Back when I was first getting into Doctor Who, my best mate was indoctrinating me in all the minutiae to get me up to speed for the new series coming up on the local PBS station. Books were piled up around me and weekday nights were spent trying to decipher what I was watching. In the midst of all this, Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was airing on the radio and I loved it. I learned that Adams wrote possibly the greatest ever Doctor Who, but I’d never see it. I was told in grave tones the sad details of story 109, Story Code: 5M… Shada.

At the time there wasn’t much to tell, honestly. Details were vague at best and involved invisible spaceships and references to Gallifreyan lore. Intended as the finale to the program’s 17th series, Shada was intended to be a wild ride of an adventure, combining absurd humor, breakneck action and weird science. Sadly, only parts of it were actually filmed, due to industrial action at the BBC (the more I looked into that story the weirder things got. All I’m saying is that it came down to a toy clock on a children’s program that ceased all production).

In 1992, I purchased a copy of the VHS tape consisting of all the filmed material, some new special effects and music with the missing parts narrated by Tom Baker at his maddest. It was a challenging ordeal to watch the program and I exited the experience still unsure of what to make of Shada. Shoddy production value, a weird music score and far too much missing material past episode two. Still, it was neat to finally get a chance to see a ‘missing’ Doctor Who adventure.

Doctor Who – Shada Part 1 on youtube

Later still, Big Finish released an audio drama version of Shada reworked by Gary Russell with Paul McGann as the Doctor. Lalla Ward and John Leeson were brought back as Romana (II) and K-9 as well. Again, this was a weird experience as so much of the humor was written for Tom Baker and even though the Eighth Doctor seemed to be channeling series 16/17 Tom Baker in some ways, it felt awkward. It’s still worth checking out and is lots of fun… but it seems ‘off’ somehow.

Finally, Shada will be released in its entirety… kinda.

Ian Levine  “Shada” is COMPLETELY finished now. All six episodes. For the first time in 32 years. And although I might be biased, it looks BEAUTIFUL.

Confused? Here’s the full story at Starburst:

Shada, the legendary, Douglas Adams-scripted 1980 Doctor Who story that was abandoned halfway through its production and never finished, has now been completed.

But there’s a twist. In fact, there are two.

Given that it has been three decades since the cameras last rolled on the story, the actors involved would never have been able to convincingly play the same age, so Shada has been completed via animation, using only their voices.

The other twist is that this hasn’t been paid for by the BBC, nor even their commercial arm 2|entertain (responsible for the Doctor Who DVD releases). The animation has been privately funded by record producer and fan Ian Levine, and as things stand, the wider public might never get to see it.

Which isn’t Levine’s intention, of course; now that Shada has been finished, he’s hopeful an agreement can be reached with 2|entertain and the story released into the public domain.

… And watch this space for a report, ‘Doctor Who and the Shada Man’, detailing the history of the story and arguing the pros and cons of Ian Levine’s efforts to complete it.

In related news, Shada will finally be novelized next March by Gareth Roberts. It seems that missing, thought lost adventure will never really be lost for Doctor Who fans.

Thanks to TardisNewsRoom for the tip.