Doctor Who:
Logopolis
By Christopher H. Bidmead
“It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for.”
The Doctor wants to fix
the chameleon circuit and proceeds to head to Earth after much debate with
himself. He explains to Adric what the
chameleon circuit can do when working properly and also adds that it was the
reason The Master hid from them on Traken.
What he wants to do is go to Earth and measure a Police Box and then go
to Logopolis and get a block transfer and hopefully that will fix the chameleon
circuit.
They arrive at Earth and
around a Police Box but there is something wrong as the Cloister Bell is going
off. The Doctor explains to Adric that
when that alarm goes off to expect impending universal catastrophe. What appears to have happened is that they
did not materialize around another Police Box but around another TARDIS and it
caused recursive loop between the two TARDISes .
The Doctor and Adric
continue to go through all the TARDISes until they find themselves
outside. While they were doing this a
young woman named Tegan Jovenka and her Aunt Vanessa car ended up with a flat
tire and they parked the car near the TARDIS.
After struggling with the tire Tegan decides to take the flat to a
garage but instead decides to call for assistance but instead stumbles inside
the TARDIS and proceeds to get lost. While Tegan gets lost a strange laughing man
kills her Aunt Vanessa. Outside of the
TARDIS The Doctor is confronted by Police Inspector and is asked if he knows
anything about the two killings. The
Doctor looks in the car and is horrified at what he sees. Two doll like figures which is the calling
card of The Master who has indeed escaped from Traken after all.
The Doctor tries to flush
The Master out of his TARDIS by landing in the Thames and open the doors to
flood the TARDIS with water. But that
does not go to plan as the land on a boat dock.
There The Doctor and Adric see the Watcher and he motions for The Doctor
to him. The Doctor goes up to the bridge
and talks to the white shadow figure and comes back looking stern and
determined. The Doctor tells Adric they
are going to Logoplois and they are to prepare for the worst.
The Doctor and Adric
arrive at Logoplolis with Tegan as she finally gets back to the consule room
and proceed to give The Monitor the measurements of the police box for the
block transfer. But The Master has
meddled with the computations and causes the TARDIS and The Doctor to shrink. As the Monitor and Adric try to find out what
is wrong Nyssa arrives. She said a friend of The Doctor brought her to
Logopolis. While all this is going on
The Master is unwittingly working on destroying Logopolis.
The Doctor is restored to
normal size after Adric and The Monitor have fixed the problem and decides to
confront The Master. He proclaims he
will stop The Master if it is the last thing he does and will not have to wait
for that to happen as The Master makes his appearance. The problem is his meddling with Logopolis
and in essence destroying it has allowed entropy to be unchecked and it is
starting to destroy the universe. Now it
is up to the old enemies to join forces to save the universe and the price of
victory will cost The Doctor his fourth incarnation.
Logopolis is the second
part of The Master trilogy but more importantly it is the last story that Tom
Baker played The Doctor on television.
Logoplis ends the longest tenure by any actor in the role of The Doctor
and also ends what is considered by many as the greatest era in Doctor Who’s
history. In fact it ends the greatest
actor to play the role of The Doctor and what a sendoff he gets.
When I first watched
Logopolis for the first time I was not aware of the other Doctors and hell I
did not know about regeneration. So when
The Doctor fell from the radar tower I did not know what was going to
happen. I thought they were killing The
Doctor off and was in shock. Then the
regeneration happened and I was like “What the hell” and then that’s when I
knew there were other Doctors. So
Logopolis was a big eye opener and really got me interested even more into
Doctor Who and wanted to know more about what I have seen.
What was a big bummer and
big scream was that I had to watch all of Tom Baker stories again to find out
what happens next. When I first saw
Logopolis it was the early 80’s and there wasn’t any internet and Doctor Who
Magazine wasn’t readily available at the time like it is today. But what a shocker that was when Logopolis
part four aired it still gets to me every time I watch it and relive the memories
of my youth.
I like Logopolis and its
complex plot about mathematics and entropy.
It was a story that was devised by The Master to get The Doctor and for
a brief moment he does win. He wins in the fact that he causes The Doctor to
regenerate and in instance he kills the fourth Doctor. I just liked how the two old enemies had to
join forces to save the universe and it was something that happened in the
Pertwee era where The Master and The Doctor had to work together to save Earth
from The Master’s plans that would backfire.
Logopolis was really heavy on the science part and in fact made it all
that more interesting.
I find it funny that the
last time a human version of The Master was introduced in Terror of the Autons
we had a radio tower and in Logopolis we have one also for Anthony Ainley’s
Master first real story as The Master. I’m
sure it was coincidence and not planned in any way but it is pretty cool. Anthony Ainley is pretty good in this and
hasn’t begun to be the over the top Master yet.
He plays the Master with style and you can see a good chemistry with Tom
Baker. It is too bad they didn’t have
more stories together as that would have been very interesting to see them
interact.
Logopolis will always hold
a special place in my heart as it got me into Doctor Who more and was my first
regeneration since I did not see Robot but started with Ark in Space. It is also a great story and send off for
the greatest of them all Tom Baker who we all owe a great deal to as he was for
a majority of us fans and mainly the older US fans our first exposure to this
great show we call Doctor Who. Logopolis also ended a great season also as
season 18 came to a triumphant end but more importantly gave us an ending
suitable for the greatest Doctor of all time Tom Baker.
Grade A
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