Shada ( TV story ) Shada was the intended final story of Season 17 of " Doctor Who " . It was to be the final story written by Douglas Adams for the series , the final six - part episode until TV : " Dreamland " , and the last story to feature Graham Williams as producer , as John Nathan - Turner would take over after this until the end of the series run in 1989 . However , a combination of rampant inflation in Britain and union strikes halted production partway through filming . The story would become infamous for its incomplete nature and would lead to several attempts to create stories using the unpublished material . It was the basis for , a non - " Doctor Who " book published by Adams in 1987 that was the start of the " Dirk Gently " book series . The parts of the story that were filmed were retained , and John Nathan - Turner was able to reuse them later in two notable ways . In 1983 , a few clips of the show were integrated into " The Five Doctors " when Tom Baker proved unavailable for filming . Later , in 1992 , the existing footage was integrated with some new linking narration by Baker . Finally , in 2017 , a completed cut was released , including animations of missing scenes narrated by the original actors and even some newly filmed scenes . Synopsis . The story revolves around the lost planet Shada , on which the Time Lord s built a prison for defeated would - be conquerors of the universe . Skagra , one such inmate , needs the help of one of the prison ' s inmates . He finds nobody knows where Shada is anymore except one aged Time Lord who has retire d to Earth , where he is a professor at St . Cedd ' s College , Cambridge . Luckily for the universe , Skagra ' s attempt to force the information out of Professor Chronotis coincides with a visit by the professor ' s old friend , the Fourth Doctor . Plot . On the Think Tank space station , Doctor Skagra uses a spherical device to drain the minds of his colleagues and departs in his spaceship for Earth , leaving an automated quarantine message running . In Cambridge 1979 , Professor Chronotis has a visit from one of his students , Chris Parsons , who leaves with the wrong book . The Doctor and Romana are enjoying a spot of punting . They ' re observed by Skagra and distracted by voices from the sphere he ' s carrying . They visit the professor . Chris discovers that the book is written in a completely alien script . He analyses the book with instruments that make it smoke and glow . Chronotis reveals to Romana he is an elderly Time Lord who has retire d to Earth and has been living in the same Cambridge rooms for three hundred years . The Doctor asks him why he was summoned by him to Cambridge but the Professor can ' t remember . He later recalls he needs the Doctor ' s help finding the book . Skagra steals a car and the driver ' s ability to drive . The Professor reveals the missing book is one he brought from Gallifrey . Skagra drives out to a field where his spaceship is concealed , invisible to the human eye . The Professor confesses the book he took was " The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey " , which dates back to the time of Rassilon and has incredible power . Skagra receives word that all is ready from his carrier ship , commanded by a massive Krarg . The Doctor and Romana search the Professor ' s rooms for the book . They discuss Time Lord law . This reminds them of the Time Lord criminal Salyavin , a boyhood hero of the Doctor . The Professor , asked about his contemporary Salyavin , recalls Chris Parsons ' visit and wonders if he has borrowed the book by accident . Chris and his friend Clare Keightley analyse the book as the Doctor cycles across Cambridge to the lab . Skagra , now wearing contemporary clothes , comes to the Professor ' s college seeking him . While Romana looks in the TARDIS for milk so they can have tea , Skagra arrives for the book . He sets the sphere on the Professor , stealing part of his mind . The Doctor meets Clare at the lab , and examines the book . Romana and K9 find the collapsed Professor as Chris Parsons arrives . Using the TARDIS medical kit , Romana tries to stabilise the Professor ' s condition . The Doctor and Clare discover that the book carbon dates as minus twenty thousand years old . Skagra scans his copy of Professor Chronotis ' mind for a trace of the book but finds nothing . The professor beats out a message to Romana on his hearts in Gallifreyan morse code , telling her to beware of the sphere , Skagra and Shada , but dies before he can reveal where the secret is . Skagra meets the Doctor trying to return the book to the Professor and has a sphere pursue him on a bike through Cambridge . During the chase the book is dislodged from his basket and retrieved by Skagra . Forced to run away , the Doctor is cornered by the sphere . He tries to escape under a gate , but the sphere approaches and begins to steal his mind . . . Romana arrives in the TARDIS to rescue the Doctor . They return to Chronotis ' rooms , where Chris reports the professor ' s body disappeared . The Doctor decides he needs to speak with Skagra . K9 tracks the sphere to Skagra ' s ship . Clare , worried about the danger the book may pose , comes to Chronotis ' s rooms to find them empty . The TARDIS materialises in an apparently empty field which holds Skagra ' s invisible ship . They enter and Skagra takes them prisoner . He tells them he was interested only in Chronotis ' mind . He tries to force the Doctor to decode the book and sets the sphere on him to take his mind . K9 fails to blast out of the cell Romana , Chris and he are held in . K9 picks up the sphere ' s signals and detects the Doctor amongst its voices . Romana is transported from the cell and taken to the TARDIS by Skagra . He forces her to take it . While searching the Professor ' s rooms for the missing book , Clare finds concealed control panels and accidentally triggers an explosion . The Doctor awakens on the ship and explains to its computer how he survived . The sphere took only a copy of his mind . Wilkin , the college porter comes to the Professor ' s rooms . When he opens the door he doesn ' t find the room but the swirling time vortex . The Doctor tries to persuade the ship to release his companions and him , but it decides the sphere must haves succeeded in its task and killed the Doctor . To conserve resources it turns off the oxygen supply . . . Chris and K9 are transported out of their cell . The ship detects them and reactivates its oxygen supply . The TARDIS arrives at the Krarg carrier ship and Romana sees the Krargs being grown . Another Krarg starts to form on Skagra ' s ship . The Doctor boosts the ships power to allow it to cross space quickly . In Professor Chronotis ' rooms Clare awakes . She is startled by the Professor , dressed in a night shirt . Skagra is unable to translate the book with the Doctor ' s mind in the sphere . The Professor explains to Clare that his rooms are his TARDIS and it interfered to save his life . The Professor decides they must find Skagra to save the book , which is the key to Shada , the Time Lord prison which has been forgotten . The Doctor and Chris are attacked by a Krarg , but K9 holds it off , allowing them to explore the Think Tank complex where they have arrived . They find the aged bodies of Skagra ' s former colleagues . Skagra notices that turning the pages of the book influences the TARDIS . He realises turning the last page of the book will take him to Shada where he will find the Time Lord criminal Salyavin , who is crucial to his plans . The Doctor uses Chris ' brain power to revive one of the scientists , the neurologist Caldera . He explains how Skagra set up Think Tank with himself , A . S . T . Thira , G . V . Santori , L . D . Ia and R . F . Akrotiri to pool the resources of the mind electronically , but when they had completed the sphere he used it to steal their minds . Skagra now intends to use his mind to dominate the whole of humanity , but need Salyavin to accomplish this . K9 loses his fight against the Krarg and is driven into the Think Tank by the massive creature , which now advances on the Doctor . . . The Krarg strikes the machinery in the think tank , creating a huge cloud of smoke . This allows the Doctor , K9 and Chris to escape back to Skagra ' s ship , leaving just as the Think Tank station explodes . The Ship is persuaded to take the Doctor to Skagra ' s home . While trying to repair the Professor ' s ship Clare asks who Salyavin is . The Professor places the knowledge that Clare needs to repair the TARDIS in her head telepathically . Skagra ' s ship takes the Doctor ' s ship to the Krarg carrier ship . They are captured and Skagra reveals his plan to take over the universe telepathically , merging them into one mind : his . The Doctor stages an escape with Chris and K9 , but Romana is dragged back to the TARDIS by Skagra . < nowiki > < / nowiki > Fleeing down the corridors of the ship the Doctor and company find an old wooden door and go through it . They are in Professor Chronotis ' rooms / TARDIS . The Professor knows that with the book and TARDIS that Skagra can travel to Shada , which is exactly what he does . Skagra searches Shada ' s records for Salyavin , the Time Lord criminal . The Professor ' s TARDIS arrives with K9 , the Doctor and him . Skagra revived the following prisoners in chamber T when the Doctor arrives : the orange insectoid # 547 , the Boedicia - like # 595 , the cyborg # 590 , the Nero - like # 512 , the Genghis Khan - like # 568 , the Rasputin - like # 504 and the purple man # 503 . Among the cryogenic cells ' shadows also are an Ice Warrior and a Zygon silhouettes . But when Skagra opens Salyavin ' s cell , cabinet 9 , they find it empty . The Professor admits he is Salyavin : he escaped centuries ago and used his powers to make the Time Lords forget about Shada . The Sphere attacks the Professor but is destroyed by K9 . However it reforms into several smaller spheres , one of which attaches itself to the Professor . He sinks to the floor . The spheres attach themselves to the revived prisoners , bringing them under Skagra ' s control . Chris and Clare arrive , but Chris is taken under the control of a sphere . The prisoners and he advance on the Doctor . . . K9 fires at the prisoners , driving them back , but he is thrown aside by a Krarg . The Doctor , Romana and Clare grab K9 and flee to the Professor ' s TARDIS . Romana reminds the Doctor that his mind is inside Skagra ' s machine too . Skagra returns to the TARDIS and tells the former prisoners that they will return to the carrier ship and be distributed through the universe to further his revolution . The Doctor follows his TARDIS in the Professor ' s . He captures it in a force field and has himself placed into the Time Vortex . The Doctor begins crossing to his TARDIS , but his journey appears in vain . An accident occurs in the Professor ' s TARDIS , deactivating the force field , throwing the Doctor into the vortex . The Doctor finds himself in a room in his TARDIS . He starts building a helmet shaped device . The Professor ' s TARDIS arrives on the carrier ship as the Doctor reveals himself and struggles for control of the joint mind . Romana deactivates the Krarg generating equipment , tipping the gas out and using it to destroy the Krargs . Skagra flees to his ship , but is taken prisoner by his ship ' s computer , who has now decided to serve the Doctor . The Doctor promises to return the prisoners to Shada and summon the Time Lords . He returns his and the Professor ' s TARDISes to Earth . This confuses Wilkin , who has returned with a policeman to find the room back in its usual place and the Professor taking tea with his guests . Back at the TARDIS , Romana asks the Doctor where Skagra was from , to which he responds he was from the planet Dronid , according to K9 analysis . While the Doctor and K9 are tinkering under the console , a small explosion occurs . Romana then asks if the stories about Salyavin were exaggerated by the Time Lords , since the professor looked like a good old man to her , which makes the Doctor say they overreact to everything , just like they treat him and that he expects someone to meet him 200 years in the future and ask themselves : " Is that really the Doctor ? He seemed such a nice old man . " Crew . Uncredited Crew . Animator - Michael Dinsdale ( DWM 520 ) Home video and audio releases . VHS releases . BBC Video released a version compiling existing footage broken down into the planned six episodes , with linking narration by Tom Baker . The UK release of the video included a booklet containing the full script of the original production ; the North American release did not include the booklet . To date , the book has only been included with the VHS release . DVD releases . On 7 January , 2013 , " Shada " was released in the DVD boxset , " The Legacy Collection " . It was released with the 90 minute documentary , More Than Thirty Years in the TARDIS . Webcast version . " Main article : Shada ( webcast ) " The BBC commissioned Big Finish to write and record a new version as part of the 40th anniversary . It was animated with a limited Flash animation and released on the BBC ' s website . This version was revised to feature Paul McGann ' s Eighth Doctor , along with Lalla Ward and John Leeson voicing their original characters . An extended audio version of the webcast was later released on CD by Big Finish Productions . The original version of the webcast was also included as a DVD - ROM bonus item in the 2013 " Legacy Collection " DVD release of " Shada " .