About a year ago The Mirror reported the end of Doctor Who missing episode animations because BBC America had pulled out of co-funding them, with the final release being The Abominable Snowmen last September. It was very disappointing news. It felt like it was the worst time to stop. We were just 5 episodes away from being over the half way mark in terms of animated episodes.
But thankfully situations can change. 11 months after the original article The Mirror reported that funding had been sourced and that the completely missing Hartnell story The Smugglers and 50% missing story The Underwater Menace are next in line. If that wasn’t exciting enough, the article also stated that colourisations of Hartnell and Troughton episodes are planned including “An Unearthly Child”.
Of course this is a newspaper we are talking about, and sometimes the stories they report aren’t always true, particularly on the entertainment front. However the journalist Nicola Methven has an extremely good track record when reporting Doctor Who animations, correctly reporting many other releases that turned out to be true. Plus former animator Rob Ritchie confirmed at Gallifrey One convention to Radio Free Skaro podcast that animations are returning with The Evil of the Daleks team again working on them, led by Anne-Marie Walsh. Whilst this is excellent news as the work that team has produced in the past has been brilliant, I am disappointed to see that Rob Ritchie hasn’t been invited back. His work designing sets was exemplary, particularly with the Daleks. But I know how tiring he found it last time around, so he probably does deserve a good rest.
There’s a lot to chew over here. The Smugglers and The Underwater Menace are a bit of a surprise to me when it comes to choices. Not that they are bad ones, there’s no such thing. But to me there are far more appealing stories out there that deserve some attention. I’d have personally loved another Season 3 story The Celestial Toymaker or The Savages maybe? Or finish off Season 5 with The Wheel in Space (with Cybermen and a companion debut!), getting it ready for The Collection. But hey this is not me complaining, I am just over the moon they are continuing.
There are contradictory rumours to this, but beyond Gallifrey Base posts I haven’t seen any evidence.
Last year we saw our first 60’s season with Season 2 presenting the two missing episodes of The Crusade via reconstructions (or William Russell introduction links from the VHS if you prefer) instead of animation, so we now have a precedent for missing episodes within The Collection, which we didn’t have this time last year.
Season 9 due out in March will mark the half way point in The Collection, with 13 out of the 26 seasons having received the Blu-ray treatment. (Yes The Wilderness Years will probably get a set, but I can round it down). Assuming we get 3 sets a year from now on, The Collection will probably be finished around 2027/28.
It’s been mentioned in the past that The Collection will not wait for animations, so some tricky decisions are going to have to be made. At what point do you put out a season? Do you wait and save them all until the end of the range in hope that some of those seasons will be complete? You’ve probably got 3 years of releases before having to face a season with missing episodes. But then the restoration team will face a massive restoration task on their hands.
My gut feeling is The Collection will probably go for a mixed solution. Like a hybrid. Having The Smugglers and The Underwater Menace animated will enable Season 4 to join Seasons 1, 2, 5 & 6 as requiring one story to be animated each. Whilst it’s sad they are not complete, only having one story to upgrade to animation per season is a sweeter pill to swallow than say having to buy 2 or 3 stories per set at a later date. You can then push a particular story to the back of the queue.
I know some people say the team should hold off on The Collection until everything is animated. But there are two problems with that:
1) How long do you wait on something that might not ever happen?
2) Do you risk waiting 6/7 years to make some of the extras, when some of those seasons may be coming up to 65 years old?
I do get the argument. There’s no denying that the boxsets would be better complete, but there’s a balance to be had. There are already some extras in The Collection that couldn’t be produced in the same way today (The Writers Room – Season 23, Keeping up with the Joneses). Animations can wait, there’s no need to rush them out.
So with this theory in mind, I am going to take a stab at how the remaining 60’s seasons of The Collection and animations may balance out. For this example I am choosing 2 animations a year. This is purely a guess and could be wrong. I am also assuming all animations will be done, which again is highly presumptive of me, but I hope this could give you an idea as to what may be possible. Essentially, this is what I would aim for if I were in charge.
2023
Animations:
The Smugglers
The Underwater Menace
Taking the Mirror article at face value here. It gives you a Hartnell and a Troughton release for the 60th anniversary. This might be joined by some of the colourisations rumoured about.
2024
The Collection
Season 6
When The Collection started, I sort of made my own silly rule in my head that a Doctor shouldn’t have all their stories released as part of The Collection until all of the first seven Doctors have had at least one set. The only Doctor not to have a set so far is Patrick Troughton. With Season 20 heavily rumoured for Summer 2023, there will be only 2 80’s sets left after this point. Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy will be one box set away from completion. I think we could do with a Troughton set soonish.
It would be too soon to release Season 4 after The Smugglers and The Underwater Menace. Surely The Wheel in Space is a shoe-in for animation. That leaves you with Season 6. Whilst I would love to see the only outstanding story The Space Pirates animated, I have to admit it’s not a key story. If you were watching a Doctor Who marathon from the beginning, I think you could end The Seeds of Death and skip straight to The War Games without being none the wiser. It’s not a well-regarded serial either and the audio quality on the existing tapes are some the worst. Therefore I think it makes sense that The Space Pirates should join the back of the queue animation queue along with The Crusade from Season 2.
Animations:
The Celestial Toymaker
The Wheel in Space
The Wheel in Space seems like such an obvious story to animate, it seems foolish not to do it. Cybermen and a companion debut, I don’t think you can ask for more! It also completes Season 5 which could allow a two year gap before being reissued for The Collection.
Season 3 needs more animation. Just 1 more completed story could push the story count over to 5. If the animations are suddenly halted again, Season 3 could look a bit sorry compared to its other contemporaries, but at least you could now argue it has more stories than a McCoy set. Toymaker seems the obvious choice. It doesn’t have a huge number of characters and sets, plus future events might make this story more relevant.
2025
The Collection
Season 1
Again, how long do you wait for animation? Marco is a tricky story with a large cast, numerous sets and locations. And the serial normally always crops up in various rumours. Restorer Paul Vanezis even reports that the first to episodes may still exist in Iran. Despite its significance, I can again see the animation being pushed towards the back of queue. The rest of the season is good to go however.
Animations
The Savages
The Highlanders
Time to get Season 4 complete with The Highlanders. A tricky story to animate with lots of costume changes, but I hope some clever model reuse from The Underwater Menace could help.
The Savages will once again help push Season 3 into a better position. It’s probably wise not to have two historical serials in a year (although that might be unavoidable for later years). It’s always tempting to add The Daleks’ Master Plan here, but it’s probably too challenging to animate without serious time and investment.
2026
The Collection
Season 5
It will have been two years since The Wheel in Space came out. I think that’s enough time to make double dipping okay. Thanks to other animation releases and Britbox, most of the restoration work will have been done for this season, taking much needed pressure off the restoration team.
Animations:
The Myth Makers
The Massacre
I didn’t really want to release these two together. But I think for the benefit of Collection it’s unwise to do Marco Polo and The Space Pirates here, you are kind of left with these two. This will then make Season 3 complete minus The Daleks’ Master Plan (and it’s prequel Mission to the Unknown), but with the costings and logistics involved, I think DMP might be a nice way close to the range.
2027
The Collection
Season 4
Again it will have been two years since The Highlanders so Season 4 can come out complete. Due to this being the last year of The Collection with the original series, two 60’s sets will probably need to come out in the same year, but I hope the restoration work done on previous releases will ease the burden.
Season 3
This will probably be the final set. I know it’s a shame Master Plan isn’t here and that it will only be a year since Myth Makers and Massacre, but I think if this season manages to come out as complete as this I will be pleasantly surprised.
Animations:
The Crusade
The Space Pirates
It will have been 5 years since Season 2 came out and 3 since Season 6. Again The Crusade may prove cost prohibitive, but it makes sense to do it now if they cab. Discs can be designed to make slotting it into The Collection as seamless as possible.
2028
Animations:
Marco Polo
With Season 1 having come out 3 years previous, it could be deemed the right time to try this as the penultimate story in the animation range. I also believe like the DVD range in 2014, it is better for the range to end with something special and memorable. Because The Daleks’ Master Plan is such a big project, almost as big as two projects, it would probably take at least two years to animate. So just having one story this year would help towards that.
2029
Animations:
The Daleks’ Master Plan (including Mission to the Unknown)
It would be nice if The Collection could have a final end with The Daleks’ Master Plan. The best way to round of the animations. Of course if money can be found then they might tackle it earlier seeing it’s such an iconic story, but it’s such a beast of a project.
Completing animations by the end of the decade I will admit is wishful thinking. But with my limited knowledge, this is what I would say is a possible path to complete Classic Doctor Who. But whatever happens with Doctor Who’s future, I’ll be grateful for everything we get.
Colourisations
The Mirror article did also mention the colourisation of 60’s Doctor Who episodes for the 60th Anniversary, including An Unearthly Child. Whilst this doesn’t interest me as much as The Collection or animations, providing they are done well, I would certainly want to pick these up.
I know there is some debate about colourisation. Should you do it? The originals were shot and lit for black and white. But I believe as long at the originals are available then why not? I put it in the same category as alternative CGI options. When you’ve seen the episodes dozens of times, new ways of enjoying your favourite show are always welcome.
I wouldn’t want every episode colourised. For example I could not imagine The Web of Fear in colour. And I would want to make sure Invasion (of the Dinosaurs) Part One (the only Pertwee episode not available in full colour). But a few stories could benefit from it and act as a great jumping on point for new viewers.
These colourisation releases could have a massive benefit for The Collection by reducing the number of episodes needing new restoration. The tight budget can be used elsewhere. And maybe these releases will be treated like Special Editions with their own extras budget. Season 2 didn’t feel to me quite as comprehensive as other sets due to the massive number of episodes and stories in this season. Anything to help solve this I see only as a plus.
And with a new era on the horizon with potential spin-offs, could 2023 into 2024 be the busiest time for Doctor Who home media releases ever? The wind is blowing, hopefully it’s the right knows if it’s the right direction.
