Welcome to Cambridge, quiet Northen London town,
where many prestigious colleges are settled.
In one of them works the kind Professor Chronotis.
Do you want to know more about that curious character?
Then follow me to Cambridge, city of Shada.
Shada is an incomplete episode from the series 17 of Doctor Who.
which was broadcasted for the first time in 1992, with a narration by Tom Baker to replace the un-shot parts.
The Doctor pays a visit to an old Time Lord friend, Professor Chronotis,
a teacher in a college of Cambridge.
This quite senile man actually hide lots of Time Lords secrets,
secrets which interest a lot Skagra,
a criminal who's looking for Shada, the Time Lords' secret prison,
to release and ask for help to Salyavin, a Gallifreyan criminal, to control the Universe.
The producer, Graham Williams, and the script editor, Douglas Adams wanted to recruit new writers for series 17,
but things didn't turn well.
After several misfortunes,
they had to accept the script of "The Horns of Nimon",
even if Williams disliked it,
and to write City of Death in a hurry to have enough episodes.
But one episode was still missing,
the last of the series in which Williams intended to put a huge budget to make a great finale.
so Douglas Adams wrote that one too.
But to suggest a screenplay from the current script editor was badly seen back then.
They asked for a special authorization so Adams could work on it.
Williams asked for the authorization because,
even if Adams could have used a pseudonym, like for "City of Death",
"Shada" was his last episode as script editor and his career was expanding thanks to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy",
and it would help his writing career to have the paternity of that episode.
They worked together on "Shada", named at first "Sunburst".
Williams thought the Time Lords were overused
so he decided to care less about them since series 15.
Indeed, even if series 16 ("Key to Time") refers a lot to Time Lords,
we don't learn a lot about them.
In spite of it, Adams wanted to write about Gallifrey,
to explain more precise subjects about Gallifreyan life,
like daily life or laws.
Nevertheless, to respect Williams wishes,
he put the plot in Cambridge,
talking about Gallifrey through the protagonists' memories.
So this final Adams' Doctor Who story deals with Time Lords without going to Gallifrey,
but it brings lots of new elements about that civilization:
Shada prison and the criminal Salyavin,
"the Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey", one of Rassilon's area artifacts,
Time Lords Academy's entrance speech,
the term "Time Tot" and the existence of Gallifreyan children books,
and all sorts of rituals.
At first, Shada was to be directed by Michael Hayes, who also directed "City of Death".
He was replaced by Pennant Roberts,
who last worked on Doctor Who on an other Adams' story, "The Pirate Planet".
The shooting started on October, 17 at Cambridge's Emmanuel College,
even if Adams regretted not to have the autorization to shoot at St John's College, where he had studied.
Despite all of it, and completely by chance, they met a bunch of choristers from St John's College who offer their services.
The choir was added to the chase scene,
to Tom Baker's delight as he became friend with them and was promoted honorary member of their group.
But the shooting wasn't idyllic.
A strike was shaking that field for some time
and night scenes became day scenes
as they weren't delivered in lighting material.
The strike was growing.
Nevertheless, all exteriors and several studio scenes were shot without a hitch.
On November, 19th, after lunch time, the team discovered the studio blocked by strikers.
The strike continued several days,
delaying Christmas programs' shootings, and Williams forced himself to cancel the end of Shada's shooting
to leave shooting slots available as soon as studios reopened.
The BBC found an agreement on December, 1st,
but it was too late for the episode, whose fate had been decided the day before.
Williams tried to book a studio for five days in December,
but the only available slots were in January 1980. Shada was totally abandoned.
To Williams and Adams' despair as they put a lot on their final Doctor Who episode.
They suggested to put Shada in series 18,
but the schedule was already done and an additional episode would have stretched it too much.
Furthermore, it didn't fit with the new episodes rhythm, darker and more serious.
Still, the new producer John Nathan-Turner wanted Shada to be released.
He tried to modify it in a two-parter of 50 minutes each to be released at Christmas,
but his idea went nowhere.
Nevertheless, he insisted to keep Shada's rushes into the BBC's archives.
Incidentally, an extract will be used in "The Five Doctors" to replace Tom Baker's absence.
If that episode was broadcasted, it would have marked the end of an era for Doctor Who.
The theme and credits will completely change for series 18.
The multicoloured scarf and the brown coat will be replaced by a burgundy outfit
and it would have been the last apparition of the old TARDIS.
A more modern, light-weighted and handy model will be used for the rest of the Classic era.
It would also have been the last episode longer than four parts.
But it was especially the last episode of the producer Graham Williams, the script editor Douglas Adams,
the composer Dudley Simpson,
and David Brierly as K9, as John Leeson took back the part.
But Shada wasn't abandoned forever.
Douglas Adams, who wasn't the kind to leave good ideas behind,
will reuse some elements from Shada, for example Professor Chronotis,
in his novels "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency".
In September 1983, a bunch of fans leaded by Ian Levine
made a non official edition of Shada,
using a mix of text panels and rushes from the archives.
This version was shown at Birmingham's Panopticon 5 convention.
In November 1985, John Nathan-Turner tried again to release Shada,
completed with a narration by Colin Baker as the Doctor telling one of his past adventures.
He suggested the Doctor could tell the story to Peri
or directly to the viewer, but the project didn't last.
Finally, in July 1992, the BBC released Shada.
The missing parts had been replaced by a narration by Tom Baker as he walked through the exhibition "Doctor Who: Behind the Sofa".
The episode reception was quite tepid.
The story was seen as good and well tied up,
but the direction wobbly and old.
In 2002, Big Finish released an audio version of Shada
and asked Tom Baker to take his part back.
Tom Baker refused to take part in the project
so Big Finish asked Paul McGann, who already worked with them regularly.
It had been decided in this version that events from "The Five Doctors" had altered time
and that the Fourth Doctor's adventure never took place as he was trapped in the Time Vortex.
The Eighth Doctor, learning this crucial change,
asks Romana and K9 for help to put things back in order.
The audio will come out on the BBC online platform with a short animation
and will be part of the series 40th anniversary celebrations.
In 2012, Shada's novelisation finally came out.
In his lifetime, Douglas Adams never authorized his episodes to be novelised,
but after agreement with his legatees,
the novel was written by Gareth Roberts and published by BBC Books on March, 15th 2012.
This version, even if faithful to the prime material,
adds references to other Douglas Adams' works,
but also NewWho elements
to add some consistency.
In 2013, it was released in France under the name "Shada – L'Aventure perdue".
Personally, here's my opinion on Shada.
Shada's story is simple at first,
but it gets richer thanks to all the information about Gallifrey
and to its plot twists.
Everything about Gallifrey is enthralling,
so it's a pity it couldn't have been reused in the next series.
The episode is funny, full of punchlines and dodgy jokes.
The existing sets are beautiful,
whether it's exteriors or Chronotis' office.
The invisible ship is a clever and well used idea.
The light effects on the Kraags are original, nice and well made,
so we forgive its kitsch aspect.
Professor Chronotis is a super cool character with great development
we would love to know more.
He is funny and touching,
but also ambiguous and mysterious.
I'm sad this episode is incomplete
as it's one of my favourite from the Fourth Doctor's era,
with its rich and fascinating story and its corrosive humour.
Thanks for walking around with me!
If you want us to take a walk together again,
you can like, share or comment this video, and also subscribe.
Kisses!
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