‘Doctor Who: Shada’ (1979/2017)
‘Delicate matter, slightly, It’s about a book…’
When Chris Parsons borrows a book from an elderly university professor, he is surprised to find it written in a strange alien language. He is even more surprised when the book is revealed to be not of this earth at all. Chris is about to enter a world of invisible spaceships, monsters made of molten rock and computers that can talk. He’ll also meet a man with a very long scarf who claims he can travel through time and space… in a police box. More importantly though, what is Shada and why does the villainous Skagra want it so much…?
There are far more important things to talk about and we’ll get to those (promise) but I’ve got to start with the bit that got me right away and is refusing to leave my head (I’m blaming Covid)… Skagra reaches Cambridge and goes looking for the book, all done up in silver. Wide brimmed silver hat, silver ‘space man clothes’ and with a flowing silver cloak to round the affect off. Not one person spares him a glance, let alone a second look. What happened? Seriously, had there been so many aliens at this point, in ‘seventies Doctor Who’, that people were just a little non-plussed by the whole thing? I hate to see flamboyance crash and burn like that (especially with that hat and cloak). Oh well…
And back then, to the reason why we’re here ;o)
‘Shada’ isn’t just the story that you see on the screen; it’s also the story of how this story almost didn’t make it onto the screen at all, save for the efforts of modelers and animators working to fill in the gaps in what had originally been filmed. I’m not going to go into that here, Wikipedia does it a lot better than I ever could. What I will say though is that when you look at the finished product, in that context, it’s actually really well put together, all things considered. Of course there’s going to be a ‘divide’ between the live action and the animation but it’s not as bad as you’d think, the plot drives you through those barriers and you don’t really think about it in the end, there’s too much else happening.
Talking about the plot, I wasn’t too sure to start off with but will hold my hands up and say I was wrong. ‘Shada’ has a villain that is more than a match for the Doctor (Christopher Neame coming across as someone so arrogant that he doesn’t need to be menacing, which is pretty chilling actually) and some sweet little twists that, all of a sudden, cast everything in a new light. That’s all I’m after really (especially at the moment) and that’s exactly what ‘Shada’ delivered. And if all that wasn’t enough, I really enjoyed the ending.
I feel like I absolutely have to be the last person to finally watch ‘Shada’ but if I’m not, and you’re reading this now, don’t hang around too long, ‘Shada’ is a treat to watch and you deserve a treat ;o)
There are far more important things to talk about and we’ll get to those (promise) but I’ve got to start with the bit that got me right away and is refusing to leave my head (I’m blaming Covid)… Skagra reaches Cambridge and goes looking for the book, all done up in silver. Wide brimmed silver hat, silver ‘space man clothes’ and with a flowing silver cloak to round the affect off. Not one person spares him a glance, let alone a second look. What happened? Seriously, had there been so many aliens at this point, in ‘seventies Doctor Who’, that people were just a little non-plussed by the whole thing? I hate to see flamboyance crash and burn like that (especially with that hat and cloak). Oh well…
And back then, to the reason why we’re here ;o)
‘Shada’ isn’t just the story that you see on the screen; it’s also the story of how this story almost didn’t make it onto the screen at all, save for the efforts of modelers and animators working to fill in the gaps in what had originally been filmed. I’m not going to go into that here, Wikipedia does it a lot better than I ever could. What I will say though is that when you look at the finished product, in that context, it’s actually really well put together, all things considered. Of course there’s going to be a ‘divide’ between the live action and the animation but it’s not as bad as you’d think, the plot drives you through those barriers and you don’t really think about it in the end, there’s too much else happening.
Talking about the plot, I wasn’t too sure to start off with but will hold my hands up and say I was wrong. ‘Shada’ has a villain that is more than a match for the Doctor (Christopher Neame coming across as someone so arrogant that he doesn’t need to be menacing, which is pretty chilling actually) and some sweet little twists that, all of a sudden, cast everything in a new light. That’s all I’m after really (especially at the moment) and that’s exactly what ‘Shada’ delivered. And if all that wasn’t enough, I really enjoyed the ending.
I feel like I absolutely have to be the last person to finally watch ‘Shada’ but if I’m not, and you’re reading this now, don’t hang around too long, ‘Shada’ is a treat to watch and you deserve a treat ;o)
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