is it worth a watch?
I know its incomplete with Tom narrating the unshot scenes. it looks like its a interesting story

If you liked City of Death, then Shada is definitely worth a watch as it's very similar but still an intruiging watch on its own terms: I think it's such a huge shame it was never completed as it could have been a standout of Tom Baker's run. I honestly believe Season 17 would have been much more popular if this story had been included to finish it off.

Like City of Death, Shada is often very daft in your typical Douglas Adams way, but clever in its own little way too. There are some really interesting ideas such as the character of Professor Chronotis and the titular Shada itself... and as usual with Adams, chemistry between characters is very unrealistic but fun.

It's not very long, most episodes fall well under the usual runtime of a Classic Who episode, but I would say it's certainly worth your time if you're interested as it's the gem that never was.

I wholeheartedly agree with Lord Smexy. It is just a fun romp. It is such a shame that it was never properly finished.

I quite enjoyed it. I really liked the set up with the professor, not knowing about the story before hand helped. In all honesty, if I had not already been aware that it was an incomplete episode I would have been hard pushed to tell. It's no more plodding, padded and clunky than your average 'classic' I actually preferred Shada over a lot of the everyday 'classics'

Imo.

I agree with most of the above posts.

The only thing I will add to is the later episodes feature very little of the brilliant Christopher Neame as Skargra, the final battle is one you really wish you could watch but Tom Baker does an awesome job of creating the images of it via his superb narration.

As a side note for those who may not know, a similar character called Professor Chronotis appears in Douglas Adams's novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

They did an audio version with McGann and Lalla Ward which is better imo, they also added animation which is crap.

I agree with what's already been said. Well worth a watch if you like City of Death and some great comedy too.

I've seen the version that has Tom Baker narrating the gaps in the story. I think I've seen the animated version too. It is good fun overall.

I do think it would make a super project for some clever person at the BBC to produce a much smoother, more cohesive version.

Id get it just for the fact it was never shown on tv so pretty much a VHS/DVD exclusive!

Ian Levine produced a part-animated version with many of the original cast, including Lalla Ward. (Tom didn't take part, though.)

Here's a clip from it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4650h76xLk
It's well above the standard of Levine's other animations, which are frankly surreal in their awfulness.

If someone could get Tom to record the lines, the other recordings from Levine's sessions could maybe be set to some better animation one day. I'm not sure Ian would be up for the cannibalism of his project, though. It appears that he just went ahead and made his own version without permission from the BBC or Douglas Adams' estate and just expected BBC Worldwide to buy it and release it on DVD.

http://www.starburstmagazine.com/rev...ctor-who-shada

Not bad actually. I wonder how watchable the whole thing would be?

Another idea would be to have Peter Capaldi's 12th Doctor sitting in a bar having a few late night drinks, and (for some reason) recount the adventure to someone. Might be quite an interesting mix of new and classic Who.

To be fair levine would be aware of the bureaucracy involved in being such a project complete so set about it himself to deliver it as a fait accompli. Naturally he also did it out of ego but that didn't really matter, I think his fan heart was in the right place.

I've seen it. It leaked in 2013 in a cut down 150 minute version (the full version is about 170 minutes which is far longer than it was ever planned to be as a live action story). It's better than the dvd we got but totally understand why they didn't just accept what ian gave them. Ian certainly hyped the thing as something ultimately amazingly special but when I watched it I came out thinking "was that it?" after all the hype. The animation is watchable but it needed a fair bit of work. It just lacked polish. An opinion shared by some of the animators. I also understand that ian never bothered giving any of the animators papers to sign for a dvd release which also hampered his cause and some of the animators apparently did it for free. It cost 25 000 pounds (at the time he mentioned this figure but recently he quoted 40k) even though ian didn't fund all of it (Ian conveniently doesn't mention that fact when hyping this project). I don't think some of his backers would have been too impressed that ian offered it to bbc worldwide for nothing especially when some of his backers spent thousands.

I know the BBC would never go for it but I'd love if they got all the actors back and finished the thing. They could explain the aging between scenes by saying it's to do with the Professor's Tardis and time experiments.

They would need to recast. Couple of the cast members have died. Also getting Tom and lalla in the same room might be problematic. They have recorded stories together for big finish but in separate studios. Personally I wouldn't be against them doing a new adaptation of the novel for the 40th anniversary in 2019 with whoever is the doctor/companion at the time.

Douglas Adams once the only reason people were excited about Shada is that they hadn't seen it. (This is before the VHS release).

I think it's no great shakes. Some of it is very daft and some of it is really quite poor. Eminently watchable and deeply silly. As a full six parter it would have been too long and a bit boring. It's a curio, and the location work is lovely. The Krargs are ludicrous.

I did a tour of the Shada locations in Cambridge over the summer, including reading the script of the punting scene while on a punt (with a seven year old friend doing the "waak waak waak" duck noise). Time well spent.

I remember getting the VHS - but a good story - http://www.doctorwhoworld.net/shadatv

I saw that version too. Another 20 minutes would have seriously made it drag.

Ian Levine seems oblivious to pacing and the fact that every episode has unused footage. Wasn't his animated version of The Dark Dimension twice as long as the intended 90 minutes? Maybe it's the trauma of the junking of Hartnell and Troughton episodes compelling him to preserve every last second of every piece of lost/missing Who.

Apologies, the point I'm trying to make is I've seen so many different versions of Shada it would be cool if the original version was completed instead of even more versions made of it. In regards to recasting, in this case Professor Chronotis would have to be recast. But if they'd follow my idea of aging they could have his character reverse age and become younger in the newly filmed scenes. It could be done, it's about finding a way. Maybe a kickstarter campaign could do it.

Its good that the only way to see it is through Home Media. Wish more stories were like that. For the DVD they really should have gotten Tom back to film links and included the webcast version where you can actually watch it via your TV.

Failing that redo the naration

I've also seen the leaked version of Levine's animation and while it's not of professional quality it at least tells the story more effectively than Baker's narrative links. Grateful to have this version.

You mean this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4650h76xLk

No, I meant all 6 episodes of Shada with Levine animation included.

I've not seen it. But I have heard it.....