Doctor Who - Shada Reviews

Rating		Votes
10	18%	13
9	16%	12
8	38%	28
7	14%	10
6	10%	7
5	1%	1
4	3%	2
3	0%	0
2	0%	0
1	0%	0
Average Rating 8.0
Votes 73

Synopsis

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide

The Horns of Nimon was originally intended to be followed on transmission by another story - a concluding six-parter entitled Shada - but a recurrence of an industrial dispute that had previously caused difficulties during The Invasion of Time and The Armageddon Factor eventually led to its cancellation, even though extensive location filming in the Cambridge area and the first of its three planned studio sessions had already been completed.

Written by Douglas Adams as his final contribution to Doctor Who, Shada was envisaged as a Time Lord story without a Gallifreyan setting. It sees the Doctor bringing Romana to present-day Earth to visit Professor Chronotis, an elderly Time Lord who absconded from Gallifrey and now lives a quiet academic life at St Cedd's College in Cambridge. Also seeking Chronotis is a scientist called Skagra who has a device, in the form of a floating sphere, with which he intends to steal the Professor's mind and thereby learn the location of a book entitled The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey. Skagra eventually succeeds in obtaining the book, which has been borrowed from the Professor's study by a student named Chris Parsons. He then kidnaps Romana and hijacks the TARDIS.

The book turns out to be the key to Shada, the ancient prison planet of the Time Lords. Skagra's objective is to use his sphere on one of the inmates, Salyavin, whose unique mental powers he can then exploit to project his own mind into every other creature in the universe. When the TARDIS reaches Shada, however, he discovers that Salyavin's cell is empty.

After a number of close encounters with the Krargs - Skagra's monstrous crystalline servants - the Doctor, Chronotis and K9, along with Parsons and his friend Clare Keightley, arrive on Shada in Chronotis' TARDIS, which has been disguised as his study. Chronotis admits that he is in fact Salyavin; he escaped from Shada centuries ago and has been living on Earth ever since. The Doctor thwarts Skagra's plans by winning a mind battle against him.

Shada was formally droppped from the seventeenth season in December 1979, it having become apparent that due to the backlog of Christmas specials waiting to be recorded there was no prospect of studio time being found for its completion. A number of attempts were subsequently made to remount it but these ultimately came to nothing, and in June 1980 it was officially cancelled. A version of the story was eventually released on video in 1992 with Tom Baker providing a narration to cover the missing scenes.

Has Prerequisite Story

1 out of 24 (4.2%) raters say this story requires a previous story.

Extended Ratings

Plot

8.4

(30)

Acting

8.8

(29)

Effects

8.0

(29)

Replay

8.3

(29)

4th Doctor

K-9 Mark II

Romana II

Doctor Skagra

Krargs

Professor Chronotis

Cast

The Doctor - Tom Baker

Romana - Lalla Ward

Voice of K9 - David Brierley

Caldera - Derek Pollitt

Chris Parsons - Daniel Hill

Claire Keightley - Victoria Burgoyne

Krarg - Harry Fielder

Krarg - Lionel Sansby

Krarg - James Muir

Krarg - Reg Woods

Krarg - Derek Suthern

Passnger - David Strong

Police Constable - John Hallett

Professor Chronotis - Denis Carey

Ship - Shirley Dixon

Skagra - Christopher Neame

Voice of the Krargs - James CoombEs

Wilkin - Gerald Campion

Director:

Pennant Roberts

Writer:

Douglas Adams

Reviews

My Rating/Review

Latest Community Reviews

Doctor Who

Classic TV Series

Shada

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Reviewed By: adpirtleReview Date: 4/27/19 11:15 am

2 out of 2 found this review helpful.

Regarded as an unfinished classic, Shada has actually been 'finished' more than any other story through narrated and animated reconstructions, a remake, a novel, and an audiobook, so BBC's partially animated completion of the serial in 2017 felt as long-overdue as it was highly anticipated. Comparing it to other Douglas Adams stories, it's less brilliant than City of Death and slower than The Pirate Planet, but it's still full of wonderful moments (The Doctor convincing the computer he's dead in order to take it over is pure Adams), and the whole thing comes off feeling like a labor of love.

Doctor Who

Classic TV Series

Shada

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Reviewed By: MercuryReview Date: 12/3/18 9:18 pm

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

This story was not completed during its original recording for season 17 of the classic series due to industrial dispute interfering with the schedule. It has since been released as an audio version, as a reconstruction with narration for missing parts, as an audio and animated remake with the 8th Doctor instead of the 4th Doctor and as a reconstruction with restored original footage and animation for the previously missing portions (which also has an added scene at the end with Tom Baker reappearing as his much older self. In my opinion this most recent animated reconstruction gives the best depiction of the original story despite limitations with the animation. It allows us to fully appreciate Shada in all its glory.

The story involves the Doctor and Romana arriving at Cambridge in order to see the Doctor's friend and fellow Time Lord Professor Chronotis just as evil scientist Skagra is also looking for him in order to acquire a stolen Gallifreyan book which has the power to release Time Lord criminal Salyavin who has the power to implant his mind into others. Skagra who already has the means to extract people's minds intends using Salyavin's powers for himself.

The adventure is thoroughly absorbing, intelligent and fun. There is very funny humour, quite dark moments and loads of charm throughout. Denis Carey is magnificent as Professor Chronotis, one of the great guest characters both in the idea behind the character and the performance. It is a pity he never appeared again. Other guest characters are all good and Romana is a great companion but above all that is Tom Baker who is at his magical best as the 4th Doctor. He is electrifying to watch and listen to. So funny, so intriguing and so entertaining. This story lets him have a real showcase and that is one of the reasons it is an absolute classic. It is awful that it was not finished and released at the time. Fans were denied this for so long.

Doctor Who

Classic TV Series

Shada

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Reviewed By: TardyBoxReview Date: 8/2/16 2:23 am

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

Oh Shada, my Shada...

I will go ahead and admit some bias in the review. I love this story, even in its incomplete form. You will see that in this review. A lot. Douglas Adams' imagination just bleeds through the story, covering everything in a combination of fab ideas and intelligent humor. Everything from the idea of an invisible spaceship to the mind-absorbing sphere is just so much fun! Adams seems to find the perfect balance of fun and fear in this story, combining the fun of 'The Pirate Planet' with the scares of 'City of Death's alien Count Scarlioni. I love the bicycle chase as the Doctor runs for his life from Skagra's sphere, and I adore the sequence onboard Think Tank when the Krarg appears to menace Chris and the Doctor. The idea of being trapped in a confined space with something large and dangerous that won't stop chasing you is something that has scared me since I was a kid, and I think it works really well in Doctor Who. (See 'Nightmare in Eden's Mandrels, 'Rise of the Cybermen's Cybermen, or heck, even the Vervoids.) Shada itself is a really cool concept- the idea of the Time Lords creating a prison planet for the worst offenders of the universe is neat, and the idea that one of the most potentially dangerous of them all managed to escape and use his unheard of mental powers to make the Time Lords forget all about it, well... that's fabulous. As much as Paul McGann's version is itself also really very good, I can't help but wish that Shada had been completed and available for all the world to see. I have a feeling it would have been (say it with me now) fabulous.