shah-DAH! shah-DAH! shah-DAH!
Shada was supposed to be the season finale of Season 17 but due to industrial strike, it was never finished and has remained the great lost story of Doctor Who. Written by the infamous Douglas Adams, it saw the Doctor and Romana return to modern day Earth to visit an old Time Lord friend at Cambridge. An over the top villain escapes confinement and proceeds to battle wits with the Doctor. Hilarity ensues.
Although never broadcast, some of the video was used in the Five Doctors when Tom Baker was unable or unwilling to star in it. All the existing material was released on VHS and DVD with linking narration of the missing scenes by Tom Baker. And Big Finish restaged with story in audio and animation starring 8th Doctor Paul McGann and Lalla Ward as Romana, which creates its own continuity paradox in itself.
Based upon viewing the extant material of the story, Shada would have been a fantastic ending to an otherwise boring season. After the last few stinkers of Season 17, Shada would have been a return to form and shown classic Douglas Adams wit and intelligence. And while I adore Horns of Nimon, it doesn't suit as a season finale and Shada would have been a fitting end to the season, to Graham Williams reign as Producer and to the 1970's.
As we will see in the next season beginning with the Leisure Hive, Shada would have been a glorious end of era with the last use of the classic Tom Baker diamond logo and time tunnel opening, the classic theme music, the classic scarf, the classic randomizer, and the aesthetic look that has blanketed the series for the last half decade. Starting next season, everything old is new again...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shada
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