DOCTOR WHO: SHADA DVD Release Compleated With Animated Segments

[AshGL1914]

So in DWM 428 it was revealed that SHADA is being readied for a DVD release along with NIGHTMARE OF EDEN. Now the blurb doesn't state how or if it'll be compleated or if it will have the bridging narration that Tom Baker recorded for the VHS version, but I do know that sometime ago someone reconvened the entire surviving cast to record audio of the unfinished bits of SHADA.

What is somewhat contriversal is that aperentaly unable to agree to a fee, Tom's voice was recast and impersonated by another actor (Paul Jones not Jon Culshaw).

From reports, Paul Jones is fantastic and capable of sounding more like Tom thirty years ago than Tom now, and better than Jon Culshaw at both sounding and acting as The Fourth Doctor than simply an impression.

Now as far as anyone can gather this new cast recording is now being animated by a third party to be presented to 2|entertain & BBC Video, and to be edited togeather to finaly compleate the episode in much the same way The Second Doctor's story THE INVASION was completed in 2006.

Now as a Doctor Who fan who's first Doctor was Tom, I've always wanted to see SHADA compleated in some fashion, and I'm excited by the news that may happen. But, is it weird that it'll only half star Tom? Would it pull you right out of the story to know that the voice in the animated bits isn't Tom Baker? I just don't know what I realy think yet, but I hope it'll be great reguardless.

Thoughts?

John

 

[Risu]

Re: DOCTOR WHO: SHADA Upcoming DVD Release With Animated Segments

I'm definitely excited to see it. I guess it'll all depend on how good the voice actor is.

 

[AshGL1914]

Re: DOCTOR WHO: SHADA Upcoming DVD Release With Animated Segments

Did alittle more digging and found that the new SHADA materal was produced privately by Ian Levine, DOCTOR WHO uberfan and producer of a few Classic DOCTOR WHO dvd special features.

Ian was responsable in alerting JNT to preserve the original SHADA tapes as the BBC were prepairing to erase and reuse the tapes (as was practice for a canceled production at the time). Ian also performed the first edit of SHADA in 1981 and it was his edit that was eventualy used to make the VHS edit of the episode.

Ian has privately funded and produced the new recordings and animated sequences and intends to compleate, and deliver his final re-edit of the compleated, FINISHED serial of SHADA to 2|entertain and BBC Video for release.

Ok...now I'm excited!

John

 

[Dave Ward]

Levines segments on the edge of destruction were fantastic.

 

[dcarty]

This cannot happen soon enough for me--very excited with this news!

 

[AshGL1914]

I know...after learning who was behind this edition, i got excited!

 

[dcarty]

Has anyone seen/heard Paul Jones? I haven't come up with anything myself. It's hard to imagine anyone but Tom Baker being Tom Baker on camera but the fact that the sequences are animated cuts them the slack they need. John Culshaw sounds so much like Baker it's scary so I'm curious to hear how close Paul Jones is (I'm not the only one I'm sure).

It does lead to an interesting question though. Will the new series offer stories that feature the "deceased" Doctors? There is the precedent of Richard Hurndall in the Five Doctors. To an extent I can understand not doing it as you would want to capitalize on the benefit of having the living actors reprise their role. It was certainly a treat to see Peter Davison if only for 5 minutes. Additionally all of the Doctors have been played by very unique personalities, admittedly some more unique than others, and it's hard to conceive of the idea not descending into parody even without Rowan Atkinson around. But David Troughton and Sean Pertwee could step into their father's shoes without too much effort--something I very much want to see. Maybe for the 50th Anniversary?

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, will be the third version trying to bring Shada back to life be the charm?

 

[Solo4114]

Intriguing. Although I suppose I'll treat it as a "side story" or "non-canon" rather than a canonical episode.

Regardless, always happy to hear about more rescued Who. Just wish they could find more of the "lost" episodes and animate them a la Invasion (which was really a blast to watch, actually).

 

[Dave Ward]

DCarty, there's a fan-made 10 Doctors video floating round youtube, to my mind it's really powerful seeing the Doctors stood together looking as they were in their time instead of the older actors reprising their roles. With CGI constantly advancing I think they could make a pretty cool episode one day soon. I really didn't like seeing Hurndall as doctor 1, I almost found it disperespectful, and he didn't have the presence. It really took me out of the story.

 

[Larry Young]

DCarty, there's a fan-made 10 Doctors video floating round youtube...

Boy, that bit with the four TARDISes materializing in the field was brilliant.

 

[Treadwell]

Frazer Hines does a rock solid, dead-on Troughton impression. He's done it for some of the audio productions, and I hope they use him if the second Doctor is ever animated for new material.

 

[dcarty]

DCarty, there's a fan-made 10 Doctors video floating round youtube, to my mind it's really powerful seeing the Doctors stood together looking as they were in their time instead of the older actors reprising their roles. With CGI constantly advancing I think they could make a pretty cool episode one day soon. I really didn't like seeing Hurndall as doctor 1, I almost found it disperespectful, and he didn't have the presence. It really took me out of the story.

I think I found it--part one is pretty neat! Very clever edit work to make a new story out of many, many existing ones! I also like the idea of wrapping it around the Three Doctors episode. You have a good point about seeing the Doctors in their "time". It's a big reason why we probably wont see either Mr Baker, or their Doctors, in costume on screen again.

While I don't know if I find anything about the casting or performance of Richard Hurndall disrespectful so much I do agree with you about him not remotely having the presence that William Hartnell did. I've always been amazed at the amount of praise that has been heaped on his performance over the years beginning with Peter Haining's books. Apart from the wig I've never found him to be like Hartnell in any way shape or form.

Still I ask myself the question "why is it so difficult to accept two actors in the same role in a television show?" It's the old Dick York -vs- Dick Sargent problem. Having different actors in the same part happens all the time in the theater--but that's the nature of that art. Then you think having different actors portray the same historical figure, Winston Churchill for example, happens all the time--sometimes within the same show (to illustrate the passage of time). But it's a mind-bender for us to have somebody other than the regular guy in our TV show. Funny that.

Treadwell--I didn't know that about Frazier Hines but it doesn't surprise me in the least. Well, if David Troughton isn't interested then I hereby and forthwith nominate Frazier Hines! We know it would be done with as much love as skill.

Cheers Fellas,

Dave

 

[Solo4114]

I think the difficulty of new actors comes from the fact that on stage you're telling the same story every night and it's a contained story. Thus, it doesn't matter if you swap actors out. It's just another interpretation of the same material.

With television, you have ongoing narratives, so swapping out actors would be like Tom Baker leaving for four episodes in the middle of a season, being replaced with someone else, and then coming back later in the season. Unless you can work out an in-continuity explanation for it, it doesn't work. The Doctor Who series as a whole is BRILLIANT because they did just that -- as one actor gets tired of the role, they simply regenerate the Doctor and stick a new one in. Presto change-o! Their only problem now is in handling the lore issues surrounding how many regenerations the Doctor gets (used to be said to be 13, but you can apparently get more somehow...).

 

[Larry Young]

With television, you have ongoing narratives, so swapping out actors would be like Tom Baker leaving for four episodes in the middle of a season, being replaced with someone else, and then coming back later in the season. Unless you can work out an in-continuity explanation for it, it doesn't work.

When I was a kid, US soap operas would routinely open with "The part of Doctor Thomas Straightaway is being played by Chesty Thespian." and then it'd be business as usual. And comic books often swapped out artists, so much so that the longest run (besides Dave Sim on Cerebus, its own kettle of fish) was only 100 or so issues by Kirby on the FF.

I dunno, between Doctor Who and The Saint playing James Bond, this one has never bothered me at all. :lol

 

[Solo4114]

I guess some folks just want more consistency. I guess it does depend on eras and conventions. When I was growing up, the Becky/Becky thing on Roseanne was about as bad as it got, and they even cracked jokes at that. I don't recall anything else off the top of my head.

It's always kind of bugged me, though. For that matter, it's always bugged me when my favorite artist for this or that comic series suddenly left. I remember when I was really into Uncanny X-men and Marc Silvestri ended his run (which would've been around...1989? 1990? Before the Jim Lee era). There was a particular issue where Jubilee is taking care of Wolverine in some underground tunnels while he recuperates, and the artwork was just...garbage (well, to me, anyway).

 

[dcarty]

"Chesty Thespian" :lol

 

[Larry Young]

There was a particular issue where Jubilee is taking care of Wolverine in some underground tunnels while he recuperates, and the artwork was just...garbage (well, to me, anyway).

Yeah, it's a truism of comics' fill-in artists that to editors it's more important to deliver artwork to hit the publishing deadline than it is to deliver greatness.

 

[Michael Bergeron]

Interesting... SHADA was a good story so this could be good.

 

[NormanF]

I couldn't find any other threads covering this so I'm resurrecting this one. They were able to get the original cast. I saw somewhere they even got Tom in his old costume for a scene. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a rental or streaming option.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Don't get me wrong, I love Tom Baker's Doctor, in fact, he IS the Doctor as far as I'm concerned, but I never understood the intrigue and fascination behind Shada. From all the reviews of the the novelizations and audio stuff I've read, it's just an okay Dr. Who story.