Shada was the unaired story of season 17 of Doctor Who. It was later remade as a webcast for BBCi and also released as a full audio story by Big Finish Productions.
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 Fourth Doctor.
Plot
to be added
Cast
- The Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker
- Romana - Lalla Ward
- Voice of K9 - David Brierley
- Caldera - Derek Pollitt
- Chris Parsons - Daniel Hill
- Clare Keightley - Victoria Burgoyne
- Krarg - Harry Fielder
- Krarg - Lionel Sansby
- Krarg - James Muir
- Krarg - Reg Woods
- Krarg- Derek Suthern
- Passenger - David Strong
- Police Constable - John Hallett
- Professor Chronotis - Denis Carey
- Voice of Ship - Shirley Dixon
- Skagra - Christopher Neame
- Voice of the Krargs - James Coombes
- Wilkin - Gerald Campion
Crew
- Director - Pennant Roberts
- Assistant Floor Manager - Val McCrimmon
- Costumes - Rupert Jarvis
- Designer - Vic Meredith
- Film Cameraman - Fintan Sheehan
- Film Editor - Tariq Anwar
- Make-Up - Kim Burns
- Producer - Graham Williams
- Production Assistant - Olivia Bazalgette
- Production Assistant - Ralph Wilton
- Production Unit Manager - John Nathan-Turner
- Script Editor - Douglas Adams
- Special Sounds - Dick Mills
- Studio Lighting - Mike Jefferies
- Title Music - Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, arranged by Delia Derbyshire
- Writer - Douglas Adams
References
The Doctor
- The Doctor received an honourary degree from St. Cedd's College, Cambridge, in 1960. He visited Professor Chronotis in 1955, 1960 and 1964 in his fourth incarnation, and also in 1958 in a different incarnation.
Planets
- Dronid is the location of Skagra's homeworld.
Scientists
TARDISes
- Chronotis recognises the Doctor's TARDIS as a Type 40 commenting "Came out when I was a boy: that shows you how old I am.".
- The TARDIS medical kit is on the top shelf of a white cupboard opposite a door. From the control room, Romana gives the directions as first door on the left, down the corridor, second door on the right, down the corridor, third door on the left, down the corridor, fourth door on the right.
- Chronotis and Claire find themselves 'jammed between two irrational time interfaces'. His TARDIS has a conceptor geometry relay, with magranomic trigger, as well as a defunct field separator, but this won't be needed if they can fix the interfacial resonator.
- The Doctor goes vortex walking between Chronotis' and his own TARDIS.
Theories and Concepts
- Chronotis' memories are extracted through Psychoactive extraction, "someone has stolen part of his mind".
Time Lords
- Salyavin (Chronotis) was a notorious, mind-controlling criminal and a semi-hero of the young Doctor's. He was sentenced for 'mind crimes' to the Time Lord prison Shada.
- Chronotis is on his last Regeneration, but is brought back to life by Claire mucking around with his TARDIS.
- The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey dates back to the days of Rassilon, and is one of the 'artefacts'.
- All of the artefacts have 'stupendous power'. Although many of the meanings are lost, the power and the Gallifreyan rituals remain.
- Chronotis is able to beat out a message with his hearts in Gallifreyan Morse code.
Story notes
- Shada was never completed due to "labour action" at the BBC. The footage that was shot was released on BBC Video in 1992. It used linking material featuring Tom Baker to complete the story.
- According to "A Matter of Time", a documentary on the Graham Williams era of Doctor Who included in the 2007 and 2009 DVD box sets of The Key to Time, the industrial action occurred due to conflict over which union had jurisdiction over the operation of an elaborate clock that was featured on the BBC children's programme Play School.
- Had it been broadcast, it would have marked the final use of the 1967 arrangement of the Doctor Who theme by Delia Derbyshire, the tunnel opening sequence by Bernard Lodge and the diamond series logo introduced in The Time Warrior.
- The story would eventually be remade in 2003 and released as Shada (webcast) and Shada (audio story), explaining that the meddling in the Fourth Doctor's timeline seen in The Five Doctors caused the events following his and Romana's arrival in Cambridge to not take place until the Eighth Doctor and Romana came back to complete them.
- The story takes place in October 1979; coincidentally that is the same month Douglas Adams published his first The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novel.
- Aliens expected to appear in the Shada prison cells would perhaps have been a Dalek, a Cyberman and even a Zygon.
- Recently, the BBC claimed that what really happened was that this story was sacrificed to send a warning to unions that their strikes had consequences.[source needed]
- Douglas Adams later used elements from this story in his novel, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.
Ratings
This story was not completed, therefore no ratings exist for the story (the later VHS restoration has never been broadcast).
Filming locations
- The Backs, River Cam, Cambridge
- Clare Bridge, River Cam, Cambridge
- Silver Street, Cambridge
- Trumpington Street, Cambridge
- Grantchester Meadows, Grantchester, Cambridgshire
- Free School Lane, Cambridge
- Bridge Street, Cambridge
- Portugal Place, Cambridge
- Trinity Lane, Cambridge
- Botolph Lane, Cambridge
- King's Parade, Cambridge
- St Edward's Passage, Cambridge
- High Street, Grantchester
- Emmanuel College, St Andrew's Street, Cambridge
- Blackmoor Head Yard, Cambridge
- Garret Hostel Lane, Cambridge
- Portugal Street, Cambridge
- All of the above location filming in Cambridge took place over a period of four days: 15th to 19th October 1979
- Ealing Television Film Studios (Stage 2), Ealing Green, Ealing
- BBC Television Centre (Studio TC3), Shepherd's Bush, London
Production errors
- When Romana recues The Doctor with the TARDIS, at the begining of part 3, the end of the scarf gets caught in the door. Moments later the TARDIS materialises in the Professor's rooms but the end of the scarf is no longer hanging out the door.
Continuity
- A section of Shada is seen in DW: The Five Doctors (two sections in the 'original' version, one section in the 'Special Edition').
- The Doctor uses the The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey in NA: The Dimension Riders.
- Rassilon mentions in BFA: Zagreus that he is Conqueror of Dronid, here mentioned as Skagra's homeworld.
- When Skagra examines the Doctor's life, brief clips from DW: The Pirate Planet, The Power of Kroll, The Creature from the Pit, The Androids of Tara, Destiny of the Daleks and City of Death are shown.
Timeline
- This story takes place after DW: The Horns of Nimon
- DW: The Five Doctors takes place during this story
- This story takes place before ST: Glass
Home video and audio releases
VHS releases
BBC Video released a version compiling existing footage broken down into the planned six episodes, with linking narration by Tom Baker. The UK release of the video included a booklet containing the full script of the original production; the North American release did not include the booklet. To date, this release has only occurred in the VHS format.
1992 VHS UK cover
Script book included with the UK VHS
1992 VHS US cover
1993 VHS Australian cover
DVD releases
It is on 2 entertain's cards to release Shada on this format.
Webcast version
Main article: Shada (webcast) The BBC commissioned Big Finish to write and record a new version as part of the 40th anniversary, it was animated with a limited Flash animation and released on the BBC's website. This version was revised to feature Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor, along with Lalla Ward and John Leeson voicing their original characters.
An extended audio version of the webcast was later released on CD by Big Finish Productions.
Novelisations
- No official novelisation of Shada was ever published by Target Books as they were unable to come to an agreement with Douglas Adams that would have allowed him, or another author, to adapt the story.
- Douglas Adams reused some of the elements of Shada in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, notably the character of Professor Chronotis, his time-travelling apartment, and St. Cedd's college.
- A fan novelised version (by the New Zealand Fan Club) is available online Doctor Who and Shada by Paul Scoones.
- In early 2011, BBC Books announced that Gareth Roberts had been commissioned to write an official novelisation of Shada, for release in March 2012. It will be a hardback book. Its publication follows an agreement with the estate of Douglas Adams and is the first novelisation of a regular TV Doctor Who story since 1994.
Fan Novelisation: Doctor Who and Shada (1989)
Shada Novelisation (2012)
