An abandoned Doctor Who classic is to be brought to life in this brand new animation, starring Tom Baker and written by Douglas Adams.
Penned by legendary Hitchhikers’ Guide To The Galaxy author and Doctor Who writer Douglas Adams (City Of Death, The Pirate Planet), the story was set to be the Season Seventeen finale but strike action at the BBC in November 1979 meant the studio scenes were never completed and the adventure was abandoned.
Now, thirty-eight years on, Shada is to finally be completed – combining the original, remastered footage, with brand new colour animation for a feature-length production.
"Delicate matter, slightly. It's about a book..."
Chris Parsons is happily engrossed in studying post-graduate physics at Cambridge, when one day he finds an old book, sitting on a dusty shelf in an ageing professor's library. Written in a language nobody can read and made of a paper that can't be torn, this is no ordinary book. And when it enters his life, everything changes for young Chris Parsons.
Soon finding himself aboard an invisible space-ship, chased by monsters made of molten rock; aboard an alien prison on a distant planet and attacked by a horde of mind-control zombies. Chris also meets a strange man with a very long scarf who claims he can travel through time and space... in a police box.
It's going to be a busy day for Chris Parsons.
An abandoned Doctor Who classic is brought to life. Starring Tom Baker and written by Douglas Adams, this is “Shada” for a modern audience, with footage upscaled to high definition, and incomplete footage now completed using high-quality animation.
The new feature-length production incorporates all of the live-action scenes from 1979, together with new animated material. Shada finds the Doctor in Cambridge working alongside companion Romana and retired Time Lord, Professor Chronotis, to defeat the evil alien Skagra who is attempting to steal the secrets to the prison planet, Shada.
Doctor Who: Shada is being produced by the team behind the highly successful and critically acclaimed animation of lost Doctor Who episode, The Power of the Daleks. The team have had access to nearly seven hours of raw footage from the original 1979 Shada shoot from which they are editing the new production from scratch, with all the original film negatives re-scanned in full HD and digitally remastered.
Paul Hembury, Executive Producer, BBC Worldwide says: "Fans loved The Power of the Daleks, so we’re delighted to be able to complete and bring them another lost Doctor Who classic."
Blu Ray/DVD - Bonus Material
Shada in Cinemas: On Saturday, December 2, 2017 there will also be a special screening of Shada at BFI Southbank, London, UK. Tickets for BFI members will be available from November 7, and for the public from November 14. Further information on the screening will be available soon.
- Taken Out of Time (25' 39")
- Now and Then (12' 45")
- Strike, Strike, Strike! (27' 50")
- Studio Sessions - 1979 (44' 38")
- Dialogue Sessions (14' 16")
- Model Filming (04' 36")
- Deleted Scenes (01' 22")
- Title Sequence Films (TBC)
- Live Action Reference Footage (02' 48")
- 1979 Gallery (04' 50")
- 2017 Gallery (02' 52)
Shada in Cinemas: On Saturday, December 2, 2017 there will also be a special screening of Shada at BFI Southbank, London, UK. Tickets for BFI members will be available from November 7, and for the public from November 14. Further information on the screening will be available soon.
