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Television Media

Douglas Adams Written Dr. Who Episode Goes Into Production 266

Posted by chrisd from the let-go-of-my-coat-tegan dept.
oddsheep writes "The BBC have announced they will be showing a new version of an episode originally written by Douglas Adams and that was never shown after industrial action halted the original production in 1979." "Shada" will star Paul McGann as the Doctor.
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Douglas Adams Written Dr. Who Episode Goes Into Production More

Douglas Adams Written Dr. Who Episode Goes Into Production

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  • Webcast (Score:2, Redundant)

    by isorox ( 205688 )
    Following several false starts in attempting to bring it back, the drama will finally be premièred in a webcast on BBCi in the spring.

    Not broadcast on one of the BBC's many channels (BBC Three would be good, kick people into getting Digital TV), but instead in dubious quality on the web?
    • (BBC Three would be good, kick people into getting Digital TV)

      Couldn't agree ... less. I seriously hate the way the BBC pumps my licence fee into projects that the majority of licence payers have no access to.

      This should be on Radio 4. Not BBCi, not one of the digital TV or Radio stations. This is the kind of crap Radio 4 was made for! And we can all receive it. Even online!

      • Re:Webcast (Score:5, Insightful)

        by isorox ( 205688 ) on Friday November 15, 2002 @05:36AM (#4675728) Homepage Journal
        I hate the way the BBC pumps my license fee into projects that are completely worthless (fame acadamy, eastenders). Fortunatly the BBC exists for the minority of the population. If we relyed on tabloid "mob rule", we'd have back to back football and big brother on TV, back to back Justin Timberlake on radio, and stupid flash and "Free Tonez" on bbci.

        Back in the day when BBC pumped money into 625line TV, and then Color, and Teletext, and Nicam, it was exactly the same. Not everyone have Teletext, why should they have to subsidise teletext people? Why does the BBC maintain a website and broadcast radio online for people in america and beyond, that dont pay a license fee? They had a website back in the days when there was 30,000,000 internet users worldwide

        Everything starts off as a minority, specialist, service. Then the mainstream get it.

        Besides, I'd think the 5 million DST, 2 1/2 million DTT and 2 1/2 million cable subscribers is a large chunk of the license fee payers. More people can techincally receive BBC Four and Choice then can receive BBC Two on analog. A second hand digibox and dish from ebay - £100. Someone to install it - £50. That gives access to 50 channels with no subscription, anywhere in the UK (unless you cant put a dish up because of conservation issues). For the 50,000 people that cant have a dish, DTT and cable will cover about 90% of them. The rest are unlikely to receive a full analog signal anyway - the highlands of scotland viewers that cant receive BBC2 dont get a rebate on their license fee.
        • I don't have any mod points so I will just say I found your comment insightful :-)
          It's wierd when I have both cable TV and Sky Digital and still most of the best programmes seem to be on the terrestrial channels.
        • There are loads of examples around the world which give the lie to your argument.

          Even in America, which has the biggest 'mob rule' around has channels like PBS, Discovery Channel, etc.

          • From where I live I can see 3 analog transmitters and 1 digital transmitter. That means I receive 17 UHF channels in good quality (assuming I rotate the ariel). 4 analog channels, from 3 transmitters, and 5 digital MUXes. In addition to this I get spilage from a couple more transmitters which mean that a TV station cant broadcast on those frequencys. The U only has 40 UHF channels to choose from, theres rarely room to squeeze an extra 1 channel (hence Channel 5 and DTT coverage is only about 60%. You have to be careful about interfereing across the channel too. Some areas can receive 30 UHF channels in good quality, however they are all repeats of the big 5, and digital muxes. Countries like the U.S. have local stations, which carry some network programming (like local radio in the UK). the UK doesnt have any local stations (aside from about 10 city-sized RSL's). The UK emphasises full coverage of every broadcast station, instead of maximum number of stations. Also theres less space alocated to channels in the UK (other countries have 70 UHF channels and VHF channels - twice as many as the UK)

            Incidently I dont know a single country that has unregulated use of the UHF band.
      • Couldn't agree ... less. I seriously hate the way the BBC pumps my licence fee into projects that the majority of licence payers have no access to. Well fine, but who exactly are those people? Everyone in the UK has access to those channels. Ok, so you've got to buy some equipment but you have to buy a TV to watch BBC1 and I don't see anyone complaining that that's unfair.
    • BBCi has 3 TV channels on Freeview, and presumably at least one on sky. They can broadcast it in audio there too.

      And that would be CD quality.

      • Re:Webcast (Score:2, Informative)

        by isorox ( 205688 )
        All the BBC channels are available on satelite for the cost of a box and dish (about £100 second hand - less then the cost of a DTT box and new ariel). You get loads more free channels too like boomerang (24 hour cartoons). They are also on DTT (""freeview"") too, as well as the digital only radio stations.

        BBCi is the interactive part of BBC (Digital "teletext", the website, and extra video streams on news24). BBCi is not the Digital only channels.

    • I admit, I'm somewhat attached.

  • Dr. Who!? Douglas Adams!? can't be beat i tells ya, can't be beat! i just finished reading "So long and thanks for all the fish" again and i still love it...hey do you think i can get people to call me "Wonko the Sane?" Or how's about "Wonka the Insane"

    (pardon the gibberish, i am a tad intoxicated)
  • ...but production was halted by industrial action.

    What exactly does 'industrial action' mean?

  • because.. (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ..maybe like the good doctor, Douglas Adams doesn't really ever die. ;)

    Sigh. I hope.

    • Re:because.. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by cbuskirk ( 99904 )
      {arogant sarcasm} How dare you insult Mr. Adams like that. As an ardant Athiest he would be quite offended at the notion of an afterlife. {/arogant sarcasm}
      While I personally disagree with this, it is just one of many many quirks/traits/sidesplittingly-funny-nurosies that made Douglas Adams who he was. Now that he is dead and gone lets us thank (Anyone but God) and join The Great Propeht Zarquon in saying....
      So long and thanks for all the laughs

  • one little detail... (Score:4, Informative)

    by jesse.k ( 102314 ) on Friday November 15, 2002 @04:18AM (#4675556) Homepage
    what the poster forgets mention that this is not the TV show, but rather a web based audio drama.

    sorry to get your hopes up, Whovians, but this isn't the new dr. who series you were promised.

  • Why remake it? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bovril ( 260284 ) <{centreneptune} {at} {yahoo.com.au}> on Friday November 15, 2002 @04:19AM (#4675562) Homepage
    There is already a Tom Baker version of Shada. It's a 2 tape set and I can get it at my local video store. The back of the slick makes reference to production hassles but I've never hired it because I've found that re-watching Dr Who (Blake's 7, Battle of the Planets, etc..) is an effective way of exterminating any sense of fond nostalgia.

    • Re:Why remake it? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Graspee_Leemoor ( 302316 ) on Friday November 15, 2002 @04:31AM (#4675602) Homepage Journal
      The Tom Baker version of Shada, i.e. the original and proper version of Shada was never completed due to a strike at the BBC. Way back whenever the BBC did the post-production on the unfinished scenes and got Tom Baker to do some new segments where he stands in a Dr. Who museum and narrates what happens in some scene that is missing.

      They then released this version of Shada as a boxed set with the script.

      I admire any new Who stuff they do, or rather I admire the effort, but nothing will ever be able to match the on-screen chemistry between Tom Baker and the sexy sexy super-sexy Ms. Ward.

      In particular there is a scene at Prof. Chronotis' where the Prof., Romana and the Doctor are talking about Galifreyan stuff, and it just rocks. I think some of it is ad-libbed.

      graspee

      • True, it won't match Baker.

        Which is why it's actually kind of good that's it's an audio drama, it doesn't really have to.

      • Mary Tamm was much better. (Score:3, Informative)

        by emil ( 695 )

        The original Romanavoratnalunda had a certain Je ne said quois.

      • In particular there is a scene at Prof. Chronotis' where the Prof., Romana and the Doctor are talking about Galifreyan stuff, and it just rocks. I think some of it is ad-libbed.

        You will find that a lot of Prof. Chronotis made it into the first Dirk Gentley book. I had read the book long before seeing the special edition of Shada and it gave me the strangest sense of de ja vu.

  • eh? (Score:3, Funny)

    by PositiveGround ( 61498 ) on Friday November 15, 2002 @04:19AM (#4675565) Homepage
    So what's this episode going to be called? The Hitchhikers Guide to the Space-Time Continuum? So Long and Thanks for All the Who?

    • Re:eh? (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      If its thanks for all the Who, then should the theme song be changed to Teenage Wasteland or something?

      Although, that sounds like a good final album for them "So Long and Thanks for all The Who".

  • Yes! The BBC has done it (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Kiwi ( 5214 ) on Friday November 15, 2002 @04:20AM (#4675568) Homepage Journal
    Finally, after six years, we have another Dr. Who episode. From the BBC, to boot. This can be the sign of more things to come.

    I can see why they chose Shada; Douglas Adams has a reputation which makes it that much easier to secure funding. Now, hopefully, this will not be a one-time shot like the 1996 Dr. Who episode was. Since they will build some sets, such as a Tardis set, this will make it more cost-effective to make more Dr. Who episodes if this program generates enough interest.

    I am wondering how they will handle Ramona; there was one sentence which mentions Lalla Ward (the actress who played the second Ramona) but it is not clear whether they are referring to her role in the original production, or whether they are referring to her playing the role again in this production.

    Fandom will have to come up with a story about how Ramona and K9 got out of N-space and got back together with the doctor again (with a possible regeneration if a different actress plays Ramona).

    Glad to see somehting more substansial from BBC besides a vague promise from some BBC executive.

    - Sam

    • OK, it's an audio-only webcast (Score:4, Informative)

      by Kiwi ( 5214 ) on Friday November 15, 2002 @04:34AM (#4675609) Homepage Journal
      Not clear in the article, but this is an audio-only webcast. Oh well; nice thought while it lasted. - Sam
      • It's also not made clear that this isn't a BBC production. It's produced by Big Finish [doctorwho.co.uk], which has been making excellent Doctor Who audio drama for a few years now.

        I expect they will have a release on CD before too long.

    • Romana /= Ramona (Score:2, Insightful)

      by doubleyou ( 89602 )
      Her name is Romana, not Ramona.

      Apologies for nitpicking on your mis-spelling of her name, but you were doing it consistently.

      Not that it matters much, since her full name is Romanadvoratrelundar anyway.
    • Fandom will have to come up with a story about how Ramona and K9 got out of N-space and got back together with the doctor again (with a possible regeneration if a different actress plays Ramona).

      Both of them got out of it a long time ago in the New Adventures books. She was President of Gallifrey for a while too.

  • The most dangerous book (Score:3, Funny)

    by Zayin ( 91850 ) on Friday November 15, 2002 @04:24AM (#4675582)

    Shada, which was originally planned to conclude Dr Who's 17th season, finds the doctor teaming up with Romana (Lalla Ward) and K9 (John Leeson) in trying to track down the most dangerous book in the universe.



    I think someone already did that. I get emails all the time offering "the most dangerous book in the universe" for sale.

  • It's an audio play! (Score:4, Informative)

    by PCM2 ( 4486 ) on Friday November 15, 2002 @04:27AM (#4675592) Homepage
    From the article:
    Following several false starts in attempting to bring it back, the drama will finally be premièred in a webcast on BBCi in the spring ... Produced by the Big Finish company, it stars Fox in the role of Professor Chronotis, with Sachs as the evil Skagra.
    For those who don't know, Big Finish has been producing a series of audio dramas starring various incarnations of the Doctor. They use the original actors (Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davidson, and some of the companions, among others) and they have access to some of the original theme music, sound effects, etc. There's nothing in this article to make me believe this is anything else but another in the series. If the BBC was really going to produce a video version of the Doctor -- with all the budgetary concerns that entails (no snickers from the Doctor Who haters out there, please) -- do you really think they'd premiere it as a Webcast? No, expect this one coming your way via MP3 or RealAudio sometime soon.
    • Just an FYI - the radio shows ROCK. Many are written by former writers of the show, they have the actual actors performing their original roles (one with the Brigadier, even!). This is as close to the show as you'll get.

  • -1 Redundant (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Niggle ( 68950 )
    IIRC, most of this was already filmed with Tom Baker as the doctor. If you remember "The 5 Doctors" (where they get transported to Gallifrey to loot Rasilons tomb), Tom Baker's doctor is grabbed from a punt in Cambridge. I believe that was part of Shada.

    From the article:
    > Produced by the Big Finish company, it stars Fox in the role
    > of Professor Chronotis, with Sachs as the evil Skagra.
    > Gordon is behind the silky voice of Skagra's spaceship, and
    > Hayes makes a cameo performance as college porter Wilkin.

    I think Douglas Adams eventually re-wrote this as one of the Dirk Gently books. One of them definitely includes a Professor Chronotis and lots of time travel. I think that bits of the same book came from another Doctor Who story as well (the one with all the extra Mona Lisas).

    • Dirk Gently & Shada (Score:5, Informative)

      by JimPooley ( 150814 ) on Friday November 15, 2002 @05:38AM (#4675738) Homepage
      Most of the plot of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is a retread of Shada. When the video release of the filmed bits of Shada plus Tom Baker's linking narration came out. Adams donated his royalties to charity, which stopped any annoying legal turmoil over the fact that he'd used the same plot in Dirk Gently.

      Life, The Universe and Everything used large amounts of a rejected Dr. Who plot which was originally put forward as Dr. Who and the Krikkitmen.
      Once Adams ran out of radio series and old Dr. Who ideas to recycle, he really went downhill...
    • Yes, the scene was from "Shada."

      I have VHS of both "The 5 Doctors" and "Shada". The "Shada" release I have wasn't part of any fancy souvenier set, just a tape. It appears to have the film they had, plus Tom Baker narrating through the missing parts.
  • From the article: "...Dr Who's 17th season, finds the doctor teaming up with Romana (Lalla Ward) and K9 (John Leeson)..."

    So is K9 going to be some guy (John Leeson) in a suit??? How will he fit in there? From what I remember, K9 was much smaller than a normal-size human. Is John Leeson some kind of midget?
  • With Tom Baker (the actor who played Dr Who in the episode) narrating the parts that were left out because they weren't produced.

    They released it as a special video a couple of years ago.

  • It's not fair! (Score:1, Funny)

    by Azahar ( 113797 )
    I wanted to be the next doctor. Everyone else has their turn.
  • Screw douglas adams.

    Ya know what I wanna see? A really high budget Dr Who film about his origins, staring Tom Baker who's acting and portrayal-of-this-character-in-particular ability was barely exposed during his stint on the series, yet pretty much defined it for many americans. Man he managed to make gold out of average scripts ("I gave him a blank look"). I'll bet it'd make plenty o' money. Something about the politics of the timelords and the doctor's renegade nature.

    Dr Who is a great low-budget tv vehicle -- you can do nearly any cheezy sci-fi plot within its framwork. Nevertheless, there's some neat ideas there, Baker's era stands out among all the others, and I'd like to see more. (Gosh, is baker still around? I'll bet he's all grey now.) (And, ya gotta love all those $3 BBC special effects -- really.)

    Make it dark, dark, dark and funny. And make cheezy special effects part of the theme.

    And bring in Leela. She was hot and smart (Janus thorn, anyone?). and sarah jane, cause she's cool too and so much a part of the tradition.

    children's series, indeed,
    -t

    • Re:ideal fantasy production (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Speaking of Leela (Louise Jameson), what about in the Sunmakers episode when she's climbing up the ladder and then passes the camera side-on with her crotch at camera level... she's got no damn underwear on under that little leather loin skin. Man when I was 10yo I thought that was the sheeite!

      • Damn. I wish I recalled that or could find a jpg on-line. I'm really not into promoting conventional conceptions of sexiness -- but Louise was hot! I think it was the way she exuded a warrior's competence (plus, of course, the skimpy custumes).

        Ok -- having found a "fan site" and his official site, it seems Tom Baker is very much alive, and very much grey. So, instead of the origins of Dr. Who, how about a combination of his origins and (gasp!) his fate. Screw perfect continuity with the TV series which is incoherent anyway.

        "gobbldygoodk with conviction" -- Tom Baker
        -t

    • Re:ideal fantasy production (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Tom Baker is alive, and recently stared alongside Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer in a remake of the television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) It was a good show, a good series, and Tom Baker was as good as he always is.

  • actually (Score:2, Informative)

    by v8interceptor ( 586130 )
    The footage of Tom Baker in "The Five Doctors" was from Shada, as he pulled out at the last minute, and they had to do a bit of a re-write at the last minute - hence the story seems a bit odd. I really hope this one isn't like the last Dr Who they made - that sucked.

  • Plot Summary (Score:5, Informative)

    by ewhac ( 5844 ) on Friday November 15, 2002 @06:31AM (#4675850) Homepage Journal

    The entire script used to be online, but I can't seem to find it anymore. A shame, because it had some funny lines in it.

    If you've read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency [douglasadams.com], you already have a vague idea of Shada's premise. Adams re-used some characters in Shada to create DGHDA.

    Anyway, check out the detailed plot summary [drwhoguide.com]. A fun story.

    Schwab

    • This script is still on line and linked from the above plot summary:
      • More information, including the scripts of the episodes, is available from the Script Project [bw.edu] page.
      .. and there are some funny lines especially if you replace certain words and phrases with "slashdot posters" ..

      DOCTOR: Well, When I was on the river I heard a strange sound, a sort of babble of inhuman voices. Didn't you Romana?

      ROMANA: Yes.

      PROFESSOR: Oh just undergraduates talking to each other I expect. I've trying to have it banned....

  • If it's not available in OGG, I want nothing to do with it.

    yes, this is a joke. Seems to be the prevailing whine on slashdot for OGG to I thought i'd throw my 0.02 in as well

    • Re:Available in OGG format? (Score:4, Informative)

      by h0tblack ( 575548 ) on Friday November 15, 2002 @06:42AM (#4675872)
      Although the beeb insists on using Real for 99% of it's audio and video these days, the geezers in the background tested ogg vorbis [bbc.co.uk] a while back. It was a great trial IMHO and had some good content. It was a shame when they stopped the streams, but now, with the legal issues resolved, they're planning on bringing them back up. This could bode well, especially with the increase in streaming content from the beeb.

  • Why Not Use Tom ? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by NexusTw1n ( 580394 )
    Surely if it's audio only, why use Paul McGann and not the incredible Tom Baker ?

    It's a story from his regeneration, his snow white hair doesn't matter with no pictures.

    I like McGann, but Tom was the definitive Who.
    • I saw Paul McGann while cycling to work this morning... Saw him a couple of weeks ago in Sainsburys too.
      I thought he was a pretty good Doctor. But then I quite liked Colin Baker too, so maybe I am mad or something.
      Anyway, Tom Baker was almost everyone's favourite, and Sylvester McCoy was the worst... Stupid question mark wearing mumble mumble...
      • I'm kind of partial to John Pertwee myself. Pertwee and Baker were the best. Of course they were the ones us "bloody yanks" got to see the most too. Don't think I ever did get to see any Sylvester McCoy episodes.

      • Anyway, Tom Baker was almost everyone's favourite, and Sylvester McCoy was the worst... Stupid question mark wearing mumble mumble...

        I alway thought Colin Baker was the worst. I rather liked Sylvester McCoy.

        FWIW, I started watching Dr. Who back in the John Pertwee days.

        • I think McCoy was a good Doctor. But he had horrible writing. Colin Baker was... interesting. I've only seen a few of his (Trial of a Time Lord series and some other one).

          • I think McCoy was a good Doctor. But he had horrible writing.

            There was a time during the McCoy era when I thought the writing was getting pretty good. I don't remember if was in the beginning, middle, or end of his run.

  • This is frightening (Score:4, Insightful)

    by yroJJory ( 559141 ) <me@[ ]y.org ['jor' in gap]> on Friday November 15, 2002 @06:49AM (#4675886) Homepage
    After seeing how Fox destroyed my favorite series with that attrocious movie in 1996 (starring Paul McGann), I suppose the BBC won't do worse.

    Still, I hope they don't kill it with high production values and lots of orchestrated scores. Perhaps they'll be smart enough to hire the same composers who worked at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop back in the 70's, or, failing that, get Wendy Carlos to use her Moog goodness!

    Part of the great thing about Doctor Who is how innovative the production designers were without having a budget to support them properly.

    While the scripts are key, and Douglas Adams' have proved to be particularly good (i.e. "The Pirate Planet" is classic Adams), the cheesy production values are still key.

    Please, BBC, don't let us down!

  • Bigger and More Usefull Article (Score:4, Informative)

    by seh99 ( 233172 ) on Friday November 15, 2002 @06:52AM (#4675900)
    here [bbc.co.uk]
    Seems that it will be the same deal as the previous "new" adventure "Death Comes To Time", with pictures being played over a radio dramatization of the script. Shame, whould have liked an actual tv program.
    Good to see Manuel from Fawltey Towers in there, though I pass up the oportunity for lame Manuel/Doctor humour.
  • (which is rather timely when you take into consideration all the strikes currently taking place here in England)

    Some might be interested to know that Red Dwarf was very nearly not made due to the same type of industrial action a few years later down the line.

    Rather depressing that whilst the unions fight for their workers' rights, it can mean that great TV might never have been made. Of all the things!

  • It's going to really twist continuity (Score:5, Interesting)

    by troff ( 529250 ) on Friday November 15, 2002 @08:07AM (#4676027) Homepage Journal
    It IS going to twist continuity. Badly.

    Question 1: Does this mean that the Fourth (Tom Baker) Doctor will have been in "Shada", gone to Cambridge, dealt with Skagra, or not?

    Question 2: If not, then where/when exactly did President Borusa snatch the Fourth Doctor and Romana from (in "The Five Doctors" - as footage from the incomplete "Shada" was taken from that to make up for Tom Baker's absence when they filmed T5D...)?

    Question 3: If it IS Paul McGann's Doctor (Eighth), then it means that Romana is currently President of Gallifrey with K-9 in attendance, after the Fourth Doctor left them both in a completely different universe ("E-Space")... and why would Romana be hanging around the Doctor then when she's President of Gallifrey? She never had much need for him until the day when she was going to use him and effectively let him die to get what she wanted

    Question 4: Not to mention that Romana and all but maybe four Time Lords are suspected most likely dead and the Doctor's in shock-induced amnesia (forgetting what Gallifrey is or who he is), because Gallifrey was destroyed (in the BBC novel "The Ancestor Cell"), so where's she coming from? And for that matter, to where are they going to return the "most dangerous [Gallifreyan] book in the Universe" to when Gallifrey isn't even a smoking cinder in space?

    Question 5: Not to mention that in "The Ancestor Cell", Romana had already regenerated away from her Lalla Ward / "Princess Astra copy" body into something newer, by the time Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor had taken over...

    Some VERY, VERY, VERY deft script-editing is going to be required to fix this. Sadly, the seemingly non-existent Continuity/Canon Cops at the BBC don't seem to care about fixing it the way continuity's been bollocked.

    The Doctor's continuity has been BADLY scrambled from the very minute in the Fox/BBC telemovie we heard the Master say the Doctor was half-human (something useless which was NEVER hinted at in the series at ALL; never had any suitable explanation in the sequel books and actually proved to make things worse, rather than actually explain anything).

    Even worse, some of the "more famous" authors of the current BBC and previous 90s Virgin Books series have been allowed to bollock it up even worse; very, very, very badly.

    <rant> Especially by pretentious authors who decided that the Doctor didn't need and should never, ever have a continuous, single, canon continuity because "that would just be too limiting and narrow-minded". I'm desperately resisting the urge to name names - but thanks to you, for screwing it all up. </rant>

    For an excellent site which summarises nearly ALL the Doctor Who stories available, try David Boies's <http://www.drwhoguide.com/who.htm>; look up the Fourth Doctor's "Shada" (and when it's positioned), the Eighth Doctor's "The Ancestor Cell", the Fifth Doctor's "The Five Doctors"...
    • In regards to the books, there's plenty of 'time' between the end of the FOX movie (yes, BBC considers that canon) to when the BBC timeline starts in "The 8 Doctors" book (the first BBC-published novel, and where he picks up Sam, starting that storyline) for the Doctor to have solo adventures.

      (Technically, the last Virgin DW-blessed book has Benny meeting the McGann reincarnation one more time; after this one, the series became the New Adventures, and Virgin wasn't allowed to use any characters or references to DW, only the characters that were specifically introduced in the Virgin run of DW books (Benny, Jason, Chris, etc), which of course went down the crapper really fast as they included elements of the big canon events in the BBC series but didn't actually mention them by name or details, and the vagueness of it all got annoying. From what I've seen, the Virgin books are not considered canon at this point, which unfortunately wrecks a lot of the good plot continuation they had with the 7th Doctor as being the Guardian of Time, more Valeyard foreshadowing, and more. Of course, most DW fans think that allowing even Ancestrial Cell to be considered canon wrecks the entire DW universe...)

      And I don't think individual authors are necessarily screwing this up. I read the BBC writer's bible once at their Cult site, and it seems to me that prospective writers with stories will be asked to make their they are up to date on continuity, and not to introduce anything that 'upsets' the balance unless specifically asked to by the book series' overseers. That is, I'm pretty sure books like Interference, Shadows of Avalon, Ancestrial Cell, and the (something) of Hernietta Street one, where crucial canon elements were made, had been thoroughly discussed among a number of people before the athors were allowed to write them. Other books are more placeholders and not meant to disrupt the current canon too much (such as The Year of Intelligent Tigers and Hope, for example).

      At least they aren't totally messing up the past continuity with the 'missing adventures' series using the other regenerations and past companions (though right now I'm reading through Asylum where they force a meeting of Nyssa well past her time in the TARDIS with the 4th Doctor before he even meet Nyssa... yeah....)

  • A better article (from gallifreyone.com) (Score:4, Informative)

    by shadowlight1 ( 77239 ) <chris...feyrer@@@gmail...com> on Friday November 15, 2002 @09:17AM (#4676219) Homepage
    BBCi has revealed plans for its 40th anniversary of Doctor Who webcast: a remake by Big Finish Productions of the classic "lost" Doctor Who story Shada, written by the late Douglas Adams. "Shada" was originally abandoned due to an industrial strike, although it was eventually released on video with linking narration by Tom Baker. In this new version of "Shada", the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) is reunited with old friends Romana (Lalla Ward) and K-9 (John Leeson) "in a quest to track down the most dangerous book in the universe." The cast features such notables as James Fox ("A Passage to India," "The Remains of the Day") as Professor Chronotis, Andrew Sachs (best remembered as daffy waiter Manuel on "Fawlty Towers") as Skagra, Sean Biggerstaff (Oliver Wood in the "Harry Potter" films) as Chris Parsons, Hannah Gordon (presenter of UK Channel Four's "Watercolor Challenge" and originally in the Doctor Who serial "The Highlanders") as the voice of Skagra's ship, Susannah Harker ("Ultraviolet") as Clare Keightley, Melvyn Hayes ("Quatermass II," "Ain't Half Hot, Mum") as college porter Wilkin, and Stuart Crossman in an unknown role. "This is a tremendously exciting project," director Nicholas Pegg told BBCi. "We've really pulled out all the stops on this one. We've had a fantastic time in the studio and I hope people will agree that we've done justice to one of the greatest writers Doctor Who was ever blessed with." Says Big Finish producer, Jason Haigh-Ellery, "This is a great opportunity to finally produce Doctor Who's most famous lost script, and a fine tribute to Douglas Adams." Lee Sullivan will produce animation for the new webcast and Gary Russell, on authority from the estate of Douglas Adams, has tailored the script to add some framing information and tie it into the story. BBCi senior producer James Goss stated on the Outpost Gallifrey Forum, "Big Finish have come up with a neat way of fitting the new Shada into continuity without messing around with the original script too much. Without going into detail, there's a short prelude set on Gallifrey, where the Doctor turns up to see Romana, explaining that they've got some unfinished business to attend to... involving a call for help from an old friend that they appear to have been somehow prevented from answering." At right, a photo from BBCi with McGann, Ward and K-9. The recording was taped in early November, and is set for debut on BBCi next spring. (Thanks to BBCi, as well as everyone who wrote in to let us know about it and the report on Biggerstaff's website)

  • I don't know... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Amtiskaw ( 591171 )
    I'm sure I remember reading a comment from Adams saying that basically, Shada was not an especially good Doctor Who story and wouldn't have been remembered if it weren't for the fact that it wasn't filmed. If you're looking for really good Douglas Adams Doctor Who, get "City of Death", its got everything; mad professors, evil aliens, british detectives and 7 Mona Lisas.
    • And it ALSO has Lala Ward in a school girl outfit...

      Mmmmm... Lala Ward...

      And it also has the best quote ever...

      Duggan: You know what I don't understand...?
      Romana: I expect so.

      Yeah, Doug wrote that - no doubt about it.
  • http://www.h2g2.com

    Run by the BBC, the Hitch Hikers' Guide To The Universe, Earth Edition.

    Liam.
    --

  • this wasn't Adams' only Who script (Score:3, Informative)

    by doubleyou ( 89602 ) on Friday November 15, 2002 @09:49AM (#4676365) Homepage
    The original poster seemed to imply that this was a big deal because it was written by Douglas Adams. However, Shada is not unique in that sense. Adams also wrote "City of Death" and another Doctor Who script which never made the cut, "Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen" (to be later recycled as the thrid Hitchhiker's book, "Life, the Universe, and Everything").

    He was also script-editor for the series for quite a few years.
  • Ok first it's a TV show. I watch Dr. Who since I was a kid, but I am also not an obsessive fan. First of all the very fundamental paradox of time travel is you cannot change the past if you are from the same time-space. Why? Because your present is the result of that past. You present has already taken your actions into account (because they have already happened.) I have a few friends that are physicists and they BS about this all day long. The only was that the past can be changed is a CFS (Continum Fracture Scenario) in which the infinite possible outcomes fork infinite universes of outcomes. If Time Travellers can pull themselves out of a continun then they can navigate the infinite outcomes.

    With that side based on the CFS ANYTHING is possible (we have infinite outcomes to deal with) thus it is possible that as screwed up as the storyline appears it is perfectly plausable based on CFS (as I call it Chaos Formulated Spaces, sounds better).

    That should end the non-sense of people complaining about the inconsistencies. Or you can subscribe to my TST (Time-Speed-Theory) that states that a change in the past must travel through time-space granting that a change in the past will take X amount of time to catch up to the present where X =( (TimeInPresent) - (TimeInPast) )* (Speed of Light)

    Therefore an secret agency that monitors timespace can see the subtle changes in time-space and calculate the change, then send a demonic entity back in time to correct the anomoly ensuring that their present is maintained.

    BUahahahahahahh (Yes I am tinkering with a book based on the idea about an evil tyrant that is trying to prevent timetravel from altering his present.) Did I mention Muahauhahaahaauhah!

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