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[john_amend_all]

OK, there's enough evidence that something has been recovered to penetrate even my cynicism. So I'm going to assume that the BBC are right, and they really do have all of Enemy of the World and five-sixths of The Web of Fear. Here then, are some incomplete and spur-of-the-moment reactions:

• Under normal circumstances, a serial with one episode missing would be a candidate for animation. But Web is scheduled to go out in early 2014; is that enough time to do it? Or will the 2014 release use a telesnap recon, and hold out the possibility of an animated revisitation?
• Is the imminent DVD release of Enemy a bare-bones release whose purpose is to get the episodes 'out there' ASAP, or have the Restoration Team / BBC Worldwide been sitting on it for long enough to do their usual thorough job? (The rumours have been going around for long enough, so it's quite possible that they have).
• Received wisdom in certain quarters is that Victoria is a "witless drip". I don't know if that impression will be affected at all by the sudden jump in the number of complete (or near-complete) serials with her in. Web, being late in her character arc, probably won't help here; in the commentary on the surviving episode 1, Deborah Watling points out that she's already playing Victoria as unable to cope with the life of a companion.
• The last round of rumours mentioned Web and Enemy in conjunction with Marco Polo. I wonder why.
• The one episode we definitely know will never be recovered (barring actual time travel or actual aliens) is the original Christmas episode, The Feast of Steven. Given that the BBC have gone to some trouble to recreate the original TARDIS set and cast David Bradley as William Hartnell, and since the episode is more or less standalone... it would be an interesting experiment to reconstruct it in live-action. Optional extras would include the scene from the novelisation where the Doctor starts a custard-pie fight, and finding a part for BRIAN BLESSED (since he should have been in the original).

Comments

[aralias]

it would be an interesting experiment to reconstruct it in live-action. Optional extras would include the scene from the novelisation where the Doctor starts a custard-pie fight, and finding a part for BRIAN BLESSED (since he should have been in the original).

i love this idea - and hope the beeb takes you up on it ;)

also - v bad of tor to allow that to be said of victoria... mind you, they seem to hate tomb of the cybermen, too. which is actually not that bad. i am now wishing matt smith had turned up in the comments and said 'but that's my favourite one!'

also - hooray for web and enemy, and let's hope marco polo is also around...