Tom Baker Returns as Fourth Doctor
Whovians rejoice! For the first time in 36 years Tom Baker has slipped back into his famously oversized scarf to play the Fourth Doctor. After seven years as the Doctor, the longest run of any actor in the role, Baker left Doctor Who in 1981. During the 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, Baker briefly appeared as a mysterious curator. Now, the 83-year-old actor has stepped aboard the TARDIS to finish the “lost” Doctor Who story, “Shada”, as the Doctor.
Written by Douglas Adams, “Shada” was supposed to be serve as the celebratory end of Doctor Who’s 17th series. Unfortunately, due to the strike of 1979 at BBC, the episode was left incomplete. BBC Worldwide tasked producer Charles Norton to complete the episode. The newly shot scene sees Baker in his original 1979 TARDIS, finally speaking the lines from the original script, saying: “I expect that sometime in the future – in about 200 years’ time – someone will meet me and say, ‘Is that really the Doctor? He seemed such a nice old man.’”
Along with Baker, Norton gathered surviving members of the original cast to record dialogue for animated scenes. This includes Daniel Hill as scientist Chris Parsons and Christopher Neame as the villain Skagra. Not only was Baker thrilled to play the Doctor again, but finishing “Shada” served as a tribute to Douglas, who passed away in 2001.
“It was a matter of regret that I couldn’t finish it, I regretted it very much. There were other aspects. This was because we loved Douglas. Douglas was a very, very, lovable fellow … When I was doing Doctor Who it was the realization of all my childhood fantasies, so I took to it like a duck to water, as they say. And I still do,” shared Baker.
“I love doing Doctor Who because it was life to me. It’s an amazing thing to be in … It probably has never left me, and that’s why I can’t stay away from it. It was a lovely time of my life,” continued Baker.
“Shada” follows the Doctor, K9, and Romana as they enlist the help of retired Time Lord Professor Chronotis. The heroes must band together to defeat the evil alien Skagra attempting to steal secrets from the prison planet Shada.
Norton and his team recently animated the lost Doctor Who story “The Power of the Daleks” as well as the Dad’s Army episode “A Stripe For Frazer”. After going through nearly seven hours of raw footage from the original shoot, the team edited the new production and scanned the original negatives into full HD.
“Shada” will be released as a digital download via iTunes on November 24, 2017 before being made on DVD and Blu-ray, December 4.
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Tom Baker Returns as Fourth Doctor
Whovians rejoice! For the first time in 36 years Tom Baker has slipped back into his famously oversized scarf to play the Fourth Doctor. After seven years as the Doctor, the longest run of any actor in the role, Baker left Doctor Who in 1981. During the 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, Baker briefly appeared as a mysterious curator. Now, the 83-year-old actor has stepped aboard the TARDIS to finish the “lost” Doctor Who story, “Shada”, as the Doctor.
Written by Douglas Adams, “Shada” was supposed to be serve as the celebratory end of Doctor Who’s 17th series. Unfortunately, due to the strike of 1979 at BBC, the episode was left incomplete. BBC Worldwide tasked producer Charles Norton to complete the episode. The newly shot scene sees Baker in his original 1979 TARDIS, finally speaking the lines from the original script, saying: “I expect that sometime in the future – in about 200 years’ time – someone will meet me and say, ‘Is that really the Doctor? He seemed such a nice old man.’”
Along with Baker, Norton gathered surviving members of the original cast to record dialogue for animated scenes. This includes Daniel Hill as scientist Chris Parsons and Christopher Neame as the villain Skagra. Not only was Baker thrilled to play the Doctor again, but finishing “Shada” served as a tribute to Douglas, who passed away in 2001.
“It was a matter of regret that I couldn’t finish it, I regretted it very much. There were other aspects. This was because we loved Douglas. Douglas was a very, very, lovable fellow … When I was doing Doctor Who it was the realization of all my childhood fantasies, so I took to it like a duck to water, as they say. And I still do,” shared Baker.
“I love doing Doctor Who because it was life to me. It’s an amazing thing to be in … It probably has never left me, and that’s why I can’t stay away from it. It was a lovely time of my life,” continued Baker.
“Shada” follows the Doctor, K9, and Romana as they enlist the help of retired Time Lord Professor Chronotis. The heroes must band together to defeat the evil alien Skagra attempting to steal secrets from the prison planet Shada.
Norton and his team recently animated the lost Doctor Who story “The Power of the Daleks” as well as the Dad’s Army episode “A Stripe For Frazer”. After going through nearly seven hours of raw footage from the original shoot, the team edited the new production and scanned the original negatives into full HD.
“Shada” will be released as a digital download via iTunes on November 24, 2017 before being made on DVD and Blu-ray, December 4.
Popular Topics
Overstreet Access Quick Links
