| SHADA by Douglas Adams |
| Story ? Synopsis: Notorious master criminal Skagra escapes from Think Tank. He seeks infamous Time Lord Salyavin, whose mental powers were immense. On Earth, the Doctor and Romana are visiting an old friend, Professor Chronotis, at Cambridge University. He wants them to return a precious Time Lord book, but finds he's accidentally lent it to a student. Skagra chases the Doctor around Cambridge for the book, before kidnapping Romana and the TARDIS. The Doctor finds Skagra's ship, and turns it into a crude TARDIS. Skagra uses the book to reach Shada, a prison planet where he expects to find Salyavin. Chronotis arrives in his TARDIS, revealing himself to be Salyavin, but he wants no part of Skagra's plan. Using his mind control sphere, Skagra seeks to use Salyavin's great mental powers, but the Doctor puts a stop to it all. When Skagra returns to his ship, he finds it has been reprogrammed and places him into its Brig. Chronotis returns to Cambridge, and the Doctor and Romana promise to keep his secret safe. |
| Review:- The infamous lost story from S17, Shada was the 3rd and final blast from Douglas Adams, and, were it not for strike action at the BBC, should have been broadcast early in 1980. The story has two distinct themes to it: the notion of what the Time Lords do with their criminals, and some university ramblings in Cambridge. It is the former which is of more interest than the latter, although some critics have tended to see it the other way around. The decline in the mystique of the Time Lords arguably started with The Three Doctors, where they're bloody helpless, but it really kicked in with The Deadly Assassin, where murder and corruption become part and parcel of the Gallifreyan currency, something continued in The Invasion Of Time. That aspect of crime and punishment would thus have found further outlet in this story. It's fun to wonder how come the War Lord was erased from history (in The War Games), yet Salyavin merely got a prison sentence. Changing regimes, but more in the show's production team, than in the dusty halls of Gallifrey. Anyway, Skagra seems like a pretty bland villain, and his bunch of alien pals, the Krargs may have fitted the mould in S17, but they have not stood the test of time. As for Salyavin himself - perhaps his attempts to remain hidden on Earth suggest he's working on an unofficial probation sentence, trying to ease his conscience by bringing wisdom to humans. Or maybe he made a mental muck-up. Or maybe the plot doesn't stand up to scrutiny (not that these stories were ever meant to, to be fair). Whilst K9 is given a lot to do, Romana gets taken prisoner, and the Doctor has to improvise a way to follow his TARDIS to Shada, the whole thing feels rather uninvolving. Had it been made, it may not have had the warm reception it attained through its 'lost' status. It is also worth mentioning that Douglas Adams' usage of Chronotis in his Dirk Gently books is rather more compelling than it is here. So, to sum up, the industrial action did everyone a favour. |
| Disclaimer: I've seen the video. |