Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
BBC (2012), 416 pages
Description
From the unique mind of Douglas Adams, the legendary "lost" Doctor Who story has been completed at last by Gareth Roberts and narrated by Lalla Ward. The Doctor’s old friend and fellow Time Lord Professor Chronotis has retired to Cambridge University--where nobody will notice if he lives for centuries. But now he needs help from the Doctor, Romana and K-9. When he left Gallifrey he took with him a few little souvenirs--most of them are harmless. But one of them is extremely dangerous. The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey isn’t a book for Time Tots. It is one of the Artifacts, dating from the dark days of Rassilon. It must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. The sinister Skagra most definitely has the wrong hands. He wants the book. He wants to discover the truth behind Shada. And he wants the Doctor’s mind... Based on the scripts for the original television series by the legendary Douglas Adams, Shada retells an adventure that never made it to the screen.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member bragan
In 1979, Douglas Adams wrote an episode of Doctor Who that was never finished, due to a strike at the BBC. The story has since appeared in various iterations: there was a video release featuring narration by Tom Baker to summarize the unfilmed scenes and, later, an animated webcast version
I enjoyed this, honestly, rather more than I was expecting to. Roberts writes in an amusing, often noticeably Adams-eque style (complete with Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in-jokes), but he largely manages to avoid making this feel like a forced or overly imitative Adams pastiche. And some of the dialog is both pure Adams, and pure Doctor Who. The result is a lot of fun, even (or perhaps especially) for those of us already familiar with the story.
Show More
featuring the Eighth Doctor in place of the Fourth. Adams himself also cannibalized bits of the plot, integrating them into Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Well, here's the latest version: a full-length novel adaptation by Gareth Roberts, who has fleshed out Adams' script significantly, as well as making a few changes. (Reasonably enough, I think, especially as Adams apparently wrote the original script very quickly and was reportedly not entirely happy with it.)I enjoyed this, honestly, rather more than I was expecting to. Roberts writes in an amusing, often noticeably Adams-eque style (complete with Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in-jokes), but he largely manages to avoid making this feel like a forced or overly imitative Adams pastiche. And some of the dialog is both pure Adams, and pure Doctor Who. The result is a lot of fun, even (or perhaps especially) for those of us already familiar with the story.
Show Less
LibraryThing member craso
The Doctor and Romana are in Cambridge visiting an old friend of The Doctors, Professor Chronotis, when a student accidently takes an important Time Lord book out of Chronotis’ office. The book is “The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey” a priceless artifact. At the same time, Skagra, an
This book was a delight to read. I could see Tom Baker strutting about with his long multi-colored scarf. At the end of each section I could hear the Dr. Who theme song. The novel was just like watching the show. In fact the third chapter was a scene used in “The Five Doctors” episode.
Douglas Adams was the script supervisor for Dr. Who during the fourth doctor’s tenure. He pinned one of my favorite episodes “The Pirate Planet.” “Shada” was written by Adams and partially produced. The few scenes that were filmed were released on video tape, but the production was never completed. Gareth Roberts does a wonderful job filling out the story. If you are a true Whovian who has seen the Tom Baker doctor in action you have to read this book.
Show More
evil man bent on dominating the universe through mind control has arrived on Earth to steal the tome from Chronotis. The volume holds the secret to unlocking the Time Lord prison Shada, a forgotten place of confinement that keeps the worst criminals from Gallifreyan history in cryogenic freeze.This book was a delight to read. I could see Tom Baker strutting about with his long multi-colored scarf. At the end of each section I could hear the Dr. Who theme song. The novel was just like watching the show. In fact the third chapter was a scene used in “The Five Doctors” episode.
Douglas Adams was the script supervisor for Dr. Who during the fourth doctor’s tenure. He pinned one of my favorite episodes “The Pirate Planet.” “Shada” was written by Adams and partially produced. The few scenes that were filmed were released on video tape, but the production was never completed. Gareth Roberts does a wonderful job filling out the story. If you are a true Whovian who has seen the Tom Baker doctor in action you have to read this book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member paperlesspages
Shada, the Doctor Who story never seen and only glimpsed (Nerd Alert!in the Five Doctors - Tom Baker and Lalla Ward punting on the River Cam)I know the there was a video released with Tom Baker narrating the missing bits but I'm supposed to be reviewing the book.
Professor Chronotis is living in
Gareth Roberts has done a superb job in being faithful to Douglas Adams, there are nice touches all the way through and it was a pleasure to read.
Professor Chronotis is living in
Show More
Cambridge and sends a message to the Doctor, but he can't remember why. Turns out he stole a book from Gallifrey and Skagra wants it. Thing is Chris gets the book first and it also attracts the attention of Clare,(Chris is attracted to her too). With all the main characters chasing a book you would this this story would be dull, but it isn't you can read it at a cracking pace. Gareth Roberts has done a superb job in being faithful to Douglas Adams, there are nice touches all the way through and it was a pleasure to read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member krazykiwi
Not much to say really. Classic Dr Who, Romana, K9 and a worthy villain, in equally classic Adams style. Gareth Roberts did a great job, it's not easy to see the seams, and with someone as distinctive as Adams that is quite a compliment.
As daughter who gave it to me for my b'day said "I saw this
Definitely reminiscent of Dirk Gently, which is actually my favourite Adams book, but shades of H2G2 as well (and a homage in the second to last chapter that truly made me smile.)
Very close to a 5, only not getting one because it's not quite up to Dirk or H2G2. But it's darn close.
As daughter who gave it to me for my b'day said "I saw this
Show More
and had a nerdgasm".Definitely reminiscent of Dirk Gently, which is actually my favourite Adams book, but shades of H2G2 as well (and a homage in the second to last chapter that truly made me smile.)
Very close to a 5, only not getting one because it's not quite up to Dirk or H2G2. But it's darn close.
Show Less
LibraryThing member DLMorrese
The fourth Doctor, Romana, and K-9 answer a call from Chronotis, an aging and befuddled Time Lord, who is living out his retirement as a Cambridge professor. Unfortunately, Chronotis has forgotten why he called, although it soon becomes clear that it is for the Doctor to save the universe
This time, the threat comes from Skagra, an overly ambitious fellow from the vacation planet of Dronid. He wants to be God, or the closest thing possible. To achieve this goal, he needs to absorb the mind of the legendary Gallifreyan criminal Salyavin who had the ability to replace or augment the minds of others with own. Salyavin, though, was reportedly placed in stasis and imprisoned thousands of years ago on the now lost and forgotten prison planet of Shada. The key to finding Shada is the book The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey, which Professor Chronotis stole from the Time Lords’ archives and subsequently misplaced.
Got it? Good. Because that’s about as much of the plot as I’m going to try to summarize.
The story was originally written as a TV script by Douglas Adams, the late, great author of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galxay, and novelized by Gareth Roberts, a writer of other Doctor Who novels and TV scripts.
To me, the beginning sounds like Adams. See if you don’t agree.
‘At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways -- with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, Wait a second. That means there’s a situation vacant.’
Now I don’t know if Adams came up with this opening or if Roberts did, but it has a lot of Douglas Adams’ irreverent wit and whimsy. And so does the rest of the book. Now, I won’t say it reads exactly like a Douglas Adams book because it doesn’t. There are bits that do, probably because Adams wrote them as part of the script, but in other parts, the imagination is noticeably more constrained. It’s still quite good, enjoyable, and it hangs together very well. The melding of Roberts and Adams is virtually seamless.
The portrayal of the Doctor is exceptional, often sounding more like the later Doctors from the new series than the fourth Doctor from the 1970s/1980s. I don’t consider this a bad thing. (Don’t get me wrong, all of the Doctors were fun, but the new series has more polish.)
There was a certain element of nostalgia for me reading a ‘new’ Doctor Who adventure set in the 1980s featuring the Doctor’s campy, robot dog, K-9. I enjoyed it very much. I would recommend this book to all fans of Douglas Adams and Doctor Who. If you are not a fan, what’s wrong with you?
Show More
(again).This time, the threat comes from Skagra, an overly ambitious fellow from the vacation planet of Dronid. He wants to be God, or the closest thing possible. To achieve this goal, he needs to absorb the mind of the legendary Gallifreyan criminal Salyavin who had the ability to replace or augment the minds of others with own. Salyavin, though, was reportedly placed in stasis and imprisoned thousands of years ago on the now lost and forgotten prison planet of Shada. The key to finding Shada is the book The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey, which Professor Chronotis stole from the Time Lords’ archives and subsequently misplaced.
Got it? Good. Because that’s about as much of the plot as I’m going to try to summarize.
The story was originally written as a TV script by Douglas Adams, the late, great author of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galxay, and novelized by Gareth Roberts, a writer of other Doctor Who novels and TV scripts.
To me, the beginning sounds like Adams. See if you don’t agree.
‘At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways -- with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, Wait a second. That means there’s a situation vacant.’
Now I don’t know if Adams came up with this opening or if Roberts did, but it has a lot of Douglas Adams’ irreverent wit and whimsy. And so does the rest of the book. Now, I won’t say it reads exactly like a Douglas Adams book because it doesn’t. There are bits that do, probably because Adams wrote them as part of the script, but in other parts, the imagination is noticeably more constrained. It’s still quite good, enjoyable, and it hangs together very well. The melding of Roberts and Adams is virtually seamless.
The portrayal of the Doctor is exceptional, often sounding more like the later Doctors from the new series than the fourth Doctor from the 1970s/1980s. I don’t consider this a bad thing. (Don’t get me wrong, all of the Doctors were fun, but the new series has more polish.)
There was a certain element of nostalgia for me reading a ‘new’ Doctor Who adventure set in the 1980s featuring the Doctor’s campy, robot dog, K-9. I enjoyed it very much. I would recommend this book to all fans of Douglas Adams and Doctor Who. If you are not a fan, what’s wrong with you?
Show Less
LibraryThing member PghDragonMan
Shada is billed as a lost Dr. Who episode as originally conceived by Douglas Adams. I’m not enough of a Dr. Who fan to question this book as being part of The Doctor’s cannon nor am I expert enough on all things Adams to question its provenance, but I am very willing to believe that Douglas
My Dr. Who experience is confined to the Tom Baker era and maybe in a large part to that, that is how I kept envisioning The Doctor in the book. So much of the imagery evoked. The snappy dialog, a true Douglas Adams hallmark, is the star of this book. I was also pleased at the cameo role H2G2 played in one of the scenes.
Pure escapist reading, the book makes for a quick read. Since I was pulled along like some piece of cosmic flotsam in the wake of a disappearing TARDIS, I must confess that I felt this to be a very compelling book that I had a hard time putting down. For that reason, I’m going out on a limb to give this four stars. Quite a refreshing change of some of the dark Steampunk and heavier Sci-Fi I’ve been reading lately.
Show More
Adams is smiling down on Gareth Roberts for his part in this book’s creation, whatever that may be. There is enough of Adams’ spirit in the dialog and some of the satire to satisfy me, regardless of where this manuscript originated.My Dr. Who experience is confined to the Tom Baker era and maybe in a large part to that, that is how I kept envisioning The Doctor in the book. So much of the imagery evoked. The snappy dialog, a true Douglas Adams hallmark, is the star of this book. I was also pleased at the cameo role H2G2 played in one of the scenes.
Pure escapist reading, the book makes for a quick read. Since I was pulled along like some piece of cosmic flotsam in the wake of a disappearing TARDIS, I must confess that I felt this to be a very compelling book that I had a hard time putting down. For that reason, I’m going out on a limb to give this four stars. Quite a refreshing change of some of the dark Steampunk and heavier Sci-Fi I’ve been reading lately.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Bill.Bradford
Well, first, you really need to be a Dr Who fan to understand the story. Second, I did not know that Douglas Adams wrote a number of Dr. Who stories. It is fascinating just reading the history of this one, and now I need to go back and watch a number of episodes that he wrote. And finally to the
Show More
book. Very much classic Dr. Who. Gareth Roberts did an outstanding job working with the original and turning it into a novel. There are a couple of slow spots at the beginning but it is quite a ride once it gets going. Just about any Dr. Who fan will like this. Show Less
LibraryThing member john257hopper
This is a full length novelisation of Douglas Adams's original scripts for the famous "lost" Tom Baker Doctor Who TV story Shada, partly filmed in autumn 1979 but never completed due to a strike. It apparently includes a lot of original ideas by Adams that were not realised in the final version, or
Show More
could not be with the state of TV technology at the time. There are also a number of new ideas and scenes inserted by Roberts, who has written a number of original Who novels in the 1990s and later and TV scripts for the modern show. The whole thing hangs together convincingly, though there were a few lines that I could not imagine the 4th Doctor saying. Much more is made of the characters of and relationship between Chris and Claire, though strangely, they are hardly physically described at all, whereas the descriptions of the Doctor and Romana are very good. It's interesting to see how a Doctor Who TV story can be reimagined over the course of a nearly 400 page novel. The story itself is very much classic Douglas Adams and, while enjoyable, isn't in my view the classic it is sometimes made out to be due to its unique partly-filmed-never-shown status. Show Less
LibraryThing member leandrod
After some anachronic flirtiŋ wiþ Sodomy, totally inadequate for ðe original public, ðe ſtory ends up findiŋ itſelf quite pleaſantly.
LibraryThing member nyxnekhbet
It was a bit slow to start but I was laughing through the last bit. It was very easy for me to visualize since the 4th Doctor is the one I grew up with.
LibraryThing member Nodosaurus
This book started as a script for TV written by Douglas Adams. The script does not follow what we think of as Doctor Who cannon. Production did start on an episode (or movie?) but (apparently) not completed. Gareth Roberts took the script and expanded it into a book.
The book is an adventure story,
The characters are interesting, although the relationship between the two primary human characters felt contrived. The plot is interesting and has enough twists to keep the interest up.
The book is an adventure story,
Show More
it seems to be based on the Tom Baker version of The Doctor, but it isn't explicitly stated. It does have a good feel of Doctor Who, the deviations are pretty obvious and appear early, and it is easy to get past them and enjoy the story. The flavor of Douglas Adams is obvious, especially toward the end of the book. The characters are interesting, although the relationship between the two primary human characters felt contrived. The plot is interesting and has enough twists to keep the interest up.
Show Less
LibraryThing member The_Hibernator
Shada is a novel tie-in to the popular TV series Doctor Who. Specifically, it is based on the screenplay (written by Douglas Adams) of an unbroadcast eighth doctor story arc. The Doctor, Romana, and K-9 go to visit an old friend, Professor Chronotis, after receiving a distress signal. It turns out
This is the first time I've ever read a novel tie-in to a show or movie. My opinion has always been that books can become movies but movies shouldn't become books. You have to add in so much information for a TV novelization to be a good book. When I read a book, I'm not just looking for a story, I'm looking for beauty. For art. For characterization. These are things that this book did not particularly have. You knew who the characters were, after all. Why develop them? You knew about the world in which this story was taking place. No need for world building. So, in that way, the book isn't what I'm generally looking for in a book.
That said, this book did have humor, excitement, and familiar friends going through wild adventures. It was Doctor Who, after all, how could I not like it?
The book was well-read - narrated by the actress who played Romana in the TV show. K-9's voice was John Leeson, as well. So that was a very nice touch. This is my first time listening to a dramatization with sound effects. I've heard multiple-reader dramatizations, but never with footsteps, creaking doors, etc. It was kind of fun. Maybe I'll try something like this out again.
Show More
that Chronotis had stolen a dangerous book: The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey. All the Time Lords have heard of this book, but none of them quite seem to remember what it's for. When the book is accidentally borrowed by a post-doc, the Doctor and Romana must find the book and keep it out of the hands of Skagra, an evil genius bent on becoming the universe. (Important distinction here - he's not taking over the universe; he's becoming it.) This is the first time I've ever read a novel tie-in to a show or movie. My opinion has always been that books can become movies but movies shouldn't become books. You have to add in so much information for a TV novelization to be a good book. When I read a book, I'm not just looking for a story, I'm looking for beauty. For art. For characterization. These are things that this book did not particularly have. You knew who the characters were, after all. Why develop them? You knew about the world in which this story was taking place. No need for world building. So, in that way, the book isn't what I'm generally looking for in a book.
That said, this book did have humor, excitement, and familiar friends going through wild adventures. It was Doctor Who, after all, how could I not like it?
The book was well-read - narrated by the actress who played Romana in the TV show. K-9's voice was John Leeson, as well. So that was a very nice touch. This is my first time listening to a dramatization with sound effects. I've heard multiple-reader dramatizations, but never with footsteps, creaking doors, etc. It was kind of fun. Maybe I'll try something like this out again.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Courtney_Anne
Meh. I remember being really underwhelmed by this book
LibraryThing member Fiddleback_
Best story. Best Doctor. Enjoy.
LibraryThing member wester
Very Douglas Adams, very Doctor Who, very enjoyable.
Original language
English
Original publication date
2012-06-26
Physical description
416 p.; 6.38 inches
ISBN
1849903271 / 9781849903271