User:Bongolium500/The Faceless Ones (TV story)/Missing status

, episodes 2, 4, 5 and 6 of The Faceless Ones are among the 97 missing episodes of Doctor Who.

Episode junking
The master tapes for episodes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 were errased on 21 July 1969 with episode 5 following on 22 September. However, episode 1 continued to exist in the BBC Archives in a different format, presumably after having been returned from overseas.

Certainly, the NZBC in New Zealand returned their (unaired and hence uncensored) 16mm copies of each episode back to the BBC in 3 July 1970. 1974 then saw BBC Enterprises at Villiers House junk The Faceless Ones film prints as part of their routine junking of episodes returned from overseas. 4 June 1975 saw the return of each episode from the ABC in Australia which were later scheduled for destruction as was routine. It is possible that episode 3 escaped being junked here, hence its eventual discovery.

Soundtrack recording and recovery
Soundtracks for all 6 episodes survive, the best quality copies being recorded off-air by Graham Strong. These were recorded directly off the TV and so are of very high quality.

This soundtrack recording has been used in the following:
 * Loose Cannon Productions' 1998 LC02: The Faceless Ones reconstruction
 * The BBC Radio Collection's The Faceless Ones narrated soundtrack
 * Surviving episodes 1 and 3 restored by the Doctor Who Restoration Team included on the Reign of Terror VHS set, Lost in Time (and, by extension, Lost in Time: The Patrick Troughton Years and 2006's The Faceless Ones DVD) and seemingly the 2020 DVD, Blu-ray and steelbook The Faceless Ones release
 * Loose Cannon Productions' 2009 LC32: The Faceless Ones reconstruction
 * Color animation included on The Faceless Ones' DVD, Blu-ray and steelbook
 * Black and white animation included on The Faceless Ones' DVD, Blu-ray and steelbook
 * Telesnap reconstruction included on The Faceless Ones' DVD, Blu-ray and steelbook (for episode 2, 4, 5 and 6 only)

Episode recovery
Episode 1 was always in the BBC Archives. The episode was included in a list of surviving episodes created in November 1976 in order to assertain which episodes could be used to source clips for a docummentary in the Lively Arts series. It was later included in the list produced by an audit in 1977. An edited copy of the episode was also found in the collection of David Gee in 1978.

Episode 3 was found in a film fair in Buckingham by the new film collector Gordon Hendry in 1982, alongside episode 2 of The Evil of the Daleks. These films were attempted to be screened at a cinema in 1985 and an associate of Hendry, Saied Marham, attempted to publicise the event at that year's PanoptiCon convention. However, the event was branded a hoax. Paul Vanezis then spent the next 15 months attempting to convince Marham to return the prints. On 18 April 1987, a tribute was held for Patrick Troughton who had died recently and, after some uncertainty, The Faceless Ones episode 3 was provided by Marham in time to be shown at the convention. In the following weeks, Ian Levine was able to make duplicate prints of both films in return for providing Hendry and Marham with a number of other films. Steve Bryant (BBC Archive Selector) was also able to make duplicates after being given the films by Hendry. Both films were later borrowed by the Doctor Who Restoration Team to be telecined (transferred to video), The Evil of the Daleks episode 2 for archival reasons but The Faceless Ones episode 3 to be included on the 2003 The Reign of Terror VHS set. The episode was found to be badly damaged with over 20 seconds of footage missing. Hence, the episode went through heavy restoration.

Pottential leads
The episode's master tapes were errased in 1969.

The Faceless Ones was broadcast in 5 countries other than the UK: Australia, Uganda, Singapore, Hong Kong and Zambia. The episodes were also sent to New Zealand but were not broadcast due to being deemed unsuitable by censors.

Australia's prints were sent back to the BBC on 4 June 1975 and subsequently scheduled for destruction. An edited copy of episode 1 from Australia was found in 1978, but no further episodes have been found from this.

New Zealand's prints were sent back to the BBC on 3 July 1970. They were then junked in 1974.

Philip Morris visited ZTV in Zambia in 2008 and was able to confirm that they no longer hold any BBC episodes. As such, the fate of these prints are unkown.

The fate of Uganda, Singapore and Hong Kong's prints are unkown.

Telesnaps
Telesnaps are known to exist for all 6 episodes. These are summarised as follows: They have been used or featured in the following:
 * Loose Cannon Productions' 1998 LC02: The Faceless Ones reconstruction
 * BBC Cult's photonovel, available online
 * Loose Cannon Productions' 2009 LC32: The Faceless Ones reconstruction
 * Panini Comics' The Faceless Ones telesnap reconstruction in Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition 35 The Missing Episodes - The Second Doctor Volume 1 (includes telesnaps for episode 2, 4, 5 and 6 only)
 * Telesnap reconstruction included on The Faceless Ones' DVD, Blu-ray and steelbook (for episode 2, 4, 5 and 6 only)

These telesnaps were found along with many others in a number of files labeled "Tele-Snaps : Series Z-UU" at the BBC Written Archives Centre in Reading by Marcus Hearn in 1993. He immediately contacted Gary Russell (then Doctor Who Monthly editor) who agreed that the telesnaps should be published as soon as possible. Stephen James Walker also found these files at around the same time but did not have the resources or contacts to get them published.

Surviving clips
There are 4 surviving clips from the otherwise missing episodes 2, 4, 5 and 6 of The Faceless Ones: 1 from episode 2 and 3 from episode 4.

Episode 2
From episode 2, there is a surviving clip of approximately 5 seconds from near the start of the episode when the Second Doctor was questioning Michelle Leupi (the woman who looked like Polly). When matched with the episode's soundtrack, it shows him asking her how she has such good English. She responds by telling the Doctor that she had an English governess and then asks "Would you mind telling me what's happening?" while turning away from the Doctor. The clip then ends.

This clip was part of a 15 minute silent reel of 8mm off-screen footage from various episodes, shot during their transmission on ABC in the seventies and obtained in 1998 from Jan Vincent Rudzki by Graham Howard for The Missing Years documentary.

The clip was included, along with other 8mm clips, on disc 2 of 2004's Lost in Time DVD, and as part of the "surviving film fragments" special feature on 2020's The Faceless Ones DVD, Blu-ray and steelbook.

Episode 4
There are 3 surviving clips from episode 4, each made up (at least partially) of stock footage showing planes in flight.

The first clip comprises of the title sequence and title card. The title card uses stock footage of a plane flying away from the camera. The second clip is of a plane flying away from the camera, emitting a long smoke trail. The third clip is of a plane flying very close to the camera and towards it.

All of the stock footage used survives in colour, or has been colourised.

These clips have been released as part of the "surviving film fragments" special feature on 2020's The Faceless Ones DVD, Blu-ray and steelbook.

Stock footage
to be added

Production stills
to be added

Alternate ways to experience the story
A number alternate ways to experience this story in full have been released over the years. These range in completeness/comprehensiveness and accuracy to the original broadcast.