As followers of my Twitter feed will have observed, I’ve been chasing the BBC in the hope that we will be enlightened why the Underwater Menace has been put on hold yet again. Their latest email reply to my chasing (which I must say arrived very promptly!) ran as follows:
We appreciate that some Doctor Who fans are disappointed that we have not yet been able to release The Underwater Menace on DVD. We would like to reassure everyone that we are currently reviewing the best way to bring fans more Classic Doctor Who titles. Please bear with us – we’ll let you know more as soon as we can.
Suffice to say – this is a very intriguing reply. Not a simple “kindly mind your own business” nor a denial that there is anything further on the way. And also a quite clear inference that, whatever the BBC would like to do, it is not actually possible for them to confirm their plans – or perhaps even carry them out.
I am of course in no way ‘on the inside’ – no connections, no sources, and no idea! Which in some ways makes it rather fun – being a historian I am used to speculating without possession of the full facts, and it’s entertaining to deduce what we can from known facts rather than speculative claims from sources (although I am very much on the lookout for those too!) – and from the facts at hand I deduce the following:
- There a strong probability that at least one more episode (and quite probably both missing episodes) of The Underwater Menace has been recovered and potentially viable. This is simply on the balance of probability that I cannot see the BBC postponing release on information that the episode has been found somewhere and is potentially recoverable – I would presume either that the recovered episode is potentially not viable, or that they have recovered one episode with a strong lead for the last missing episode.
- There is a definite possibility that more has been recovered. Again, this is on the balance of probabilities – the BBC have no qualms about releasing Doctor Who many many times to make as much money as possible – witness for example the multiple ‘revisitations’ released, even before the entire classic series catalogue has been completed. One also suspects that they would not forsake the opportunity to release The Crusades with the 2 missing episodes animated – again, based upon past behaviour of releasing other stories with their missing episodes animated – especially the precedent set by The Moonbase which was the first instance of a story with half of its material missing being released in full. To press pause on this lucrative money-spinner one presumes that they have good reason to hold back.
- There are good reasons why the BBC are being silent – and we don’t know what these are. Let’s face it – if all 96 episodes were sitting in BBC HQ right this very second, they would be dusting off some horrendous B-grade celebrity to interview Peter Davison and Peter Capaldi about their memories of watching Patrick Troughton in an equally horrendous “episode recovery celebration” that would have most fans ashamed by association. The silence on this matter indicates that most probably they do not have all 96 absolutely guaranteed as recovered and viable for release – but we cannot be sure why. It may be that they have 96 prints – but some may be 50:50 in their viability. It may be that they have a strong idea where the remaining prints are, and are trying to dampen the risk of being held to ransom by not revealing which prints they have recovered. It may even be that there are a whole host of legal nightmares in the background, and it would do more PR damage to announce a find and then pull it – the experience of The Underwater Menace has already demonstrated the unfortunate propensity of the fans to over-react!
- Even if we have the lot – we won’t get them all at once! This is really just common sense – the BBC want to maximise their profits, and they won’t get that if they release 20 new releases – especially for the likes of The Invasion or The Moonbase where there is already a release. So either way – we’re in for the long haul.
That being the reasonable conclusions from established facts, we now venture into supposition. I am inclined to say that it is pure speculation to say how many episodes are recovered, or when we can expect to find them. Rumours are, as you would expect, rife … so what follows is what I conclude from the rumours:
- If we accept more episodes have been found (as on the whole I am inclined to), then I am prepared to give greater credence to rumours that Marco Polo and Power of the Daleks have been found, and in the case of the latter, private showings may have occurred. If true, then this is already fantastic news.
- It is reasonable to speculate that The Moonbase and The Crusades have also been recovered in full – partly due to rumour, but also because the former was delayed, and the latter has not had any work done for an animated release.
- There are almost certainly more strong links besides these – that is why there are rumours, and that is why it has been spun out for so long. Just because there are more potentially out there does not necessarily mean that they are recoverable – the films may be damaged, or the link when investigated may prove fruitless.
So in conclusion – I am bracing myself (and my credit card) for action. I am confident on balance of probability that more missing episodes are on their way. But until we have confirmation, or a kind soul leaks some proof, we’re just going to have to wait patiently to discover how many have been found, and when we’re going to get them …
Dan Talks Doctor Who 