Doctor Who: Shada

Whether you regard this story as the greatest is a matter of opinion. This is definitely one of the two most humorous stories ever made for Who (The other being City of Death). The non-completion of this story is tragic. A superb cast of actors were assembled for a magnificent Douglas Adams story.

One of Douglas Adams' greatest strengths as an author was that he could present a technical storyline not only as comprehendible but as magnificently fun. Add to this Tom Baker at his madcap best, Lalla Ward matching him perfectly, Denis Carey superbly cast as the incredibly vague and doddering retired Time Lord, and the magnificent Christopher Neame as Skagra, a man with a very credible plot to take over the universe.

This is a prime example of Science Fiction - It takes an entirely original premise of a threat and creates an adventure of the first order with top humour to boot.

Arguably the most well known actor to ever portray the Doctor in the BBC series, Tom Baker returns to narrate this previously missing adventure from his heyday as the scarf wearing, grinning Fourth Doctor. 'Shada' was originally produced as part of the 1979-1980 season of the scifi programme-and would have been the final story of that year-but was cancelled mid way due to strikes. With Producer Graham Williams' departure and incoming replacement John Nathan-Turner desiring to move the series into a new direction, 'Shada' was consigned to storage and largely forgotten.... until 1992. Sylvester McCoy had been playing the mysterious seventh incarnation of the wandering Time Lord for three full years before the BBC decided to sell the show to an independent company over financial concerns. Spending the next two and a half years searching for someone to do this, the BBC grew despondent finally cancelled the long running programme. So with the sudden demand for Dr Who stories being released on VHS for commercial use, former producer Nathan-Turner, in one of his last acts as 'caretaker' of Doctor Who, authorized the release of the 'Shada' story on VHS with Tom Baker being hired to narrate the missing bits that were not completed in 1979 and presenting this rare gem to a new generation.

Unfinished and unbroadcast due to a writers' strike, this 6-part serial was later put together as one release, using some new material, the material originally shot, and Tom Baker's narration covering the scenes never filmed. The result is that we get to see a serial that is better than the one that actually closed out season 17, but has many of the issues associated with the show throughout this season.

The title references a prison used by the Time Lords, but forgotten by them all; it is the subject sought by Skagra, by way of a book held by a Cambridge Professor (and Time Lord). The Doctor comes to him just in time to try to intervene in Skagra's plan to find the prison and use his mind extraction device to take the knowledge and being of all the criminals there, thus making him immensely powerful (although it is a shame he never extracted anything from someone who knows how to dress). In the background are monsters, in the foreground there is humor, and the plot is decent enough.

This version benefits from being shorter due to the unfilmed scenes, because 6 full episodes does feel a lot for this material. The ideas are decent enough, and it does have some good cliff hangers, but it is stretched a bit too thin for what it does, and doesn't maximize on many of the ideas. The monsters of the piece look cool as a piece in the museum where the narration is set, however in their brief appearance in the filmed scenes, they come over as another lumbering man in a suit. Likewise the orb is all a bit silly as a threat. The production is mostly set in the Professor's flat, and on location around Cambridge - it is a shame that the remainder wasn't shot, but to be fair, given the production standards in this season, it looks better described by Baker rather than seen.

The cast are solid and enjoyable through. Adams' writing is a bit messy in the way it mixes in silly jokes that don't work that well, interesting dialogue scenes and characters, but is not as smart as I hoped. Probably Shada's reputation benefits from it being unfinished and unbroadcast; while it is better than the actual season finale (Horns), it still fits into the standard of season 17 even if it is decent enough.

Intended as the finale to troubled-plagued season 17, this was the only story that was canceled over mid-way through production due to a most unfortunate strike at the BBC. Tom Baker stars as the fourth and most popular Doctor, with beautiful Lalla Ward as his companion Romana (II), and of course K-9(voiced by David Brierly for this season only) that finds them visiting 1979 Earth to see old friend(and fellow Time Lord) Professor Chronotis(played by Denis Carey) at his University, where they learn that an ancient book from their home planet Gallifrey has been stolen by evil scientist Skagra(played by Christopher Neame) in his plan for universal domination.

Uneven plot(typical of this season) has fine acting and nice location filming, but some silly elements as well that detract. What the end result would have looked like is speculative, and a great pity that it wasn't. Tom Baker introduces this, and first released on VHS in 1992, then 20 years later on DVD, where at least fans can have the opportunity to judge for themselves on what would have been a six-part adventure, though counted here on IMDb as one story.

Still should be considered as canon, since it was (visually)referred to later in anniversary story 'The Five Doctors'.

This film, despite being incomplete (Due to a strike at the BBC I believe) really is quite excellent. The plot is compelling, and the cast is simply first class. Although the special effects are a little ropey (Not surprisng for TV sci-fi of the 1970's), that does not detract from the story in the slightest. This is partly because of the superb acting, as I mentioned earlier, but also because of the script, written by the late great Douglas Adams, of 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' fame. Of particular interest to fans of film will be the unfinished nature of this film. Originally intended as a 6 part serial for 'Doctor Who', it was only partially completed, and is presented here with linking naration by Tom Baker, and a booklet of the script, complete with the unfilmed scenes. For anyone seriously interested in the production of TV and film, this is a must. But this would also sit well in anyones collection as a superb example of Science Fiction.