Where the Fourth Doctor left off, the Eighth Doctor comes to finish the job. With Romana and K9 by his side, they have to stop the evil Skagra. A remounted version of the abandoned Fourth Doctor serial, rewritten to feature the Eighth Doctor and fit in with the Big Finish audio drama continuity.
At this point I need to clarify that the version of Shada I have seen is the official BBC edition with animated segments rather than the edition with linking segments with Tom Baker or the Ian Levine animation. Now compared to other animated Doctor Who reconstructions, this story has scenes that are animated among scenes that are live action. One would expect the animation to disrupt the flow of proceedings, but oddly enough, this story flows quite well even with the animated segments. In a weird way the animation allows for more dynamic cinematography, instead of the wide angle static shots that we associate with the era. That’s not to say everything is too out of place, Mark Ayres does a rather splendid job of recapturing the Dudley Simpson style soundtrack. I feel I must discuss the cast too, sure Lalla Ward has some age in her voice, but it’s far less distracting having her play Romana than an impressionist. But it’s quite remarkable how Tom Baker’s voice hasn’t aged over the cours
