Earthbound Timelords: Doctor Who Scripts Project

The Magazine of Doctor Who Research and Restoration

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BACKGROUND
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
HISTORY OF THE PROJECT
EBTL's CONTRIBUTION TO THE PROJECT
COPYRIGHT
THE SCRIPTS

I. BACKGROUND

108 episodes from 27 _Doctor Who_ serials of the Hartnell and Troughton eras are no longer held by the BBC on video or film. These were destroyed during the 1970s when old episodes were no longer considered to be of any value to the BBC. Fortunately, all of these missing episodes exist as audio recordings made by viewers of the original broadcasts. Information on these audio recordings can be obtained from Missing Doctor Who Reconstructions & Audios. Still photographic screen images ("telesnaps") taken at the time of broadcast also exist for many of the episodes, and these have been combined with the audio recordings to make slide-show style reconstructions of the episodes on video. Information on these telesnap reconstruction videos can be obtained from Missing Doctor Who Reconstructions & Audios and Loose Cannon Productions. Commercial novelizations exist for all serials with missing episodes. These novelizations are predominantly inaccurate and highly embellished making them unsuitable for the purpose of academic research into the original broadcasts. Three commercial transcriptions for serials with missing episodes have been published: _The Crusade_ (London : Titan, 1994), _Galaxy 4_ (London : Titan, 1994), and _Power of the Daleks_ (London : Titan, 1993). These novelizations and transcriptions are now out of print, though they can be obtained from collectibles dealers. The Earthbound Timelords Doctor Who Links page has a lengthy listing of such dealers.

II. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

The Doctor Who Scripts Project was initiated to provide transcriptions of the audio recordings of all episodes that no longer exist on video or film. The Project has since realized this goal. These transcriptions are intended to be used exclusively to facilitate academic research into the original broadcasts. Transcriptions of the remaining episodes from these serials (i.e. - those episodes that do exist on film or video) are also provided so that a complete transcription of the entire serial is available. The transcriptions indicate what was actually said during the episodes, rather than what was originally written by the screenwriter. The project has used camera scripts, telesnaps, novelizations and many other resources to try to give accurate background details for each scene. The cast and credit notes for all transcriptions were obtained directly from _Radio Times_ listings and were cross-referenced with David Brunt and Andrew Pixley's _Doctor Who Production Guide, Volume Three - Cast and Crew_ (London : DWAS, 1998). The intention was to recreate the credits as they appeared at the end of each episode, including the use of appropriate cases, mis-spellings, etc.

III. HISTORY OF THE PROJECT

The Doctor Who Scripts Project was initiated circa 1995 by Behind the Sofa: The Bristol University Doctor Who Society (aka BTS). In early 1999 the members of the BTS decided that they could no longer continue their involvement with the project. On the advice of various associates, BTS formally offered the project to the Earthbound Timelords (aka EBTL) on 27 April 1999.

IV. EBTL's CONTRIBUTION TO THE PROJECT

At the point that the EBTL took over the project, there were 22 scripts left to transcribe. EBTL completed the transcription of those 22 scripts on 1 July 2000. Generally, the transcriptions require, and are gradually receiving, rigorous editing to improve their accuracy. Also, it is the aim of the EBTL to reformat all of the BTS transcriptions to conform with a single format. This format will be based on the final format BTS arrived at before turning over the project to the EBTL. If anyone spots any errors or inaccuracies in any of the transcriptions, please email the EBTL. A mailing list exists to keep those interested informed of further developments with the project. To be added to the mailing list, email the EBTL.

V. COPYRIGHT

Copyright for the intellectual content of these transcriptions is clearly held by the original screenwriters and by the BBC. This project simply wishes to make transcriptions of the audio recordings available for the purpose of facilitating academic research (described as "fair use" in U.S. copyright law). BTS and EBTL have absolutely no desire to profit in any way from this project, nor should anyone who makes use of these transcriptions attempt to do so. None of the commercially published novelizations or transcriptions are still in print, so the project transcriptions are not currently in direct competition with those printed representations of the serials. If, however, any copyright holder wishes for a transcription to be pulled from the project for any reason, email the EBTL.

VI. THE SCRIPTS

William Hartnell

Patrick Troughton

Other

D. Marco Polo
[missing episodes 1-7 of 7]