Over the course of its 50-year existence, Doctor Who has given fans incredible stories and characters and has blended science fiction with fantasy, action with romance, and even comedy with tragedy, to great effect. Yet the real tragedy behind the show is the fact that, from 1967 to 1978, the year the BBC changed its archival policies, 106 Doctor Who episodes from the Hartnell/Troughton eras – including 10 full serials – were wiped from the BBC archives. With the second part of series seven starting on Saturday, and even though chances are slim that the lost episodes will ever be found and shared with the fandom, here are five stories we wish would surface.
5. Marco Polo (First Doctor, Season 1—Story 4)
This is the earliest known Doctor Who story to have vanished almost completely, beyond a few audio clips and production stills. It’s also a story that, if it still existed on film, would stand in stark relief to the Doctor Who of today. Doctor Who, at least during the early William Hartnell era, was intended to be a children’s history television show. Marco Polo includes almost no science fiction elements beyond acknowledging the TARDIS as the Doctor and his companions’ mode of spatiotemporal travel. Instead, this seven-part episode takes the Doctor and co. to 13th-century China, where they get picked up by – who else? – Marco Polo and his caravan on its way to see the Chinese emperor at the time, Kublai Khan. During their travel with the caravan, the Doctor and his companions thwart sabotage, cross the Gobi Desert, and, in the capital city of Peking, stop an assassination attempt aimed at the emperor. Keeping in mind the episode’s interest in history (a characteristic of the show that was discontinued on television after 1967’s The Highlanders episode), it unfortunately still suffers from a pretty substantial case of whitewashing, cast-wise. Kublai Khan, historically a Mongolian, was played by Czech actor Martin Miller, and according to the cast list, only two actors of Asian heritage managed to land roles in the episode at all. Despite this, Marco Polo saw incredible viewership: over nine million people tuned in for the first five episodes, eight million watched episode six, and 10 million viewers saw the episode finale on April 4, 1964.
4. The Daleks’ Master Plan (First Doctor, Season 3—Story 21)
Nine parts from this massive 12-part story arc are missing (only part two, five and 10 still exist). A complete version of this “episode” would rank The Daleks’ Master Planas the second-longest Doctor Who serial to date, sitting just under the four-episode, 14-part Sixth Doctor serial, The Trial of a Time Lord. The Daleks’ Master Plan marks the first time a companion has died on Doctor Who, as well as the first time actor Nicholas Courtney, who would go on to play the integral near-companion and UNIT commander, Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, appeared on the show. It also stars the “Meddling Monk,” a pre-Master Time Lord antagonist, who ostensibly does what he does best – meddle in the Doctor’s affairs. Not to mention, there are Daleks. So, you know. That’s a plus.
3. The Final Episode Of The Tenth Planet (First Doctor, Season 4—Story 29)
This missing episode is probably the most tantalizing, because so many things are happening that are of massive importance to the show’s history and fandom. The Tenth Planet introduces the Cybermen, humanoid killer robots from Mondas (the namesake tenth planet in the solar system). Since this serial, Cybermen have featured prominently in the series, appearing on the show during every Doctor’s run except for the Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, and the Eighth Doctor, Paul McGann (whose only televised appearance as the Doctor was the 1996 movie). Perhaps even more importantly, The Tenth Planet features the first regeneration in the show’s history at the end of its fourth episode. In this serial, a previously-unknown planet called Mondas comes within range of Earth, bringing with it the metal terrors known as Cybermen. It is discovered that Mondas is Earth’s sister planet, and that a species of beings similar to humans inhabited the planet around the same time as we were in our earliest stages of evolution. As Mondas drifted away from earth and the Sun, the Mondasians began adapting mechanical parts to their bodies to survive. Eventually, they replaced everything with machinery – including emotions. Now that Mondas is close to Earth again, the Cybermen see their opportunity to take the planet and continue to survive. The Doctor outsmarts the Cybermen and fends off the invasion, but not before falling mysteriously – and fatally – ill. At the end of the story, an unconscious Doctor’s cells take on a new form, and he regenerates into the (uncredited) Second Doctor, played by Patrick Troughton. These final moments of William Hartnell’s run would be iconic, if not for the fact that it’s missing (along with the rest of the final episode). Luckily, the next story’s first episode features a recap of the events of Tenth Planet, including the regeneration.
2. The Power of the Daleks (Second Doctor, Season 4—Story 30)
Except, it’s gone too. Perhaps the universe is playing a massive joke on fans of Doctor Who, but the entire next serial – Hartnell’s regeneration, Troughton’s debut as the Doctor – was purged from the BBC Archives. This episode brings the newly regenerated Doctor and his companions out of the frying pan… and right back into the fire, as they end up on a human colony on the planet Vulcan. The usual intrigue and mystery, leading up to intense action, is present here: the Doctor, still a bit out of it from his transformation, assumes the identity of a dead man called the examiner by members of the colony. When the real examiner is found, the Doctor – and several other people – are accused of conspiracy and murder. Meanwhile, a colony scientist discovers a Dalek capsule – with an apparently dead Dalek inside. The Dalek multiplies, soon creating enough to easily overtake the base; only after a lengthy and costly battle, and the Doctor cutting off the Daleks’ power source, are the humans able to push the horde back.
1. The Ice Warriors (Second Doctor, Season 5—Story 39)
Only two episodes in this serial are missing, but since the eponymous enemies from this Second Doctor adventure are returning in the current season of Doctor Who, It’s only fitting. In this episode, the Doctor and his companions, Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield (Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling, respectively) travel to a future Britain, where scientists are using “ionizers” to keep glaciers from swallowing the island whole and bring on a new ice age. One of the scientists finds an armored man in the ice that, once thawed, knocks Jamie out and takes Victoria hostage. The alien, identifying itself as Varga from Mars, tells Victoria that its ship is buried under the ice, filled with soldiers, and that it plans to invade the struggling planet. After a long back-and-forth skirmish, the Ice Warriors are defeated, the glacier of doom is melted, and the Doctor and his companions slip away back into the time vortex. All information on the missing Doctor Who episodes can be found here. All images from the BBC. What missing episode from Classic Who should be on this list? Let us know in the comments section below.