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A   C H A N G E   O F   I D E N T I T Y   U P D A T E   1       25/8/96

* WHY AM I DOING THIS?
When I started the reconstructions about four months ago, it was just me, a
few dodgy audio soundtracks, and a couple of dog-eared DWB photonovels. And
no-one to write E-mail messages to! But, I'm very glad to say, this is all
starting to change. I now have more telesnaps, much-improved soundtracks,
and a beefed-up PC. Most importantly, I have interest from other fans. And
I wish to thank you all straight away for the interest - it's very
heartening when fans write to you offering all sorts of assistance.

Unfortunately, the down side is that while I would love to write long
messages to you all, I just don't get the time. In any event, I tend to
repeat a lot of what I say in my messages. Therefore, the answer was simple
- start a "mini-newsletter", which just gives a brief summary of what is
currently happening in the world of Doctor Who reconstructions.

So here goes! I don't intend sticking to any rigid guidelines. I'll just
issue a new update when I feel there is something to report. Like right now.

* A QUICK INTRO
Some of you might not be totally familiar with what is involved in
reconstructing missing Doctor Who episodes. Therefore, a quick run-down is
in order. The reconstructions are basically a combination of a number of
"multi-media" items. There are five major items :

(a) The Soundtrack
Many fans are unaware that high-quality recordings do exist from all of the
missing Doctor Who stories. Some have been released officially by the BBC,
eg "Evil of the Daleks", with Tom Baker doing the narration.

Back in the sixties, a British fan made high-quality off-air recordings of
a number of Doctor Who episodes. From the "Daleks Master Plan" onwards,
high quality recordings were made of all episodes. 

For some time, the stories before "Daleks Master Plan" either did not exist
at all (eg "Galaxy 4"), or existed only with poor quality (eg "Marco
Polo"). But thanks to a fortuitous discovery recently, ALL the episodes
pre-"Master Plan" were discovered. What's more the quality was excellent,
even after twenty-five plus years. 

I am fortunate enough to have access to the best-quality audios available.
Therefore, at least one part of the reconstructions will be impressive!

(b) The Telesnaps
John Cura, a BBC employee in the sixties, made a comprehensive set of
telesnaps for many of the Doctor Who stories. I'm not entirely sure WHAT
stories were telesnapped, so if anyone has any further information, I will
be grateful.

I always believed that the telesnaps started around "The Savages", and
continued on to the end of Season 5 ("The Wheel in Space"). However, it is
possible that stories as far back to "Marco Polo" were also telesnapped.
What a discovery that would be!

The telesnaps consist of around 60 to 65 images per episode. They are
fairly comprehensive, meaning that most scenes do exist in one form or
another. However, the major problem (from the reconstruction point-of-view)
is that the pictures are quite small - about 3cm by 2cm. Although, they
still scan reasonably well, this is definitely one part of the
reconstructions that could be improved. However, I shouldn't complain too
much - at least this is better than NO telesnaps.

(c) Other Photographic Material
Obviously, where no telesnaps have been found for an episode (eg "Marco
Polo"), other photographic material has to be used. This can take a number
of formats. There may be "official" publicity shots, or photographs taken
by the cast and crew at the time of production.

Although mainly required for non-telesnapped stories, I still like to
receive as much photographic material as possible for ALL stories. This can
be useful for a number of reasons. They can help to clarify certain parts
of the story, which cannot be resolved from the soundtrack alone. I also
like to include the pics as part of the on-screen introduction to the story. 

Please write to me if you think you are able to help! In particular, DWMs
are an excellent source for photographic material.

(d) The Script
Although Titan Books have released a number of the sixties stories in
script format (eg "Tomb of the Cybermen"), these do not tend to be a
completely accurate version of the finished episode. Right up to the
recording stage, last-minute changes are made to the story, and these are
not reflected in the published script. This particularly happens when one
of your actors is William Hartnell, who was notorious for last minute
script changes!

Therefore, the only way to obtain a completely accurate copy of the script,
is hard work! That's right - sit down and actually transcribe the episode.
However, with a high-quality soundtrack, this is not as laborious as it
sounds.

The script is needed for a number of reasons. Obviously, it is easier to
arrange the timing of the slides with a copy of the script in front of you.
I have also decided to integrate the script as part of the my final
production. This means that all dialogue is displayed on-screen as the
soundtrack is playing. I also believe this helps in explaining scenes where
there is no dialogue (eg "The two savages kept a careful watch on the
Doctor as he moved through the undergrowth.").

(e) Video Footage
This can take a number of forms. First of all, whole episodes may exist for
the story, eg "The Crusade" episode 3. This will obviously be part of the
final production. I will also take a number of still pictures from the
existing episode for use in reconstructing the other episodes.

There may also be "official" BBC clips, such as the clips from "Galaxy 4",
"Power of the Daleks", and "The Daleks Master Plan". These tend to be of
excellent quality, so can easily be integrated into the final production.

The third category are the "unofficial" clips. And no, I'm not talking
about "Tenth Planet" 4! These clips consist of the silent telecine footage
that has recently discovered in Australia. The quality of the telecine is
reasonable considering that it is simply a filmed copy of images as they
appear on a TV screen. However, the clips do play at a slightly faster
speed than they should.

The clips WILL appear in the reconstructions, but not in full-screen
format. The clips are too short to be manually edited into the final
production, but they can be captured in PC-format. Anyone who has
experience in video-capturing will realise the difficult in doing
full-screen video clips (the drain on resources is incredible!) Therefore,
I've had to compromise and include small inserts. For "The Savages", some
footage does exist (mainly from episode 4), so you will get the chance to
see the footage for yourself.


With the help of my PC, the five items above are all combined into one
'production', and copied on to standard VHS video tape. Incidentally, the
name of the my production venture is "A Change of Identity", which explains
the title of this newsletter. This name is taken from episode 5 of "The
Reign of Terror", which itself is a missing episode.

If anyone has any further information on what I have said above, I would
love to hear it (see below for my E-mail address). In future issues, I may
concentrate on one item in particular, and provide a more in-depth discussion.

* THE SAVAGES
The first story attempted, "The Savages" has now been completed. See below
on details about obtaining a copy of the video.

I hope you all take the opportunity to see the story. Overall, I'm fairly
pleased with the outcome. The telesnaps certainly came up better than
expected - because a TV screen is at a much lower resolution than a PC
monitor, the snaps look quite good. It is certainly not that obvious that
they have been scanned from tiny 3cm pics. I'm also happy with how the
script came out - it is well-timed with the soundtrack, and certainly helps
in understanding the story.

Thanks to those who helped with "The Savages", in particular, Simon Hunt
and Harold Achatz. I will be doing a small thank-you screen at the end of
every story to acknowledge those people who have assisted in the
production. If anyone has any objections to having their name appear,
please write, and your name will be removed.

* THE POWER OF THE DALEKS
Originally, I was going to do "Marco Polo" as my second story. However,
considering that I had ample photographic material for "Power of the
Daleks", and very little for "Marco Polo", I thought it made more sense to
do "Power" next.

Currently, I have scanned versions of all the telesnaps, a crystal clear
soundtrack, and a copy of the script. However, I am still interested in
obtaining a few more non-telesnap stills. Since "Power of the Daleks" was
such a milestone in the show's history, there are quite a few photos that
exist, particularly of Patrick Troughton (the one of Pat holding the 500
year diary should be familiar to all).

Please contact me if you believe you can help. Do not send scanned photos
before writing to me first. I may already have the photos. Could you also
state whether you are able to scan photos yourself, and if so, the type of
scanning (ie black/white or colour). If you don't have access to a scanner,
we will have to arrange something else.

* MARCO POLO
Being a personal favourite of mine, I was always keen to produce a
reconstructed version of the story. Unfortunately, it is probably one of
the most difficult stories to do, particular due to its length (7 episodes,
or almost 3 hours of television).

The good news is that I now have a high-quality soundtrack, as well as a
copy of the script (although it does need to be reviewed against the
crystal clear soundtrack).

The bad news is, obviously, stills! This is not one of the stories where a
complete set of Cura telesnaps exist. Therefore, I have had to resort to
every other still picture that exists from the story. Currently, I have
about one hundred scanned images. But, I am definitely aware that MORE
photographs do exist. If you feel you might be able to help, PLEASE write!

One problem with my current images, is that many have been grabbed from
video tape. I have received an excellent video slide show that was created
by a fan in Australia (thanks Harry!) The slide show consists of about 70
still images, some colour, some black/white. Although, the quality of the
video was very good, the final stills tend to vary in quality. Therefore, I
am interested in obtaining better quality copies of some of the images.

As an addendum, I have just received a copy of DWM #240, which contains an
excellent feature on "Marco Polo". Accompanying the article were a number
of off-screen still images, many of which have not been previously
published. So this is certainly good news! I am aware that there are a
number of other issues of DWM which contain features on "Marco Polo" (eg
#162, and a summer special, maybe 1990?). I would be very grateful if
anyone could help!

* FUTURE STORIES
While my main concern is with the three stories above, I am looking at the
future. Currently, I am scanning the telesnaps for "The Highlanders", and
developing a script for "The Invasion" 1 & 4. Therefore, I will be in
contact with you all for help with future productions. In particular, I am
interested in obtaining the recent DWMs, which each contain the complete
set of telesnaps for a sixties episode.

If anyone has any particular favourites they would like to see
reconstructed (please don't say Daleks Master Plan!!!), please write and
they will be considered.

* GETTING THE SAVAGES VIDEO
As stated above, "The Savages" has now been completed. Therefore, I will be
able to start making copies and sending to others. Most of you I have
probably made arrangements with already - usually we would have arranged
some sort of swap. For these people, I will write to you all individually
to finalise our arrangements.

For everyone else, I am happy to provide you with a copy of "The Savages".
There are two ways to go about this. The preferrable way is for us to
arrange a swap (I believer it is fairer for both sides this way). I'm not
too fussy when it comes to swaps. Although I am mainly interested in
obtaining material for future reconstructions, I don't mind swapping for
other Doctor Who related items. For example - New/Missing Adventures,
interesting video footage.

The second way is to send me a cheque to cover the costs of the video, and
return postage. Because I will be using high-quality tapes (ie BASF or
TDK), the cost will be $15. If you don't mind using lesser-quality tapes,
then this cost can be reduced to $12. Alternatively, you can just send me a
blank tape through the mail, with a cheque/MO for $7. This covers
packaging, posting, plastic video cover, and a printed colour sleeve.

Regardless of what you decide, please write to me first. Those of you live
overseas will definitely need to write first!

And one other thing, I encourage you to make copies of the video for other
people. I certainly have no intention of restricting access to the video
for a "select few". Just remember to keep the credits screen!

* A QUICK DISCLAIMER
I just want to make it quite clear that this is a completely NON-PROFIT
venture. This is purely being done for the love of the show, and to
contribute something back to the show after years of enjoyment. Any costs
asked for, are purely to cover the cost of distributing videos.

Just so anyone doesn't get the wrong idea ...

* CONTACTING ME
If you have any further questions, or any comments to make (I'd love to
hear your views on "The Savages"), please write to me at
robinsba@ozemail.com.au. Note that due to work commitments, I generally
only check my mail on weekends, which probably explains why you always
receive my messages on Saturday / Sunday!

* THE FINAL WORD
I hope this update has been useful in clarifying the task I have set for
myself. It certainly has been a lot longer than expected! If you know other
people who would be interested in receiving this update, please write to me
and I will add their name to the mailing list. Note that it is not
necessary for the person to have an E-mail address - I can send copies of
this update via snail mail. 

Also write to me if there is something you would like to see in future
updates. For example, some people might like to see a complete list of all
missing Doctor Who episodes. I would also like to hear any further
information on what has been mentioned in this update.

For now, enjoy "The Savages". All I ask is that you form your OWN opinion
of the story, rather than just relying on what has been said previously.
You may be pleasantly surprised ...

Bruce
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Bruce Robinson   robinsba@ozemail.com.au