Global fan base strategy

[douglaswulf]

One strategy would be to try to find Doctor Who (or film/TV enthusiasts) from key nations of the world (or nations near to these key nations) to visit this website and work with us. People from the UK and USA will certainly visit this website, but we also need people from other places where '60s Doctor Who was shown worldwide.

We need people who could figure out where old 16mm (or 8mm) film prints might be found, ask collectors, figure out if anyone was videotaping early on, and so forth.

One strategy would be to post to Doctor Who sites online and try to find people from these regions, especially the more obscure ones.

The key nations with missing episodes are...

Australia
107 episodes (including Mission & Masterplan viewing prints, except Masterplan 7)
Note: The Celestial Toymaker: 4 and The War Machines: 2 found here, plus censor clips.

Singapore
98 episodes
Note: This was the last known destination of many episodes sent from New Zealand.

Zambia (or nearby African nations)
74 episodes
Note: 5 - 10 thousand boxes of unlabelled 16mm films.

Hong Kong
61 episodes
Note: Web of Fear 1 and all of Tomb of the Cybermen found here.

New Zealand
55 episodes (92 episodes were shown there, but 35 were almost certainly shipped away)
Note: The Crusade: 1 found here, plus censor clips.

Gibraltar
35 episodes (though this place has been well searched)

Nigeria
30 episodes (a great African nation to check)
Note: The Time Meddler 1,3,and 4 and The War machines 1,3, and 4 found here.

Uganda
26 episodes (Another interesting African location to search)

Sierra Leone
25 episodes (Yet another interesting African location to search)

Ethiopia
11 episodes

Mauritius
11 episodes

Kenya
9 episodes

Rhodesia
9 episodes

Thailand
9 episodes

Bermuda
7 episodes

Canada
7 episodes

Ghana
7 episodes

Iran
7 episodes

Jamaica
7 episodes

Venezuela
7 episodes

Barbados
2 episodes

Caribbean
2 episodes

[fatsothewombat]

Mauritius: some time ago, I contacted them about BBC shows in general, they stated they only ever bought DW (whether that was of all BBC Shows, or just from the dozen or so examples I listed), and that they shipped their prints back to the BBC when they had finished with them.

[douglaswulf]

fatsothewombat said:

Mauritius: some time ago, I contacted them about BBC shows in general, they stated they only ever bought DW (whether that was of all BBC Shows, or just from the dozen or so examples I listed), and that they shipped their prints back to the BBC when they had finished with them.

It would be so helpful to have more details of this sort for each country.

Where were prints sent? Were the episodes sent actually broadcast there and when? Is there any chance someone may have been doing early videotaping or doing 8mm screen captures at that time? Are there records indicating that the prints were then destroyed or sent away? If bicycled to another nation, where was that and were the episodes actually broadcast?

Basically, like a search for a missing person, what were the last know whereabouts of each of these prints? Can their movements be traced over the world?

The print of 'The Lion' was actually in the right place for the copy of that particular print, assuming that it had survived it's supposed junking, which it did, by pure luck.

The print of 'Day of Armageddon' could only have been found in the UK or Australia, and it was in the hands of someone in the UK.

Hong Kong was a reasonable place for 'Tomb of the Cybermen' to have survived by chance.

The basic information is what was sent where. 11 of the missing episodes were sent to Mauritius. Probably every TV station, if asked, will say... We destroyed those prints long ago or we must have sent those back to the BBC. If there are records indicating this, we can *probably* believe them, but if not, there is still some chance. For something to have survived, it had to have fallen through the cracks of what was supposed to happen (return the print or destroy it).

[tomspy77]

Well just for the hell of it I'm in Chicago, so if you ever need any help in the US (Which is very unlikely I'm sure..), drop me a line.

[douglaswulf]

Thanks for your offer of assistance!

You could always try posting to overseas disscussion groups (as described on the other threads here).