Shada: Doctor Who: The Lost Adventure

Listening to Shada has been a delight from beginning to end. First there is the fun of getting to enjoy a well-paced and exciting classic Doctor Who adventure. The characters are all wonderfully portrayed, and performed. Then there is the fun of having it read by the Time Lady Romana herself (aka Lalla Ward), who gives a terrific performance with each of the different character voices. On top of that, as a big fan of Douglas Adams, it was like uncovering a new novel from the late author. Gareth Roberts' novelization does a remarkable job of keeping so much of Adam's classic sci-fi style and humor - it will feel very familar to anyone who's read Adams before, even if you've never encountered The Doctor until now. Particularly since many characters and ideas from this lost script later ended up as inspiration for Adams' later Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

I was pretty excited about this audiobook, but after reading some reviews about the quality I was worried. Poor audio quality can ruin even the best audiobook. However, I just don't see what all the fuss is about. The quality isn't bad, it may not be the best but it's far from the worst. Certainly the audio quality didn't detract from my enjoyment of the audiobook at all. Perhaps other listeners don't like the narrator. While nothing would be better than to have this story performed by Tom Baker himself, the narrator was still good. The story was excellent, at least as good as Adam's other Who stories in my opinion, perhaps better because I felt like some of the material would certainly have been edited out. Overall I really enjoyed this audiobook and I believe it to be a must listen for any old school Who fan, or Adam's fan.

I still consider myself "New to Who," since I only started becoming obsessed with the modern series. However, I have watched 8 seasons of the original DOCTOR WHO and I continue to enjoy the older series as well. This novel, as I'm sure you're aware, is based on a script written by the immortal Douglas Adams. Although impeccably plotted and enjoyable, do not expect much of the Adams' HITCHHIKER wit. It's THERE, but it's subtle.

I applaud Gareth Roberts for bringing this to a mainstream audience. He's done a great job puzzling out the pieces and putting it together. This is an accessible Fourth Doctor adventure, but you don't necessarily have to be a veteran of Doctor Who to enjoy it. You will meet old friends if you are familiar with the original series, or you will meet new ones if you are not.

Read by Lalla Ward, the original series' Romana II, the audio is produced in a way to resemble a BIG FINISH audio production. Full of sound effects, musical score, and even a cameo from K-9. Ward does a great job immitating Tom Baker, and her other voices are fine without being cartoonish. This has more of a "radio drama" feel to it rather than an audio book. I enjoyed it packaged the way it is, but I understand that some listeners may want a more straight forward audio book.

This was an enjoyably fun audio adventure.

This book is comparable to the quality seen in Douglas Adams other works like "The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy".

Probably when I realized the true identity of the professor at the same moment as Chris. Fantastic plot twist...

Yes

Bigger on inside

Professor Chronotis, who seemed like such a nice old man...

Her range of voices was outstanding, and she varied the pace nicely to correspond with parts of the story.

I love all of the little quirky descriptions and asides that are classic Douglas Adams.

This is a lot longer and more involved than many of the Doctor Who audiobooks, with twists and turns that are quite unexpected.

I like Douglas Adams' humor. But what makes this audiobook really special is Lalla Ward's reading. She is a great story-teller. And some of her characterizations are priceless. I wish Lalla would do more fiction audiobooks.

yes indeed, any chance to visit the works of my favorite author is a must.

engaging and entertaining

just as good as the rest. It is a delight to hear her voice.

I don't know what is to complain about with the audio quality, it sounds EXCELLENT on my ipod and phone. the humor is wonderful, the story is engaging and for fans of the Dirk Gently series it's a delight to hear where the original ideas and characters came from. I'd love to hear it as a full radio production with Tom Baker and Lalla Ward performing it.

If Douglas Adams had written it, and if it had been about half the length.

Lack of Douglas Adam's style humour, the worst thing about this book: it wasn't funny.

It was mediocre

boredom.

I can see how this had the making of a good tv show, but as a book it fell flat. It was especially disappointing as i am such a huge fan of Douglas Adam's writing, and this comes across as bad fanfic.

Fun and Funny

When a certain cell [I don't want to give it away] was opened.

Wonderful performance! Wide range of emotions expressed in her voice.

Douglas Adams Lives!

To my friends that enjoy Doctor Who, this will be a blast. If your first Doctor was the fourth Doctor when Adams was writing episodes, you'll enjoy this presentation.

Well, the doctor always tidies up in the end but there is a twist to this tale that you ay or may not see coming. Read carefully

She did fine. I especially enjoyed her dramatization of the ships computer. Varying tempo and pitch I had no trouble following her rendition.

Shada: What's a life sentence to a timelord?

This book is a lot like I remember the show. Roberts did a great job taking Adams unpublished script and turning it into a narrative.