He Who Moans Review of Doctor Who: Shada (2017 Edition) 

Went from the “unmade” Doctor Who story to the “most made” Doctor Who story.

I'm not sure, I'd take a bit of awkward animation set to the recorded audio tapes over a re-tooling. The animation has never really bothered me and even if it had to be in the style of 'The Invasion' animation from 10 years ago I'd still take it.

I hate the idea of re-recording the original audio. it may sound like a good idea at fist, but it would rob the episode of all it's charm and atmosphere.

1:37 To say nothing of the multiple versions of Dirk Gently's Holistic Agency.

Actually due to Shada the Classic Who DVD section got Top 3 position in the UK top dvd selling of 2017 And New Who 10

I suggest He Who Moans for the animated New Who stories The infinite quest and Dreamland.

Can we animate Evil of the Daleks...please?

I got this for Christmas and it was the first time i ever saw Shada so to me i loved it! Wish there was an episode option as well as the 2 hour version but i enjoyed the 2 hour version!

I do understand why Whovians see the 2017 edition as pointless, but I am really happy to have a version of Shada that fits the 'lost episode' style. Sidenote: I do think I would have enjoyed it more if the episode was in parts... it's just something I'm used to and it was a bit weird thinking that it wasn't in parts... although that might just be the autism talking XD

While the multiple versions of SHADA did kind of take some of the shine off of this the fact you got Tommy B doing the voice over this time made it feel kind of worthwhile (few were probably gonna see the Ian Levine version anyway). Good to know its at least a worthy entry.

One thing I noticed is that Skagra is completely different in the animated bits - Neame's performance is much more reserved and actually much scarier than the OTT original.

So you mentioned Faceless Ones, Macra, Abominable Snowmen, Fury from the Deep, and Evil of the Daleks would be better animated choices than Shada. And all of them have been released or announced. Next time mention a Hartnell one too, since you're predicting 100%! :D

Love this review, stuff like this makes all the work we do worth while

Wow, couldn't disagree with your conclusion more. The reason the animations up to now have been lackluster (though I'd make an exception for Tenth Planet) is that the animators have never been given enough time or budget. Go back and listen to the animators on any of those projects and they ALWAYS talk about what a rushed production it was. The reason this release of Shada stands out is that it was given the care and attention it deserves. Had any of the previous projects been given this level of care they'd be just as well executed. The idea of recasting lost stories when we already have their audio is so ludicrous, I find it hard to fathom. That completely defeats the purpose of trying to experience these stories.

Completely agree. I was watching it the other night and you are right about how well it flows.

Not seen this version, but I've read the Gareth Roberts book, which was so well written that on the final page I instinctively heard the sting. Roberts really has a good connection with the Graham Williams era.

Retooling the scripts and re-recording lost episodes is actually a master stroke of an idea! Sign me up! (I'll work on it too if people are offering!) Doing that would also also allow the animation to take advantage of the medium. Be a bit more inventive with the design of the characters and shots and of course the way it moves. It would be nice if it no longer catered to that strange photo real look that resembles Archer but also treads too close to the uncanny valley.

1 day ago??? Also I love this new version!!! Great review Stu!!! :D

I know I'm late to this video, but it was great. I am going to hold that "I love being proved wrong" line against you when the next animation (after the macra terror) is made. I have a lot of faith in that team. Keep making great content.

Ever thought of covering Sarah Jane Adventures? Yeah it's for kids, but the two episodes per story format is pretty good and I think at its best it tops a lot of the dodgier end of new Who. I noticed it streaming on Netflix and was pleasantly surprised.

Clarification on the missing episodes suggestion: Kay knew this was gonna be a controversial point, and I know it'd never happen, it just occurred to me after watching Shada. Now I know the missing episode animation projects have been encumbered by low budgets and lack of time to meet deadlines, I can agree with that but ADDITIONALLY say that I've come away with the impression that missing episode animated projects might (might) be flawed on a conceptual level. The people behind them have done fantastic jobs and yes I love em to bits like the rest of you: all I'm saying is staying so faithful to the missing serials for history's sake is kinda overlooking just how good most of them were. And I don't think I'm alone in saying when I watch the animated versions, I am always reminded that I'm watching these BECAUSE the original is missing. The reason Shada was different was the project looked and sounded more cohesive, it was still encumbered by circumstances, but it didn't play into the fact it was never completed, as previous iterations of shada did by using it as a legend to hype it up, and as missing episode animations kinda do by using the soundtrack and trying desperately hard to look as faithful as possible. And my suggestion is only really say Macra Terror redone with Frazer, Anneke and Michael with David Troughton doing 2 for example, you've got Big Finish there, an audio based outfit with a strong history of solid dr who stories and adaptations of unmade stories. And hey: Shada with the 8th Doctor worked. I just don't see why we have to be so strictly faithful to the originals for history's sake rather than the story's sake, that's all As said though: just an opinion, and ain't that what I'm for? ;P

Rumour is there’s another announcement of Classic Who dvd realise next month- know with the announcement of a special edition of The Enemy of the World it might just be a Special edition of The Web of Fear

I am afraid of this one. I fell in love with the version that has missing bits narrated by Tom. It's my all time favourite Doctor Who story.

I have the Shada audio drama and like most whovians thought the story had been completed. But I love the 2017 DVD and the animation blends nicely with the live action scenes

Great video Stu! Is there any chance you could do a video about the Fourth Doctor era as a whole? Cheers!

Recasting a whole Dr who serial? I'd rather have the original audio animated thank you very much

I still find I prefer watching an animated reconstruction with the original audio rather than just the audio alone as, while it doesn't line up with animation perfectly, I still feel it is served better with accompanying (moving) visuals. They were never intended as audio dramas. Though I would certainly he open to your idea of remake as long as any replacements sound 'right'.

When I first saw Shada, my thought was they should start creating new classic era episodes as animations similar to what Big Finish does on audio.

now to wait for classic doctors, new monsters volume 2.

Very good points, but the major issue is that different people want different things from "Lost Episode" DVD releases. You want a release that maximises the consistency and quality of the story on its own terms - and so would be willing to accept surviving footage being replaced with animation, and the audio being re-done (even rewritten) with a new cast - but many others want the most complete. faithful reconstruction of the original broadcast possible - and so would be willing for new animation to feel slightly off with the original sound, or the switching between live action and animated footage to be a bit jarring. I'm pretty firmly in the latter camp. The missing episodes always frustrate in the way they make the formative years of Doctor Who's history feel like a patchwork, and so I'm happy to get new DVD releases which try their best to show what those episodes originally looked and sounded like throughout, while using as much of the surviving footage and audio as possible; filling in the history. Cleaner adaptations like the ones you describe would be... fine, but if I want to know what Evil of the Daleks was like, I want to actually hear Patrick Troughton's performance. No question. Sure, it's easy to say "If you want a reconstruction, just listen to the soundtracks with added narration!", but you could just as easily say "If you want a self-consistent adaptation, just read the Target novelisation!". Unfortunately the BBC can only choose one approach per story, at least the first time they do it. Another crucial detail is the budget. It's clear that they aren't allocated a huge amount of money to animate these things as it is, so it seems really unlikely they could afford to completely re-record/re-write the story on top of that, especially as there's no obvious reason this would lead to higher sales. So... yeah, pretty sure these things will continue to use the off-air audio recordings by default. Let's just hope they keep doing them!

( 1:45 ) The only thing I like about Season 17 is Tom and Lalla who look like they are having fun walking around nice locations. 😂

Every doctor needs their own shade run through cause why not.

I got it for Christmas but still haven't got round to watching it. But with your recommendation I'll try to.

I’d be down with reworking everything BUT the performances by the original actors. Completely redoing the actual lines feels a bit too far for me, but I’m not sure why.

I'm surprised Big Finish hasn't done more of their own versions of the lost stories.

I have to say, it drags a bit and isn't really helped by them not editing into proper episodic format. So i sat through 3 hours waiting for the cliffhanger

‘Nightmare of Eden’ is fucking excellent though. Highly recommend

They have animated The Macra Terror now and we're getting Fury From the Deep sometime relatively soon, any plans for a review?

If you want a truly "lost story" of Doctor Who, read the third book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, because Douglas Adams originally pitched that as a Doctor Who story, but was turned down.

Could they not have at least given us he option to watch it in the original 6 part format? I’m really curious to know where the cliffhangers would’ve been.

I kind of wish they had put the old actors in their costumes and finished the episodes fully in live action. So actors' ages will change between scenes, or even shots, and just don't even mention it. I Feel like it would have had a surreal meta quality that would fit with Douglas Adams' work.

Are you going to review Classic Doctors New Monsters 2 for the McGann?

I quite like the Nightmare of Eden. Not really sure why, but I liked it.

Yeah. Agreed. I'd like to see an animated reconstruction of The Daleks' Master Plan

Stuart i have a question, where do you download the clips for your reviews? I mean, is there a site or something?

I don't think they need to re-record audio for the episode reconstructions. I just think they need to get more creative with how they edit the audio they have. Maybe isolate the vocals and recreate the sound effects. That way you can re-time the voices to better match the animation instead of the other way around.

Will you be reviewing the macra terror when the new dvd comes out

What did you think of the last scene?

I think ultimately the reason Shada is a (tbh bit) more fluid a translation is simply that the company leanred from their previous experiences...BBC has been shifting the animation work between studios with these animations and that has both prevented a proper evolution of the art and denied the studios really investing in the ongoing projects. No matter how you look at it words or pictures one has to come before the other in this process so it really is illogical to think they cannot properly match to an existing soundtrack and, to my mind at least, an oppertunity wasted to not try.

Mate, I will defend Creature From The Pit till my dying day. It was one of my first novelisations I read and I truly enjoy the story as it was broadcast.

3:14 How did you predict the 5 next animation they would do?

No offense, Stu me old China, but the only way re-recording the missing episodes would ever work if the audio too was destroyed and if fans hadn't recorded at all. But even then, for every Big Finish, there's Paul Merton or that recent sad recreation of a missing scene from a Steptoe and Son episode The best options would be either remaster the audios as if it was every bit a new recordel the day filming commenced or just just the audio as is but have he animation be akin to Filmation circa 1966-70 (i.e. the DC animated shorts)

I really hate how people are like “but Genesis & Spearhead have been realised more so stop complaining” like Fuck Off, they didn’t lie about the marketing & it was already a dvd plus we didn’t need this to be animated we need some 1 or 2 to be

One thing to learn of this video. Animation is hard.

Well, if the BBC are gonna take your advice and recast the Doctor and his companions in order to remake the episodes to help better suit them for animation, someone ought to give Christopher Thomson a call. His Troughton is spot on.

I personally think the BBC should get Big Finish's Lost Stories team to remake the audio for these projects.

Could someone explain which version of Shada is canon the Baker or McGann ?

I completely agree. Shada with newly recorded audio was easier to watch and get into compared to the cheap previous animation with the love recordings as it just didn't feel authentic. Recasting for voiceovers and good animation would make the lost classics much more enjoyable

Is there a way to turn the picture size to 16:9

I found Shada a bit overrated I knew I found it fine but some of it was really cheesy and I don’t know why the professor would start talking the prisoner (can’t recall the name) about if he really was him

I just wed got "Fury From the Deep" But shada was a nice release as its one of my favourite stories.

i get were your mean by the missing episode thing but i think instead they should do that with the missing season 23

I wish people at the BBC would go the next step and make live action versions of the classics in black and white and some of the non made stories like Masters of Luxor, The Red Fort and Operation Werewolf

I think they should animate the unmade seasons 27 and 23 (well, as much as was scripted)

So who did the voiceovers for the older characters who are now deceased? There's nothing on IMDB.

I've only heard of Shada, don't know anything about the plot. Is it worth buying for a non completion-ist fan? Does anyone know which version is the best to watch?

Odd story to animate next but I guess all the cast are still alive. I haven’t seen the older versions so I quite enjoyed this. I was hoping for Daleks Masterplan or Evil of the Daleks to be animated. Animation was so better than Power’s maybe because they had more time or less to animate.

The actors would have to be very good. That's my only condition. I love the acting in the Troughton era

We could animate a new story for dvd. Get a new cast to make a new story featuring a classic doctor.

I like Shada

I would have as much interest in re-cast remakes of missing Doctor Who stories as I have in Big Finish's re-cast First Doctor plays... IE Zero. The beauty of Doctor Who's format is that we don't have to get in people to impersonate out-going actors when they leave... Regeneration allows the in-coming actors to NOT impersonate the people they are replacing. Yes, I do think that the quality of animation on the re-animated missing stories could be better. I don't really understand why it's so primitive... DC makes straight-to-DVD animations that are incredibly slick, so I don't understand why the BBC can't look at their business model and do the same. DC has it's DVDs animated in the far-East where animation is much cheaper and more professional. Check out releases like 'Justice League: New Frontier' as an example. Why even bother to make it animation if you are re-casting it? Why not just film it? (Not that I'd be interested but...) what's your reasoning there?

Though the animation on the 1st and 2nd Doc stories has never bothered me. I really like the animated episodes of The Invasion.

“...& I probably would have put off getting it if people had been nagging me to cover it on He Who Moans” Where ??? Show me the receipts!

You're just biased because you've already seen it a million times. But it was cool for me to hear, because I'd only seen the version with Tom Baker narration once and only recently in the past year or two discovered the legend of the unfinished story.

Has there been an official explanation from the BBC for the unusually long time lag between the UK release and the US release? Any idea if it will at least show up in the US iTunes store before September?

Why didnt they make the rest of shada in 1980 but I like the animation though

Still has not been released in region 1 sadly

Don't apologize for suggesting they animate *The Macra Terror* . It needs to happen. Also, i think the problem with the Dr Who animation is down to the actual animation quality. t's just not good, it's janky and stuttered. Granted it could be reminiscent of classical animation from the earlier decades (i.e. something along the lines of Krabat The Sorcerer's Apprentice) but it still feels off to the modern consumer of animation. Don't get me wrong, next to *Real Time* and *Death Comes To Time* they are still immensely enjoyable additions to my collection.

Just did my own review of Shada if anyone wants to check it out

It wasn't disinteresting to me I'd never heard of it until it was announced xD too bad it was kind of a meh story and wouldn't have been so widely known if it wasn't the infamous abandoned story

actually just watched city of death for the first time. Not bad but not great.

4:12 NEV

This version of Shada was pretty good and I think it works. But Shadas overrated

Yeh but I’m still not gonna get it and the marketing still lied to us That’s not gonna change

You've regnerated. I don't like it.

This is what I've been saying! Use actors from the time, write up a new script, and animate!