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Shada (novelisation)

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Shada by Gareth Roberts was a novelisation of the TV story of the same name written by Douglas Adams, which was intended to conclude Season 17 but never completed due to labour action at the BBC disrupting production. It was the first novelisation of a Doctor Who TV story since Doctor Who - The Novel of the Film in 1996. Interestingly, it was the first novelisation to predate the release of its television equivalent, with Shada not receiving a television airing until 2017 (though there had been animated and "available footage" home video reconstructions since the 1990s). Although new editions of the other Adams adaptations have been released (in revised form) as part of the modern Target novelisation line, as of 2023 this has yet to happen with Shada.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

Hardback[[edit] | [edit source]]

(back cover)

At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways — with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.

(inside front cover)

From the unique mind of Douglas Adams, the legendary "lost" Doctor Who story completed at last!

The Doctor's old friend and fellow Time Lord Professor Chronotis has retired to Cambridge University — where nobody will notice if he lives for centuries. But now he needs help from the Doctor, Romana and K9. When he left Gallifrey he took with him a few little souvenirs — most of them are harmless. But one of them is extremely dangerous.

The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey isn't a book for Time Tots. It is one of the Artefacts, dating from the dark days of Rassilon. It must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. The sinister Skagra most definitely has the wrong hands. He wants the book. He wants to discover the truth behind Shada. And he wants the Doctor's mind...

Based on the scripts for the original television series by the legendary Douglas Adams, Shada retells an adventure that never made it to the screen.

This epic "lost" adventure from 1979 features the Fourth Doctor and Romana as played by Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, written by Doctor Who's then script editor Douglas Adams.

Paperback[[edit] | [edit source]]

Inside this book is another book — the strangest, most important and most dangerous book in the entire universe.

The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey is one of the artefacts, dating from dark days of Rassilon. It wields enormous power, and it must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.

Skagra — who believes he should be God and permits himself only two smiles per day — most definitely has the wrong hands.

Beware Skagra. Beware the sphere. Beware Shada.

Chapter titles[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Part One: Off the Shelf
  • Part Two: An Uncharitable Deduction
  • Part Three: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
  • Part Four: Carbon Copies
  • Part Five: Gallifrey's Most Wanted
  • Part Six: Brought to Book

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Time Lords[[edit] | [edit source]]

The TARDIS[[edit] | [edit source]]

Music[[edit] | [edit source]]

Literature[[edit] | [edit source]]

Locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Clare believes Gallifrey is in Greece.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • None of Douglas Adams's three Doctor Who stories had previously appeared in book form for a variety of legal reasons. This novelisation, the first book adaptation of his stories to be released, was released 11 years after Adams' death in 2001.
  • Although Douglas Adams had said he would like to novelise his other two Doctor Who stories, The Pirate Planet and City of Death, when he had "run out of things to do" and didn't want another author writing them, as far as he was concerned Shada would never see print as he felt it was "just not up to much".
  • This story was also released as an ebook available from the Amazon Kindle store.
  • The opening page features epigraphs from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Maxims and Reflections, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Resident Alien and The Smiths song Still Ill.
  • Some hardback editions incorrectly refer to Skagra as a Time Lord on the sleeve.
  • Chronotis owns a travel guide, Alternative Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse V was a planet in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He also made a slight reference near the end of the book about it.
  • At one point, the Doctor hums the opening notes to the Doctor Who theme tune.

Deviations from the original story[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • An opening chapter focusing on Skagra is added.
  • A. St. John D. Caldera is replaced by a female scientist named Daphne Caldera. Her specialty is 6-dimensional wave equations, instead of neurology. Caldera's role as the Think Tank survivor who talks to the Doctor is given to C. J. Acroteary.
  • Chris and Clare have more explicit romantic feelings for each other than were conveyed in the previous releases, and end the story engaged to be married.
  • There is a homosexual subtext to Skagra recruiting David Taylor. The character is given a greater presence than in the original story, thought one that ran differently to the webcast.
  • When trying to remember Chris's name, Chrontis goes through the alphabet himself with bring prompted by the Doctor and Romana.
  • The scene with the Doctor being chased by Skagra's sphere on the bicycle is relocated to nighttime, as was the original intention in the script, before strike action forced them to film it in the daytime, as stated in DOC: Taken Out of Time.
  • Bernard Strong tries to capture the Sphere before it kills him, as opposed to it ambushing him from behind.
  • Skagra tells Romana his backstory and Thorac's decent to Dronid, rather than she and the Doctor speculating it.
  • The Doctor, Chris and Chronotis relax at an beach on Dronid before they return to Cambridge, where the Doctor tells Chris that The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey had manipulated the entire adventure from the start, and reveals that he saved the victims of the Sphere by uploading their minds into clone bodies. Chronotis' escape from Shada is also explained.
  • The closing of the novel adds a scene of Chris, Clare and Chronotis being escorted to the police station, and a scene of the Doctor and Romana using the Randomiser in the TARDIS.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Additional cover images[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • 2013 Paperback edition

  • 2013 Large Print edition

Editions published outside Britain[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Published in the USA by Ace Books in 2012 as a hardback edition and 2014 as a paperback edition, it was one of three books published by them in the 2010's.
  • Published in Italy by Mondadori in 2013 as a paperback edition, translated by Alessandro Vezzoli, it was one of three books published by them in the 2010's.
  • Published in France by Milady in 2013 as a paperback edition, translated by Olivier Debernard, it was one of three books published in the 2010's.
  • Published in Hungary by Gabo in 2013 as a paperback edition, translated by F Piroska Nagy, it was one of two novelisations published in the 2010's.
  • Published in Brazil by Suma de Letras in 2014 as a paperback edition, translated by Juliana Romerio, it was one of two novelisations published in the 2010's; this was the only foreign edition to create it's own version of the cover design.
  • Published in Turkey by Ithaki Yayinlari in 2014 as a paperback edition, translated by Ulker Uyanik, it was one of three books published in the 2010's.
  • Published in China by the Shanghai Translation Publishing House in 2014 as a paperback edition, translated by Yao Xiang Hui, it was one of two novelisations published by them in the 2010's.
  • Published in Germany by Cross Cult in 2014 as a paperback edition, translated by Claudia Kern, it was one of five books published by them in the 2010's; this edition uses the same cover design as the UK paperback edition.
  • Published in the Czech Republic by Argo in 2016 as a hardback edition, translated by Pavel Cernovsky, it was one of three novelisations published in the 2010's.
  • Published in Russia by AST in 2016 as a hardback edition, translated by Chatherine Lozovik, it was one of eight books published in the 2010's.

  • US Hardback edition

  • US Paperback edition

  • Italian edition

  • French edition

  • Hungarian edition

  • Brazilian edition

  • Turkish edition

  • Chinese edition

  • German edition

  • Czech edition

  • Russian edition

Audiobook[[edit] | [edit source]]

This novel was released as an audiobook on 15 March 2012 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Lalla Ward with K9's voice by John Leeson. Unusually, this release uses the series' theme music at the opening and closing, a convention usually not followed in these audiobook releases.

The audiobook was reissued on 2 February 2023 as part of the audiobook anthology The Renegades Collection.

  • Audiobook cover

  • The Renegades Collection

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

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