I Shada Watched This Earlier!

Believe it or not, I've only finally just gotten around to watching the BBC's web-animation remake of "Shada." I know, I know, and I call myself a Doctor Who fan. Well, what can I say? I'm a Doctor Who fan with a dial-up connection.

Anyway, I'm glad I finally made the time to watch it. I've always regretted the fact that the original Tom Baker version was never completed. Judging from what does exist of it, it seemed like a really fun episode. Certainly it had some wonderfully funny Douglas Adams dialog, as well as one of the show's best guest characters, in the person of the absent-minded Time Lord-in-exile, Professor Chronotis. All of this comes through quite nicely in the adapted version, happily enough, and it's also great to see Paul McGann as the Doctor again, even if it is as a jerky flash animation. I must say, I was a little skeptical about the idea of slotting the Eighth Doctor into the role originally written for the Fourth, but despite the rather different personalities of the two incarnations, it actually works surprisingly well.