Macra Terror!
Dec. 6th, 2018 11:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
auroracloudSometimes I like it that websites remember what I like. YouTube just shoved this at me this morning (when I went looking for a morning yoga):
There's going to be an animated release of The Macra Terror next year! Aaaaaaahhh! Wheeeee!!!
For those not in the know, getting into Classic Who and in particular 1960s Who means I've also joined the shared fandom experience/trauma of 'oh gods why did all those episodes from the 1960s get wiped and why haven't they all been recovered??' The short version: Macra Terror is a story from the early Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) era that has been completely missing until now, only the audio of the serial and a few short clips existing (and scripts, telesnaps, fan-made reconstructions etc.). And now they've created an animated version to the audio, and it will be released in March 2019! It's one of the stories long-term fans constantly keep wishing would be found, so I'm pretty darn excited about an animation!
The long version, ie. more background to those not in the Classic Who fandom but curious to know more about this whole thing. Basically, in the early days of TV, the BBC didn't think that anyone would need the old Doctor Who episodes once they'd been shown, because VHS players didn't exist yet and also, the actors' unions didn't believe in reruns because that would mean fewer new acting jobs. So a whole lot of TV shows were wiped from existence, including many serials from the First and Second Doctor eras (William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton). Until, you know, a few years later things changed and reruns and video releases became possible. Since then, they've been trying to recover all the episodes they could find from whatever archives, boxes lying around in basements, old TV stations from countries that the serials were exported to which didn't return the tapes as they were meant to, etc.
They've also been creating official animated episodes to fill in stories where most of the episodes exist - for example, The Invasion, a legendary Cybermen episode from Troughton's last era and one of my personal favourites, has 6 out of 8 episodes existing, so the missing two have been animated to make a complete DVD release possible. The Ice Warriors also has two animated episodes, as does The Moonbase, another early Troughton story that aired just before The Macra Terror. The Underwater Menace was released on DVD with the two missing episodes reconstructed from audio and telesnaps - I think they reckoned that it wasn't good enough to warrant the trouble and expense of being animated, because well, to be honest, it isn't. Recently, Troughton's whole first story, The Power of the Daleks, was animated and released on DVD (I've yet to see it, actually, because when I was gathering myself Troughton DVDVs, I focused on those that had at least some of the actual original episodes existing. It is on my shopping list, because OMG Troughton and OMG Ben and Polly).
Seems they're following it up with The Macra Terror, one of the other completely missing stories and a pretty legendary one from what I've been able to tell. If you remember the Tenth Doctor and Martha episode Gridlock and those crab-like beasties that lived down in the exhaust fumes of the fast lane and attacked the car Martha was in - they originated in The Macra Terror and have only ever been back in Gridlock.
Most of you might remember that this summer, when Twitch did the Classic Who Marathon where they showed most of the existing Classic Who during about two months, I watched as much as I could, fell head over heels in love with Classic Who (I should still post about why I love it!) and most of all I fell in love with the Second Doctor era. I still should post why that, too - briefly, though, Troughton is a fabulous actor, I really love his interpretation of the Doctor, and he has a wonderful camaraderie with his companions. Two's companions are among my all-time favourites, too, and I enjoy the old-time adventurous charm of the era combined with the fact that they've already figured out how to do TV drama and sci-fi TV. I also love the warm-heartedness and fun, and I feel the era it's quite progressive for its time in many of its values. (Not so much in terms of race, alas. If you watch The Tomb of the Cybermen, please watch something else as well. It has a racism problem and is only a middling story despite being often recommended; there are much better ones in existence. I'll try to write a proper Second Doctor era recs post when I'm done watching all of it. But meanwhile, you can start with the Enemy of the World, it's fab, and even has a really interesting woman of colour among the guest characters.)
In the past months I've been cursing my luck at managing to fall in love exactly with the era that has the most missing stories! The Troughton era was disproportionally affected by the episode wipes, especially the two first series, probably because regeneration was a new weird idea at a time so fewer foreign TV stations were on board for an entirely new chap playing the Doctor, even if he was actually The Best Doctor Ever (My Subjective Opinion That Is Objective Truth, y'know). So it's super exciting to get news that another completely missing episode will be available on proper DVD!
Still, I shouldn't complain, because this seems to be the best time since 1966-1969 to be a fan of the Troughton era. They've been finding more episodes in the recent years - before 2013 I wouldn't have been able to watch The Enemy Of the World or The Web of Fear, which are both wonderful, especially the former. There are all these partially or even completely animated stories that have been released on DVD. And Big Finish keeps churning out audios as long as some of the actors playing the companions still live, and it turns out Frazer Hines (Jamie) is uncannily good at channeling the Second Doctor as well.
I haven't yet watched any reconstruction of The Macra Terror or read a novelization or anything - I figured that when I started watching properly through the Second Doctor era, I'd start with stories that do exist mostly in moving pictures form. So with this news, I'm going to wait until I can watch the animation on DVD!
I'm also being hopeful about The Wheel in Space, the first adventure with Zoe Heriot, because recently a 10-minute animation condensing the first episode has been created, and I assume they didn't really do it for just one screening at a conference about missing BBC episodes. I recently watched the two existing episodes of The Wheel in Space, and they're fantastic - I was riveted despite not even having watched any reconstruction of the missing episodes! Say if they've found even one more episode and then just make an animation or reconstruction of the remaining ones... In fact, there apparently is an official telesnap reconstruction already available on Britbox. We'll see if anything comes out of this later...
There's going to be an animated release of The Macra Terror next year! Aaaaaaahhh! Wheeeee!!!
For those not in the know, getting into Classic Who and in particular 1960s Who means I've also joined the shared fandom experience/trauma of 'oh gods why did all those episodes from the 1960s get wiped and why haven't they all been recovered??' The short version: Macra Terror is a story from the early Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) era that has been completely missing until now, only the audio of the serial and a few short clips existing (and scripts, telesnaps, fan-made reconstructions etc.). And now they've created an animated version to the audio, and it will be released in March 2019! It's one of the stories long-term fans constantly keep wishing would be found, so I'm pretty darn excited about an animation!
The long version, ie. more background to those not in the Classic Who fandom but curious to know more about this whole thing. Basically, in the early days of TV, the BBC didn't think that anyone would need the old Doctor Who episodes once they'd been shown, because VHS players didn't exist yet and also, the actors' unions didn't believe in reruns because that would mean fewer new acting jobs. So a whole lot of TV shows were wiped from existence, including many serials from the First and Second Doctor eras (William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton). Until, you know, a few years later things changed and reruns and video releases became possible. Since then, they've been trying to recover all the episodes they could find from whatever archives, boxes lying around in basements, old TV stations from countries that the serials were exported to which didn't return the tapes as they were meant to, etc.
They've also been creating official animated episodes to fill in stories where most of the episodes exist - for example, The Invasion, a legendary Cybermen episode from Troughton's last era and one of my personal favourites, has 6 out of 8 episodes existing, so the missing two have been animated to make a complete DVD release possible. The Ice Warriors also has two animated episodes, as does The Moonbase, another early Troughton story that aired just before The Macra Terror. The Underwater Menace was released on DVD with the two missing episodes reconstructed from audio and telesnaps - I think they reckoned that it wasn't good enough to warrant the trouble and expense of being animated, because well, to be honest, it isn't. Recently, Troughton's whole first story, The Power of the Daleks, was animated and released on DVD (I've yet to see it, actually, because when I was gathering myself Troughton DVDVs, I focused on those that had at least some of the actual original episodes existing. It is on my shopping list, because OMG Troughton and OMG Ben and Polly).
Seems they're following it up with The Macra Terror, one of the other completely missing stories and a pretty legendary one from what I've been able to tell. If you remember the Tenth Doctor and Martha episode Gridlock and those crab-like beasties that lived down in the exhaust fumes of the fast lane and attacked the car Martha was in - they originated in The Macra Terror and have only ever been back in Gridlock.
Most of you might remember that this summer, when Twitch did the Classic Who Marathon where they showed most of the existing Classic Who during about two months, I watched as much as I could, fell head over heels in love with Classic Who (I should still post about why I love it!) and most of all I fell in love with the Second Doctor era. I still should post why that, too - briefly, though, Troughton is a fabulous actor, I really love his interpretation of the Doctor, and he has a wonderful camaraderie with his companions. Two's companions are among my all-time favourites, too, and I enjoy the old-time adventurous charm of the era combined with the fact that they've already figured out how to do TV drama and sci-fi TV. I also love the warm-heartedness and fun, and I feel the era it's quite progressive for its time in many of its values. (Not so much in terms of race, alas. If you watch The Tomb of the Cybermen, please watch something else as well. It has a racism problem and is only a middling story despite being often recommended; there are much better ones in existence. I'll try to write a proper Second Doctor era recs post when I'm done watching all of it. But meanwhile, you can start with the Enemy of the World, it's fab, and even has a really interesting woman of colour among the guest characters.)
In the past months I've been cursing my luck at managing to fall in love exactly with the era that has the most missing stories! The Troughton era was disproportionally affected by the episode wipes, especially the two first series, probably because regeneration was a new weird idea at a time so fewer foreign TV stations were on board for an entirely new chap playing the Doctor, even if he was actually The Best Doctor Ever (My Subjective Opinion That Is Objective Truth, y'know). So it's super exciting to get news that another completely missing episode will be available on proper DVD!
Still, I shouldn't complain, because this seems to be the best time since 1966-1969 to be a fan of the Troughton era. They've been finding more episodes in the recent years - before 2013 I wouldn't have been able to watch The Enemy Of the World or The Web of Fear, which are both wonderful, especially the former. There are all these partially or even completely animated stories that have been released on DVD. And Big Finish keeps churning out audios as long as some of the actors playing the companions still live, and it turns out Frazer Hines (Jamie) is uncannily good at channeling the Second Doctor as well.
I haven't yet watched any reconstruction of The Macra Terror or read a novelization or anything - I figured that when I started watching properly through the Second Doctor era, I'd start with stories that do exist mostly in moving pictures form. So with this news, I'm going to wait until I can watch the animation on DVD!
I'm also being hopeful about The Wheel in Space, the first adventure with Zoe Heriot, because recently a 10-minute animation condensing the first episode has been created, and I assume they didn't really do it for just one screening at a conference about missing BBC episodes. I recently watched the two existing episodes of The Wheel in Space, and they're fantastic - I was riveted despite not even having watched any reconstruction of the missing episodes! Say if they've found even one more episode and then just make an animation or reconstruction of the remaining ones... In fact, there apparently is an official telesnap reconstruction already available on Britbox. We'll see if anything comes out of this later...
no subject
Date: 2018-12-06 12:40 pm (UTC)I have terribly mixed feelings about the animations because they unfortunately give me uncanny valley syndrome and I find it hard to watch even the single episode animations in the otherwise-mostly-complete stories. (I've listened to Power of the Daleks and it became an instant favourite, and I want them to find it. But I keep thinking I should get the animation and then realising that it would be 2 and half hours of teeth-watering wrongness for me and I must not do it.)
But I have read the Macra Terror novelisation and I really like it, so it is great that it is now being put into a format that will make it more widely available, as with Power.
(Burninated TV is just an endless source of heartbreak. I've mourned over missing DW for years, and now I've watched other things, the vast swathes of other TV, so much of which is actually far better than you'd think, and so much is burninated! I watched a show called Public Eye which is very mundane and weird but I adored it so much and guess what? Its first three series are entirely burninated, save 5 episodes and an audio recording. And that was a mainstream ITV show that got BAFTA nominated at one point and made its star a household name. I kind of thought, oh, it was just stuff like DW that they thought wasn't worthwhile, but it was everything - classic serials, high profile dramas, comedies, all the arty play of the week anthologies. It is a miracle that we have anything left at all, and I am all gratitude to all the people who have gone to great lengths to find and make these things available. But I shall be forever crying at stuff I can't see. *coughs* Sorry.)
And I'm with you on Tomb - lots of things where DW is racist is along the lines of 'would have been fine/okay if they had had an actual [x] actor' whereas Tomb really does have racism baked into the script. Which is a shame, because it also has some very nice stuff, too - and exists! (Aaah, I was actually in fandom when Tomb was discovered! I mean, not properly, but I was reading Doctor Who Magazine and it was a really big deal. 1992, I think - DW was off-air and it was the best thing that had happened in years. I didn't get to see it for about another 10 years, though, becuase VHS collecting was expensive!)
Sorry, I waffled. You mentioned burninated telly, it happens.
no subject
Date: 2018-12-06 03:25 pm (UTC)I understand your problem with the animations; other people have said the same thing. I've been okay with the ones I've seen, ie. Invasion, Ice Warriors and Moonbase, but it's not like we're getting Disney levels of animation. Often the movements are weird or faces don't make expressions and it can get uncomfortable. But I also find it a bit hard to get into a missing episode based on audio alone, so I'm glad there'll be at least a way to see what the action is supposed to be like. Even if a whole animated story turns out to be too uncanny valley for me, too, at least it will be easier to listen to audios and/or read novelizations after that. I tried to listen to the audio of 'The Fury from the Deep,' but while I love actual audio dramas like good Big Finish stuff or some podcast dramas, it gets harder with not-so-great-quality audio of a TV serial that wasn't meant to be audio only. Even with the linking narration. I'll probably dive into missing episodes properly by getting novelizations and looking up fan-made reconstructions online, because Dailymotion seems to have a lot of them.
I do keep hoping they'll find the actual episodes, though!!
Yeah, Tomb would be fine if it just didn't have all the racism. I think it's more legendary than it really needs to be be in the fandom simply because so few complete stories from that era exist, and because it was lost for long enough to have acquired the mythical status - and the Cybermen rising from the tombs is pretty damn cool, and must have been memorable for people who saw it in the 60s. But while the script isn't amazing, it's a good Cybermen story and has nice moments, especially with Victoria - there's the scene with her and the Doctor talking about her father's memory and his family, and she's also pretty great defying Kaftan. So it's even sadder it's the one with the worst racism, because it would be the best story to introduce people into the era with - it's the first one that's complete, it's only 4 episodes long, the script is pretty tight, there are Cybermen, it's Victoria's first journey so it's the start of a new era. I'm still trying to figure out how to introduce my Doctor Who fan friends into Second Doctor era - probably I'll still show Tomb but with prefaces, and then make them watch The Enemy of the World. Starting with Enemy doesn't seem like a winning strategy, because the double role thing might get a tad confusing for someone who's never seen the Second Doctor before; and The Web of Fear still has one reconstructed episode. (Plus, I got a bit traumatized by the Doctor's outburst to Jamie at the end, because Jamie couldn't know, so it would not be the most assured way to showcase why he's my favourite Doctor ever if it's the only thing you show.)
Er, sorry, I waffle too.
That's so awful that even the stuff that wasn't weird dodgy scifi got destroyed, that such a wide variety got lost. The amateur historian in me weeps simply about the loss of cultural heritage! Such an important era. Why couldn't they just have considered that maybe, maybe technology isn't at its peak yet and possibly in the future there will be a market for home video releases of TV shows! And that the legal situation with the actors' union doesn't need to go on forever either!
These days, whenever I hear the variation of the "what would you do with a time machine" question, my answer is going back to the sixties and saving all those missing episodes...
no subject
Date: 2018-12-06 04:59 pm (UTC)This is the true mark of being a classic Who fan! This is exactly what all of us would do with a time machine! :-D
And how hard hit Two's era is, is just rotten, especially as Troughton is such a visual, expressive actor. And, as you say, it makes it hard to find a good starter episode, what with the others being very long, incomplete, and so on. The discoveries of Web and Enemy were truly amazing though! Up until that point, everyone had been sure no one would ever find a complete story again.
ETA: That's so awful that even the stuff that wasn't weird dodgy scifi got destroyed, that such a wide variety got lost. The amateur historian in me weeps simply about the loss of cultural heritage! Such an important era.
*nods* Watching this stuff has been a social history education in so many ways, as well as fun. Of course, plenty of it has problems (see Tomb!) but that's also social history, and of a kind that can easily get otherwise swept away.
Also since I've got into liking certain actors, my distress on knowing that there once existed whole series where they were crime solving doctors and historical spies and things and now I CAN'T HAVE THEM is terrible. Where do we get a time machine from?
no subject
Date: 2018-12-06 07:10 pm (UTC)The discoveries of Web and Enemy were truly amazing though! Up until that point, everyone had been sure no one would ever find a complete story again.
It must have been amazing! And yes, it gives hope! If they found both of those two, there could still be other hidden treasures out there... In a way it's pity I missed the excitement by not being in the fandom then, but on the other hand it's cool that I can just watch Enemy and Web both like any other story!
Watching this stuff has been a social history education in so many ways, as well as fun. Of course, plenty of it has problems (see Tomb!) but that's also social history, and of a kind that can easily get otherwise swept away.
Oh yes, it's really interesting from social history perspective as well. I've only been watching Classic Who, not other old telly, but that's already very interesting from the history perspective. Also, the Classic Who marathon was such an amazing crash course on the history of TV drama making! So fascinating to see how it changed from the early Hartnell era all the way to the eighties (the last seasons of Classic Who were a whole lot closer to New Who than to the 60s era Who).
Also since I've got into liking certain actors, my distress on knowing that there once existed whole series where they were crime solving doctors and historical spies and things and now I CAN'T HAVE THEM is terrible.
It reminds me of when I was into theatrical fandoms (musicals and the like) and there was the pain of knowing that if I'd only been into such-and-such show a few years earlier, I could have seen such-and-such Amazing Actor in Amazing Role X, and now I never will. Also a bit reminiscent of 60s TV in that sometimes there were bootleg videos and you'd be hunting around for them, heh.
If I find a time machine, I promise to share with you so you can go see ALL THE THINGS.
no subject
Date: 2018-12-07 05:25 pm (UTC)Yes, so true - and much more obvious at that speed! I've done plenty of rewatching in order, but at a snail's pace, really.
and there was the pain of knowing that if I'd only been into such-and-such show a few years earlier, I could have seen such-and-such Amazing Actor in Amazing Role X, and now I never will.
Aw, yeah, although these days there are more and more recordings of stage performances - not that that's the same. I have a promise set with now about five or six people that when we get a time machine we will go back break into the TV archives and save stuff, and then go on a theatre trip, probably needing to split up to account for taste. You're now on board with us, I think, for sure! ;-)
no subject
Date: 2018-12-07 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-12-11 09:52 am (UTC)Yeah, if they don't find The Highlanders then I want them to make an animation of it! Jamie's first story and the last pure historical, it needs to be available in some watchable form!
no subject
Date: 2018-12-12 08:25 pm (UTC)