“SHADA” dealings in the DVD range
Back in 1980, the world lost a Tom Baker Doctor Who story when a labour action (apparently sparked by a conflict over a clock on a kid’s show) shut down production of Shada, a Douglas Adams-penned six-episode serial that would have ended Season 17. Footage for several episodes had already been shot on location and in studio, and except for a few moments salvaged in order to allow Tom Baker to appear in the reunion special The Five Doctors, it was assumed that Shada was a lost cause.
Still, thanks in part to Adams’ fame with The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and the fact this was, of course, a lost Tom Baker story, interest in Shada never waned. In the early 1990s, BBC Video issued the existing footage from the story in a special video release hosted by Tom Baker himself (the VHS was released in North America (see illustration), but only UK consumers got the script book that came with the tape). And in 2003, Paul McGann recorded an audio version of the tale for Big Finish Productions which was animated for the BBC website.
Shada has become something of a legend in Doctor Who fan circles, and with the VHS release long out of print (and hardly anyone has a VHS player anymore), it’s remained a mystery for many fans who came into the series in the DVD era.
That’s about to change as 2 Entertain Commissioning Editor Dan Hall told the Radio Free Skaro podcast over the weekend that Shada is finally due for DVD release. Whether it’ll be a straight porting of the original Tom Baker-hosted VHS release, or if the Paul McGann animated version might be included, is a matter of speculation. (Release date has yet to be announced, but Hall indicated it will be released alongside another serial.)
Hall also announced that a second set of Revisitations DVDs are due for release in 2011, including new editions of three previously released DVDs covering Peter Davison-era story Resurrection of the Daleks - including a featurette hosted by none other than David Tennant - the Pertwee story Carnival of Monsters, and the Troughton story The Seeds of Death.
Posted by Alex on Monday, October 25 at 2:20 pm
26 Comments...
I own a copy of the VHS and although it may be unfair to judge the story on that representation only, I didn’t think of it as all that good anyway and I sometimes think had it been completed it would definately not be as appreciated as it is today. Now that I got that off my chest, where do I line up to buy a copy of the DVD?
Posted by Doug Grandy on 10/25 at 05:12 PM
I think the story worked OK in the webcast version, so maybe a complete version would have been better than what we had. But there are aspects of the show that are appealing: the introduction of another Time Lord, and the footage shot around Cambridge. It was also the last of the “old school” Doctor Whos as the next season brought in JNT and his “updating” of the series, its theme, etc. I don’t know whether Shada would have been considered a classic had it been completed, but at the same time I really don’t think it would have been another Destiny of the Daleks. It will be interesting to see what they do with it on DVD.
Posted by Alex on 10/25 at 05:47 PM
Welcome aboard Alex!
It will be interesting to see what method they use for putting it on DVD. I don’t think it will be just the Tom Baker narration version (though they may use it in some form). I hope not, as I think it’s actually quite dreadful.
I think the DVD format can allow for a lot more flexibility in how the story is reconstructed—they could have a version which includes the actual script extracts for missing scenes for example.
One thing about Shada is that there’s actually a fair bit more material (in terms of alternate takes and trims and raw studio material) than actually wound up on the ‘92 compilation. It would be interesting to see if that makes it into any release.
Posted by Graeme on 10/25 at 06:21 PM
Thanks!
I think we will at least see the Baker footage from the 1992 release included, if you consider they included William Russell’s similar links for The Crusade when they did the Lost in Time box, plus 2 Entertain has generated this wonderful reputation of including everything (I’d be surprised if the DVD-ROM content didn’t include a PDF of the script book, for example).
The inevitable documentary I think will be interesting on its own.
I’m also hoping that the release of Shada to DVD might indicate 2 Entertain/BBC’s willingness to reissue some of the other “unusual” VHS releases, such as Curse of Fatal Death or even some form of the “...Years” releases which had Tom Baker, Colin Baker and Jon Pertwee reminiscing about their time on the show.
Posted by Alex on 10/25 at 08:48 PM
Shada is “Pennant Robert’s cat” which is appropriate for the man who brought us The Sunmakers AND Time Lash…
Posted by Scott on 10/26 at 04:24 AM
...er, I mean The Sun Makers and Timelash (Graeme is shaking his editorial head…)
Posted by Scott on 10/26 at 04:27 AM
I’m sure we’ll see the Tom Baker ‘92 narration included in some form. I just hope it’s not the primary version.
The Revisitations 2 thing puzzles the hell out of me. Why does The Seeds of Death need a re-release? I know the original was quite slight but was it really crying out for more features on it? Especially when Tomb of the Cybermen just sits there un-VidFIREd…
Posted by Graeme on 10/26 at 12:08 PM
Scott: Excellent…
Posted by Graeme on 10/26 at 12:09 PM
Re:Graeme
The concept of Revisitations is to reissue early DVD releases that were put out before DW fans got “spoiled” by having so many extra features, augmented SFX versions, etc. Not to mention VidFire remastering, which Seeds of Death predated, so I would think the primary reason to put it out again is to do so with VidFire’ing. I’m willing to bet Tomb of the Cybermen is going to turn up in another Revisitations. In the case of Resurrection of the Daleks, the new release is supposed to include both versions of the story - the 2 45-minute episodes as originally broadcast and the 4-episode “syndicated” version. I think only one of these were on the original release. I suppose there’s no reason why other DVDs couldn’t have been chosen to “revisit” before any of these three, but then 2 Entertain always seems to be working in “random order” mode.
Posted by Alex on 10/26 at 01:40 PM
Alex… I’m afraid you’re mistaken. Seeds of Death was VidFIREd. It was the first Troughton to get that treatment. And it has special features made for the DVD release, which The Tomb of the Cybermen does not (all it has is convention footage from around the time the story was released).
Posted by Graeme on 10/26 at 02:06 PM
Re: Graeme
I stand corrected. I was under the impression it was an early release, before the VidFire process had begun to be applied. Weren’t there other Hartnell/Troughton stories besides Tomb that were issued without VidFire?
Posted by Alex on 10/26 at 02:08 PM
Tomb is the only one not VidFIREd. They weren’t sure if the effect would actually survive DVD encoding, that’s why they included the one VidFIREd scene as an Easter Egg. Every other story from the 1960s have subsequently been VidFIREd.
The thing is Seeds isn’t an early release at all, it’s about 2003ish if I remember correctly. It didn’t have a lot in terms of features (certainly not enough to justify a second disc) but I would prioritize it way down the line after a revamped Tomb.
Posted by Graeme on 10/26 at 02:13 PM
2003 for Seeds; 2002 for Tomb. Maybe there was a rights issue? I find also that sometimes 2 Entertain seems to get an inside track on what’s planned for the main series (how else could you explain Sontaran stories coming out around the time the Sontarans returned in 2008, remembering these releases are planned months in advance). So if you want to play a little speculation game, could this be a sign that a certain group of scaly Martians might be up at bat during Season 6/7?
Posted by Alex on 10/26 at 02:28 PM
You’ll be glad to know that Tomb and Robots of Death as well as another story (The Three Doctors rumoured) will likely make RV3 while Spearhead will get it’s own SE. Not only is Day of the Daleks coming but Pertwee will also get out a bit more on DVD with Terror of the Autons and Planet of the Spiders next year.
Posted by Ryan on 10/26 at 03:26 PM
Thanks Ryan for the update! The fact Spearhead is coming out on its own raises an interesting possibility. As the only classic Who to be completely produced on film, is it possible it could become the first classic Who to make the jump to Blu-Ray? I used to think they couldn’t/wouldn’t release older filmed TV shows in high-def, but then the original Prisoner and the un-remastered original Star Trek came out, and both the original Twilight Zone as well as Space:1999 are reportedly headed to Blu-Ray. Again, this is just speculation, but it would be interesting to see Spearhead being, well, the spearhead into HD for the original series…
Posted by Alex on 10/26 at 03:36 PM
On one hand this “Re-visiting” bothers me as it just seems a lot like double dipping, even though the re-issues will have more special features. Having said that, again where do I line up?
Posted by Doug Grandy on 10/26 at 04:18 PM
Plans are not known but every hint is that when it does come out on BR Doctor Who will be packing many episodes per disc (season sets maybe?) but with less video compression. While not HD it will be higher than standard. So when Spearhead is in that format it will obviously look even better. Whether that will get a special single release or not is another thing all together.
2011 releases (Dates where most likely)
Jan: Meglos, The Dominators
Feb: The Ark, Time and the Rani
Mar: The Mutants, The Seeds of Doom
April: Kinda,Snakedance, Talons SE
May: Caves SE
June: Doctor Who SE
Other:
The Seeds of Death SE
Carnival of Monsters SE
Resurrection of the Daleks SE
Spearhead from Space SE
Terror of the Autons
Planet of the Spiders
The Tomb of the Cybermen SE
The Robots of Death SE
Day of the Daleks Late 2011 or early 2012
The Daemons 2012
Posted by Ryan on 10/27 at 05:14 AM
Re: Ryan
Interesting information! However just for the sake of due diligence, plus the fact none of the other DW news pages I’ve checked out has come out with these dates yet, what is your source? For one thing, when box sets are broken up for Region 1 release, all contents are usually issued at the same time, so I find it odd that the three discs in Revisitations 1 would be released one per month as that’s never happened before. And the synchronization of the releases announced earlier has had some suggesting we might start getting the box sets intact from here on in.
Posted by Alex on 10/27 at 01:01 PM
Information is culled from Dan Hall interviews online and at conventions plus UK release dates and BBC America Shop which has listings for many of those stories. Some do come from inside rumour but the same reliable sources that said RV1 and 2 were coming and what the contents were (correctly) and they get their info mostly from the DVD sale industry anyway as things are solicited far in advance before actual announcements are made.
Robots of Death will have a new commentary from Baker and Jameson, Resurrection will have another commentary for the 2-part version, IIRC Tomb will also have a new one.
As for the release dates it’s solid for Jan as above and Ark and Mutants. From what I’ve heard the backlog will also get out one a month hence T&R and Seeds so I assume RV 1 will be placed out that way. Even they don’t know exactly how it’s going to work but since they have put out several in a month before something like that is the most probable.
Posted by Ryan on 10/27 at 03:21 PM
Well, regardless when they’re coming out, looks like 2011 is gonna be a great year for us collectors! I’ve interest in virtually every one of those listed, which is unusual as I do tend to follow the “pick and choose” method (I had no real interest in The Twin Dilemma, for example). I also think it’s smart of 2 Entertain to hold back on some titles. When they finally reach the end of the available stories, I imagine it would be sad if all they had left were things like Time and the Rani. Best to end the releases on a high note, if they can.
Posted by Alex on 10/27 at 03:26 PM
Hmmmm interesting thought….just which story do we think will be left for last?
Posted by Doug Grandy on 10/27 at 04:04 PM
It should be easy enough to do process of elimination based on what stories have been released, or announced, so far. Of course the actual final release I bet will be a special edition reissue of something, and we can’t really predict wild cards showing up like 30 Years in the TARDIS or Curse of Fatal Death. Or, for that matter, new editions of the 2005 revival (in theory Season 1-4 could be released on Blu-Ray and they could give them a special edition treatment). Also, we don’t know for certain whether the originally mentioned Nov. 2013 end date for the DVD range will ultimately apply. We’ve already seen the troubling signs of physical media disappearing in some areas (a couple of Sarah Jane novelisations are being released as e-books only, for example) so the way things are going we’re having to taking it on faith that they’ll be even bothering to make DVD releases in 3 years. By then we might all be forced to download the things off Netflix or iTunes. But that’s a matter for another rant!
Posted by Alex on 10/27 at 04:12 PM
BBC Video just announced that the 1996 TV movie and The Mutants will be released over here in February, so the above dates should be taken as “subject to change”!
http://www.TVShowsOnDVD.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=14618
Posted by Alex on 10/28 at 12:27 AM
Yes I saw. Interesting because that mean Mutants has to be the Feb release rather than The Ark but then Jan might be 2 in the UK or 2 in March.
Maybe not a surprise that Doctor Who was pulled forward as it’s a long awaited release but even as has been said the exact order is not totally locked in yet and it’s seems that complete in synch releases are not necessarily going to be the case but very close.
Posted by Ryan on 10/28 at 03:28 AM
Still, a definite improvement over what we’re used to. And definitely an improvement over the nearly 15-year wait we’ve had for a home video release of the movie!
Posted by Alex on 10/28 at 04:08 AM
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