Story: Shada
Written By: Douglas Adams
Length: Intended to be 6 Episodes
Year: Un-Aired
"Shada" is the long fabled never completed finale to Season 17. Its a shame it was never completed to, because from the "reconstructions" I have seen, particularly the recent animated completed version, and the Big Finish audio adaptation starring Paul McGann, this could have been a damn fine story to go out on. At the very least it would be better than the bulk of this season.
The story began shooting, but the shoot was interrupted by an Industry strike. As a result the lackluster "Horns of Nimon" ended the season, a season that already a string of lame stories. Shada has been considered a lost classic for years. Footage from the episode was used to bring Tom Baker into "The Five Doctors," which was helpful when he refused to participate. The remaining footage was released on VHS, with linking material featuring Tom Baker to describe the missing action. Big Finish and BBCi had wanted to recreate the story on audio and with limited animation in the 2000s, but Tom Baker didn't want to participate in that either. So they rewrote the story slightly, used "The Five Doctors" as something of an excuse, and had the Eighth Doctor suddenly remembering a lost adventure and an intention to see Professor Chronitis to revisit the story. This was released both on CD and still remains on the BBC website in it's stiff animation form.
Finally, most recently, the story was given the animated treatment for DVD/Blu-ray. Using the original footage, and filling in the gaps with fresh animation voiced by much of the original cast (some actors from the original have since passed). This version was essentially presented as one long movie, rather than recreating the originally intended episodic format. And it's pretty good, Baker is still genetically engineered to be the Doctor. And you even get a brief on screen appearance of him now, in his console room (his age explained as a gag in which something in the TARDIS causes it).
What gets me is that people tend to blame the poor quality of stories this season on too much humor and Douglas Adams, but the two best stories - "City of Death" and this uncompleted tale - happen to be the best the season had to offer, and they were written by Adams himself. Maybe he is just not a great script editor.
If you'd like to see the webcast version starring the Eighth Doctor, go HERE (will require Flash though).
NEXT TIME: Season 17 Recap
Written By: Douglas Adams
Length: Intended to be 6 Episodes
Year: Un-Aired
"Shada" is the long fabled never completed finale to Season 17. Its a shame it was never completed to, because from the "reconstructions" I have seen, particularly the recent animated completed version, and the Big Finish audio adaptation starring Paul McGann, this could have been a damn fine story to go out on. At the very least it would be better than the bulk of this season.
Finally, most recently, the story was given the animated treatment for DVD/Blu-ray. Using the original footage, and filling in the gaps with fresh animation voiced by much of the original cast (some actors from the original have since passed). This version was essentially presented as one long movie, rather than recreating the originally intended episodic format. And it's pretty good, Baker is still genetically engineered to be the Doctor. And you even get a brief on screen appearance of him now, in his console room (his age explained as a gag in which something in the TARDIS causes it).
What gets me is that people tend to blame the poor quality of stories this season on too much humor and Douglas Adams, but the two best stories - "City of Death" and this uncompleted tale - happen to be the best the season had to offer, and they were written by Adams himself. Maybe he is just not a great script editor.
If you'd like to see the webcast version starring the Eighth Doctor, go HERE (will require Flash though).
NEXT TIME: Season 17 Recap
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