Shada

Shada
by Douglas Adams
Originally Broadcasted: Never Aired (Released on VHS in 1992)

The Doctor and Romana are called to Cambridge University by an old Time Lord friend, Professor Chronotis. Trouble is, when they meet, he has no idea why he called them. Meanwhile, would-be conquerer of the universe Skagra has broken out of the Time Lord prison planet Shada, and he is after Professor Chronotis...

Shada, Shada, Shada, as Tom Baker so eloquently puts it in his 1992 video introductions to this serial. Those introductions were necessary of course, as Shada is the legendary half-completed serial of Doctor Who. Hastily written by then current script editor Douglas Adams (who at the same time was receiving fame for his marvelous Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy book, TV show, and radio series), Shada went into production on October 15th, 1979, where all location filming was completed at Cambridge. Following that, the first block of studio recording was completed. When the cast attempted to start the second block of recording, they found the studio blocked off and a crew on strike. Various remounts were attempted, even for the next season by John Nathan-Turner (JNT), but eventually Shada was put to rest. All the recorded footage survived to tease us with what could have been. In 1992, JNT commissioned a VHS release of Shada, with all the missing links filled in a visibly older Tom Baker. This gets us the closest we can to a complete Shada, and it is this version that was just recently released on DVD. The completed filming features some lovely stuff, like the Doctor and Romana punting down the River Cam (later used to fill in for an absent Tom Baker in The Five Doctors), Skagra's sphere chasing the Doctor on a bike, and some wonderful bits with the lovable and forgetful Professor Chronotis. I particularly love the scene where the Doctor rides past the Cambridge cappella group, added to the story after a drunk conversation with the director the night before filming. The later episodes become a bit harder to follow, as there is more Tom Baker talking than actual recorded footage. So you have to really pay attention if you want to follow along with the plot. My only tiff with this story is the incidental music, provided by Keff McCulloch of the Sylvester McCoy era. His music is arguably some of the worst ever presented on Doctor Who, having no real melody to it, just incessant beats all over the place. It feels totally out of place in a Tom Baker serial, and I wish they would have used Dudley Simpson instead. Now the question that always pops up is if Shada were actually completed, would it be thought of as highly as it is being incomplete? Probably not. Shada is a good story, but not a great story. The fact that it is incomplete adds to its legendary status, which is probably a good thing for the story. Now while it is sad that the story never got to air, at least we can see what remains thanks to the wonders of DVDs!

Luke's Rating: 7/10