Shada

Dear Gary—

Shada, the unaired and unfinished Doctor Who. Some say it is the lost glory of Doctor Who, others say it is a dull mess that is better left undone. The truth probably lies somewhere in between.

I have to admit that I lose the plot thread somewhere around the halfway point in my copy that bridges the gap between the scattered completed scenes with narration by Tom Baker.  I can follow it as long as the Doctor and Romana are in Cambridge visiting a retired Time Lord posing as a professor. He has a book that he took from Gallifrey that needs to be returned (it is one of the artifacts of Rassilon and could be dangerous in the wrong hands) but he has absentmindedly lent it to a student. Meanwhile there is a chap striding around campus in a white cloak with a sphere that attaches itself to people’s heads and steals their minds. This fellow is after the book too.

We come to learn that the retired Time Lord Professor Chronotis is in fact a noted Gallifreyan criminal Salyavin, a boyhood hero of the Doctor. While the sphere can steal minds, Salyavin can project his mind into others and the white cloaked chap, Skagra, wants this power for himself. The missing book holds the secret to the Time Lord prison planet Shada where Salyavin is believed imprisoned (even though this memory has been erased by Salyavin out of history and no one really knows where Salyavin is anymore). In his search for the book, Skagra steals Chronotis’ mind and leaves him for dead. Skagra retrieves the book and heads back to his invisible ship where he traps the Doctor, Romana, K9, and Chris (the student who had the book).

This is where I get a little lost. There is the invisible ship and then I think there is another, visible, ship. There is a think tank and then there is Shada. There is the Doctor’s TARDIS and Chronotis’ TARDIS that is disguised as his rooms in Cambridge. One of the ships has a voice and mind of its own and seems to transport people via a floating cube willy nilly about the place. The think tank is full of a bunch of aged men who are mindless. Shada is full of forgotten prisoners. Somewhere along the way there are Krargs that threaten people. Our cast crisscrosses their way from ships to TARDISes to think tank to Shada; it’s hard to keep track of who is where when.

The whole scheme seems to revolve around Skagra’s intent on conquering the universe via his mind absorbing spheres coupled with Salyavin’s mind altering power. So where do the Krargs come in? I don’t see their point other than to keep K9 busy. And if Skagra already has Chronotis’ mind in the sphere he therefore already has Salyavin’s. Why doesn’t he know this? What use are the captured minds if he doesn’t access that knowledge? And I’m a little confused as to the effects of the sphere on its victims. Sometimes it kills, sometimes ages and leaves mindless, sometimes turns into zombie armies. Also, if the sphere has a copy of the Doctor’s mind allowing the Doctor to control it, wouldn’t the same hold true of Chronotis who has come back to life with his mind intact? But then, I lose track of where Chronotis is during this part. Probably off somewhere making tea.

If we had the missing scenes to fill in the gaps I’m sure much of this would be explained. But let’s face it, many a Doctor Who story remains scant on details even when completed. So I guess I’ll stick to the scenes I have before me. Although I would dearly love to see the Doctor’s “fascinating display of illogic logic” that Tom Baker’s narrative claims. Douglas Adams’ words combined with Tom Baker’s acting of this unfilmed footage holds the promise of that lost glory many fans mourn.

Shada starts out at a leisurely pace, and I have to remark, Gary, that Doctor Four and Romana Two seem to be the most relaxed of all the Doctor/companion combinations. Perhaps after the Key to Time task the Doctor feels he has the right to some rest and recreation. Punting on the River Cam during May week in October (the TARDIS was a bit confused), the Doctor and Romana are the very picture of tranquility.

Their visit to Professor Chronotis in his cozy Cambridge rooms is also friendly and casual as the absent minded professor prepares tea. Even their frantic search for the dangerous book is more laid-back than frenetic as they take the time to browse titles and read aloud sample passages. It is a nice change of pace, too, for the Doctor to run into a fellow Time Lord who is not intent upon taking over the world or wreaking havoc. True, Chronotis does turn out to be a fugitive, but his crimes are rather vague and don’t seem too far off from the Doctor’s own rogue adventures.

It is at this point, Gary, that I want to mention the similarities between Shada and Douglas Adams’ book Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. I don’t remember if I read the book first or saw Shada first, I just recall noting the cannibalizing of material. Someday I’ll have to reread that book.   

But back to Shada, or what exists of Shada.

One of my favorite characters who made it to film is that of Wilkin. “Wilkin! You remember me,” the Doctor says in amazement. This unflappable porter of Cambridge recalls not only the Doctor’s honorary degree in 1960, but his previous visits of 1964 and 1955 as well (although he missed him in 1958 when the Doctor visited in a different body). And what would any conscientious porter of Cambridge do when an entire room apparently disappears to be replaced by a blue haze other than fetch a policeman?

I rather like Clare as well. She too remains unflappable, even in the face of TARDISes and space ships and “a conceptual geometer relay with an agronomic trigger” and “a totally defunct field separator.” She does lose a few points when she doltishly lets go of the handle to grab the pencil, though.

Chris is unflappable in his own way, but somewhat bland. Although I do like his guess of “Advanced State of Decay” for the acronym ASD. Professor Chronotis is likeable, but our main villain Skagra is rather unimpressive for the few scenes we have of him, and the Krarg are missing altogether.

There are a few good lines, like the Doctor telling Chris “You’ve got a lot to unlearn” when he says he understands Einstein, quantum theory, Planck, Newton, and Schoenberg. And there are a few Doctorisms (“Did you just see what I didn’t see?” “No.” “Neither did I.” and “I can do your part if you can do mine.”). There are some clunkers as well. “Time Tot” Romana? Really?

All in all Shada is a mixed bag, but if it had been completed as intended it would have made a decent enough story, probably better than many that were made during the surrounding couple of seasons. As it is in its abridged form it is still an entertaining serial well worth the watch.

Hope this finds you somewhere out there, Gary . . .