Douglas Adams Written Dr. Who Episode Goes Into Production
Posted by
chrisd
on from the let-go-of-my-coat-tegan dept.
oddsheep writes "The BBC have announced they will be showing a new version of an episode originally written by Douglas Adams and that was never shown after industrial action halted the original production in 1979." "Shada" will star Paul McGann as the Doctor.
I am quite looking forward to this...
by
Not+Quite+Jake
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Dr. Who!? Douglas Adams!? can't be beat i tells ya, can't be beat! i just finished reading "So long and thanks for all the fish" again and i still love it...hey do you think i can get people to call me "Wonko the Sane?" Or how's about "Wonka the Insane"
(pardon the gibberish, i am a tad intoxicated)
Yes! The BBC has done it
by
Kiwi
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Finally, after six years, we have another Dr. Who episode. From the BBC, to boot. This can be the sign of more things to come.
I can see why they chose Shada; Douglas Adams has a reputation which makes it that much easier to secure funding. Now, hopefully, this will not be a one-time shot like the 1996 Dr. Who episode was. Since they will build some sets, such as a Tardis set, this will make it more cost-effective to make more Dr. Who episodes if this program generates enough interest.
I am wondering how they will handle Ramona; there was one sentence which mentions Lalla Ward (the actress who played the second Ramona) but it is not clear whether they are referring to her role in the original production, or whether they are referring to her playing the role again in this production.
Fandom will have to come up with a story about how Ramona and K9 got out of N-space and got back together with the doctor again (with a possible regeneration if a different actress plays Ramona).
Glad to see somehting more substansial from BBC besides a vague promise from some BBC executive.
- Sam
--
The secret to enjoying Slashdot is to realize that it should not be taken too seriously.
IIRC, most of this was already filmed with Tom Baker as the doctor. If you remember "The 5 Doctors" (where they get transported to Gallifrey to loot Rasilons tomb), Tom Baker's doctor is grabbed from a punt in Cambridge. I believe that was part of Shada.
From the article: > Produced by the Big Finish company, it stars Fox in the role > of Professor Chronotis, with Sachs as the evil Skagra. > Gordon is behind the silky voice of Skagra's spaceship, and > Hayes makes a cameo performance as college porter Wilkin.
I think Douglas Adams eventually re-wrote this as one of the Dirk Gently books. One of them definitely includes a Professor Chronotis and lots of time travel. I think that bits of the same book came from another Doctor Who story as well (the one with all the extra Mona Lisas).
Re:because..
by
cbuskirk
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
{arogant sarcasm} How dare you insult Mr. Adams like that. As an ardant Athiest he would be quite offended at the notion of an afterlife. {/arogant sarcasm} While I personally disagree with this, it is just one of many many quirks/traits/sidesplittingly-funny-nurosies that made Douglas Adams who he was. Now that he is dead and gone lets us thank (Anyone but God) and join The Great Propeht Zarquon in saying.... So long and thanks for all the laughs
ideal fantasy production
by
tomlord
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Screw douglas adams.
Ya know what I wanna see? A really high budget Dr Who film about his origins, staring Tom Baker who's acting and portrayal-of-this-character-in-particular ability was barely exposed during his stint on the series, yet pretty much defined it for many americans. Man he managed to make gold out of average scripts ("I gave him a blank look"). I'll bet it'd make plenty o' money. Something about the politics of the timelords and the doctor's renegade nature.
Dr Who is a great low-budget tv vehicle -- you can do nearly any cheezy sci-fi plot within its framwork. Nevertheless, there's some neat ideas there, Baker's era stands out among all the others, and I'd like to see more. (Gosh, is baker still around? I'll bet he's all grey now.) (And, ya gotta love all those $3 BBC special effects -- really.)
Make it dark, dark, dark and funny. And make cheezy special effects part of the theme.
And bring in Leela. She was hot and smart (Janus thorn, anyone?). and sarah jane, cause she's cool too and so much a part of the tradition.
children's series, indeed, -t
Whilst on the subject
by
Dr+Thrustgood
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
(which is rather timely when you take into consideration all the strikes currently taking place here in England)
Some might be interested to know that Red Dwarf was very nearly not made due to the same type of industrial action a few years later down the line.
Rather depressing that whilst the unions fight for their workers' rights, it can mean that great TV might never have been made. Of all the things!
It's going to really twist continuity
by
troff
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
It IS going to twist continuity. Badly.
Question 1: Does this mean that the Fourth (Tom Baker) Doctor will have been in "Shada", gone to Cambridge, dealt with Skagra, or not?
Question 2: If not, then where/when exactly did President Borusa snatch the Fourth Doctor and Romana from (in "The Five Doctors" - as footage from the incomplete "Shada" was taken from that to make up for Tom Baker's absence when they filmed T5D...)?
Question 3: If it IS Paul McGann's Doctor (Eighth), then it means that Romana is currently President of Gallifrey with K-9 in attendance, after the Fourth Doctor left them both in a completely different universe ("E-Space")... and why would Romana be hanging around the Doctor then when she's President of Gallifrey? She never had much need for him until the day when she was going to use him and effectively let him die to get what she wanted
Question 4: Not to mention that Romana and all but maybe four Time Lords are suspected most likely dead and the Doctor's in shock-induced amnesia (forgetting what Gallifrey is or who he is), because Gallifrey was destroyed (in the BBC novel "The Ancestor Cell"), so where's she coming from? And for that matter, to where are they going to return the "most dangerous [Gallifreyan] book in the Universe" to when Gallifrey isn't even a smoking cinder in space?
Question 5: Not to mention that in "The Ancestor Cell", Romana had already regenerated away from her Lalla Ward / "Princess Astra copy" body into something newer, by the time Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor had taken over...
Some VERY, VERY, VERY deft script-editing is going to be required to fix this. Sadly, the seemingly non-existent Continuity/Canon Cops at the BBC don't seem to care about fixing it the way continuity's been bollocked.
The Doctor's continuity has been BADLY scrambled from the very minute in the Fox/BBC telemovie we heard the Master say the Doctor was half-human (something useless which was NEVER hinted at in the series at ALL; never had any suitable explanation in the sequel books and actually proved to make things worse, rather than actually explain anything).
Even worse, some of the "more famous" authors of the current BBC and previous 90s Virgin Books series have been allowed to bollock it up even worse; very, very, very badly.
<rant> Especially by pretentious authors who decided that the Doctor didn't need and should never, ever have a continuous, single, canon continuity because "that would just be too limiting and narrow-minded". I'm desperately resisting the urge to name names - but thanks to you, for screwing it all up. </rant>
For an excellent site which summarises nearly ALL the Doctor Who stories available, try David Boies's <http://www.drwhoguide.com/who.htm>; look up the Fourth Doctor's "Shada" (and when it's positioned), the Eighth Doctor's "The Ancestor Cell", the Fifth Doctor's "The Five Doctors"...
Re:It's an audio play!
by
mbourgon
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Just an FYI - the radio shows ROCK. Many are written by former writers of the show, they have the actual actors performing their original roles (one with the Brigadier, even!). This is as close to the show as you'll get.
-- "Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
I don't know...
by
Amtiskaw
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I'm sure I remember reading a comment from Adams saying that basically, Shada was not an especially good Doctor Who story and wouldn't have been remembered if it weren't for the fact that it wasn't filmed. If you're looking for really good Douglas Adams Doctor Who, get "City of Death", its got everything; mad professors, evil aliens, british detectives and 7 Mona Lisas.
Re:Webcast
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
Maybe the thought never crossed your mind, but hey, you know, you might just be in the 10% of people who can't get DTT? Just because you're 50 miles from London doesn't mean anything, as you could be using a repeater transmitter* which has not been upgraded to repeat the DDT transmissions.
Just to answer your question; I don't read Teletext subtitles. I don't mind that part of my licence fee pays for those subtitles, though. Who do you think will pay for you to get DTT transmissions if you don't want to pay for them, by the way?
*: Needed when an object blocks the signal from a main transmitter.
Re:Slightly off topic, but a good question...
by
doubleyou
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Yeah, but Hitchhiker's has a distinctive "English" quality and humour to it, which turns-off a lot of the American audience.
Because of that, I think that any Hitchhiker's movie will be caught in a catch-22: if it's done well, most Americans will not "get it" and only a small niche audience will go see it; if it's defiled in typical Hollywood fashion, then the loyal fans will be disgusted, and the mainstream will be unimpressed, thinking it's just an MIB knockoff.
Slashdot Mirror
Dr. Who!? Douglas Adams!? can't be beat i tells ya, can't be beat! i just finished reading "So long and thanks for all the fish" again and i still love it...hey do you think i can get people to call me "Wonko the Sane?" Or how's about "Wonka the Insane"
(pardon the gibberish, i am a tad intoxicated)
Finally, after six years, we have another Dr. Who episode. From the BBC, to boot. This can be the sign of more things to come.
I can see why they chose Shada; Douglas Adams has a reputation which makes it that much easier to secure funding. Now, hopefully, this will not be a one-time shot like the 1996 Dr. Who episode was. Since they will build some sets, such as a Tardis set, this will make it more cost-effective to make more Dr. Who episodes if this program generates enough interest.
I am wondering how they will handle Ramona; there was one sentence which mentions Lalla Ward (the actress who played the second Ramona) but it is not clear whether they are referring to her role in the original production, or whether they are referring to her playing the role again in this production.
Fandom will have to come up with a story about how Ramona and K9 got out of N-space and got back together with the doctor again (with a possible regeneration if a different actress plays Ramona).
Glad to see somehting more substansial from BBC besides a vague promise from some BBC executive.
- Sam
The secret to enjoying Slashdot is to realize that it should not be taken too seriously.
IIRC, most of this was already filmed with Tom Baker as the doctor. If you remember "The 5 Doctors" (where they get transported to Gallifrey to loot Rasilons tomb), Tom Baker's doctor is grabbed from a punt in Cambridge. I believe that was part of Shada.
From the article:
> Produced by the Big Finish company, it stars Fox in the role
> of Professor Chronotis, with Sachs as the evil Skagra.
> Gordon is behind the silky voice of Skagra's spaceship, and
> Hayes makes a cameo performance as college porter Wilkin.
I think Douglas Adams eventually re-wrote this as one of the Dirk Gently books. One of them definitely includes a Professor Chronotis and lots of time travel. I think that bits of the same book came from another Doctor Who story as well (the one with all the extra Mona Lisas).
- Blah blah blah, missing scientist. Blah blah blah, atomic bomb. -
{arogant sarcasm} How dare you insult Mr. Adams like that. As an ardant Athiest he would be quite offended at the notion of an afterlife. {/arogant sarcasm}
While I personally disagree with this, it is just one of many many quirks/traits/sidesplittingly-funny-nurosies that made Douglas Adams who he was. Now that he is dead and gone lets us thank (Anyone but God) and join The Great Propeht Zarquon in saying....
So long and thanks for all the laughs
Screw douglas adams.
Ya know what I wanna see? A really high budget Dr Who film about his origins, staring Tom Baker who's acting and portrayal-of-this-character-in-particular ability was barely exposed during his stint on the series, yet pretty much defined it for many americans. Man he managed to make gold out of average scripts ("I gave him a blank look"). I'll bet it'd make plenty o' money. Something about the politics of the timelords and the doctor's renegade nature.
Dr Who is a great low-budget tv vehicle -- you can do nearly any cheezy sci-fi plot within its framwork. Nevertheless, there's some neat ideas there, Baker's era stands out among all the others, and I'd like to see more. (Gosh, is baker still around? I'll bet he's all grey now.) (And, ya gotta love all those $3 BBC special effects -- really.)
Make it dark, dark, dark and funny. And make cheezy special effects part of the theme.
And bring in Leela. She was hot and smart (Janus thorn, anyone?). and sarah jane, cause she's cool too and so much a part of the tradition.
children's series, indeed,
-t
(which is rather timely when you take into consideration all the strikes currently taking place here in England)
Some might be interested to know that Red Dwarf was very nearly not made due to the same type of industrial action a few years later down the line.
Rather depressing that whilst the unions fight for their workers' rights, it can mean that great TV might never have been made. Of all the things!
It IS going to twist continuity. Badly.
Question 1: Does this mean that the Fourth (Tom Baker) Doctor will have been in "Shada", gone to Cambridge, dealt with Skagra, or not?
Question 2: If not, then where/when exactly did President Borusa snatch the Fourth Doctor and Romana from (in "The Five Doctors" - as footage from the incomplete "Shada" was taken from that to make up for Tom Baker's absence when they filmed T5D...)?
Question 3: If it IS Paul McGann's Doctor (Eighth), then it means that Romana is currently President of Gallifrey with K-9 in attendance, after the Fourth Doctor left them both in a completely different universe ("E-Space")... and why would Romana be hanging around the Doctor then when she's President of Gallifrey? She never had much need for him until the day when she was going to use him and effectively let him die to get what she wanted
Question 4: Not to mention that Romana and all but maybe four Time Lords are suspected most likely dead and the Doctor's in shock-induced amnesia (forgetting what Gallifrey is or who he is), because Gallifrey was destroyed (in the BBC novel "The Ancestor Cell"), so where's she coming from? And for that matter, to where are they going to return the "most dangerous [Gallifreyan] book in the Universe" to when Gallifrey isn't even a smoking cinder in space?
Question 5: Not to mention that in "The Ancestor Cell", Romana had already regenerated away from her Lalla Ward / "Princess Astra copy" body into something newer, by the time Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor had taken over...
Some VERY, VERY, VERY deft script-editing is going to be required to fix this. Sadly, the seemingly non-existent Continuity/Canon Cops at the BBC don't seem to care about fixing it the way continuity's been bollocked.
The Doctor's continuity has been BADLY scrambled from the very minute in the Fox/BBC telemovie we heard the Master say the Doctor was half-human (something useless which was NEVER hinted at in the series at ALL; never had any suitable explanation in the sequel books and actually proved to make things worse, rather than actually explain anything).
Even worse, some of the "more famous" authors of the current BBC and previous 90s Virgin Books series have been allowed to bollock it up even worse; very, very, very badly.
<rant> Especially by pretentious authors who decided that the Doctor didn't need and should never, ever have a continuous, single, canon continuity because "that would just be too limiting and narrow-minded". I'm desperately resisting the urge to name names - but thanks to you, for screwing it all up. </rant>
For an excellent site which summarises nearly ALL the Doctor Who stories available, try David Boies's <http://www.drwhoguide.com/who.htm>; look up the Fourth Doctor's "Shada" (and when it's positioned), the Eighth Doctor's "The Ancestor Cell", the Fifth Doctor's "The Five Doctors"...
Just an FYI - the radio shows ROCK. Many are written by former writers of the show, they have the actual actors performing their original roles (one with the Brigadier, even!). This is as close to the show as you'll get.
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
I'm sure I remember reading a comment from Adams saying that basically, Shada was not an especially good Doctor Who story and wouldn't have been remembered if it weren't for the fact that it wasn't filmed. If you're looking for really good Douglas Adams Doctor Who, get "City of Death", its got everything; mad professors, evil aliens, british detectives and 7 Mona Lisas.
Maybe the thought never crossed your mind, but hey, you know, you might just be in the 10% of people who can't get DTT? Just because you're 50 miles from London doesn't mean anything, as you could be using a repeater transmitter* which has not been upgraded to repeat the DDT transmissions.
Just to answer your question; I don't read Teletext subtitles. I don't mind that part of my licence fee pays for those subtitles, though. Who do you think will pay for you to get DTT transmissions if you don't want to pay for them, by the way?
*: Needed when an object blocks the signal from a main transmitter.
Yeah, but Hitchhiker's has a distinctive "English" quality and humour to it, which turns-off a lot of the American audience.
Because of that, I think that any Hitchhiker's movie will be caught in a catch-22: if it's done well, most Americans will not "get it" and only a small niche audience will go see it; if it's defiled in typical Hollywood fashion, then the loyal fans will be disgusted, and the mainstream will be unimpressed, thinking it's just an MIB knockoff.
Depressing, innit?