Shada

"Beware the sphere. Beware Skagra. Beware Shada."

Writer: Douglas Adams

Format: TV

Released: August 1992

Season: 17.06

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana II, K9

Synopsis

The Doctor, Romana and K9 receive a message from an old friend - a retired Time Lord living as a college Professor in Cambridge. He's misplaced an ancient Gallifreyan artefact that could unlock the dark secrets of Shada - the lost prison of the Time Lords - and unless they find it before the crazed scientist Skagra, every sentient being in the universe is doomed...

Verdict 

Shada was an excellent story and served as quite an unprecedented blog entry! It's a Classic era story in the television format that I had never seen before which is beyond rare where this blog is now concerned as I had seen every broadcast episode of Doctor Who (to the best that it currently exists) but now this little beauty showed up! I'm not entirely sure why it took me so long to get around to watching this which I actually purchased quite some time ago as part of the Legacy Collection boxset and I think it must have escaped my memory. I'm glad I got around to it though as it was a little interesting but brilliant to be seeing brand new footage on camera with Tom Baker and Lalla Ward. I must say, I loved the linking narration scenes with Tom Baker himself and I thought the setting of what was obviously a Doctor Who exhibition was magnificent. Every time we cut back to Baker, he had the likes of Ice Warriors, Vervoids or the K1 Robot standing behind him! It was maybe a little distracting but to be honest I enjoyed the comedy that came with those linking scenes. It's just a real shame that this story didn't get completed and it has robbed Douglas Adams of his sole on screen credit as script writer rather than script editor. His contribution to City of Death of course won't be forgotten but this was intended to close the season and shed some light on the Doctor and more prominently the Time Lords which I really like the sound of. I'm now determined to read the novelisation of this story in the near future as I think it will be much more beneficial to have completed the story uninterrupted, even if it is in a different format. It'll only give me an alternate perspective and I'm sure I'll actually understand it more by the increase in detail but also by having seen the surviving footage here. I must mention Lalla Ward here and praise her. She reminded me just why Romana II is my all time favourite companion because she was just wonderful! I love her opposite Tom Baker and together they really are incredible together. I must also that she looked absolutely stunning and her attire was just astounding. The costume designer did a stellar job here and the fashion sense of Lalla must really be terrific because to say she looked great would be a huge understatement. She was the shining light of this story in my opinion and it has actually made me want to actively listen to the ongoing series of Fourth Doctor Adventures audios in which this TARDIS pair reunite. I liked the character of Professor Chronotis very much and the fact that the Doctor was visiting a retired Time Lord was excellent. The mention of having been to the Cambridge college in a different incarnation was very good too. The revelation that Chronotis was actually Salyavin didn't come as a surprise to me as it was heavily hinted prior to the reveal, but I did like that idea. A war criminal sentenced to the Time Lord prison planet of Shada, he had actually made the Time Lords forget about Shada and had orchestrated his peaceful stay on Earth. The use of the spheres from Skagra was good and I liked their abilities. The graphic work in this story was decent for 1979 I must say with the flight of the spheres and invisibility of the ship captured very nicely. The Krarg's looked pretty intriguing and their concept of crystal matter was very good to be fair. The cliffhangers, that survived, were very good and they did make me want to watch the next part immediately which is what I look for. Chris and Clare were excellent guest characters but perhaps my favourite thing of the story was that Chronotis' room at the college was actually a very ancient TARDIS! To hide it, he lived in it. Brilliant. We didn't really get to see the climax unfold as intended but what we got was pretty good and although nearly two hours of material remains, it's very difficult to give an accurate rating for the story, but I have tried my best with what we've got. Overall, a wonderful watch seeing new Classic material and a good story to match. 

Rating: 8/10