Shada

Shada is a tricky one to review as, obviously, what we are looking at is very much unfinished. Because bits of it were never shot it is hard to get a sense of the pacing and coherence of the thing. However, it is still possible to watch it and get a sense of the story, which is why I have decided to include it in my retrospective, in spite of the fact that it was never broadcast.

Shada was, in a sense, the end of an era and probably would have been (stylistically) the definitive example of the Douglas Adams era. The script would be instantly recognisable as Adams’ work even if it wasn’t reused seven years later as the basis for Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (the similarities are even more pronounced than in City of Death, with entire scenes being reproduced almost verbatim). As it stands, the script is a good one. It takes an idea- a scientist who wants to be God and runs away with it, with some inspired concepts such as the mind-stealing sphere and a spaceship computer that nigh-on worships its master. There is a good deal of the comedy characteristic of the era, but a fair bit of it is funny, fortunately. The dialogue is good throughout with a few exceptions: ‘They stole our brains!’ is never a good line, no matter how necessary to the plot it is. The characterisation is reasonably good, even though the key characters of Chris Parsons and Clare Keightley aren’t exactly fleshed out- apart from Arthur Dent, Adams was never very good at making his everyman characters three dimensional. However, we have the wonderful character of Professor Chronotis and the insanely arrogant and ruthless Skagra to keep our attention. The script seems to justify the length of six episodes, which is pleasantly surprising.

The standard of the production is hard to judge, as only one of the studio sessions were made, giving the studio scenes a very uniform look. However, the location scenes in Cambridge are wonderful and the Professor’s study is a fantastic set. Pennant Roberts puts in some fantastic work behind the camera (something I’d never thought I’d type)- of special note is the opening scene, where the camera circles round the seated figures of the Think Tank, which is intercut with a countdown in Roman numerals. The Krarg is a wonderfully realised monster, making a strong impression even in its brief appearance on the surviving footage. The performances are excellent, with Denis Carey being wonderful as Chronotis and Christopher Neame’s Nordic glower being used to good effect as Skagra. Tom Baker and Lalla Ward are clearly invigorated by this story and perform excellently.

Shada would not have been the best story of the season, but it would certainly have been very memorable if it had been completed. What is left of it can actually be enjoyed as a story and it is a real pity that it was not allowed to rescue what was the weakest run of Doctor Who stories for some time.

NEXT: The Leisure Hive