In our
Doctor Who news item the other day, we listed the extras that were provided by the
Doctor Who Restoration Team on both
Earthshock and
Pyramids of Mars, the two titles recently announced for
Sept. 7th release. But then we received a note from TJ Lubinsky, letting us know about a supplement on the Region 1
Pyramids of Mars release.
Who is Lubinsky? Aside from his
work as creator and executive producer of the PBS Doo Wop, Motown, Folk and Soul music specials - he's a lifelong
Doctor Who fan. If you go to the discs for
The Ark In Space, The Robots Of Death and
Talons of Weng-Chiang, and look under the Howard Da Silva restoration sections, you'll see TJ Lubinsky and his production company listed in the credits. With the help and support of the BBC in America, and Howard Da Silva's family, he has restored the original syndication trailers used at the beginning and end of the Tom Baker episodes, when they were first broadcast in the U.S.
Lubinsky is contracted by BBCWA separately and directly in the United States to produce and edit the Tom Baker special featurettes of the original 98 Tom Baker episodes that had Howard Da Silva's narrations exclusively for the US market. For
Pyramids of Mars, it's all eight original introductions and recaps as recorded by Da Silva in 1978. Lubinsky used old off-air Beta 1 and VHS sound recordings from when WOR New York first aired
Doctor Who with these segments. Lubinsky cleaned up, eq'd and matched the original off-air sound recordings with the new DigiBeta clone restored footage and effects wipes. He even recreated the actual font used to credit Da Silva at the end of each of the four episodes, and put this all together for the
Pyramids Of Mars DVD's Region 1 release.
He's been a fan of the show since 1978, and over the years kept various copies of the audio and video in his personal library. So, using his own broadcast AVID, with the restored footage the Restoration Team provides to him, he delivers finished goods to the BBC in America, who include those sections on the Region 1 DVD's only, as something of special interest in North America.
This is extra-special for us old-timers who grew up watching
Doctor Who this way back in the late 1970's. Sadly, all the broadcast tapes of these versions were "lost" years ago. So thankfully the DVD's are helping to preserve this quirk of U.S.
Who history, for those of us that first saw the series presented this way in America!
Lubinsky is quick to point out that he has a lot of respect for the Restoration Team: "Steve Roberts and his team do tremendous work; incredible work." He also wanted us to quote him on this: "This is now the fourth of 23 stories (18 half-hour episodes) we've customized for DVD of these classic and unique American set-ups, explanations, and recaps. The BBC video folks really need to be thanked and commended for allowing the digital preservation of these thought-to-be-lost video segments. Truthfully it is extra time and expense for them to customize their discs for the US market - a cost they do not pass on to customers. They are great people and fans, and deserve to be acknowledged for the effort here in the States as well as the awesome work the Restoration Team does in the U.K."
Our thanks to TJ Lubinsky for letting us know about this exciting extra, and for his acknowledgement (well-deserved) of the folks at the BBC in America, and at the London BBC Restoration Team. We feel the same way about them, TJ, and we look forward to seeing the Da Silva segments on future releases in the Tom Baker series as well! (4 down, 19 to go...). Lubinsky encourages fans of the Howard Da Silva/Tom Baker episodes to contact him at his e-mail address:
tjlproductions@aol.com
