Yesterday the @classicDW feed on Twitter posted
a tweet that is sure to excite followers of classic
Doctor Who...especially those who are fans of Tom Baker's 4th Doctor. They simply have this to say:
Plans are to release the SHADA fragments together with MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS in a box filled with other content goodies! Likely 2012.
For those of you who aren't in-the-know,
Doctor Who - Story #109: Shada was supposed to be the finale of the 17th season (or series, if you prefer) of the original program, and had been planned to broadcast around the end of 1979 or the beginning of 1980. Besides Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor, main cast included Lalla Ward as Romana, and the voice of David Brierley as K-9 (Mark II, to be specific). The script was written by none other than
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams, who had written "
The Pirate Planet" storyline the previous season, and who served as the show's script editor for the 17th season (where he also had a hand in penning the
City of Death stories, too).
The filming for
Shada had gotten underway in mid-October '79, with Baker and Ward shown in a boat along the English river Cam (footage that was later re-purposed for use in the Peter Davison-era story
The Five Doctors). Other scenes were filmed as well, but night scenes couldn't be shot because a labor dispute with the BBC had resulted in key lighting personnel being recalled to London by the union. The shoots were moved to daytime and completed, but as the production tried to move forward the dispute expanded further. It was affecting other shows as well, but eventually it resulted in the shooting of
Shada to be halted entirely. The story was scrapped for the 17th season, and the production year was simply short by several episodes (one entire story arc).
Plans to finish the production during the show's 18th season didn't come through, and the already-filmed footage was, in the end, all that was shot. In 1992 a VHS tape of
Doctor Who - Story #109: Shada was put out by the BBC, using the existing scenes and with Tom Baker providing narration to link the missing portions of the story. That video was discontinued in 1996, but in 2003
Shada was re-vamped as an 8th Doctor story, and Paul McGann performed it as an audio episode for Big Finish Productions. With animation added to it, that version of
Shada was shown on the BBCi interactive channel (now called BBC Red Button), and streamed on the BBC's website as well.
What version(s) of
Shada will BBC Video and 2|entertain release on DVD next year? They haven't made it clear yet. The Baker-narrated version released on VHS in the '90s is one possibility, but also renowned
Doctor Who fan Ian Levine recently posted on Twitter early last month (
here and
here) that his personally-financed restoration of the story arc has been completed. Of course, it would be cool as well if the animated 8th Doctor version by Big Finish were included with this release, too! Forgive the pun, but only time will tell.
What we WILL get as a bonus on this DVD release, according to the @classicDW tweet yesterday, is the 1995 documentary feature titled "
More Than 30 Years in the TARDIS." Full of "archive gems," "behind the scenes" footage, "pure nostalgia" and "treasures from the cutting room floor," this VHS tape was sold in the UK, Australia, and North America. Here's a description from the package of USA release:
It was sixteen minutes past five (Earth Time) on Saturday the 23rd November 1963, the day after the assassination of President Kennedy, when Doctor Who first materialised on to BBC Television. Squeezed in between the football results and the Telegoons, a legend was born.
So, from humble flickering beginnings more than 30 years ago, began the eccentric Time Lord's crusade against evil. Now this fascinating documentary charts that remarkable career in time travel. There are dozens of classic excerpts featuring all seven Doctors, clips from the widescreen trailers of the two Dalek movies starring Peter Cushing, plus recently discovered material.
On top of this, classic
Who bonus material producer Chris Chapman has
tweeted that "
To further whet your appetites, our @classicdw Shada doco is called Death Comes to Time and was shot (mostly) on location in Cambridge!" It sounds like
Doctor Who - Story #109: Shada on DVD will truly be a great item...I cannot wait. Stay tuned, and we'll keep you updated as further developments occur!
