Help Save British Fraggle Rock Episodes

[anathema]

More or less, yes.

There's one episode which I'm not sure about (Gobo's School for Explorers - we definitely have the second and third inserts, but I think the first one is still missing), and it's not yet clear which of the other episodes are beyond recovery.

We definitely have the majority of the episodes now, but it should be remembered that these are largely on VHS, many of them are off-air recordings with the titles and credits missing (and often the start of the opening scene and/or end of the closing scene lopped off) and the recordings are not in great shape. The off-airs suffer from ghosting and other reception problems, and the tapes which were dubbed from the broadcast masters weren't stored well, and we've had a *lot* of problems with mould growing on them.

What we have got is being preserved, but I wouldn't hold out hopes for a DVD release - the recordings simply aren't good enough for that.

A few other items have turned up: we have some broadcast-quality studio recordings from the first series (nothing earth-shattering, just unedited takes of a few shots); around half of the edited location work for the final series; an unused shot presumably intended for 'Gone But Not Forgotten' which shows PK leaving the lighthouse; behind-the-scenes footage from both studio and location work from the final series; and unedited studio recordings for series three trailers.

 

[ST1DS1]

For some reason the nightshade website has been virtually untouched since 2016.

 

[ST1DS1]

More or less, yes.

There's one episode which I'm not sure about (Gobo's School for Explorers - we definitely have the second and third inserts, but I think the first one is still missing), and it's not yet clear which of the other episodes are beyond recovery.

We definitely have the majority of the episodes now, but it should be remembered that these are largely on VHS, many of them are off-air recordings with the titles and credits missing (and often the start of the opening scene and/or end of the closing scene lopped off) and the recordings are not in great shape. The off-airs suffer from ghosting and other reception problems, and the tapes which were dubbed from the broadcast masters weren't stored well, and we've had a *lot* of problems with mould growing on them.

What we have got is being preserved, but I wouldn't hold out hopes for a DVD release - the recordings simply aren't good enough for that.

A few other items have turned up: we have some broadcast-quality studio recordings from the first series (nothing earth-shattering, just unedited takes of a few shots); around half of the edited location work for the final series; an unused shot presumably intended for 'Gone But Not Forgotten' which shows PK leaving the lighthouse; behind-the-scenes footage from both studio and location work from the final series; and unedited studio recordings for series three trailers.

Why if I may ask has the Nightshade page been untouched for so long? just curious

 

[anathema]

Website updated - link in my signature

All episodes are now accounted for with the possible exception of 'Manny's Land of Carpets'. We *may* have a recording of it, but it's not yet known if it can be salvaged - it was on a tape with an advanced case of mould growth, and may or may not be playable. I hope to find out soon.

To recap from earlier posts in this thread: while the episodes do exist and are stored safely, they are for the most part not suitable for any kind of commercial release or broadcast. Most of them are held as off-air recordings, and most of these are missing titles/credits and - in some cases - programme material from the start and end. (If you look at the screencaps on the website, you'll see that 'Catch the Tail by the Tiger' doesn't have its title caption - the start of the only known recording of this episode is missing.) A few other episodes are truncated slightly in a similar way, and these are noted as 'incomplete' on the list. It's only a few seconds missing in each case, but we are still on the lookout for better copies!

There are also a few episodes which are only known to exist in fairly poor quality (that's poor even for VHS!), and again we are on the hunt for more recordings.

 

[Beige Fraggle]

This thread has been pinned for an entire decade. Not to be a downer, but... shouldn't it be UNpinned now?

 

[Beige Fraggle]

This post has been pinned for 12 years now, and the last comment on it was 2 years ago. Isn't it about time this post was unpinned? It's been taking up space at the top of the page for so long.