The Future of Doctor Who Animations (Feb 2022)

This time last year I was so excited and optimistic about the future of Doctor Who animations.  With confirmation that The Web of Fear, along with rumours of The Evil of the Daleks, Galaxy 4 and The Abominable Snowmen all being in the works, for a moment it felt like anything might be possible.  Interest in the UK appeared to be very strong with each release was topping (or coming second) in the home media and Amazon charts. 

But then, suddenly, and terribly, the Animations faced the most dangerous crisis in their long history... (this might be an exaggeration, but I couldn’t possibly turn down the use of the quote)

Late last year rumours were circulating that BBC America (who provided a significant amount of funding) were not continuing with their funding of the range.  This was then appeared confirmed by The Mirror (from a journalist who has a pretty good track record with these things) earlier and was backed by Radio Times. 

This came as a bitter blow.  I love the animations.  Finally filling in some of those gaps in Doctor Who history, but more importantly allowing some of these stories which I had fallen in love with watching as reconstructions, to be accessed by a much wider audience.  As wishing for all 97 missing episodes to be recovered seems too fantastical, my more realistic (or so I thought) dream was for fans to enjoy and experience the missing episodes on a much more level playing field with existing stories.

I am extremely grateful for all the animations we have had to date.  If you asked me 5 years ago just after The Power of the Daleks came out that it would result in animations for Shada, The Macra Terror, The Faceless Ones, Fury from the Deep, The Web of Fear, The Evil of the Daleks, Galaxy 4, The Abominable Snowmen along with revised versions of The Power of the Daleks and Shada plus a 10 minute version of The Wheel in Space – Episode 1, I simply would not have believed you. These stories contain so many key moments in the history of the show and they can now sit on my shelf alongside many of its existing contemporaries.  I would love to thank every single person who has worked on these releases for making my fantasy at least come partially true.

But that’s why in some ways it feels the worse time to stop.  I thought we were on the cusp of them taking things to the next level.

One of the exciting prospects about The Collection was the possibility that a good chunk of each of the black and white seasons would be presented in a “complete” form thanks to the animations. They already have helped massively in filling in such gaps.  5 out of the 6 William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton seasons now has at least 75% of the season presented either via existing episodes or animation.  In 2019, that figure was just 3 out of 6.

The sad thing about the animation range stopping now is that it creates some unfortunate gaps.  The biggest of those I would say is The Wheel in Space.  On one hand it’s quite a lucky story. 1/3^rd of the original episodes exists, and we have tele-snaps, so it is a very well represented story.  But it also stops a clean run of episodes between The Moonbase – Episode 1 and The Seeds of Death – Episode 6 that can be watched either in its original form or animation, stopping a Season 5 collection release from being complete to a level that could avoid arguments on Gallifrey Base.

What we could have had.  A screenshot from the 10 minute cut-down of The Wheel in Space

 

There are 3 other seasons that also fall one story short from being “complete”.  Those being Marco Polo, The Crusade and The Space Pirates.  Whilst I admit these aren’t the simplest stories to animate and I strongly question whether the first two stories are even viable, it feels like a good use of the phrase ‘close, but no cigar.

The season that looks the sorriest of all is Season 3.  Whilst it does have 3 fully existing stories, 1 animated story plus the brilliant UCLAN reconstruction of Mission to the Unknown, that still leaves 24 out of 45 episodes without any form of representation, and with only tele-snaps for The Savages existing, traditional recons for those episodes will prove trickier.  The only positive I can take is that the season will still have more episodes than a Sylvester McCoy season.

 But perhaps I am being too pessimistic.  A little bit of hope was given on 14^th January when Radio Times claimed:

“The Doctor Who animations are not strictly cancelled. Though BBC America has pulled out, BBC Studios is actively seeking another partner to work with on future productions. So there's hope yet for more animated specials in future.”

Maybe they can find a replacement for BBC America to help with funding?  

 

 The obvious candidate being the streaming service BritBox which boasts a healthy library of Doctor Who stories from 1963-96, including all the animations up until Fury from the Deep (except The Reign of Terror) and in 2017 they commissioned their own exclusive reconstruction of The Wheel in Space, alongside the restoration of the 2 existing episodes.  BritBox often boasts about how Doctor Who is one of their most watched shows and with them increasingly investing in original programming for the service, animated missing episodes could be a big draw for new customers to the service and would complement their Doctor Who section well.  Whilst this may to some degree impact the physical release side of the animations if it’s this or nothing I know which I would choose.

I think BritBox would at the least need to have an exclusivity period, with a physical release following about 6-months to a year later?

If BritBox decide to pick up from where BBC America left, which story should be chosen first?

A strong possibility might be The Wheel in Space as a Cybermen story might be a good draw.  However, would BritBox want a story they already have in some form on their platform as the first one?

Maybe a Season 3 story might be the better option? If the animations stopped after 1 project, then at least the season looks healthier for The Collection.  And we do need more Hartnell animations!

The 60^th Anniversary is just around the corner and whilst I don’t want them to make the same mistake as they did with The Power of the Daleks by targeting an anniversary deadline, if they started now there could be time to do a larger project such as The Daleks’ Master Plan or Marco Polo.  Both of which would I am sure would be hugely popular if a tad optimistic.

If BBC Studios can’t find a partner for the animations, I think it would be the end of the range.  They might be able to fund the odd episode or two, which could tick of The Underwater Menace or (very optimistically) The Crusade. 

The 2015 DVD release, which contains a rather woeful slideshow for the two missing episodes

 

The Underwater Menace could be done cheaper by just focusing on the two missing episodes. It wouldn’t need a huge number of new Special Features.  It already has a commentary, a making-of and production subtitles. One new documentary might be nice seeing as it’s a Special Edition (Looking for Geoffrey Orme anyone? Or maybe a documentary about Michael Craze?).  But other than that, a new recon and maybe the VHS links that were missed off the 2015 release, it wouldn’t need anything else.

Another option is asking Shapeshifter Studios to do another animation.  I know this might be controversial seeing how bad the reaction was to their Web of Fear animation, but I’d love to see them have another opportunity with a chance to make improvements.  I personally wasn’t put off by the animation style and with tweaks could be acceptable.

But whatever happens, I think Doctor Who fans need to remember just how lucky we are.  No other TV show gets this much care taken with each release.  But I also urge everyone who wants the animations to continue to support every single release.  In the end it all comes down to “Can BBC Studios make a worthwhile profit?”.  If the answer is yes, then maybe the future may not be as bleak.