Back in the 1960s, shows like Doctor Who and The Avengers were broadcast once and then usually destroyed or taped over. So there are lots of missing episodes from those early shows. But every once in a while, one of the strays turns up – sometimes because a fan recorded it at home (a more arduous process in those pre-VCR days), sometimes because a copy was shipped to an overseas affiliate and never returned.
As of today, the number of missing Doctor Who episodes has dropped from 108 to 106. The two recovered episodes – one from Galaxy 4 and one from The Underwater Menace – aren’t exactly at the top of fans’ most wanted list (probably the last episode of The Tenth Planet, or any episode from Marco Polo, The Massacre, or Power of the Daleks, would fit that bill better), but hey, we’ll take what we can get.
Philip Sandifer argues that these are “a much more exciting pair than people give credit for.”
More from Philip here and here.
One nice bonus of this find. The 2nd Doctor was famous for playing the recorder. But all scenes in which he actually played it were lost — until now.
Personally, I would love it if missing episodes from “The Faceless Ones” were recovered.
Though “Power of the Daleks” as you said would also have to be on my top list.
“The Invasion” is also excellent but the animated replacement for the 2 missing episodes is really very good so I wouldn’t say they are needed urgently to be recovered.