Missing Episode Composite Memories

rogernzrogernz Posts: 200
Forum Member
Along the lines of original broadcast signals still being out there in space somewhere...

1. There must still be some people alive today who saw the original episodes.
2. Many experts believe that the brain has the capacity to record and store *everything* that it has ever witnessed. Often we just cannot "access" the information.

Is it perhaps time to start preserving the brains of all the original viewers until such time as science has advanced to allow us to extract the recorded information?

We could then 'average out' the total memories to get the best composite experience.

[Am I suggesting harvesting of older fans for the greater Who good?]

Comments

  • Granny McSmithGranny McSmith Posts: 19,622
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    rogernz wrote: »
    Along the lines of original broadcast signals still being out there in space somewhere...

    1. There must still be some people alive today who saw the original episodes.
    2. Many experts believe that the brain has the capacity to record and store *everything* that it has ever witnessed. Often we just cannot "access" the information.

    Is it perhaps time to start preserving the brains of all the original viewers until such time as science has advanced to allow us to extract the recorded information?

    We could then 'average out' the total memories to get the best composite experience.

    [Am I suggesting harvesting of older fans for the greater Who good?]

    I'm against it. ;):D
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 290
    Forum Member
    rogernz wrote: »
    Along the lines of original broadcast signals still being out there in space somewhere...

    1. There must still be some people alive today who saw the original episodes.
    2. Many experts believe that the brain has the capacity to record and store *everything* that it has ever witnessed. Often we just cannot "access" the information.

    Is it perhaps time to start preserving the brains of all the original viewers until such time as science has advanced to allow us to extract the recorded information?

    We could then 'average out' the total memories to get the best composite experience.

    [Am I suggesting harvesting of older fans for the greater Who good?]
    And suddenly, we have a Series 8 episode.
  • johnnysaucepnjohnnysaucepn Posts: 6,775
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    rogernz wrote: »
    2. Many experts believe that the brain has the capacity to record and store *everything* that it has ever witnessed. Often we just cannot "access" the information.
    A nice thought - and I'm all in favour of harvesting living brains for the greater good - but I don't think any serious expert considers this to be literally true.
  • DiscoPDiscoP Posts: 5,920
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    I'd be interested to know from viewers that saw them broadcast what they thought of the episodes. Were there any particular gems that stood out? Do the audio versions do them justice? What about the animated reconstructions, are they close enough?

    Assuming of course that anyone call still remember. I struggle to remember what I watched last week, never mind fifty years ago.
  • CoalHillJanitorCoalHillJanitor Posts: 15,634
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    rogernz wrote: »
    Along the lines of original broadcast signals still being out there in space somewhere...

    1. There must still be some people alive today who saw the original episodes.
    2. Many experts believe that the brain has the capacity to record and store *everything* that it has ever witnessed. Often we just cannot "access" the information.

    Is it perhaps time to start preserving the brains of all the original viewers until such time as science has advanced to allow us to extract the recorded information?

    We could then 'average out' the total memories to get the best composite experience.

    [Am I suggesting harvesting of older fans for the greater Who good?]

    Isn't Obama already doing something like this?
  • adams66adams66 Posts: 3,945
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    It's an interesting concept - that our memories are all intact, but that we have trouble accessing them.

    Back in the 80s John Nathan-Turner had a catchphrase - 'the memory cheats'. Whenever an old venerable fan would castigate JNT over how Doctor Who wasn't as good as it used to be, he would trot out same old reply 'ahhh, but the memory cheats'.

    By the end of the 1980s we were buying videos of the old stories and it became crystal clear that, in many cases, our memories of stories like Spearhead From Space, or Genesis of the Daleks were correct and these were indeed bloody good stories and miles better than, say, Timelash...

    But JNT was also partly correct and this annoyed a great many older fans, who hated having their cherished memories chipped away by video copies of old stories that were in fact, sometimes, (whisper it...) not very good...

    A good case in point is the legendary lost story Tomb Of The Cybermen. Missing from the archives for years, all we had were a few undeniably impressive photos, the cracking novelisation, and older fans who waxed lyrical about how amazing this story had been. Then the whole thing turned up! We fans rejoiced, it was like an Old Master was being returned to the archives and it was rushed out on video too. We could all see this jewel in Who's crown. Sadly the production was shonky, wires held up wobbly Cyber costumes, the effects were poor, even some of the acting wasn't up to much and the whole thing looked remarkably less impressive than we all thought it would be. Fandom was rather underwhelmed.

    So, the memory cheats. In which case, even if we could extract memories from deep inside our brains, would they actually be correct? If we could have The Celestial Toymaker of the fans' memories, it would indeed be the beacon of originality and quirkiness we were told about and it wouldn't be the cringeworthy badly acted school play that the rediscovered Part Four actually turned out to be...

    Cheers,
    Richard
  • CD93CD93 Posts: 13,939
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    I'm setting up a Kickstarter right now.

    Stretch Goal #1: 10,000 Human Brains = The Full Hartnell Pre-Order
  • CoalHillJanitorCoalHillJanitor Posts: 15,634
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    First priority should be The Feast of Steven since no copies were ever made.
  • JCRJCR Posts: 24,028
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    Nick Briggs was bragging about being able to remember The Evil of the Daleks last month, lets get him. :D
  • Demolished ManDemolished Man Posts: 527
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    JCR wrote: »
    Nick Briggs was bragging about being able to remember The Evil of the Daleks last month, lets get him. :D

    Good idea - we could remove his brain and reconstruct him with audio recordings of Peter Hawkins and a series of poorly lit off-screen photos of Art Malik, no one would know the difference!
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