Thanks to a certain Philip Morris of Television International Enterprises Archives, nine episodes of Doctor Who were recovered and are now available on itunes. These are episodes 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 of The Enemy of the World and episodes 2, 4, 5 and 6 of The Web of Fear. This means that Enemy of the World is now complete and Web of Fear is only missing Episode 3.
My first experience of The Enemy of the World was reading the telesnaps in Doctor Who Magazine, way back in 1999. It seemed like an interesting story with the Doctor disguising himself as an evil human lookalike called Salamander. While the still images made the story look fascinating, it will be great to see those images moving, as they should be. Not only can we now see more scenes of Patrick Troughton playing Salamander, but for the first time we will be able to watch Patrick Troughton playing the Doctor pretending to be Salamander, which should be good. This is also the first opportunity to watch Episode 4, which did not even exist in telesnap format. Fans may not consider this story to be one of the best but I enjoy it regardless. And who really cares if it's iconic or not? It's great to have it back and and maybe now it will get more appreciation?
The Web of Fear is a straightforward army vs monsters story and not without its problems. The Great Intelligence has no reason to be using the Yeti again other than the fact that the writers wanted to bring back their old monster. There's also the dodgy Jewish stereotype in episode 1. Fortunately, Douglas Camfield's direction saves it, making it look pretty atmospheric. And regardless of the quality, the return of any missing episodes of Doctor Who is better than none - unless it's The Celestial Toymaker.
This has been one of the largest number of episodes to be found in ages and one of the best anniversary presents yet. I still don't know why the BBC bother with these midnight news releases when it's inevitable that someone will break the embargo. They should just release the news first and then have a press conference. Anyway, thanks once again to Philip Morris. Only 97 episodes left to find now.
