1. The Wiping of Hundreds of Episodes
You may be very angry for my saying this but hear me out. With any other series, there is a goal, to own every single transmitted episode on a shiny box set. After that, once youve achieved the dream, what comes next? The absence of episodes due to the BBCs junking policy in the first place is an absolute crime, but the occasional reappearance of episodes gives us hope, that one day every story can be completed once again. When you consider that because its the earliest episodes that are missing and most of the lead actors are no longer with us, what little scraps we can unearth are all the more precious, as they are never going to happen again. When the original episodes are found, Old Doctor Who becomes New Doctor Who, it has significant more news value and were more grateful for it. Its like finding a holy relic and with that, what we havent seen takes on a much more mythical quality as we imagine what could have been from the pieces we have left. There was a huge buzz around the fan community when Tomb of the Cybermen was discovered in Hong Kong in 1992. A whole 4 part story that was fast tracked to VHS in all its dirty and damaged glory. It may not have lived up to the high expectations and anticipation for some who perhaps remembered the original transmission a lot more fondly, but there is was, a story thought never to be seen again featuring both the Cybermen and the Second Doctor was in our hands taking the total number of complete Second Doctor stories from just 5 to 6. I dont care what anyone says; I think Tomb of the Cybermen is quite good. Also this is Matt Smith's favourite past Doctor story and upon seeing this was the inspiration for the bow tie. A year ago 2 episodes were found from the William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton eras. Given that since the two actors have since left us, it is wonderful that we have these gifts of new footage previously unseen since original transmission. Its an incredible feeling and gets us a couple of steps further to that goal of having a complete collection. In the meantime we can still dream.