BBCi Shada
BBCi Shada
Let's see, this appears to be the Citadel of the Time Lords on Gallifrey drawn in Flash.
Ah yes, this was a webcast for a Big Finish audio so it's probably going to be like watching a cartoony reconstruction.
Not that I'm complaining, I mean, I CAN'T yet, I'm only a few seconds in...
Eight! Romana II! K-9! All at the same time for some reason! And NOW I can complain about the animation. Or lack thereof.
"I like the new body, by the way." Lord President Romana II/Eight OTP, Y/N?
Now this is an interesting twist. Apparently the events of the original Shada ALMOST happened, but someone intervened, apparently?
They're talking about possible memory loss and K-9 is referencing the very beginning of The Leisure Hive which came right after...
Hello, flashback-screencap-Four!
Aww, Eight's kinda cute when he's begging politely.
Huh, Skagra gets named a lot earlier on and the initial messing-with-the-other-scientist's-pods is actually getting some explanation.
I don't remember Chris having a Scottish accent last time...
The camera angles here don't always make sense. I mean, what was with that completely random close-up on Eight's hair?
Also, looks like we actually get to see the inside of the Ancient and Worshipful Law of Gallifrey when Chris takes it.
So apparently reading Gallifreyan makes Earthlings turn different colors?
So the Doctor still has his honorary Cambridge degree from 1960. Oxford people are still jealous.
And Romana's still giggling at everything the Doctor and Chronotis say before tea.
Skagra REALLY has no need to be moving his arms back and forth like that. I wonder if that's the webcast equivalent of being camp.
Apparently they didn't bother to correct the line about "we came as soon as possible," now that the visiting circumstances are different.
That looks like one of the strange "futuristic" UNIT rotary phones.
"What is this machine?"
"It's a Ford Prefect."
I'll just let that gloriously obvious reference sink in for a few moments...
Happy Fun Ball is back, and triggering Big No's!
"Thank you. You will now cease breathing."
So I JUST noticed that, unlike the original where his office has books everywhere, Chronotis' office is practically MADE OF BOOKS.
Ah yes, the talking invisible ship. Really quite pretty on the inside!
Shifting Doctor faces! I used to know how to do that effect in Flash...
Wow. Apparently one of the bits they borrowed from the airtime of the original was the practice of calling him "Doctor Who" in the credits.
Also, it puzzles me as to why they're using Three's opening them instead of Four's. Yes, I can actually tell the difference.
Listen to the two and you'll notice that Three's has more reverb in the first couple seconds. #yesIamthatdorky
Ack. What's with the creepy-glowy-demon-face?
And that whole time I thought he said "what's that thing you strain ice with?" when it was actually "rice," which makes MUCH more sense.
"Two lumps, no sugar!" And I'd always thought that lumps and sugar were the same thing...shows what I know about tea.
"Will they enable me to pass as one of them?" If by "one of them" you mean "Tenth Doctor cosplayers," then yes, frighteningly enough.
They seem to be going into much greater detail to stress that the book is in defiance of ALL laws of Earth science.
I'm curious as to why Skagra is carrying Happy Fun Ball in a plastic bag labeled "Ace."
"It's the only way I know of getting milk, short of keeping a cow."
"We've got plenty in the TARDIS!"
"Cows?"
Huh. I don't remember the Doctor finding the book so quickly. Maybe that was in a unfilmed scene. Makes me wish I'd watched this earlier...
"I spy with my little eye something beginning with 'Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey'."
Awesome! They DO still have the Victorian Mansion TARDIS interior! Not sure how I forgot to wonder about that...
"Well you can tell me how old this milk is, for a start."
"It has been in the stasis preserver for 32 years. It is perfectly fresh."
"Negative, mistress. He is alive, but he is in a deep coma." JOHN LEESON YOU CAME BACK TO US.
"Sorry, being chased by an alien machine, can't stop!" So Eight gets to bike through a huge crowd of people to escape Happy Fun Ball?
So last time, Four got cornered by a fence. This time, Eight got hit by Ford Prefect...I mean, Skagra's stolen car.
Completely Unexpected Background Cat. I'm surprised K-9 hasn't taken notice.
One of the names listed in the directory was "Chesterton," but they cover up the first name. I guess Ian's a Cambridge professor now.
"Did you just see what I just didn't see?"
"No."
"Neither did I."
That line will never stop being awesome.
Excuse me while I take a few moments to giggle at McGann's "Gallifreyan code" voice.
"What do you want?"
"I want MANY things. At the moment, I want you to stop struggling!"
This looks almost as suggestive as it sounds. @_@
So now we finally get to find out HOW the Doctor convinces the ship that he's dead.
Actually, he doesn't. The ship comes to that conclusion on its own. What.
"Stand clear. Preparing blaster fire."
"Um, K-9, hold on. You see those signs over there? What do they say? They say 'Open' and 'Close'."
Wow. The Krags sure look different here...
So it looks like my idle speculation that they're actually lava monsters now was actually correct.
We now return to: Eight Spewing Epic Technobabble.
"YOU...ARE...INTRUDERS!"
"Well actually, I'm dead, and this is Chris."
K-9 is blasting the Krag repeatedly in the crotch. #thingsthatamuseme
"Dr. Skagra: geneticist, and astro-engineer, and cyberneticist, and neurostructuralist, and moral theologian."
"And too clever by 7/8th's."
And then there was a s'plosion!
"All those brilliant minds...gone forever..." Well, did you consider the possibility that they still exist inside Happy Fun Ball?
"Who could possibly want to take over the UNIVERSE?"
"Exactly! That's what I keep trying to tell people!"
Not sure if I noticed this the first time, but Skagra seems intent on initiating the Human Instrumentality Project. Please no Gainax Ending.
Why yes, I did just somehow make a Neon Genesis Evangelion reference. Why do you ask?
"K-9, how I miss having you around to tell me the painfully obvious!"
I've noticed that the TARDIS engines sound a LOT different in this than in any other Who-thing I've seen.
The actual planetoid of Shada in this version just looks like a gigantic Seal of Rassilon floating in space.
Some of the prisoners in those pods look like Ice Warriors...
HOLY CRAP I WAS RIGHT.
"WHERE IS SALIYAVIN?"
"Oh, I should've thought that was obvious. I escaped centuries ago."
"Quiet. I'm thinking. I'm thinking, and it depresses me." ...Well this is a first.
So the Doctor isn't going to give Romana the medal this time? Well, I guess that would be hard to do in an audio.
Unfortunately, this might also mean that we won't get to see that weird helmet he makes that we didn't get to see in the original either.
Hello, Completely Unexpected Eight-Crotch-Shot.
So we DO get to see the helmet! I'll bet that number on the side is a reference to something, but I'm not getting it...
"Well, with this on my head it won't matter whether it works or not, they'll all be paralyzed laughing at me." ...I MUST SCREENCAP THIS.
Paul McGann: Space Pilgrim. (Come on, I can't be the only one thinking that.)
"By the way, sorry old girl. Sorry I had to barge in through the back door like that." I think I just heard a cargo shipper squeal.
Ah yes, here's that final battle we never got to see in the original.
Animooted!Eight finally shows off his triumph!grin. PWNAGE IS IMMINENT.
I think he just made several of the Krags dance. Wow.
Huh. I don't remember all the Cambridge folks getting taken down to the police station in the original...
But still there's the "is that really the Doctor? How strange. He seemed such a nice old man" line. McGann makes it sound a lot less creepy.
Then again, that could just be because I'm hearing it for the second time.
WAIT A SEC I JUST REALIZED THAT THEY NEVER EXPLAINED THE DIVERSION OR MEMORY LOSS THING FROM THE PROLOGUE.