The one that never was… until it sort of was, then wasn’t again, and then was again, depending on which version you’ve seen.
Short Synopsis
The Doctor and Romana answer a call for help from an eccentric Cambridge professor, uncovering a plot involving a book that holds the key to Shada, the Time Lord prison planet. Cue a mix of comedy, campus hijinks, and cosmic doom — with half the actual footage missing.
Extended Storyline
The Doctor and Romana are summoned to Cambridge by Professor Chronotis, an absent-minded Time Lord hiding out as a bumbling don. He’s misplaced a very important book, the Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey. On Gallifrey, losing this would be a bureaucratic nightmare. On Earth, it just looks like he lost library property.
Unfortunately, the book winds up in the hands of Skagra, a villain whose evil plan boils down to: 1) collect minds, 2) become a universal hive-mind dictator, 3) wear the most ridiculous white jumpsuit ever sewn. Think Liberace joins a cult and you’re close.
Skagra wants the book because it contains the coordinates to Shada, the Time Lord prison planet where they stash the worst of the worst. (You know, the types too naughty for even Rassilon’s Christmas list.) He plans to break into Shada and recruit a legendary criminal, Salyavin, who can project his mind into others. In other words: Skagra wants a psychic buddy system, only evil.
The Doctor, Romana, and K-9 chase after Skagra, juggling bicycles through Cambridge, bumbling dons, and a spaceship with a very sassy AI. Along the way, the Doctor shows off his superior pun skills and ability to infuriate pompous villains with nothing but a grin and a scarf.
The problem? Filming ground to a halt midway thanks to strikes. Entire chunks of the story — including the climax — never got shot. So, what we’re left with in 1979 is tantalizing fragments: Tom Baker cycling through Cambridge, Lalla Ward gliding around in peak Romana elegance, and a villain whose wardrobe deserved its own spin-off.
Decades later, Shada was patched together multiple times — a VHS linking-narration version with Tom Baker explaining things directly to camera, an animated version in 2017 with surviving cast voices, and even a webcast with Paul McGann stepping in. Fans have spent years debating which one “counts,” but the general consensus is: all of them and none of them at once. Very Time Lord.
In the end (in whichever version you watch), Skagra is defeated, Shada remains locked, and Professor Chronotis goes back to puttering about in his Cambridge rooms, hoping no one notices he’s really a Time Lord hoarder.