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Shada
Doctor Who - Shada 		TSV Books
Doctor Who and Shada

Author Paul Scoones Cover image
Published 1989
Cover Alistair Hughes

Back cover blurb: THE LEGENDARY 'LOST' DOCTOR WHO ADVENTURE The Doctor and Romana visit Professor Chronotis, a retired Time Lord living at Cambridge University. The Professor wants to return an ancient and very powerful book to Gallifrey - but the book has gone missing. Skagra, an evil scientist, steals the book and the Professor's mind - and also takes Romana and the TARDIS. In order to stop Skagra, the Doctor must discover the secrets of a notorious Time Lord criminal, and a long forgotten prison called Shada...

Reviews

SHADA!!! by Andrew Feryok 27/10/08

"How naive, Doctor," Skagra observed quietly. "How pathetically limited your vision is."
"Limited?" questioned the Doctor.
"Take over the Universe," Skagra quoted scornfully. "How childish. Who could possibly want to take over the Universe?"
"Exactly!" agreed the Doctor. "That's what I keep on trying to tell people. It's a troublesome place, difficult to administer, and as a piece of real estate it's virtually worthless because by definition there'd be no one to sell it to."
- The Doctor 'chatting' with Skagra, Doctor Who and Shada, Chapter 9
At long last, I am able to read the full story of Shada! I've owned the VHS tape for many years (which in the US does not include the packaged script) and even in its incomplete form with Tom Baker narrating much of the later episodes, I was intrigued. Indeed, you would be hard pressed to find a fan that isn't at least intrigued by the mere presence of this story's existence. The title itself helps enormously. There is something about the word Shada that sends shivers down the spine. It's mysterious and vague enough to pull you along to find out exactly what it means, and at the same time it sounds like something you have heard before.

Paul Scoone's novel version is a masterpiece and probably the best way to experience the story. I've glanced over the scripts online before, but Scoone's book embellishes the story in a way that a script cannot, adding descriptions and mental thoughts of characters so that the story is not only clear, but also works smoothly together. Of course, Scoones is helped enormously by Douglas Adam's wonderful story. For being a story that was never aired or completed, it remains one of my favorite Tom Baker plots. The use of an ancient Gallifreyan book with supernatural powers as the centerpiece of the story as well as the overarching presence of the mythical Salyavin gives this story an aura of mystery often absent from many stories in this season.

The humor, at times, can get out of control and some of the verbal humor is a bit stretched. But on the other hand, the story is a minefield of comedy gems, including one of my favorites seen in the quote above. Douglas Adams has a unique style that I've noticed that the new series is starting to copy more and more. It involves a combination of heavy technobabble, an everyday person in an extraordinary circumstance (rather than the Doctor and Romana trying to explain themselves in an ordinary place) and finally the extraordinary having the qualities of the everyday. When Chris gapes at the presence of a police box in the middle of a Cambridge study, no one else seems to pay it notice and acts as if it is perfectly normal. That's Douglas Adams!

The characters are also a memorable bunch. K-9 is mainly used as a walking blaster gun, but the Doctor and Romana are shown as a great team. In fact, many of the final solutions are Romana's ideas that are a carried out with the Doctor's bravery. Professor Chronotis is of the wonderful eccentric and doddering old people that seem to populate the Tom Baker years in stories such as The Seeds of Doom and The Stones of Blood. And the fact that Chronotis hides a secret makes his character even more intriguing. Clare doesn't make much of an impression, but Chris is absolutely fantastic and would have made a much better companion than Adric later on. His wonder at suddenly being thrust into the extra ordinary is great and it's been such a long time since we've seen the Doctor travel with a male companion and their chemistry is apparent, at least in script form.

However, it is Skagra who really drives the threat of the story. Skagra is an utterly ruthless individual and keeps perfectly with Adams' other evildoers such as Queen Xanxia and Count Scarlioni/Scaroth. I've noticed that, as crazy as Adams gets with goofy ideas and rampant humor, he always anchors his story with utterly ruthless, single-minded, humorless (with slight sense of humor), and totally focused villains. Without this anchor, the stories would spin wildly out of control into utter nonsense, as many stories of the period did. And Skagra is clearly a very dangerous threat to the Doctor. He not only has the Doctor's own knowledge, but the knowledge of every genius in the universe! He is armed with a mind-draining sphere and invincible Krargs, and he absolutely cannot be reasoned with. When Skagra wants something, he doesn't ask, he takes it, whether you like it or not and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. There is also something highly violating about Skagra stealing and using the Doctor's TARDIS for almost the entire story. The fact that he is able to do it without threatening the time travelers or even encountering any resistance from anyone and even when he receives minor resistance from Romana, he merely sweeps it aside. The ease with which he is able to take the TARDIS is disturbing, as well as his skilled ability to control it. Romana's presence in these sequences and the way in which Skagra abuses her almost makes Romana a physical representation of what Skagra is doing to the TARDIS.

However, not everything about Shada is perfect. For one thing, Shada sports some pretty gaping plot holes! Normally I don't bring these up, but in Shada they are so huge you could drive an ocean liner through them. For instance, why is Dr. Chronotis/Salyavin so eager to reach Shada and stop Skagra opening his cell and why does he then reveal his true identity? If he is truly trying to stop Skagra, clearly he would want to stay as far away and remain as quiet as possible. It is only when he speaks up that he gives himself away. Even if he had remained dead, Skagra's plan would have utterly fallen apart. Why risk reasoning with Skagra when he has already shown that he isn't the type who listens to reason? Also, at the end of the story, when Skagra and the Doctor are locked in a mental battle for control of the Universal mind, why doesn't the Doctor have K-9 stun Skagra? Skagra does just this by sending his Krargs on the Doctor in order to distract him. Why doesn't the Doctor do this back? Is he finding some personal pleasure in being able to overwhelm Skagra with his mind alone? That is a rather dangerous stance to take, particularly considering what is at stake if he fails! Finally, why does no one pursue Skagra at the end of the story? Of course, he is captured by his own ship and placed in a cell with no doors for eternity, but how would the Doctor know that the ship would recognize him as its new master? The Doctor gives no explanation to anyone as to this being his secret plan. Everyone just watches him run off with his tail between his legs. This man is dangerous! Wouldn't it be a good idea to make sure he doesn't escape and set up shop again elsewhere?

I also cringed at the presence of the historical figures from Earth being prisoners on Shada. While I can accept Daleks, Cybermen, and Zygons appearing as prisoners, I find it hard to believe that the Time Lords would imprison evil dictators and backstabbers from Earth in their prison. First of all, it violates the Time Lord's prime directive, and second these characters are only evil to Earthlings. Why would aliens want to prosecute and imprison such insignificant beings? Surely Shada would be used to hold more terrifying villains such as a Salyavin, Morbius and other master criminals of the Time Lords who posed a direct threat to the overall universe and time/space dimension! It just seems silly to the point of being ludicrously unbelievable, even by Adams' absurd standards.

I also have a problem with the Krargs. While they look impressive in the surviving footage, it is clear that their one filmed sequence at the Think Tank station is their only good scene. For the rest of the story, they are used as walking muscle for Skagra with nothing particularly interesting added about them. And I doubt that the BBC, on its limited budge, could have realized the creation of the Krargs as well as they are described in the scripts. But they do make for nice descriptions in a novel version. But, in the end, the Krargs end up being one of the most uninteresting elements of the story.

I'm really divided over which epilogue I like better for the novel. The ebook version features both the revised epilogue and the original epilogue. The revised epilogue follows the script's ending with the heroes gathering in Chronotis' study and the Doctor and Romana discussing Salyavin in the TARDIS. The old epilogue featured a scene linking this story to the beginning of the Leisure Hive and explains how and why the Doctor got his distinctive Season 18 outfit and went to Brighton Beach. Both are believable explanations, keep in the style of both seasons and also keep with the style of the Target books, which often included extra scenes that would link stories together that where never linked before.

Overall, this was a really good novel! The story is top notch, despite some plot holes, the humor is excellent, the characters are great, and fans can at long last experience the lost Tom Baker story as a whole and complete story! Shada clearly makes a much better and much missed conclusion to Season 17 and the 1970s era of Doctor Who than the overly silly Horns of Nimon. Once again, I would love to see some Target style illustrations in the TSV books, but, on the whole, this is another highly successful TSV novel. Keep them coming guys! 10/10