STORY PLACEMENT

 THIS STORY TAKES

 PLACE BETWEEN THE

 BIG FINISH AUDIO

 DRAMAS "MARY'S

 STORY" AND "STORM

 WARNING."

  

 WRITTEN BY

 DOUGLAS ADAMS

 

 ADAPTED BY

 GARY RUSSELL &

 NICHOLAS PEGG

 

 DIRECTED BY

 NICHOLAS PEGG

 

 RECOMMENDED 

 PURCHASE

 BIG FINISH SPECIAL #II

 (ISBN 1-84435-039-8)

 RELEASED IN DECEMBER

 2003.

 

 BLURB

 The Doctor has a spot

 of unfinished business.

 Reunited with his old

 friends Romana and

 K9, he answers THE

 CALL FROM HIS FRIEND

 Professor Chronotis,

 a retired Time Lord

 WHO NOW RESIDES in

 a Cambridge college.

 

 But the Doctor isnt

 the only visitor to

 Cambridge - the alien

 Skagra is intent UPON

 stealing an ancient

 and mysterious book

 brought to Earth by

 the Professor many

 years before.

 

 What is Skagra’s

 diabolical master

 plan? And who or

 what is Shada? To

 discover the truth,

 the Doctor and his

 friends must embark

 on a perilous journey

 that will take them

 from the cloisters of

 Cambridge to the

 farthest reaches of

 deep space, risking

 deadly encounters

 with a sentient ship,

 the RAVENOUS Krargs,

 and an ancient Time

 Lord criminal called

 Salyavin.

 

 As the Doctor soon

 discovers, the fate of

 the universe hangs in

 the balance...

 

 

 

CLICK TO

VIEW THE WEBCAST

 

 

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Shada

2ND MAY 2003 - 6TH JUNE 2003

(6 EPISODES)

 

 

                                                       

 

 

Shada is a fascinating anomaly in the Doctors life that I for one am delighted Big Finish and BBCi have finally resolved.

 

 

The 1979-1980 run was a strange season for Doctor Who. Whilst it gave rise to one of the best serials of all time in City of Death, it must also claim ownership of a below-par Dalek story and a hideous string of clangers. However, the season might at least have ended on a resounding note had industrial action at the BBC not prevented the completion of Douglas Adams season finale and Doctor Who swansong, Shada. Years later, BBC video would film linking narration from Tom Baker at the Longleat Exhibition to complete the story, but with much of the action (particularly towards the storys end) missing, Shada simply wasn’t done justice. However, the video production did present enough material to show just how good the serial could have been...

 

 

 

Paul McGann, the reigning Doctor, is handed a script tweaked by Gary Russell and Nicholas Pegg. After the success of Real Time, to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Doctor Who, Shada is re-made as an audio drama to be broadcast on the internet accompanied by the colourful illustrations of Lee Sullivan. Russells version of Shada stays true to the original and what’s more, presented as it is as six complete, partially-animated episodes, even the most hardened audio-sceptics amongst us are finally given a glimpse of just how good a McGann television series could have been.

 

A brief pre-title sequence explains

away the thorny continuity of the

story, and also gives it a little bit of

mystique even for those unfamiliar

with the back story. Plucked out of

time by the time scoop in The Five

Doctors, the Doctor and Romanas

adventure in 1979 Cambridge was

‘undone and so many years later,

in his eighth incarnation, the Doctor pops over to Gallifrey to escort his former companion and reigning Time Lord President to Cambridge to do what they should have done a long time ago

 

McGann is right at the top of his game here, ingratiating his Doctor into the story seamlessly - no small feat, given that the script had been written for the rather wacky Tom Baker. Cool rather than crazy, the Doctor of Shada exudes energy and enthusiasm.

 

 

For her part, Lalla Ward plays Romana very much in line with the New Adventures and Big Finish’s prior depiction of the character. Comparing this Shada to the earlier (now undone version), it is evident just how much she has grown up and become more seasoned, though the webcasts illustrations still make her look incredibly young and beautiful rather than older and more weathered (which must have been tempting, given her Presidency).

 

The rest of the cast are similarly superb, once you get used to Andrew Sachs (Manuel of Fawlty Towers fame) speaking English and Chris Parsons suddenly being Scottish! There are plenty of in-jokes to be enjoyed along the way too (such as Skagra carjacking a Ford Prefect, or the Doctor finding a helmet from the USS Enterprise-D) and so all told this new, bold and colourful Shada is a wonderful way for Doctor Who to embrace the future whilst

still paying homage to its past.

 

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2006

 

E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

 

  

This 2003 production of Shada suggests that when the fourth Doctor and Romana were lifted out of time in

The Five Doctors, their would-be actions in 1979 Cambridge were undone – once freed, they simply left in

the TARDIS, as shown at the end of the anniversary special, thus allowing the eighth Doctor, Romana and

K-9 to later return to Cambridge in 1979 and effectively remount the earlier ‘undone’ adventure.

 

Further, The Company of Friends makes it explicit that for the young eighth Doctor, the events of Marys Story take place prior to the audio drama Storm Warning, whilst his companions Samson and Gemma are waiting for him in Vienna (if indeed 'whilst is the right word). In this production, the Doctor mentions Byron

and Shelley in the past tense, referring to an evening spent with them on Lake Geneva - a likely reference

to the events of Marys Story, suggesting that this story takes place after it. And so given the tight continuity between Samson and Gemma’s fateful encounter with Davros (depicted in Terror Firma’s flashback scenes)

and Storm Warning, we take the view that Shada must take place between Marys Story and Storm Warning, whilst Samson and Gemma are still in Vienna.

 

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