen, the acting is top notch and as for Pat, he is inspirational here. For me he is one of the greatest Doctor's ever to have been, and I am furious that the BBC does not hold half of the mans episodes. The Power of the Daleks is just one of 14 serials Troughton made that is missing or incomplete. 14 out of 21, outragous. The Daleks here are at there best, they quietly manipulate and scheme their way in to making the humans that control them trust them, in the end of course they kill everything that moves and when they have finished killing everything the Doctor in turn kills them, simple enough really but its the motives of the characters that make this story so thrilling. I can't recommend this serial enough. Its got to be the best. 20/10.

The Highlanders - Jamie McCrimmon was not known in the world of Doctor Who at this point, his name and image later becomes burned in to every Doctor's personality as Jamie was the greatest male Who companion ever. Sarah Jane Smith will always be the greatest, but Jamie for me is right next door. Over the coming 20 TV serial Frazer Hines would appear in, he would become an immortal symbol of a Doctor Who Companion, also, Frazer holds the record for the longest portrayal of a character in Doctor Who other than the first 4 Doctors. The Highlanders, I was never a fan of it, in the early years for me, I was never a fan of the historicals and so I did not pay this story much notice. However, times have changed indeed and so now I love each and every one of them, even if its dire, which the Highlanders certainly is not, Patrick Troughton, still settling in to the role of the 2nd Doctor is at his more mischevious here, firstly by playing a German Doctor, then an old washerwoman and finally a British army sergeant. All to comic avail, the Highlanders is a story that I now feel fondly about and is a welcome addition in this BBC CD box set. 10/10.

The Underwater Menace - I know, I know Zaroff was completely ham but even so I thought has was great, only episode 3 survived for us to see until episode 2 was finally located by film collector Terry Burnett, so lets all give Mr Burnett a big hand for bringing back more Pat. Now then, when episode 3 was by itself in the archives, it was hardly the best episode that could have been spared of Underwater, episodes 1,2,4 would have been better I'm sure. Well now episode 2 has been located and returned, I shall look foward to the 2019 DVD release date, these episodes being returned has rather muddled up the Restoration Teams DVD schedule, what must we do with these episodes, Lost in Time Volume 2, Re-release Lost in Time or even Animation, Hmmmm, only 50% of The Underwater Menace, The Moonbase and The Crusade is missing so time will tell what 2/E decide is best for us Who fans. For now though until then we have a beautifully remastered BBC CD ready and waiting or if you are one of the lucky fans who can't listen to Who, I sure you'll have Loose Cannon Productions fantastic reconstruction. Either way you're a winner, The story is weak in places with the sets letting things down, but remember the 1960's production values and budget. So what about the script then? well, its not half bad, things can go over the top sometimes with Zaroff but on the whole its pretty solid.

And Finally its - The Moonbase - Patrick Troughton's first encounter with the Cybermen, the great thing about Moonbase is Morris Barry's direction, firstly he redesigned the dredded sock-head creations in to something that was genuinely scary, The Cyber voices are a massive improvement, and really add to the production, The Cybermen were to appear 4 times during Patrick Troughton's reign as the Doctor and so here we begin. The Moonbase, a serial set on our moon, wow, I would have never quessed, anywho, the plot is simple as ever, the Cybermen want the weather tracking control station with its Gravitron for their own purposes, to destroy the Earth of course. The Doctor and his crew attempt as ever to stop this from occuring and so we have an action packed serial set on the Moon 2 years before NASA claimed it in 69'. Ha, BBC in first as ever. Really though this little gem may have 2 of its 4 episodes missing but it does not take away from the programme, just set up a DVD + CD player and swap between the two when needed. All in all a great runaround on the Moon with Pat Troughton and the gang. 10/10

Well, I have exuasted myself with over 4 hours of writing reviews, I'm off to bed to get some shut-eye, when I wake however, I hope to hell that all those 106 episodes have been recovered. If not, these great BBC CD box sets will do just fine instead. Goodnight all.

Many thanks for reading,

M.B.

I have to say, without a doubt, that these stories are the best CDs I've ever owned!

Having bought all of the Doctor Who The Lost TV Episodes Collections chronologically, I have been able to fill otherwise gaping holes in my ever expanding Doctor Who DVD collection. The quality is fabulous and each story is presented in it own case with booklet and track listing. If you divide the price by how many episodes there are in each collection you will find that they are being sold at very reasonable prices per episode, meaning a good bargain for any who fan.

I am very pleased with these lost who classics both in their presentation and in their restoration, and I would recommend them all. (Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes: Collections 1,2,3,4,5,6)

On 13 CD's. Dozens of Doctor Who TV episodes are lost as visual film recordings - but they survive as audio soundtracks, digitally remastered with additional linking narration by members of the original cast. This handsome box set collects together six adventures which are either wholly or partially lost from the TV archives, but which can be enjoyed in their entirety on audio. Presented in chronological order of transmission, the stories in this collection are 'The Smugglers', 'The Tenth Planet', 'The Power of the Daleks', 'The Highlanders', 'The Underwater Menace' and 'The Moonbase', and feature William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton as the first and second Doctors. Bonus material to be confirmed.