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Doctor Who: Tom Baker returns

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 12:05 pm
by TRP
This news isn't new, but it's new news to me.

Doctor Who: Tom Baker returns on camera for 1979 Shada serial

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-camb ... e-42080978
Tom Baker has made a surprise appearance on camera as Doctor Who, donning his trademark stripy scarf in a newly-released episode.
The 83-year-old actor has returned to complete the unfinished story Shada, filmed in Cambridge, 38 years after it was abandoned.
The parts not filmed in 1979 will be completed with animation and Baker's voice, but he has also filmed a scene.
Baker, the fourth Doctor, played the Time Lord between 1974 and 1981.
He is seen by fans of the show as one of the best actors in the role.

Filming for Shada, which was written by Douglas Adams at the same time as he was creating The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, was started in 1979.
But strike action at the BBC meant studio scenes were never completed and the episodes were abandoned.
It has now been released by BBC Worldwide, with the original footage combined with new colour animations and voiceovers to complete the story.
In the new scene, Baker was filmed on the set of the original Tardis as it appeared in 1979.
Speaking about returning to the role, Baker said the Doctor "probably never left me".
"That's why I can't stay away from it, it was a lovely time of my life," he added.
"I loved doing Doctor Who, it was life to me. I used to dread the end of rehearsal because then real life would impinge on me. Doctor Who... when I was in full flight, then I was happy."
Of his time filming Shada in Cambridge in 1979, Baker said: "Mostly I remember being mocked by the students on the [River] Cam because I wasn't very good at punting, I kept losing the pole."

The newly-recorded lines from Baker as the Doctor and Lalla Ward as his companion Romana follow the original script by Douglas Adams.
The story finds the Doctor in Cambridge working alongside Romana and a retired Time Lord, Professor Chronotis, to defeat the evil alien Skagra who is attempting to steal the secrets to the prison planet Shada.
Jem Roberts, author of The Frood: The Authorised and Very Official History of Douglas Adams, said Adams later used the character Chronotis and parts of the plot in his novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.
"Adams was probably glad that Shada was not finished, so he could use it for the backbone of his novel. He was a great believer in recycling," he said.
Baker has returned to the role of the Doctor in audio plays and appeared as the Curator in the 2013 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor.
He last appeared on screen as the Doctor in a 1993 Children in Need special.
Shada is available to buy now as a digital download and will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on 4 December.

Re: Doctor Who: Tom Baker returns

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 6:48 pm
by austinjimm
Hell yes!
Image

Re: Doctor Who: Tom Baker returns

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 12:59 pm
by bobjester
Fan-freakin-tastic! :mrgreen:

Re: Doctor Who: Tom Baker returns

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 1:04 pm
by JCBoney
Too bad neither Lis Sladen nor Mary Tamm are here to reunite with him. :(

Re: Doctor Who: Tom Baker returns

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 1:07 pm
by bobjester
JCBoney wrote:Too bad neither Lis Sladen nor Mary Tamm are here to reunite with him. :(
Both gone before their time. :(

Mary Tamm was always my Romana. I prefer her regal Romana to Lalla Ward's pixie Romana.

Re: Doctor Who: Tom Baker returns

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 1:42 pm
by francisca
bobjester wrote:
Mary Tamm was always my Romana. I prefer her regal Romana to Lalla Ward's pixie Romana.
agreed

Re: Doctor Who: Tom Baker returns

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 8:45 pm
by thedungeondelver
I never really "got" Doctor Who but the little I saw was with Tom Baker and I enjoyed the bits that I did see of his performance.

Re: Doctor Who: Tom Baker returns

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2017 9:30 am
by Juju EyeBall
Trying to "get it" is pretty daunting task. Just enjoy it as sci-fi vignettes with recurring characters and themes until it starts to gel. There's just too much material to try to take it all in at once.

Re: Doctor Who: Tom Baker returns

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2017 9:53 am
by Chainsaw
I enjoyed watching those robot guys chase Tom Baker, his girlfriend and that slow-ass mechanical dog through a maze of rocky tunnels. Baker's all wild-eyed, afro bouncing, scarf-swinging and popping jellies - awesome! I hope they do more stories like that with him.