Episode 67
Chaotic Intent
Sunday 28 February 2016
We’ve reached the end of the Graham Williams Era, and before we go off to have a relaxing one-month break in a nearby parallel universe, we have just enough time to discuss Shada, the sadly uncompleted keystone of the last three years of Doctor Who. Tea, anyone?
Buy the story!
Odd and unsatisfactory versions of this story were released on DVD in 2013. In the US, as usual, it was released on its own (Amazon US), whereas in the UK it was one of two discs in the Legacy Collection box set, along with the 1993 documentary More than Thirty Years in the TARDIS. (Amazon UK)
However, it doesn’t end there. In 2012, a novelisation of Shada was released, written by Doctor Who writer and Season 17 fan Gareth Roberts. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK) (Amazon AU). There’s also an audiobook, read by Lalla Ward. (Audible US) (Audible UK) (Audible AU)
Notes and links
Gödel Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter was published in 1979, and was wildly loved by just the sort of people who might stumble upon an ancient book of Gallifreyan lore in the study of some old Cambridge professor. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK)
The Star Wars Holiday Special first screened around Christmas 1978, and is perhaps the most horrific thing ever to screen on television. Despite George Lucas’s relentless attempts to suppress it, it can be viewed in its entirety on YouTube. But, really, just don’t.
The Somebody Else’s Problem field is “a cheap, easy, and staggeringly useful way of safely protecting something from unwanted eyes”, by exploiting our natural tendency to ignore things that we just don’t want to think about.
And here’s a video of the destruction of a washing machine by putting a brick in it. Turn down your sound before watching this.
Fans of ruthlessly mocking pompous homophobic lackwits will enjoy these Amazon reviews of Cory Bernardi’s absurdly jejune magnum opus The Conservative Revolution.
Picks of the Week
Nathan
Nathan just picked a whole heap of stuff that we’ve mentioned in the last few episodes of the podcast. There are links to Gareth Roberts’s novelisation of Shada above; James Goss’s novelisation of City of Death was released by BBC Books in 2015. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK)
Paul Cornell’s collection of fanzine articles, Licence Denied, is out of print.
Richard
The Mortdecai Trilogy by Kyril Bonfiglioli is a series of comic novels recounting the adventures of a dissolute art dealer.
Brendan
Douglas Adams’s novel Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency shamelessly recycles many of the ideas in both City of Death and Shada. It’s great. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK)
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Brendan is on Twitter as @brandybongos, Nathan is @nathanbottomley, Todd is @toddbeilby, and Richard is @RichardLStone. You can follow the podcast on Twitter at @FTEpodcast.
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Bondfinger
While you’re waiting for our upcoming commentary on On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1968), please enjoy our commentaries on (the other) Casino Royale (1967), You Only Live Twice (1967), Thunderball (1965), Goldfinger (1964), From Russia With Love (1963), and Dr. No (1962). You can keep up with the Bondfinger news on our website, as well as on Twitter and Facebook.