Take a look at the list of classic Doctor Who episodes coming out. It’ll only take a second. Literally. As of right now (not including Web Of Fear) there’s only one with a confirmed release date and another in limbo, The Moonbase out January 20th in R2 and February 11th in R1, and The Underwater Menace, respectively. With so little to look forward to, why are some fans contemplating a boycott of The Moonbase?
Let’s look at its release history. It was first put out way back in 2004 on the Lost In Time dvd. This three disc set was a way to tie up loose ends and clean out the cupboards, releasing every scrap of material that the BBC had no other plans for. It included off air film recordings, amateur footage, remaining clips (some of them as short as just a few seconds) and a host of orphaned episodes from 1st and 2nd Doctor stories like The Celestial Toymaker, The Crusade, The Enemy Of The World, The Web Of Fear, The Evil of The Daleks, The Faceless Ones, The Space Pirates and more. But as a Troughton fan, the centrepiece of the collection (for me, at least) was The Moonbase.
Like everything on the set, Moonbase was incomplete. Only episodes 2 and 4 resided in the archive, but they included the audio from 1 and 3 to form a somewhat complete story. If you’ve ever delved into the Audio Go soundtracks for missing stories you will be treated to linking narration that helps you know what’s happening visually, but there was none of that here, just the original broadcast audio. All in all (though it pains me to admit it) I was unsatisfied with the experience. So when I heard it was finally being released as a stand- alone dvd and, more importantly, that those previously missing episodes were being animated, I rejoiced knowing that I would finally be able to fully appreciate it.
So why would fans want to boycott this dvd, one that is so superior to the Lost In Time release in many critical ways, especially when there is nothing else on the horizon?
Missing episode speculation.
Yes, the omnirumour strikes again! For the past couple months there has been endless speculation about what may or may not have been found and of course this story is among those rumoured to have been returned. There is no official evidence to support claims that The Moonbase has or will be returned to the BBC, just chatter. But that ‘what if’ is enough for some fans to deprive themselves of this story, just in case a more complete and better version is released at a later date.
That’s ridiculous. It’s not like the BBC has ever made fans ‘double dip’ before, right?
Okay, yes the Classic Doctor Who line does have a history of trying to make people purchase things more than once. I won’t bother to list all the special editions that they’ve rereleased with cleaner transfers and better special features, but I will mention The Aztecs and The Spearhead From Space.
When they replaced the original Aztecs dvd with a 2 disc special edition, I was first in line to buy it. Why? Because it was the only place to get the Galaxy 4 reconstruction containing the newly discovered Air Lock episode. I don’t want to take anything away from The Aztecs, it’s a phenomenal historical story, but without the Galaxy 4 content, I would have been very happy with my original copy.
And then there’s The Spearhead From Space. There are three different versions of this one on my shelf, the original no frills release, the special edition and the bluray. While I didn’t think twice about purchasing the special edition of The Aztecs, I did hold out on that third copy of Spearhead. Ultimately I gave in and had to buy the only classic story released on bluray.
So yes, I have been burned by the ‘Doctor Who double dip’ in the past, but I paid up willingly each and every time and won’t let it deter me from purchasing Moonbase. Why? Well I’m not a very patient man. For a moment let’s go along with the rumours and say, yes, the story has been recovered. Great! When will it be available? Not anytime soon, that’s for sure. More than likely it would be among the very last to see the light of day because of this release. I sure as hell can’t wait two or three more years when there’s a beautifully animated version within my grasp. And if they decide to release Moonbase later with the actual episodes? You won’t hear me complain.
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