Tom Baker Returns To Finish Shelved Doctor Who Episodes Penned By Douglas Adams

Zorro shares a report from The Register: The fourth and finest Doctor, Tom Baker, has reprised the role to finish a Who serial scuppered in 1979 by strike action at the BBC. Shada, penned by Hitchhiker's Guide author Douglas Adams, was supposed to close Doctor Who's 17th season. Location filming in Cambridge and a studio session were completed but the strike nixed further work and the project was later shelved entirely for fear it might affect the Beeb's Christmas-time productions. The remaining parts have been filled in with animation and the voice of 83-year-old Baker, although he also filmed a scene. BBC Worldwide has now released the episodes, which interweave the 1979 footage with the new material to complete the story. "I loved doing Doctor Who, it was life to me," Baker told the BBC of his tenure as the much-loved Time Lord. "I used to dread the end of rehearsal because then real life would impinge on me. Doctor Who... when I was in full flight, then I was happy."

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[gravewax]

each to there own. personally he was by far the best for me. Capaldi had a chance to top him but he was given dog turds for scripts.

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[JackieBrown]

Capaldi had a chance to top him but he was given dog turds for scripts.

It was really disappointing. I was very excited when he was named Doctor. I then watched the first season but it was a struggle. Once the second series started I realized I was wasting my time watching something I didn't enjoy just because sole I felt I had to with as much time I had already invested in the show.

I went back and rewatched the Matt Smith episodes with my wife. His scripts had a good mix of fun and angst. Eventually I will re-watch the Tennant ones with her since she hasn't seen them but

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[oh_my_080980980]

Wait...you liked the Matt Smith episodes but disliked the Capaldi episodes? Those were the seam freakin' writers and ass-wipe Steven Moffat. Smith and Moffat turned Dr Who into Peter freakin' Pan with a that's easy button pressed at the end of every episode to get out of whatever corned they've written themselves into!

The writing was fucking garbage.

They had an opportunity a brief moment when the show could have been great, when Mat Smith met young Amy Pond. Then they decided he should hook up with

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[JackieBrown]

I think they thought they could get darker and edgier once they had an older doctor who.

There is a definite style change between the doctors - which makes sense in story since they all have their own personalities.

I tapped out when the afterlife became a scam created by the Master so that she could have enough bodies for a cyberperson army. Even leaving the insulting all religions that belive in an afterlife aside, what a ridiculously complex plan - especially since we don't see trillions of cyberpeople r

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[youngone]

Pertwee was the best, that's not an opinion, it's a fact.
Tom Baker was number two, daylight to the rest, although this latest bloke was not too bad.

Re:pish GAY NIGGER WAS THE BEST DOCTR WHO

[deviated_prevert]

Oh shit another session of cut and paste Vogon poetry. Wouldn't it be nice if someone constructed a stellar express way through the orbit of the planet Anus where all the assholes that post this shit come from? Common you guys there must be a way to turn your incoming comments container code into a nuclear reactor to melt down this kind of shit without having to rely upon member users wasting mod points.

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[syn3rg]

Man I wish I had mod points, I literally laughed out loud at "cut and paste Vogon poetry".

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[spiritplumber]

I'm amazed that this is still going after 20 years, IRC server and all. Seriously I'm not even mad.

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[gsslay]

Most people think Tenant was the best followed by Baker.

You've researched this? What was your sample size?

Oh, silly me. You haven't. You're just stating your preference and giving it legitimacy by making up facts.

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[Hal_Porter]

I was joking. "People who don't like X should be shot" is a snowclone [wikipedia.org] that originated here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

It'd just way to express hyperbolic enthusiasm for something, not a literal call for murder.

For the overly literal out there, please don't shoot anyone. I liked Doctor Who when I was a kid and Tom Baker happened to be Doctor then. I went off it later because I grew up. Tom Baker not being the Doctor didn't cause that.

Also I don't think ESR should be killed or that Kernighan, Ri

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[Anonymous Coward]

In this day and age, threatening to shoot someone isn't sarcasm or funny.

Whoever feels that way should be raped.

Thanks for the disclaimer now go back to drinking beer and watching the flies buzz into your insect traps.

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[Hal_Porter]

Whoever feels that way should be raped.

When you wrote that was it something that you didn't intend people to take as literal incitement, in which case I'm right and that most such statements are hyperbole? Or was it literal incitement, in which case you're a terrible person?

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[Godwin O'Hitler]

Most people here \o/

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[fuzznutz]

Tom Baker is who (get it?) I think of when I think Dr. Who. That being said, I never understood the nerd love of that show. The production quality was absolutely amateur. The stories were plain awful. Sound production was so bad it was painful to hear even on tinny, single speaker TVs of the time. The robots and monsters were cringeworthy. It was like watching 1960s Lost in Space level sci-fi episodes made in 1980. Don't believe me? Compare it to contemporaries like Space 1999 or Battlestar Galactica

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[CodeHog]

The best answer I can come up with was it was just a product of the era and people get nostalgic about it. Or most of the population at the time were stoned. In a book about the series the do talk about the quality at the time and how the other series and movies had a much bigger production budget. It frustrated them apparently and they felt like they could tell a better story if they had more budget. As for me, I've watch almost all the episodes starting with Pertwee and I like Tom Baker the best because

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[cyberchondriac]

I watched the David Tennant episodes mostly, and got into for a few years, but wouldn't remotely think of myself as a "whovian". I was somewhat less a fan of Matt Smith or Eccelston, and can't stand Capaldi, I flat out stopped watching at that point. When Steven Moffat took over, I think he tried to get just too clever for himself and it started a death spiral of nonsensical plots.
I will say, as an american, part of the charm of the show is it's Britishness. I'm a bit of an anglophile. Same reason I like

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[oh_my_080980980]

LMOL yeah that's why they all preen like peacocks....the closest to Baker was Eccleston and he ended up being a pansy....

Rating an actor anything is subjective. Take your head out of your ass for a second and you would know that...

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[findoutmoretoday]

The best is often the first (people saw when they discovered the series)

Shada is *awesome*

[emil]

Very witty story, surprising and full of twists. Quite good.

While I saw Pertwee first, I will quote Shada to say that Baker had a certain style, flair, and panache.

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[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

"I loved doing Doctor Who, it was life to me," Baker told the BBC of his tenure as the much-loved Time Lord. "I used to dread the end of rehearsal because then real life would impinge on me. Doctor Who... when I was in full flight, then I was happy."

Yeah. That's why he was so gracious about showing up to do the 25th anniversary episode. (What, me carry a grudge?)

Meanwhile, there's been a "Shada" reconstruction (with all the shot-at-the-time footage, and Baker doing talking-head narration of the missing

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[TheRaven64]

Meanwhile, there's been a "Shada" reconstruction (with all the shot-at-the-time footage, and Baker doing talking-head narration of the missing bits) around for ages.

The BBC also did an animated version that was available on their web site over 10 years ago that had Richard E. Grant as The Doctor. I was sad they didn't get him for the revivals - he was great in that and some of the Big Finish productions. Mind you, I'm also annoyed that they didn't go with Sue Perkins as the new Doctor when she was by far the best of the rumoured candidates.

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[mccalli]

That was Scream of the Shalka wasn't it?

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[TheRaven64]

They did both, and Real Time. It looks as if it's still online [bbc.co.uk].

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[mccalli]

Interesting - I only remember Shalka, although I note the Shada you link to is McGann and not Richard E Grant.

I liked Grant's Doctor and was mildly annoyed when it was wiped from canon, having previously been stated by the BBC that Grant was the 9th Doctor. Here's me grumbling about it [slashdot.org] back in 2005 when Ecclestone quit - interesting that at that point it wasn't even a given they were going to acknowledge the classic series, let alone have so many crosslinks and references to it.

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[dpilot]

I had that, back in my VHS days.

They also used a few seconds out of the existing "Shada" footage to add Tom Baker to "The Five Doctors". I suspect he was in his, "I am not Spock" recovery phase at the time, and didn't want to do it live.

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[wonkey_monkey]

Yeah. That's why he was so gracious about showing up to do the 25th anniversary episode. (What, me carry a grudge?)

20th.

Re:pish

[dwywit]

Not gonna argue. My favourite was Jon Pertwee. That crystal, the inertia-less car, and companion-wise, who else rocked a mini-skirt like Jo Grant?

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[rfengr]

Turn in your geek badge. K9 was the best companion. The only argument is which model.

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[Baron_Yam]

The K-9 model (the Doctor and Sarah have had more than one) has not aged well. I mean... seriously... a 51st-century robot dog on incredibly slow treads, without enough clearance to climb over even the smallest obstacle?

Good dog, though. Good dog.

And you have to admit his nose laser and self-recharging batteries are pretty impressive technologies, even if his locomotion systems sucked.

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[barbariccow]

It was intentional, so that the dog did not run away, and could not take over (being obviously superior to flesh-and-blood). Why the Dar leks have a similar flaw in that they cannot climb stairs is a mystery though...

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[rossdee]

U'd say Pertwee and David Tennant were the best, with Tom Baker at #3

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[PopeRatzo]

U'd say Pertwee and David Tennant were the best

This is the only correct opinion.

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[CodeHog]

2 words. Lee Laa.

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[Zephyn]

It's either Romana... or Fred.

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[CodeHog]

Romana yes. Fred no thanks. Romana was smart and witty. Fred, I can't figure out if she's suppose to be smart and witty or just stupid. And it's too much of a play towards being 'hip'.

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[deviated_prevert]

Tom Baker was not the best Doctor Who. Fight me.

My fav is this doctor [youtube.com] who makes more sense than all the rest combined. Then again if the BBC could have afforded to hire this Deviated Prevert [youtube.com] he may easily have received my vote for best Dr Who. Certainly Douglas Adams would have had a blast working with either of my choices for Dr. Who, either of whom in the best scripts would have had one hell of a hard time keeping a dead pan straight face or keeping to a script.

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[rfengr]

Dukes up! Thems fightin’ words.

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[cyberchondriac]

Tom Baker was not the best Doctor Who. Fight me.

IMO, it was David Tennant. I never did care much for the original era Dr. Who, they were too cheesy -more so than the newer ones that Russel T. Davies revived, which still had cheese but at a level that was bearable and fun.
Also, I can't believe someone modded you flamebait for your opinion on a TV show.

They are all the best...after all..

[Anonymous Coward]

It's the same Dr Who!

So...

[taiwanjohn]

Will he successfully make it to Brighton this time?

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[cc1984_]

Wrong Baker!

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

[Anonymous Coward]

For people who love the book, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, there's a plot point in that book that's never explained (and seems to make no sense). This plot point is explained in the Shada Doctor Who episode, as a character is shared between the book and the Doctor Who episode.

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[wonkey_monkey]

What point?

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[Anonymous Coward]

You meant to say "rascal homophone" didn't you.

I think why people liked Tom Baker so much is the series came to the US around his tenure as the Doctor. As a kid I wasn't even aware there were 3 others before him. I identify him with his coat, scarf and floppy hat as the Doctor in my mind. The rest are weird clones.

Another option

[Anonymous Coward]

Big Finish expanded on the original script a little bit and released it as a six-part audio story starring Paul McGann (the oft-forgotten 8th doctor): https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/shada-451

There was a flash-animated version as well, but I haven't seen it.

Also, it shouldn't be confused with Scream of the Shalka, which is entirely unrelated, but was also a flash animation. The doctor in that one was out of continuity.

Tom Baker

[neo-mkrey]

The only true Doctor Who.

Re:

[neoRUR]

And the Pirate Planet Episode written by Douglas Adams with Tom Baker as the Doctor was one of the best..Where K-9 met his match with the Robotic Parrot..

This should be a poll

[bugs2squash]

maybe cowboy neal was the best Dr.

He's also doing Doctor Who stories with Big Finish

[Jim Hall]

I thought I'd point out that Tom Baker is also doing ongoing Doctor Who stories with Big Finish Productions. [bigfinish.com] These are entirely on audio (think audiobooks, but with a full cast) and are extremely good! He's done six "seasons" already, and there's a seventh on the way.

These are full cast productions, with original cast members, including Leela (Louise Jameson), Romana I (Mary Tamm), Romana II (Lalla Ward), and K9 (John Leeson). And occasional appearances by other characters, with Trevor Baxter and Christopher Benjamin as Jago and Litefoot (from the classic TV story The Talons of Weng-Chiang) and Geoffrey Beevers as The Master.

It's not just nostalgia. Big Finish does an amazing job! I've been a subscriber and listener for several years now. The audio stories were great when I had a regular weekly three-hour commute, but now I listen to them during a much shorter daily commute to/from work, and during quiet moments on weekends.

Big Finish has the other classic Doctors too, from 4 to 8 (and other actors filling in for 1 to 3 - Frazer Hines as Pat Troughton's 2nd Doctor is spot-on). As others have pointed out, Big Finish has already done a version of Shada [bigfinish.com] with Paul McGann (8th Doctor); Lalla Ward (Romana); and John Leeson (K9).

Where to buy?

[omfglearntoplay]

I'm trying Amazon and only finding the old DVDs... where is the new one again?

punishment

[micahraleigh]

Hell is the place where you no longer have to return to being yourself.

The scary thing is everyone is allowed to go there.

There's a play about it ... No Exit by Sartre