TV Having been in bed with manflu for a couple of days, I haven't had a chance to comment on the news that Shada has indeed been animated and will be released on shiny-disc at the beginning of next month.
Here's the press release.
Reaction on social media has been pretty mixed, mostly because for a story which wasn't completed first time around, between the various releases since, including Douglas including a version in the Dirk Gentley novels, it doesn't feel like we're completely missing a new version. That the resources could have been more handily spent animating a few more of the missing episodes.
Which I do have sympathy with, I do. Like everyone else I have fond memories of the Baker narrated VHS release, put out in dvd not that long ago even if it becomes entirely futile as the stories goes on and the story simply runs out of shot material and its most Tom explaining what happened. Plus the McGann audio version is superb as is the novel by Gareth Roberts (for the most part).
But for all that, I'm really excited about this project because it's a chance to sit and watch the story in full, with the scripted elements in place read mostly by the original cast and on blu-ray with the original film sequences, all of those lovely shots of Cambridge, in high definition. Plus they're editing from scratch not simply inserting the new material into the old VHS version.
This will also be the fifth version featuring Lalla Ward.
(1) The unfinished TV version
(2) Big Finish
(3) Audiobook version
(4) Whatever it was Ian Levine was trying to do
(5) The new thing
I can't wait to hear what she's done with it this time.
Plus now that Tom Baker's been working on the audios for a while across various companies, he's really found the Fourth Doctor's voice again, so his contribution will have an authenticity it might not a few years ago. He's so obviously enjoying playing the part again - although it'll be interesting to see how much he's stuck to the script or made his usual suggestions.
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