Scream of the Shalka

Scream of the Shalka is a Flash-animated series based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The series is the 40th anniversary special and was originally released in six weekly parts from 13 November to 18 December 2003 on the BBC's Doctor Who website.

Although Scream of the Shalka continues the narrative of the original 1963–1989 programme and the 1996 television film, the show's 2005 revival ignored the events. The series was written by veteran Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell, with Richard E. Grant providing the voice for the Ninth Doctor. This performance followed years of rumours that Grant would play the Doctor in a film or new series, and he had appeared as the "Conceited Doctor" in the Comic Relief spoof The Curse of Fatal Death (1999).

Grant subsequently went on to appear in the revival of Doctor Who as Walter Simeon in "The Snowmen" (2012), and the Great Intelligence in "The Bells of Saint John" and "The Name of the Doctor" (both 2013). Grant was shown alongside the Doctor's other incarnations in the series 14 episode "Rogue" (2024). David Tennant, who appeared in a cameo role as the Caretaker, was cast as the Tenth Doctor in 2005 and the Fourteenth Doctor in 2023. Derek Jacobi reprised his role as the Master in "Utopia" (2007). The Doctor's companion for this adventure, Alison Cheney, was voiced by Sophie Okonedo, who appeared in the fifth series of Doctor Who as Liz Ten.

The TARDIS has unexpectedly landed in the village of Lannet, Lancashire, in 2003. The Doctor, acting more disaffected than usual, lives with an android version of the Master, who acts as his ally. This version of the Master has the transferred consciousness of the original but can't leave the TARDIS. The Doctor makes the acquaintance of Alison Cheney, a local barmaid. The other villagers refused to tell him why the other villagers seem so fearful. A tremor strikes the area, killing a homeless woman, and swallowing the TARDIS into lava below. Angered by the homeless woman's death, the Doctor breaks into Alison's home, and she admits to seeing aliens. The other villagers have decided to stay inside and make as little noise as possible since it attracts creatures. The Doctor deliberately attacks two of the wormlike monsters, who burst up through the floor. He deflects their shrieking sonic attack back at them and they escape.

The Doctor contacts UNIT but says he doesn't want to get involved. He will leave as soon as he has the TARDIS returned to him. The Doctor leads a UNIT team down to get his ship. The creatures attack, and the Doctor separates himself from the group and meets Prime, the female commander of the Shalka Confederacy. Prime declares humans to be inferior and subject to their domination, declaring the start of an invasion of Earth. Prime orders her minions to have Alison killed, which forces the Doctor to make a deal to spare her life. The TARDIS is cast into a black hole the Shalka had created inside Earth which they are using as a gateway to bring in more troops. As he plummets into the black hole, the Doctor realizes his phone is still connected to the TARDIS and uses it to summon the ship; he and the Master expel the Shalka from the TARDIS into the black hole. For an unknown reason, the Shalka release Alison back to the surface.

As UNIT evacuates Lannet, the Doctor learns that one of the Shalka has been captured and that they have a vulnerability to pure oxygen. He also finds that the villagers have become mind-controlled by the invaders, who make them emit subsonic screams. The Earth's ozone layer is being stripped away as the Shalka's enslaved humans make their move all over Earth. The Doctor takes Alison and the Master back to the Shalka underground lair. Prime tells them that the Shalka inhabit 80% of the worlds in the universe. They live underground off of volcanic energy. When a species is on the edge of ecological destruction, the Shalka finish the job, with the rest of the universe none the wiser.

The Doctor swallows a small piece of Shalka he removed from Alison's forehead. He bonds with it, reprograms it, and uses its knowledge to plug himself into their sonic network and understand the shrieks. He engages Prime in a "sonic duel", which he purposely throws but only to get Prime to move him toward the black hole controls, so that he could send Prime to her death. The Doctor coughs up the piece of Shalka. He puts it back in Alison's head, where she fights off the remaining Shalka and shuts down the screams. The Doctor unplugs her a few moments before she can reprogram the scream to heal the atmosphere.

Back onboard the TARDIS, the Master reveals that it has been a long time since the Doctor had a living companion. His last companion was killed in the events that also led to the Master choosing to have his consciousness transferred into the android, and to the Doctor's exile. Without being specific, the Master tells her that they are being controlled by an unknown force. The Doctor wants Alison to stay as his companion but refuses to admit to it directly. She decides to leave Earth with the Doctor and see the universe.