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Douglas Adams' Doctor Who 97

Posted by michael from the who's-on-first dept.
Blue Stone writes "As you probably know, the "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" author, Douglas Adams, wrote a number of Doctor Who episodes. The BBC in its wisdom has turned one of his stories "Shada" into a Flash animation. Although the animation is rather primitive, I found the story very entertaining (you can always minimize the window and just listen.)"
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Douglas Adams' Doctor Who More

Douglas Adams' Doctor Who

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  • Why flash animation?? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Flounder ( 42112 ) * on Saturday May 03, 2003 @05:52AM (#5868242)
    Considering that Shada was actually filmed as an episode, why do a flash animation of it? It was never broadcast (as far as I know), but bootleg copies have been available at Who conventions for years.

    Instead of re-creating existing episodes, why not create new episodes. There are tons of scripts available (not fanfic, actual scripts written and submitted by Dr Who writers) that were never produced.

    I used to be a hardcore Whovian, and I still enjoy watching it on PBS. However, how about some new Red Dwarf or Blackadder episodes? I'd be willing to pay for flash animated new Red Dwarf episodes. And it would work very well with Red Dwarf too.

    • Re:Why flash animation?? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by xeniten ( 550128 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @06:00AM (#5868256) Homepage
      Don't panic! ( sorry )


      Shada has been filmed as an actual episode.And it will air soon ( but not soon enough for me )


      http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2477373 .s tm


      I think the idea behind the flash version is merely to serve as a promotional piece to push the live version, similar to the flash based Matrix episodes.After all the BBC has spent a LOT of money on this they just want to attract an internet buzz that's all.

      • Re:Why flash animation?? (Score:5, Informative)

        by nigs ( 77872 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @06:11AM (#5868271) Homepage
        You sure? As far as I could see, this Flash animation is what they were talking about in the BBC story. No live filming seems to be indicated, just voice recording. Flash is all we're getting. The BBC story you liked to is very sketchy, mentioning only BBCi, but not making it clear that it was going to be an animation with voice over (only a slight step up from a radio production).

        The original Shada was released on VHS tape by the BBC a few years ago, with Tom Baker narrating the missing sections. It came with a copy of the original script.

        • Oh crap, your right the flash animation is what they were talking about. I didn't read the article carefully , well it was 4 in the morning and the end of a really long day and I had a few too many, kids don't drink and post. Sorry if I got everybody excited about a live version. I can't believe this flash animation is all we're going to get. Why won't the BBC properly revive Dr Who? is it so hard? As for the flash animation itself...I actually find the low quality of the flash is somewhat analagous to the
      • Oops. For some reason there a space between the last three letters in that link to the BBC story, be sure that "s tm" is ".stm" if you use it.

    • You chould buy it (Score:4, Informative)

      by Snaller ( 147050 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @07:14AM (#5868372) Journal
      You could buy it on VHS (come to that, I think i have it in the attic) - but its sold out, but some chains like Blackstar will try and locate a copy for you if you ask them:
      http://www.blackstar.co.uk/video/item/700000002299 4 [blackstar.co.uk]

    • Re:Why flash animation?? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Mister Transistor ( 259842 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @08:50AM (#5868550) Journal
      I'm guessing it's either because:

      1) Flash is portable. You might not have Quicktime on Linux or the right codec for AVI under Win32, but Flash is more cross-platform than most other formats, possibly excepting flip-books of jpegs :)

      2) Harder to grab and "share". There are stream rippers out there, but joe average can't easily capture the stream and e-mail it to all his buddies, I'm guesssing. Using a 2-stage flash loader will also obfuscate the actual stream data filename and prevent people from directly downloading it. That's what Atomfilms and others do so you can view but not save content viewed there.

      I'd love to see some new Blackadders as well, they can make that premise work in any time period.

      • Actually it was quite simple to archive the animations. Just grab the .swf itself [bbc.co.uk] and click "Play" when the error comes up. It's ridiculous, but hey there you go.
      • This is the third audio that BBCi has put our of original Doctor Who - the two previous (Death comes to Time and Real Time) were done with Real. At least from watching the trailer, Flash works out much better, both in appearance, and in the bandwidth requirements.

        As for why they're doing it again. The original Shada, with Tom Baker, was never finished because of labor strikes. Tom Baker has said on several occasions that he's done with Doctor Who (probably because it took a LONG time to get over the typeca
    • While filming on "Shada" did begin, it was never completed. A production strike put the skids on the whole deal before even half of the principle filming had been completed. Particularly later in the story, the available footage is extremely limited. By the time the strike had cleared up, both Douglas Adams and the then-producer of the show, Graham Williams, had left, and the incoming producer and script editor, John Nathan-Turner and Christopher Bidmead, chose not to revive the story, presumably for financ
    • Here [bw.edu] is the script to the original version of Shada, as it was to be filmed starring Tom Baker. Also, it contains transcripts of the linkage material inserted into the video version for bits they didn't film.

      Be interesting to see how much it changes.

  • At last! (Score:5, Funny)

    by madmarcel ( 610409 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @05:52AM (#5868245)
    Now *THAT* is "news for nerds, stuff that matters"

    Finally this site produces something that is worthy of that slogan.

    (And I'd damn well expect every post after this to filled to the brim with Dr Who and HHGTTG quotes & references ;^)

    Now I'd better go and read the article and sneak a peek at the animation ;D
    • Hmmm...the biggest problem with the animation
      is the fact that the faces are not animated...

      <<sigh>> Static pictures/people that talk without moving their mouth or eyes does not make good animation...

      If I want to watch static pictures that talk I'll watch those cheap japanese cartoons they show on tv these days...the ones that try to get kids to collect expensive trading cards.
      (and turn their brains into cream-cheese ;)

  • Far less known (Score:5, Informative)

    by axolotl_farmer ( 465996 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @05:59AM (#5868252)
    ..are his contributions to childrens cartoon Dr. Snuggles and Monty Python's Flying Circus!

    Check IMDB! [imdb.com].

    • Re:Far less known (Score:5, Informative)

      by Ed Avis ( 5917 ) <ed@membled.com> on Saturday May 03, 2003 @08:42AM (#5868534) Homepage
      Adams's Python contributions are well known - he said that what inspired him to get into comedy writing was the thought 'I'm as tall as John Cleese, so I should be as good at writing comedy'. But Dr Snuggles? That is obscure.

      All I remember about that show is the horribly catchy theme tune. "Dr Snuggles, friend of the animal world\nDoo doo do doo do do..."

      Unfortunately the series itself has been confused in my mind with that awful Teddy Ruxpin merchandising cartoon which also involved an inventor travelling around in an airship or balloon.

  • It's a bit tricky to reach the keyboard (Score:5, Funny)

    by 2sleep2type ( 652900 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @06:12AM (#5868273)
    When your hiding behind the sofa..

  • Forget it. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Asterax ( 522761 )
    I have the Shada VHS, it wasn't worth the effort for the BBC to scrape the pieces of video they did have and compile them together. I just viewed the Flash version, and it still wasn't worth the effort to animate the fragments of video footage for Shada.

    There are other Dr. Who's (I was thinking of some of William Hartnell's episodes) that are in worse condition, that could use such a gift, I think the only reason this one was done in Flash was due to the fact the name "Douglas Adams" was sprinkled around.

    • Re:Forget it. (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Yeah, with the Hartnell episodes, the writing was clearly aimed at children instead of adults and Hartnell's acting was ocassionally "hammy", but he was a great doctor. He comes off as a mature individual who's seen/done alot and therefore think he know just about everything there is to know. He also seems less accomodating towards humans, unless they're of the meek variety. If they ever make any more movies or episodes they ought to revisit his character.

  • For those who don't know... (Score:5, Informative)

    by graveyhead ( 210996 ) <fletch@@@fletchtronics...net> on Saturday May 03, 2003 @06:31AM (#5868308)
    The original Shada episode was never actually finished and aired due to a strike at the BBC.

    While a "special edition" video was released where Tom Baker read the missing portions of the script out, it was very difficult to get a real feeling for the story because so much of the action was missing.

    I haven't watched the flash animation yet, but hopefully it brings some life to this neat story that never really got told.

    BTW, another great Douglas Adams Dr. Who that actually was completed and aired was "The Pirate Planet", the second of the key to time series.
    • Blackadder: Baldrick, do you know what irony is?
      Baldrick: Yeah, it's like goldy and bronzy only it's made of iron.

      Sorry, just gotta give props to somebody using a Blackadder sig line in a story about Dr. Who.

      • I just suddenly think of the mildly disappointing 'Blackadder Back and Forth' time-travel Y2k episode, and how much better it would have been if they'd commissioned a new Dr Who episode instead. I think Atkinson might do a good job as one of the 'bad' Time Lords, the Master / Valyard / etc.
      • hehe :)

        I've watched both shows from a very young age. Dr. Who since 1979, back while they were still making 'em :)

        I have all of the Blackadders except the latest "back & forth", and a good chunk of the available Dr. Who episodes. Funny thing is, some of the tapes in that collection are from like 1980, taped off of WTTW channel 11 in Chicago. If anyone ever tells you that VHS is an archival format, send them to me ;)

        Man, anyone else remember the day that Dr. Who went off the air in Chicago? The worst
    • Not to mention that a few seconds of Shada made it into "The Five Doctors" during Peter Davidson's stint. Evidently for some reason, it didn't work to have Tom Baker help with that episode, so they recycled a scene from Shada with Dr#4 and Romana#2 in a boat, and put them both on ice for the remainder of the episode using some sort of technobabble.
      • I believe at the time Baker wanted nothing to do with Doctor Who and since the story was "The Five Doctors" they were forced to get around it somehow. Amusingly when they did some promotional shots for the serial they were forced to use Baker's Madame Tussauds waxwork model as a stand-in.

    • The Pirate Planet (Score:3, Interesting)

      by toupsie ( 88295 )
      I have the key to time series on DVD. It's amazing how much of "The Pirate Planet" is shared with Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It sounds like Douglas Adams was in the habit of recycling story lines. Think he was writing HGTG radio play at the same time he wrote "The Pirate Planet". The Pirate Planet is the best of the Key To Time series.
    • a "special edition" video was released where Tom Baker read the missing portions of the script

      I made the mistake of using this special edition video to expose a couple of friends of mine to Doctor Who. Like you say, it was very difficult, even for me (a veteran Who watcher) and pretty much impossible for my friends. They don't trust me when I say that Doctor Who actually has some pretty good stories anymore... Anyway, just a warning for those who haven't seen it yet.

  • Adams would probably have appreciated the irony! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bandwidthboy ( 670627 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @06:45AM (#5868332)
    The Beeb didn't get to transmit Shada. They then did a made for video release, with Tom Baker linking the bits they had in the can. Now the Beeb makes it again but not for tv, recasting the Doctor and some others! Like, what the..?! :-) Meantime, some of us are awaiting new episodes! Yet in the 40th anniversary year, we are offered the audio remake of a so-so story that was never broadcast, but which has been accessible for some time now. DW's been off the air for years, and this was considered just what the fans want?! How many remixes of the same damn thing do we need?! So will the 8th Doctor (the Paul McGann version, last seen on screen in the '96 telemovie) already recall having been in this adventure when he was Tom Baker? Maybe they should rename the show Doctor Which?! It'd be interesting to learn what Adams made of McGann's Doctor. I know he thought highly of Baker's portrayal...but would he have felt #8 was right for this story, especially when it had already seemed a finished product to many of us for some time? Given Adams's own views on "Shada" itself, it's a point to ponder.

  • Open Door. Go North. Get Clue. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 03, 2003 @06:50AM (#5868339)
    This is the THIRD such Doctor Who webcast (though the first based on archive material): the previous ones (Death Comes To Time, Real Time) have been released on CD.

    The animation is just plebdazzle: it was (re)written as an audio play for the 8th Doctor (Paul McGann).

  • Dirk Gently (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Radian ( 172121 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @06:57AM (#5868348)
    I haven't seen all of the Dr. Who episode, but so far they've mentioned Professor Chronotis at St. Cedd's College, Cambridge. The Professor is a main character in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (the first DG novel), and he resides at the College (which is fictional btw). The book was published in 1987 and set at a similar time, so 8 years after this script was written.

    Thought it was an interesting thing to point out :)

  • I forgot (Score:5, Funny)

    by SlashdotLemming ( 640272 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @07:06AM (#5868357)
    Someone tell me again why I'm not allowed to like Flash? And is it safe to like Homestar Runner [homestarrunner.com]? Or is that only for farkers?
    We really need an official "Slashdot Manual of Ethics and Conduct" to spell out exactly what we can and cannot like. I mean, like what if I happen across some Anime, but its in Flash!?!?!
    I don't wanna lose my badge!!

    • Re:I forgot (Score:3, Insightful)

      by demachina ( 71715 )
      For one thing the Flash 5 Linux player had a lot of stability problems so it ticked off a lot of Linux users. The Flash 6 player is a lot better, though it still needs audio work, but many people wrote it off during the Flash 5 era. For another thing a lot of clueless advertising droids misuse Flash and tick people off with it which gives it a bad rep that all the entertaining and interesting uses don't compensate for. And, of course, its not open source which qualifies as a fact of life at the moment so

    • Re:I forgot (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      what if I happen across some Anime, but its in Flash!?!?!

      Let me check... :flip:flip:flip:

      Ok, the proper thing to do in this circumstance is to wait until the next full moon, then put a stake through the heart of the producer.

      I don't wanna lose my badge!!

      Well you'd better start misspellin stuff quick!

  • Dirk Gently (Score:5, Interesting)

    by JimPooley ( 150814 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @07:11AM (#5868368) Homepage
    Why not just go off and read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency instead? It's basically the same story.

  • better then the VHS edition (Score:4, Insightful)

    by zakezuke ( 229119 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @07:13AM (#5868371)
    I was actually fortunate enough to be lent a copy of Shada. Basicly there was so much film footage missing that Tom baker read the script. It was *enjoyable* but rather difficult to watch.

    Fortunatly they have a time travel machine to cover the inconsistancy with Ramana being with the 8th doctor Paul McGann traveling back to 1979, understandable that Tom Baker is dead as a can of spam. (I can't rightly remember if the VHS edition took place shortly after the "Keys of Time" sequence)

    The animation is a touch static, no attempt to make mouths move, but as with most doctor who stuff, video was secondary to the audio effects which was something the BBC was always briliant at. Should be BBC actually decide to go over their old scrips of eps that they lost their masters to, i'd be MOST happy to watch the flash animation. Hell in my region, the local PBS station took 10 years to actually repeat the 7th doctor stuff, and the first time around, they skipped many episodes.

    Not to speak of the radio only productions they have done

    I'd be happier if the bbc in their wisdom decided to continue the series primetime, real life or animated.

  • It's quite good, really. (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I quite enjoyed it, mostly for matching up the bits Adams later recycled in Dirk Gently. I was gratified to hear them use the Tom Baker version of the theme song, and there's a cameo by a Ford Prefect. It feels like a Dr. Who episode, and that's good enough for me.

  • Rare Dr. Who Video... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Mister Transistor ( 259842 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @07:46AM (#5868432) Journal
    I have a very rare Dr. Who (old VHS tape) at home, I recently ripped to SVCD, one not too many fans seem to have heard of, called "The Curse of the Fatal Death". It's a hilarious Dr. Who spoof episode made by the actual producers and set designers of the old T.V. series for Comedy Relief.

    It stars Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean, Blackadder) as The Doctor, and Jonathon Pryce (Brazil) as The Master. It also has guest cameos by Hugh Grant (Media Darling) and Joanna Lumley (Ab. Fab.), and, of course, The Daleks.

    It runs about 20 minutes in 2 parts, and has "The Making Of..." footage, and 3 other older Dr. Who spoofisodes afterward.

    This is REALLY funny stuff, if you like that sort of thing (Dry British humor and Dr. Who In-Jokes) and I'd highly recommend finding a copy. I would hope they've released it on DVD by now.

    • Re:Rare Dr. Who Video... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Phoenix ( 2762 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @09:13AM (#5868612)
      Actually it's not that rare anymore. I've picked up a few months ago at my local SunCoast Video, and a quick check of Amazon.com shows that you can snag it for 13 bucks.

      God that was a bad spoof of Doctor Who though. They took every bad cliche from the series and made it worse. Had us in stitches the whole time.

      "Here's my sonic screwdriver. Oh Look! It has three settings"

  • Audio stories on BBC7 (Score:5, Informative)

    by sdmartin101 ( 601186 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @08:32AM (#5868519)
    The BBC's internet-only radio service BBC7 carries radio versions of Dr. Who periodically. Currently they are airing a story called "The Ghosts Of N Space" weekends at 18:00 and Midnight GMT. Check out their Sci-Fi schedule at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/drama/7thdimension.shtml [bbc.co.uk].

  • Not just on bootlegs (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I've got the video that the BBC put out. Parts of it are missing and it's got more rough edges than your average Doctor Who episode, but an older looking Tom Baker fills in the gaps with on screen narration. It's alright, but not as good as the finished City of Death, which is I think another Douglas Adams write.
    • It's alright, but not as good as the finished City of Death, which is I think another Douglas Adams write.

      Fair comment, but then again you'd be hard pressed to come up with any other story from the whole 1963-1989 run which gets the same level of fan-respect as City Of Death. It's perhaps rather atypical in cartain respects, but as a comlete package, the only issue with using CoD to introduce the show to new viewers is the difficulty of finding another story to follow it with. It's a little gem.

      TomV

  • QuickTime Player (Score:5, Informative)

    by actor_au ( 562694 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @08:56AM (#5868567) Homepage
    For anyone else thats downloaded them all Directly to their HDD instead of watching them from the BBC site to get around the big "You Can't watch this unless its at its original source" thing just play it in quicktime.

  • Amazing, great author.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Trevalyx ( 627273 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @09:49AM (#5868718) Homepage
    Douglas Adams has been my favorite author for quite some time. I've read everything of his that I could come across. Some of his lesser known stuff is on his website, articles that I think you'll particularly enjoy:
    Little Dongly Things [douglasadams.com]
    How to Stop Worrying and Love the Internet [douglasadams.com]
    Frank the Vandal [douglasadams.com]
    The Private Life of Genghis Kahn [douglasadams.com]
    He was a geek, though he knew he couldn't begin to pursue it as far as he wanted to, and his death distressed me quite a bit. Those are my favorite extracts from the archives.. Enjoy!
    • Wonderful links, thanks.

      I'm guessing you've already read everything in Salmoln of Doubt. Some wonderful geek essays in that too - his observations on the early mac are priceless.
      • Glad you liked them!
        Yeah, Salmon of a Doubt was painfully tantalizing. I eventually hope to own all his books (in hardcopy, at any rate. At the moment I only own one hardcopy of the Ultimate Guide and e-books of the rest) across my shelves. His stuff makes for great reading, great debate, and perfect esoteric references. It's a wonderful thing to be sitting down to drinks with a crowd of people you don't really know, you make an obscure reference to bistromathematics, and boom, you've got a new friend for
        • Absolutely. I most enjoy reading his stuff when I'm around other people. Am I a big DNA fan? Well I'm not obsessive but I've always bought his books as soon as published, and remember watching H2G2 on TV when it was first shown in the UK. My mum let me stay up past my bedtime!
          • Never had the "benefit" of H2G2 on TV, but after I managed to get in posession of the MP3's of the radio series, I'm not going to complain too loudly. I couldn't help but listening, it was a macabre fascination..
            I think I'll avoid such things in the future and stick to the books... It's very, very difficult for movies, radio, or TV to get it right, compared to one's imagination. As far as I'm concerned, anyway. Had a debate one time with a friend as to what the Heart of Gold looked like and we came up wit

  • "New Doctor Who" on Dead Ringers (Score:4, Informative)

    by MeerCat ( 5914 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @10:06AM (#5868778) Homepage
    For all you not in the UK, there is a Radio 4 show of impression based comedy called Dead Ringers [bbc.co.uk] and while most of it is local UK oriented (except for the George Bush piss-takes), they also do a superb Tom Baker as Doctor Who calling vaious people on the phone. Some of the best bits (in Real Audio unfortunately) are here [bbc.co.uk] - Doctor Who calling the real Tom Baker, for example, was superb (Tom Baker reacts very well).

    And for those who haven't seen it, Tom Baker's fiction The Boy Who Kicked Pigs [amazon.com] is a very dark children's book, and well worth a read.

  • More Doctor Who (Score:2, Informative)

    by ToSeek ( 529348 )
    As others have pointed out, this is the third Doctor Who webcast adventure. In addition, the producers of this story have also done numerous other audio stories, which are available on CD. The audio stories feature the original television Doctors and numerous of the television Companions, as well as some original Companions (some of whom I think are better than any of the televised ones.

    For more information, go here [doctorwho.co.uk].
  • As other people have mentioned, this episode *was* put together as a 'lost episode' on video. Tom Baker, so missing pieces aside it's -good-, and the VHS also came with a copy of the actual script.

    People have also mentioned it's kind of a crossover between Dr. Who and Dirk.

    Something cute I noticed however was the way the prelude fits it into the 5 Doctors story where he is 'scooped' from punting down the thames with romana.

    That episode was made after Shada was abandoned, so they simply borrowed a piece o
  • I wonder if they'll have a flash animation of "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" soon - it wasn't a bad book, but I personally think Doctor Who makes a better character (ever since I was a pimply, geeky preteen).

    Very cool to see the story with the Doctor as the lead character! (sorry, Dirk)
    • I wonder if they'll have a flash animation of "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" soon - it wasn't a bad book

      Oh but pardon me it was a bad book... as a long time fan of HHGTTG (first read the books in the early-80's I think) I finally got round to reading Dirk Gently last year, and found it the most disappointing pile of steaming do-do since reading some of Heinlein's later (lazy) works.

      My estimation of Douglas Adams is still suffering... and I'd already been let down gently by the stories of ho
  • Couldn't they have been bothered to animate the mouths? I mean, it's just really distracting and it seems like it would be such an easy thing to do.

    simon

  • Primitive? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 03, 2003 @12:50PM (#5869538)
    Overlay some lips on the flash animation, and I'd place the production values in the top 10% of Dr. Who episodes.
  • I tried saving the swf and when I launch it, it says it must be launched from its original location. I just don't want to go back one day and find it gone forever.
  • I guess it's not surprising to see an author borrow from his own work. I didn't realize that Dr. Chronotis had his origin in Dr. Who, but I remember reading (a long time ago) a teleplay of a Dr. Who episode in which the Krikkit Men of "Life, the Universe and Everything"-fame figured prominently. Did that script ever get produced? If not, I'd like to see them make a flash version. "I demand that I may or may not be Vroomfondel"
  • To sumarize the story, I borrow from my trusty 1981 copy of The Doctor Who Programme Guide:

    In a remote space station called Think Tank, a scientist called Skagra steals the minds of his colleagues, and escapes. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Romana visit present-day [ed. - well, 1979] Cambridge to see Professor Chronotis, a retired Time Lord living incognito as a don. He wants them to take a book, The Ancient Laws of Gallifrey, back to the planet of the Time Lords. Unfortunately it has accidentally been taken a

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