∎ [PDF] Shada Gareth Roberts 9781849903271 Books

Shada Gareth Roberts 9781849903271 Books

Download As PDF : Shada Gareth Roberts 9781849903271 Books

Shada Gareth Roberts 9781849903271 Books

This was my first outing with a Big Finish Doctor Who story and I'm quite happy with it. McGann certainly steals the show as the Doctor, as one would expect, but also surprising was Sean Biggerstaff as the graduate student Chris Parsons. Chris was such a good character that I was disappointed to find out he was never brought back to be a recurring companion. Lalla Ward and John Leeson as Romana and K-9 respectively are reliable as always. Sadly the villain of Skagra is a bit too arch and generic, both in writing and in terms of the performance. However the scheme is interesting enough to compensate for that mostly.

The thing to be prepared for is that this is very much 1970s Doctor Who. Realistically one should expect that, since it's adapted from a Douglas Adams script that wasn't completely filled from that same era. The result is that era is all over this piece, for good and ill. If you're not a fan of this time period of Doctor Who the odds are that this won't be your cup of tea. But if you're a fan of Adams and Doctor Who then this is probably going to work pretty well for you overall.


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Shada Gareth Roberts 9781849903271 Books Reviews

Loved this story. Had heard so much about this forgotten gem I started to believe it was all hype. I’m glad to say it wasn’t. It was quite funny and a very enjoyable romp.
Definitely had Adams language and tone in it. And it pulled off one of the most difficult tasks ever, writing for the fourth Doctor!
I’m sorry but most of the fourth doctor novels tend to be a complete let down. They just don’t get Tom’s tone right. Interesting stories but blander than bland cheese on a bland stick sitting over a bland plate smeared in days old jelly with green mold growing all over it.
Please please write another Tom novel mister Gareth! I promise I’ll read it!
After reading this, I wish that it had been filmed as it would have made one heck of a Doctor Who episode. I've seen the existing footage, but there just wasn't enough of it to get a good feel for the story. Roberts was able to do a masterful job of fleshing out Adams' story and keeping the Doctor Who spirit. Both the Doctor and Romana were at their best—I could picture Tom Baker delivering all the lines and Lalla Ward coolly delivering hers. Great book!
So, the original episode was written by Douglas Adams of "Hitchhiker's guide" fame, but there was a strike on the studio. Gareth Roberts took the last revision of the scripts and incorporated them into this book. The story has the good Doctor saving the universe from an evil scientist named "Skagra" who uses a device to suck the knowledge and intelligence out of people. Being a fan of the old series, I enjoyed it; I could practically hear the end music whenever a chapter ended on a cliff-hanger.

Not sure if it would be good for people who weren't into Dr. Who, for them, I'd probably recommend something more self-contained, like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
I don't know how extensive the notes Gareth Roberts were working from in helping to bring this Douglas Adams-inspired "lost episode" to life...I suspect, given that it was a script rather than a novel, that much of the narrative provided comes from Roberts's imagination. In that case, Roberts is like the best Beatles cover band ever. You can't help being aware that it's not the "real thing," but the imitation is so pitch-perfect, it almost--almost-doesn't matter.

"Shada" stands in this regard in sharp contrast to And Another Thing... (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), which suffers by comparison to "Shada" by perhaps trying too hard. The humor, the wit, the observations and characterizations in "Shada" have a low-key, background quality that makes their presence felt without trying to hog the stage...which is reserved for the story.

I'm not a Dr. Who fan. I'm not a Dr. Who detractor, either; I just never got into it. But it is evident from "Shada" what a perfect series Dr. Who was for Adams to work on, as it is widely accommodating of originality bordering on lunacy. It is my highest compliment to say that this book is the true successor of the "Hitchhiker's Guide" series, not "And Another Thing...."

The excerpt above does a fine job of representing the type of writing you will find in "Shada," but the thing that got me hooked on the book was the opening paragraph about how one of the characters, convinced that there is no god, rather than reacting (as most people would) with despair or relief, decides that this means there's a job opening in the universe. That is classic Doug Adams and told me from the first page that I was in good hands.

Actually the first thing I read was the Afterward, because I reasoned that it was there that I was most likely to discover how much of what I was about to read actually came from Doug. I can't say it gave me anything quantitative, but I did get a sense for the state the script was in when Roberts sat down with it. He compares it to works by William Shakespeare--The Tempest, for example--that seem to have a rushed ending. Roberts says he thinks he knows what happened. The Victorian equivalent of a director was banging on the door and reminding the Bard that he promised the play by Monday, and so it had to be turned in "as is." If that is indeed analogous to the state Roberts found "Shada" in, he has worked two kinds of miracles--fleshing out and vivifying a story that stands quite well on its own, and infusing it with trademark Adams flavors to make it that much more savory. A triumph on both counts.

Maybe for his next trick, Roberts should take a crack at The Mystery of Edwin Drood. OK, that was facetious--but I wouldn't mind seeing what he could do with the unfinished Dirk Gently novel, The Salmon of Doubt Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time. It seems Roberts can channel Adams as well as anyone could.
This was my first outing with a Big Finish Doctor Who story and I'm quite happy with it. McGann certainly steals the show as the Doctor, as one would expect, but also surprising was Sean Biggerstaff as the graduate student Chris Parsons. Chris was such a good character that I was disappointed to find out he was never brought back to be a recurring companion. Lalla Ward and John Leeson as Romana and K-9 respectively are reliable as always. Sadly the villain of Skagra is a bit too arch and generic, both in writing and in terms of the performance. However the scheme is interesting enough to compensate for that mostly.

The thing to be prepared for is that this is very much 1970s Doctor Who. Realistically one should expect that, since it's adapted from a Douglas Adams script that wasn't completely filled from that same era. The result is that era is all over this piece, for good and ill. If you're not a fan of this time period of Doctor Who the odds are that this won't be your cup of tea. But if you're a fan of Adams and Doctor Who then this is probably going to work pretty well for you overall.