Doctor Who Restoration Team
Encyclopedia
The Doctor Who Restoration Team is a loose collection of Doctor Who
fans, many within the television industry, who restore Doctor Who episodes for release on DVD.
The Restoration Team was formed in 1992 when a small group of Doctor Who fans approached the BBC
's Television Archivist
wanting funding for a unique project. This original project was to restore monochrome
recordings of a Jon Pertwee
story back to their original colour form, as the originals had been lost. The results of this were so successful that the BBC Archives
co-funded the Team to restore three more complete stories. Since then, the Team has expanded and has contributed to many Doctor Who projects for both BBC Television
and BBC Worldwide
. These include many of the final Doctor Who VHS
releases and all of the "classic series" DVD releases to date.
In 1997, whilst working on the VHS release of The War Machines
, the approach of straight restoration, that of returning the episodes to their original state, became compromised by the desire to improve upon what was originally broadcast. Sound engineer Mark Ayres
explained the difficulties:
The War Machines featured a couple of instances of sound effects being faded in at the wrong points during the original studio recordings. Ayres:
Ayres edited two instances of the original sound engineer on the serial fading the audio up and down quickly and creating uneven sound levels.
Since work on the Doctor Who DVD releases began, the frequency of these edits and revisions has increased. The earliest releases had the colour graded to appear more consistent. Later releases have had their opening and closing credits remade using modern software and Adobe fonts, untidy transitional frames have often been removed resulting in a fractionally shorter running time, miscued sound effects are routinely adjusted and visual effects considered substandard are adjusted. The colour grading is often noticeably different from the broadcast originals.
For example, when recreating effects for the serial The Pirate Planet
, the Team explained that "in the remade version, we took the liberty of allowing the wrench to be blasted back towards the camera at this point to help 'sell' the effect better."
, has done much of the audio restoration
work for the final VHS releases, as well as many of the DVD releases, and all of the "Missing Soundtrack" CD
releases since 1999. Other known team members, past and present, include:
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
fans, many within the television industry, who restore Doctor Who episodes for release on DVD.
The Restoration Team was formed in 1992 when a small group of Doctor Who fans approached the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Television Archivist
Archivist
An archivist is a professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to information determined to have long-term value. The information maintained by an archivist can be any form of media...
wanting funding for a unique project. This original project was to restore monochrome
Monochrome
Monochrome describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or shades of one color. A monochromatic object or image has colors in shades of limited colors or hues. Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale or black-and-white...
recordings of a Jon Pertwee
Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland Pertwee , was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge...
story back to their original colour form, as the originals had been lost. The results of this were so successful that the BBC Archives
BBC Archives
The BBC Archives are collections documenting the BBC's broadcasting history.- Overview :The archives contain 1 million hours of media material dating back to the 1890s, with early material on wax cylinder. With other materials such as photos and written documents the archive contains 11 million...
co-funded the Team to restore three more complete stories. Since then, the Team has expanded and has contributed to many Doctor Who projects for both BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
and BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2010 it made a profit of £145m on a turnover of £1.074bn. The company had made a profit of £106m...
. These include many of the final Doctor Who VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
releases and all of the "classic series" DVD releases to date.
Restoration
During the original colour restorations, the team were keen to present the episodes as close to the original broadcast master tapes as possible, as explained by senior Restoration Team content producer Steve Roberts:One thing which the team had to constantly be wary of was the temptation to not just restore, but to also improve on the original ... This would not be in the spirit of restoration, and the viewer would not be seeing a fair representation of the story as it originally was.
In 1997, whilst working on the VHS release of The War Machines
The War Machines
The War Machines is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in 4 weekly parts from 25 June to 16 July 1966...
, the approach of straight restoration, that of returning the episodes to their original state, became compromised by the desire to improve upon what was originally broadcast. Sound engineer Mark Ayres
Mark Ayres
Mark Ayres is a television composer who is best known for his work on Doctor Who.Ayres's work on broadcast Doctor Who was during Sylvester McCoy's era as the Seventh Doctor, comprising The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Ghost Light, and The Curse of Fenric.Ayres was hired after he sent producer John...
explained the difficulties:
There are some difficult decisions as to how far I should take my work. Because the original video has been transferred to film, I've tried to remove anything which was added during the process of optical copying – in other words taking it back to its condition on original transmission.
The War Machines featured a couple of instances of sound effects being faded in at the wrong points during the original studio recordings. Ayres:
It would be very easy to 'grab' a sound effect, and put it back where it's supposed to be. I haven't done it, because it was wrongly done at the time, and that's the way it should stay. All I've tried to do is correct technical defects which have occurred later with the film, I haven't corrected things which were done wrongly on the original tapes. Except in two places.
Ayres edited two instances of the original sound engineer on the serial fading the audio up and down quickly and creating uneven sound levels.
Since work on the Doctor Who DVD releases began, the frequency of these edits and revisions has increased. The earliest releases had the colour graded to appear more consistent. Later releases have had their opening and closing credits remade using modern software and Adobe fonts, untidy transitional frames have often been removed resulting in a fractionally shorter running time, miscued sound effects are routinely adjusted and visual effects considered substandard are adjusted. The colour grading is often noticeably different from the broadcast originals.
For example, when recreating effects for the serial The Pirate Planet
The Pirate Planet
The Pirate Planet is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 30 September to 21 October 1978. It forms the second serial of The Key to Time...
, the Team explained that "in the remade version, we took the liberty of allowing the wrench to be blasted back towards the camera at this point to help 'sell' the effect better."
Members
One member, Mark AyresMark Ayres
Mark Ayres is a television composer who is best known for his work on Doctor Who.Ayres's work on broadcast Doctor Who was during Sylvester McCoy's era as the Seventh Doctor, comprising The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Ghost Light, and The Curse of Fenric.Ayres was hired after he sent producer John...
, has done much of the audio restoration
Audio restoration
Audio restoration is a generalized term for the process of removing imperfections from sound recordings. Audio restoration can be performed directly on the recording medium , or on a digital representation of the recording using a computer...
work for the final VHS releases, as well as many of the DVD releases, and all of the "Missing Soundtrack" CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
releases since 1999. Other known team members, past and present, include:
- James Russell
- Ralph Montagu
- Steve Roberts
- Paul Vanezis, video restoration
- Richard Molesworth
- Peter Finklestone, designer of VidFIREVidFIREVidFIRE is a restoration technique intended to restore the video-like motion of footage originally shot with television cameras now existing only in formats with telerecording as their basis...
- Peter Crocker, Director of SVS Resources
- Steve Broster
- Richard Bignell
- John KellyJohn Kelly (Doctor Who)John Kelly is a freelance producer, director and cameraman who is part of the Doctor Who Restoration Team. He has produced numerous works for the BBC's DVD releases of Doctor Who, such as:...
- Ed StradlingEd StradlingEd Stradling , is a freelance TV/video producer/director, who is best known for producing many documentaries accompanying the Doctor Who DVD range.- Documentaries :...
- Jonathan Wood, video restoration
- Steven Bagley
See also
- Doctor Who missing episodesDoctor Who missing episodesThe Doctor Who missing episodes are the instalments of the long-running British science-fiction television programme Doctor Who that have no known film or videotape copies. They were wiped by the BBC during the 1960s and 1970s for economic and space-saving reasons...
- List of Doctor Who serials
- Doctor Who DVD releases