An experiment in space and time: Remaking the missing Doctor Who episode ‘Mission to the Unknown’ | Intellect Skip to content
1981
Television and Nostalgia Now
  • ISSN: 2046-9861
  • E-ISSN: 2046-987X

Abstract

In the 1960s, the majority of (1963–89, 1996, 2005–present) episodes were wiped or lost. Students and staff at the University of Central Lancashire recently took on the challenge of remaking the missing episode ‘Mission to the Unknown’ (1965). The goal was to faithfully recreate the episode in a way that lays a claim to authenticity. This article examines the process and product and asks, with reference to television historiography, whether it achieves its goal of authenticity and what ‘authenticity’ might mean in this context. Ellis and others discuss the estrangement felt when viewing television from earlier decades. This article discusses the ‘feedback loop’ involved in that the episode was made recently whilst assessing it made in the past. The estrangement the viewer feels is therefore a sign that the episode is succeeding in its task of staying authentic to its era. But is it possible to completely abandon the knowledge of its contemporary production and lose oneself to the experience of viewing?

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2021-10-01
2024-05-02
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