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Elizabeth Sandifer

Elizabeth Sandifer created Eruditorum Press. She’s not really sure why she did that, and she apologizes for the inconvenience. She currently writes Last War in Albion, a history of the magical war between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. She used to write TARDIS Eruditorum, a history of Britain told through the lens of a ropey sci-fi series. She also wrote Neoreaction a Basilisk, writes comics these days, and has ADHD so will probably just randomly write some other shit sooner or later. Support Elizabeth on Patreon.

10 Comments

  1. talestoenrage
    December 11, 2011 @ 9:44 am

    As soon as I read the news, I wondered if you'd heard it yet. I have to wonder how much they will change both your opinion of them and the general fan opinion, but there's no way to predict that until we actually see them in full, and I don't know if there's any detail on that just yet.

    Reply

  2. Billy Smart
    December 11, 2011 @ 1:00 pm

    I've just got back from the BFI! I sensed that something must be up when I saw that I was sitting behind Gary Russell, Mark Gattis and Ian Levine…

    We saw all of Underwater, but only the first ten minutes of Galaxy. Despite its deserved poor reputation, watching Part 3 it always lifts my spirits – its like a school play, filled with silly pulp ideas and fun performances. Part 2 is more of the same, Joseph Furst ranting with delight that he will blow up ze world!, women dressed up in shells and men in headdresses, Polly telling Ben that, "they tried to turn me into a fish!", Jamie more of a highlander than I've seen him realised before, more of that oddly pornographic censored sequence of Colin Jeavons trying to inject Polly. But the one thing that holds it together is that Troughton is sensationally good even this early on – really impish and animated, but still very cunning. And we finally get to see him play the recorder!

    Galaxy 4 looks better than it sounded. The design of the dome is pretty neat, and the Stephanie Bidmead character is better realised than I'd anticipated, with a lot of direct address to camera – we'd never have realised that before! Vicky and Stephen are always really good, and cover up for Hartnell… Chumblies are jolly, and I have finally got to see a Rill!

    Reply

  3. Elizabeth Sandifer
    December 11, 2011 @ 1:32 pm

    As I said at the time (and I suspect with two episodes available this will become a more prevalent view), Underwater Menace is a fascinating point on the Hartnell-to-Troughton transition, with elements of old "let's explore weird places" Hartnell stuff and elements of the more conventional good vs. evil spectacle of the Troughton era, with Troughton hitting his stride as the Doctor right under everyone's nose. It's not a great story, but it's both important and fascinating, and I hope it gets more attention.

    Galaxy Four I have somewhat less patience with, but the clip we got was sublimely well directed, and I'm really interested in seeing more. I think 25 more minutes of Underwater Menace will vindicate me a bit in saying that one's under-appreciated, whereas 25 minutes of Galaxy Four may well prove me totally wrong about that one.

    Reply

  4. Jesse Smith
    December 11, 2011 @ 3:00 pm

    "These are not episodes that made anybody’s top ten list of wished for discoveries."

    My thoughts exactly! My heart was racing as I opened the link to the BBC website from Google Reader to see exactly which episodes had been found, my mind tumbling with rapid thoughts about which episodes it could be. And then… oh.

    But still, I can't wait to see them! I never really expected to see any "new" classic Doctor Who ever again. And like you mentioned in your post, there are a lot of unique things about these episodes that will be fascinating to finally see.

    It was really intriguing when The Daleks' Master Plan episode 2 was discovered to compare the live action to the Loose Cannon reconstruction, and the same should be a fascinating exercise with these.

    Reply

  5. William Whyte
    December 11, 2011 @ 5:48 pm

    Another review at http://parrot-knight.livejournal.com/818383.html.

    Yes, I'd expect Galaxy 4 to look good — as say, that crane shot from episode 1 is lovely. Looking forward to seeing it.

    Reply

  6. AD169
    December 11, 2011 @ 8:25 pm

    Any idea if you will hold off your Troughton volume for this episode? I imagine it could be as long as year before most of us see it.

    Reply

  7. Elizabeth Sandifer
    December 11, 2011 @ 8:56 pm

    There's no way I'll be ready with the Troughton volume before a release date is announced. Basically, if it will be a matter of weeks, sure, I'll delay it. If it will be a matter of months, I'll simply note in the book that a revised version of the Underwater Menace essay will be found at some fixed url.

    Reply

  8. Seeing_I
    December 12, 2011 @ 3:36 am

    It's amazing that this material keeps on turning up. Let's hope it's not another 7 years before the next find! Cannot wait to see these.

    Reply

  9. SK
    December 12, 2011 @ 4:23 am

    Aw, no, I got the Lost in Time set because I thought that the likelihood of any more episodes turning up was remote. I mean, yay, and all, and the chumblies are as bizarre as imagined and that scene with Zarkoff is great, but this does mean a revised edition with a concomitant price tag will be the only way to see them (unless you're pirating scum), won't it?

    Reply

  10. AD169
    December 12, 2011 @ 5:19 am

    I think it's far more likely that they will give it a new release, including UM episode 3 and possibly the G4 recon meant for the Time Meddler DVD (which could be updated now). That or they'll stick the episodes on upcoming Hartnell or Troughton releases.

    Reply

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