30-year-old Dr. Who story, written by Douglas Adams, finally completed, but will we ever see it?

Shada: Lost planet and lost story.

A Dr. Who episode, written by Douglas Adams ("The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"), has awesome potential, right? And it may yet see the light of day, despite the fact that the legendary Adams died in 2001.

"Shada," a story penned by Adams with Tom Baker as The Doctor, was meant to be broadcast in 1980. Filming was never completed, however, because of a strike at the BBC.


Enter Ian Levine, record producer and Dr. Who fan. Starburst Magazine reports that Levine has privately funded a version of the story:

Given that it has been three decades since the cameras last rolled on the story, the actors involved would never have been able to convincingly play the same age, so Shada has been completed via animation, using only their voices.

An admirable achievement, to be sure. But now comes the hard part. Levine does not have the rights to the story. Starburst reports that he is hopeful of gaining the necessary permission to release the animated version into the public domain.

In other words: Don't panic.

As for the plot, according to Wikipedia:

Douglas Adams

The story revolves around the lost planet Shada, on which the Time Lords built a prison for defeated would-be conquerors of the universe. Skagra, an up-and-coming would-be conqueror of the universe, needs the assistance of one of the prison's inmates, but finds that nobody knows where Shada is anymore except one aged Time Lord who has retired to Earth, where he is masquerading as a professor at St. Cedd's College, Cambridge. Luckily for the fate of the universe, Skagra's attempt to force the information out of Professor Chronotis coincides with a visit by the professor's old friend, the Doctor.