As you may know, Doctor Who fans are among the most rabid in all of scifi/fantasy fandom.

It was fans’ continued devotion to the original Who series (1963-89) that eventually persuaded the BBC to “reboot” the franchise, premiering in 2005.

And these fans have their own ongoing quest for their own Holy Grail—the episodes of the original DW series that the BBC destroyed (via erased tapes and rubbished film prints) back in the early 1970s, when old black-and-white entertainment shows were considered worthless.

Discoveries of old syndication prints in recent years have reduced the number of “Missing Episodes” down to 106. All of those are from 1964-69 and feature the show’s first two stars, William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton.

Every so often, rumors would come up within fan circles and on DW online message boards, claiming more missing episodes had been unearthed. These rumors often crop up around April Fool’s Day. Fans have learned to routinely dismiss them, unless and until the BBC officially says something.

As DW‘s 50th anniversary approaches (it first premiered in Britain on the day after JFK was shot), the rumors of found episodes have resurfaced.

And they’re more grandiose than ever.

Instead of just a few individual episodes or story arcs being supposedly found, this time a whopping 90 episodes, comprising all or part of 23 story arcs, are supposed to now be on their way toward a DVD loading slot near you.

The same cache of off-air film prints supposedly also includes discarded installments of other BBC shows, and duplicate prints of some already extant DW episodes.

At least that’s what Rich Johnston, writing at the UK fan site Bleeding Cool, says he’s heard.

Mind you, Johnston isn’t claiming the rumors are true. He’s just spreading them.

Johnston’s also posted a quote from one professional film archivist, who’d been attached to the rumor, and who emphatically denies any involvement with or knowledge of any found DW episodes.

And Johnston’s reported an official BBC no-comment.

•

Over the decades, the missing episodes have engendered a global, volunteer fan industry.

Long before the Internet, the DW fan community exchanged information and documents about the episodes.

The soundtracks to all the lost episodes were found, having been recorded by young fans off of the original telecasts.

Some fans even had off-screen home movies of brief scenes.

As home-video equipment got cheaper and better, fans made “reconstructions” of missing episodes, using the soundtracks and existing (or digitally re-created) still photos.

There have even been fan-made animated versions of the episodes, made in styles ranging from amusing to creepy.

BBC Video made two of its own reconstructions for a few VHS and DVD releases of extant DW stories, and has commissioned professional animations of nine episodes.

Meanwhile, fans and film/video collectors (along with the BBC) have hunted down syndication prints originally rented out to broadcasters around the world.

What if all this were to suddenly (mostly) end?

What if almost all the black-and-white Doctor Whos did appear, ready for restoration and release?

Then all these people, who learned (or taught themselves) all these skills, can use them to create their own stories.

Then the original DW could become just another beloved old TV show, which people would view and admire but not necessarily feel a part of.

Nah. That couldn’t happen, not in all of time.