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Douglas Adams himself did not regard the story highly and was content for it remain permanently unseen in any form. He once claimed that when he had signed the contract allowing the 1992 release, it had been part of a pile of other papers presented to him by his agent to sign and he wasn't fully aware of what he was agreeing to.<ref name="Simpson" />
Douglas Adams himself did not regard the story highly and was content for it remain permanently unseen in any form. He once claimed that when he had signed the contract allowing the 1992 release, it had been part of a pile of other papers presented to him by his agent to sign and he wasn't fully aware of what he was agreeing to.<ref name="Simpson" />


==== Levine animated version ====
In October 2010, Dan Hall of [[2 Entertain]] confirmed that a DVD release of ''Shada'' is in production and at present the plan is to release it with another title.<ref name="Wilson" />
In 2010, [[Ian Levine]] decided to fund a project to complete the original ''Shada'' story using animation and the original voice actors, minus Tom baker and David Brierley, to complete the parts of the story that were never filmed. John Leeson would replace Brierley as the voice of K9 and Paul Jones, impersonating Baker, would replace him as the Doctor.<ref name="Southall" /> In October 2010, Dan Hall of [[2 Entertain]] confirmed that a DVD release of ''Shada'' was in production and intended to release it with another title.<ref name="Wilson" />

The completed story was finished in late 2011 and announced by Levine, via his Twitter account, on September 8, 2011.<ref name="Southall" /> On October 26, 2011, 2 Entertain announced that only the Shada framgents would be released on DVD, along with ''More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS'' and other items, possibly in 2012.<ref name="McArdell">

[[cache:http://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/dvd-blu-ray-reviews/929-doctor-who-shada]]


===Big Finish version (2003)===
===Big Finish version (2003)===

Revision as of 21:45, 1 April 2012

For the United States Navy ship, see USS Shada (SP-580); for the Arabic emphasis sign, see Shadda; for the village in Azerbaijan, see Şada.
Shada
Doctor Who Serial
Shada, the prison planetoid of the Time Lords.
Cast
Guest
Production
Directed byPennant Roberts (original)
Written byDouglas Adams
Script editorDouglas Adams
Produced byGraham Williams (original)
John Nathan-Turner (video)
Production code5M
SeriesSeason 17
Running timeIncomplete (original)
6 episodes, 25 minutes each (intended)
First broadcastUnaired (original)
6 July 1992 (video release)[1]
Chronology
← Preceded by
The Horns of Nimon 		Followed by →
The Leisure Hive

Shada is an unaired serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was intended to be the final serial of the 1979-80 season (Season 17), but was never completed due to a strike at the BBC during filming. In 1992, its recorded footage was released on video using linking narration by Tom Baker, the Doctor to complete the story.

The script, with adaptions, was later produced by Big Finish Productions as an audio play, with animation and was made available on BBCi and the BBC website in 2003. This version saw Paul McGann take on the role of the Doctor, with Lalla Ward reprising her role as Romana II, with an otherwise different cast. A novelisation of the story written by Gareth Roberts was released in 2012.[2]

Synopsis

The story revolves around the lost planet Shada, on which the Time Lords built a prison for defeated would-be conquerors of the universe. Skagra, an up-and-coming would-be conqueror of the universe, needs the assistance of one of the prison's inmates, but finds that nobody knows where Shada is anymore except one aged Time Lord who has retired to Earth, where he is masquerading as a professor at St. Cedd's College, Cambridge. Luckily for the fate of the universe, Skagra's attempt to force the information out of Professor Chronotis coincides with a visit by the professor's old friend, the Doctor.

Continuity

  • In an unfilmed scene in Episode 5, a listing of prisoners kept on Shada included a Dalek, a Cyberman, and a Zygon. Instead of these, aliens bearing resemblance to Ice Warriors were seen.
  • In 1983, clips from Shada were used in The Five Doctors, the 20th-Anniversary special. Tom Baker, the fourth actor to play the Doctor, had declined to appear in the special, and the plot was reworked to explain the events in the clips.
  • For the Big Finish version, Tom Baker was originally approached to reprise the role of the Doctor, but declined. The Eighth Doctor was then substituted and the story reworked accordingly.
  • Although working from the original Adams script, portions of the Big Finish version were reworked by Gary Russell to make the story fit into Doctor Who continuity. This included a new introduction, and a new explanation for the Fourth Doctor and Romana being "taken out of time" during the events of The Five Doctors; the Eighth Doctor has come to collect Romana and K-9 because he has begun to have a feeling that there was something they should have done at that time. In addition to this –
    • Romana is referred to as Madam President by Skagra in Episode 5.
    • In Episode 6 it is Romana, using her Presidential powers, who decides that Chronotis should be allowed to return to Cambridge.
    • When the policeman enters Chronotis' room, the Doctor can be heard talking about a "terrible way to see in the New Year" in a possible reference to that Doctor's first adventure.
    • Various other minor dialogue changes throughout, mostly relating to the Eighth Doctor reflecting that he has missed Romana and K-9 since they left him and how much he enjoyed their company in the past.

Production

Television version

The original story, as written by Adams, was scheduled to be 6 episodes. It is estimated that about 50% of the story was never filmed.[2] Location filming in Cambridge and the first of three studio sessions at BBC Television Centre were recorded as scheduled.[2] The second studio block was affected by a long-running technicians' dispute. The strike was over by the time rehearsals began for the third recording session, but this was lost to higher-priority Christmas programming.[3] Attempts were made by new producer John Nathan-Turner to remount the story, but for various reasons it never happened and the production was formally dropped in June 1980.

Nathan-Turner was eventually able to complete the story (so far as was possible) by commissioning new effects shots, a score and having Tom Baker record linking material to cover the missing scenes. The result was released on video in 1992 as a 101 minute VHS tape, but has never been aired on television—making Shada the only Doctor Who television story never to be broadcast.[2]

Douglas Adams himself did not regard the story highly and was content for it remain permanently unseen in any form. He once claimed that when he had signed the contract allowing the 1992 release, it had been part of a pile of other papers presented to him by his agent to sign and he wasn't fully aware of what he was agreeing to.[4]

Levine animated version

In 2010, Ian Levine decided to fund a project to complete the original Shada story using animation and the original voice actors, minus Tom baker and David Brierley, to complete the parts of the story that were never filmed. John Leeson would replace Brierley as the voice of K9 and Paul Jones, impersonating Baker, would replace him as the Doctor.[2] In October 2010, Dan Hall of 2 Entertain confirmed that a DVD release of Shada was in production and intended to release it with another title.[5]

The completed story was finished in late 2011 and announced by Levine, via his Twitter account, on September 8, 2011.[2] On October 26, 2011, 2 Entertain announced that only the Shada framgents would be released on DVD, along with More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS and other items, possibly in 2012.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[2]

}}

Bibliography

  • Howe, Stammer, Walker (1994). Doctor Who: The Seventies. Virgin Books.

Reviews

Fan novelisation

Webcast

Template:Doctor Who (season 17)

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sullivan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Southall, J. R. (September 12, 2011). Jordan, Royce (ed.). "Doctor Who and the Shada Man". Starburst Magazine. London, England. ISSN 0955-114X. OCLC 79615651. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Ley, Shaun (December 12, 2009). "Shelved". BBC Radio 4. BBC. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
  4. ^ a b Simpson, M. J. (2005). Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams. Boston, Massachusetts , US: Justin, Charles & Co. ISBN 9781932112351. OCLC 144991011.
  5. ^ a b Wilson, Marcus (October 25, 2010). "DVD News - Seeds of Death Revisited". The Doctor Who News Page. Doctor Who News. Archived from the original on December 1, 2010. Retrieved October 25, 2010.
  6. ^ "BBC - Doctor Who - Classic Series - Webcasts - Shada". BBC. BBC. 2003. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
  7. ^ Sullivan, Lee (2008). "Lee Sullivan Art, Doctor Who Webcasts". Lee Sullivan Art. Lee Sullivan. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
  8. ^ "Doctor Who: Shada". Amazon. Amazon.com. 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
  9. ^ Scoones, Paul (2006). "NZDWFC: Doctor Who and Shada". The New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club. Tetrap.com. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
  10. ^ Berriman, Ian (March 6 2012). "Doctor Who: Adapting Douglas Adams". SFX. Future Publishing Limited. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ Levine, Ian (2011). "Ian Levine (@IanLevine) on Twitter". Twitter. Ian Levine. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
  12. ^ McArdell, Ian (October 28, 2011). "What hope Shada?". Regent Times. Alwyn Ash. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
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