THE DOMINATORS | VHS & DVD Comparison | Doctor Who | Second Doctor

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe's holiday plans are disrupted by two men in a spaceship who ultimately argue each other to death.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Intro
00:38 London, 1968
01:07 Australia, 1970
01:49 London, 1977
02:21 The VHS, 1990
02:53 Australia, 1996
04:05 DVD Restoration, 2010

TIMELINE

1968 - Episodes 1, 2, 4 & 5 of The Dominators are recorded on 2-inch videotape. Episode 3 is recorded direct to 35mm film. 16mm copies of all episodes are created by BBC Enterprises for overseas sales.

1969 - The 2-inch master videotapes containing Episodes 1, 2, 4 & 5 are wiped for re-use. The BBC Film Library retain the 35mm transmission master of Episode 3, whilst BBC Enterprises hold original film recording negatives of all five episodes.

1970 - The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) screen The Dominators regionally over a period of several months from April. Their 16mm prints of Episodes 4 and 5 are physically spliced to remove four moments of violence deemed unsuitable for broadcast by the Film Censorship Board. The trimmed segments of film are filed away.

1975 - The ABC return their 16mm prints of The Dominators to BBC Enterprises in London, including the edited fourth and fifth episodes.

1977 - No longer able to sell the story for broadcast, BBC Enterprises offer the original film recording negatives to the BFI, along with the ex-ABC prints. Negatives of The Krotons and The War Games are also offered at this time. This is not standard practice, as unwanted material is usually placed in a skip and destroyed.

1978 - The BBC Film & Videotape Library request the return of The Dominators; the BFI send the ex-ABC film prints which effectively become the BBC's archive masters.

1985 - The Dominators is made available for overseas sale once again. The story airs in the United States during February 1986 and in Canada during 1989.

1990 - BBC Video release The Dominators on VHS in the UK on 10th September. The back cover erroneously claims the episodes are "original unedited black and white recordings". Barely two weeks later, the story is screened as part of a Doctor Who Weekend on UK satellite channel BSB.

1993 - Satellite channel UK Gold screen The Dominators in episodic and omnibus formats. It would later be repeated again several times during 1998 and 1999.

1994 - A complete unedited 16mm film copy of Episode 5 is returned to the BBC.

1996 - Damian Shanahan tracks down censor clips from many Doctor Who stories screened in Australia, including the four trims made to The Dominators during 1970. It is hoped the material can be used to restore the story for future broadcast/release.

2005 - During preparation for the DVD release of The War Games, Steve Roberts of the Restoration Team discovers the original Enterprises film recording negatives of The Dominators at the BFI. They are complete and in excellent condition.

2010 - The Dominators is released complete and restored on DVD, using the rediscovered film recording negatives of Episodes 1, 2, 4 & 5 and the original 1968 master transmission print of Episode 3.

SOURCES

1. 1990 VHS, no restoration (BBCV4406) - out of print
2. 2010 DVD, fully restored (BBCDVD2807) - currently available

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Researched and compiled by Pip Madeley.
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DISCLAIMER: The footage in this video is the copyright of the BBC and I do not claim ownership. Limited clips have been used in accordance with fair dealing as allowed by UK law for the purposes of review, research and education. The Dominators is available to buy on DVD.