Animations for the missing parts are ideal but a mixed bag style-wise. I went with the audio soundtracks fitting in recovered episodes where I could. I think the original audio is probably the purest form because it’s as close to the original as possible.
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I looooove the audio soundtracks. The narration interspliced with the original dialogue has the cadence of Critical Role (D&D gameplay show for anyone who doesn’t know) so it was super easy to get into for me. I’ve been listening to them on the way home from work to the train station and it’s a really nice way to unwind as I walk ^.^
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My first exposure to The Daleks Masterplan was through the novelisations. I really enjoyed them at the time and I remember they had good reviews as well. So, if you have access to the audiobook versions they’re definitely worth a listen.
My personal preference is to listen to original soundtrack plus narration for the missing episodes of the story, watching the existing episodes at the appropriate points. I’ve always struggled a bit with recons so I prefer to stick with audio if there’s no animation available.
I’d love to have an animated version of Daleks Masterplan as it’s one of my favourite stories. Given the number of episodes they’d have to animate, I think it might be a while.
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Yeah, the fact that the animations are now trying to do something new is something I actively dislike. I wouldn’t mind them if they also had animations that tried to capture the original vibe of the story entirely, like the early ones did, but I don’t love making a whole new thing to replace it. It’s a similar reason I’m very frustrated by the cut scene from The Macra Terror animation. Once you’ve done that, it’s no longer the same story, and if (as was said) it was solely for animation budget reasons, then in my opinion they simply shouldn’t have animated that story unless they had the budget to do it in its entirety.
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Not trying to be the anti-DispersalPhase this morning but I thoroughly disagree with this.
There is no way the animations can recreate the performances of live action (not without a Disney or Pixar-style budget) so they will never really capture the original vibe. I don’t think it was even something the early ones did. The Reign of Terror animation doesn’t capture the vibe of that story at all what with all the bizarre close ups and the stark black and white contrast.
The Celestial Toymaker is absolutely wonderful and a prime example of what this format can do. For me, the animations are more akin to the novelisations - taking the story and adapting it for a different medium. I’ve enjoyed all that I’ve seen (and I’ve got a lot of the Troughtons still to watch).
If you want something as close to the original as possible - well, that’s what the reconstructions are for. Those are ‘unadulterated’ and better reflect the original production (especially the ones where telesnaps are available).
And as fans we are so lucky - these releases don’t just have the animation but will have a black and white and colour (in a lot of cases) as well as the photo reconstructions - with and without narration, and any existing footage cleaned up and presented in the best possible condition.
It’s simply amazing how much we are indulged.
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I completely agree - the plethora of choices we have today is astounding! When I first watched the missing stories/episodes, I had to scour the internet for whatever I could find, which was mostly the early recons, as I only owned a handful of DVDs at that time. When I began my last rewatch (prior to this current one) in early 2017, I was able to finally see some of the early animations from 2006 - 2014 (The Invasion, The Tenth Planet, The Reign of Terror, etc.), and I recall enjoying them about as much as the recons, perhaps a bit more. Fast forward to 2025, and I’m lucky enough to now own all the missing stories audios with the linking narration, as well as nearly all of the newer animations (I don’t have The Celestial Toymaker, and The Savages isn’t out yet in the U.S.), so this time around I plan to experience these stories in entirely different ways. Ultimately, though, I would encourage sampling each format to see what works for you.
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