DenOfGeek.us – 10th September, 2013

By Mike Cecchini.

Doctor Who: The Scream of the Shalka was a flash-animation webcast from 2003 that featured Richard E. Grant as The Doctor and Derek Jacobi as The Master.

A scene from “Scream Of The Shalka”.

While there’s plenty of fanfare surrounding the Doctor’s fiftieth anniversary, there was little surrounding the fortieth. If you thought things looked grim for Doctor Who around the time of the twenty-fifth anniversary, that was nothing! In fact, at the time, it was doubtful that the Doctor would ever return to TV. “Scream of the Shalka” was a six part webcast intended to mark the fortieth anniversary, and hopefully kick off a series of web-based Doctor Who animated adventures. While the animated series was not to be (and was soon supplanted by the Doctor Who revival we’ve come to know and love), “Scream of the Shalka” is a remarkably fun and appropriate Doctor Who adventure, despite it’s rather limited production values.

Why? Well, you can’t go wrong with a good cast. Richard E. Grant voices this incarnation of the Doctor (The 8.5th Doctor?) and does a marvelous job. Really, Grant would have been a fine choice for a live-action Doctor, and still would be (although we’ve recently seen him on the show as The Great Intelligence/Walter Simeon). Visually, this Doctor looks a bit like Neal Adams’ classic representations of Batman villain, Ra’s Al Ghul, and Grant plays him as both gruff and haughty and, at times, strangely ebullient (when he starts singing tunes from Cabaret, things get wacky…but it serves the story!).

The real hidden gem here is Derek Jacobi as The Master, who is actually the Doctor’s “companion” in this. Wait…what? Don’t worry, all will be made clear if you watch this adventure. I won’t spoil it here, but it’s a good time. Of course, we later got to see Jacobi as The Master in the “proper” Doctor Who episode, “Utopia.” Interestingly enough, while most of these animated characters are relatively faithful representations of their voice actor’s faces, The Master is a little closer to his iconic “Roger Delgado” look. Not complaining…merely an observation. The story also serves as the origin story for how Alison Cheney, voiced by Sophie Okonedo, becomes the Doctor’s more traditional companion, so those who are concerned about some insane shift in the usual Doctor Who dynamic shouldn’t worry!

“Scream of the Shalka” is written by Paul Cornell, author of several Doctor Who novels and comic books (not to mention that he’s the current writer of Marvel Comics’ ongoing Wolverine series, was the writer of the criminally underrated and short-lived Saucer Country series for Vertigo, and has written a stack of other cool series for Marvel, DC, and others). “Scream” plays like “proper Doctor Who” for the most part, and it’s kind of a shame that Grant’s Doctor isn’t recognized as canon. If you can look past the rather stark production values of the flash animation (and they do an admirable job of using these limitations to their advantage), you’re in for a treat!

The DVD is chock full of extras and mini-documentaries, and considering what strange little bits of Doctor Who history these are, they’re really worth a look. “Carry on Screaming” is all about the making of the show, and is full of self-deprecating humor by all involved, as they recount the difficulties of bringing Doctor Who to animation at a time when the character was experiencing a serious lull in popularity. Even “Interweb of Fear,” a look at the BBC’s evolution with the internet (and Doctor Who’s presence on it) is remarkably entertaining and amusing.

The DVD will see release on September 17th. While certainly not essential for casual fans of the show, it will appeal to more than just the completists. Modern fans looking to broaden their historical perspective on the Doctor and friends would do well to check it out, and hardcore fans should absolutely devour the DVD within hours of release!

Mike Cecchini – DenOfGeek.us