Shada VHS Video NTSC PAL

(Doctor Who Story No. 109, starring Tom Baker) written by Douglas Adams directed by Pennant Roberts produced by Graham Williams music by Keff McCulloch 6 episodes @ 25 minutes each - unfinished and never broadcast Story: The Doctor, Romana, and K9 pay a visit to an old Timelord friend living under the alias of Professor Chronotis at Cambridge university. What Timelord secrets are contained in the lost book that the Professor asks the Doctor to help him find and return to Gallifrey before it's too late? Who is the mysterious Skagra who travels the galaxy with an ominous floating ball constantly at his side? And why do people hear a babble of inhuman voices whenever he comes near?

During the aborted making of this story, only the outdoor location filming and the first of three studio sessions were completed. The story was not scored until the mid-1990's, when the existing footage with added special effects was linked together with narration by Tom Baker and released on video. The story has never been shown on or syndicated for broadcast television.

I've seen two different forms of the incomplete Tom Baker story "Shada", and feel compelled to rank them both differently within season seventeen. BBC Video's abbreviated release of the footage with added music and effects, along with some extra links narrated by Tom Baker, only tells the story adequately enough to rank it fourth in the season.

However, there is an earlier reconstruction of Shada, which I believe was created privately by archivist Ian Levine before trading amongst fans caused a copy to land in my lap. While presenting the footage in a much more rough and raw state, the story itself remains much more complete thanks to the full length text drawn from the rehearsal scripts to fill in all the missing scenes. The finished effect makes it feel as though you have switched to reading the novelization each time a scene is missing, which really is the next best way to enjoy a Doctor Who story. Douglas Adams' writing clearly appears far more balanced and interesting in this form, reminding one why he became such a celebrated writer.

The Doctor's witty exchanges of dialogue on board the invisible ship are only given their due in the text version. This version also adds so much to the concepts that are explored in the later four episodes, where character motivations, goals, and scientific/philosophical concepts are fleshed out and made real, the dialogue painting pictures with words. Where Robert Holmes and Terrance Dicks used to do this to describe actions and events that they couldn't possibly afford to put on screen, Adams is using it instead to describe intangible ideas that even advanced CGI and post production couldn't hope to realise. He proves to be ahead of his time again.

The story is not without its share of problems. The Krargs don't really have much opportunity to demonstrate that they can accomplish anything at any point in the story. The Doctor's enounter with them bridging episodes 4 and 5 does not demonstrate any strategy for creating an interesting conflict between the two, resulting in an extremely impotent reprise. The script for the encounter bridging episodes 5 and 6 seems poised to produce exactly the same effect. Luckily, the final battle in episode six seems to be much better thought out, and under a good director, would probably work quite well.

Christopher Neame's Skagra does not really have a chance to shine during the existing footage, but his role seems to get more interesting in other portions of the script. One can, however, see more of his villainy in the second season opener of "Sliders", titled "Into the Mystic" (Sliders story no. 10), or as a Sith Lord in the PC video game "Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II". Denis Carey was able to complete nearly all of his scenes as Professor Chronotis, easily the most memorable and beloved of his performances on both Doctor Who and Blake's 7. The humourous Time Lord Chronotis reminds me very much of Patrick Troughton's Doctor, and has a similar appeal. Shada's existing footage shines brightest while developing professor Chronotis and the legends of Gallifrey.

Chris Parsons and Clare Keightly seem to work best while fulfilling the traditional companion role, and when they can put their considerable university educations to good use. They don't work quite as well when responding to the unknown - either with too much misplaced emotion, or bland philosophy, or, as happened in the previous story, they need to catch up with the audience. A little too much screen time is spent convincing laymen that science fiction ideas are an intergalactic reality.

The location filming at Cambridge is a lot of fun in itself, and highly memorable, seeming to cement the Doctor's growing popularity with young adults and university students. It's a wonder that they hadn't thought to set a story there before... or since!

Only entering post-production over a decade after it was shot has allowed the task of musical scoring to escape Dudley Simpson's monopoly and land in freelance composer Keff McCulloch's lap instead, making the incidental backing of this story far different from the usual season seventeen fare. The score sounds and works best when traditional sounding instruments like the flute come to the fore. Many scenes get a new boost with music added, such as the moment where a mid-cue switch to low piano notes adds a wonderful underlying menace to Skagra's first conversation with the porter Wilkin. But in other scenes, the music actually seems to be sapping atmosphere out of the story, and a wavering synthetic instrument in the foreground seems to be what spoils it most for me. When all is said and done, there is a lot to enjoy from this story musically.

I think, with the footage completed, and the full text of all missing scenes included, "Shada" can actually beat "Destiny of the Daleks" (story no. 104) in the season rankings and give "City of Death" (story no. 105) a good run for its money. Had it been completed, it could have beaten "City of Death" and been in contention for best story of the season. But, if you've only got the BBC Video with abbreviated links narrated by Tom Baker, don't expect it to be quite as wonderful.

Season Seventeen Rankings:

Best Story:
    -Nightmare of Eden
    -Shada with full text
    -City of Death
    -Destiny of the Daleks
    -Shada with narrated links
    -The Creature From the Pit
    -The Horns of Nimon

Best Writer:
  -Bob Baker
  -Douglas Adams (& Graham Williams)
  -Terry Nation
  -David Fisher
  -Anthony Read


Best Director:
  -Michael Hayes
  -Pennant Roberts
  -Ken Grieve
  -Alan Bromley
  -Christopher Barry
  -Kenny McBain

Best Music:
  -City of Death
  -Nightmare of Eden
  -Creature from the Pit
  -The Horns of Nimon
  -Shada
  -Destiny of the Daleks


Best Laser Effects:
  -Destiny of the Daleks
  -The Horns of Nimon
  -Nightmare of Eden
  -Creature From the Pit

		VHS Video NTSC for North America PAL for the U.K.

Contact page

LYRATEK.COM

Read the In-depth Analysis Review for the next story: "The Leisure Hive" Home Page Site Map Star Trek Sliders Doctor Who Tom Baker Era Episode Guide Catalogue