Is the Fourth Doctor ready for his final adventure when he arrives at Logopolis?
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
The Fourth Doctor faces his final battle, as the Master brings about universal catastrophe, in the final story of Doctor Who’s eighteenth season, Logopolis.
So here we are. Tom Baker’s final story. Logopolis was a story that needed to be a strong goodbye for one of Doctor Who‘s most iconic Doctors. Did it achieve that?
Christopher H. Bidmead, the script editor for season eighteen, wrote this one. As such, it features a number of elements that made Tom Baker’s final season so distinctive, to an even greater extent than usual. There are a lot of scientific ideas explored – particularly the second law of thermodynamics – and the story, unsurprisingly, has an overall serious tone.
No, more than serious – from the very start of Logopolis, the story has a very strong sense of doom. The scene of the Doctor brooding in the TARDIS while reflecting on entropy establishes this feeling, and the appearances of the mysterious “Watcher” only enhances this. Considering that this was meant to be the end of an era, this is definitely appreciated.
There are also some really interesting ideas featured – including seeing what happens when a TARDIS materializes around another. The scenes of recursion – where the Doctor and Adric find themselves in multiple console rooms – are simple, but effective, and even act as foreshadowing for the Fifth Doctor’s opening story, Castrovalva.
Anthony Ainley features as the story’s main villain, the Master…as least, for the final two episodes.
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
Strange padding
However, while Bidmead is great at establishing the story and gives us a great opening episode, the second part of the story isn’t quite so strong. The second episode is mainly a hunt for the Master, and honestly, so much of it feels like padding until the Doctor finally arrives on Logopolis.
The many scenes of Tegan completely lost in the TARDIS are clear enough examples of this, but the worst moment is a scene where the Doctor decides to literally flush the Master out by landing at the bottom of a river and opening the doors!
It’s an idea that comes out of nowhere, and considering the Doctor lands on a ship and decides not to go through with the idea anyway, it just feels like terrible padding. Coming after the excellently paced The Keeper of Traken, and considering just how big this story is for the Fourth Doctor – and indeed, for the whole of Doctor Who – it’s disappointing to see filler like this.
Anthony Ainley – the new Master!
Perhaps strangest of all is how the Master is used in the story. Because for the first half of Logopolis, he doesn’t even show up at all! Oh, we hear Anthony Ainley’s evil laugh, and we see the people he’s killed. But he doesn’t reveal himself until the third episode. Surprisingly, it’s not even a very dramatic moment, either. He just pops up. After two episodes of buildup, it’s a little disappointing.
Thankfully, the rest of the story is a huge improvement. Ainley’s Master is written and performed well, and when Nyssa returns looking for her father, he naturally decides to use her. This is virtually the only story where the audience is reminded that the Master essentially killed Nyssa’s father and wears his corpse. Subsequent stories sadly don’t really explore it, so it’s nice to see it here while it lasts.
There’s also the apocalyptic threat that the third episode introduces. And it is big. The Master is responsible for the deaths of billions in this story – and the ironic thing is, he wasn’t even trying to end the universe this time!
The final battle
The final episode features the Doctor and the Master reluctantly teaming up to save the universe. Even though we know that the Master can’t be trusted, it’s wonderful to see these two work together for a while. We get to see hints of why they used to be friends so long ago, and they make an effective team. Even when we know where it’s going…
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As for the Fourth Doctor’s death? It’s handled well. There’s a big and epic reason for it, and the final moments that look back over his whole era is a moving one. It’s a moment that not just the whole story, but essentially the whole season has been building towards, and overall, it’s satisfying to watch.
Logopolis isn’t the strongest regeneration story. It features a lot of great ideas, but some of them aren’t used as well as they should be. It also suffers from awkward moments of padding during the second quarter.
However, with a huge universal threat and a confrontation with one of his greatest enemies, it does provide a decent enough send-off for one of the greatest Doctors ever. Logopolis may be flawed, but it still rounds off Tom Baker’s era nicely.
What are your thoughts on Logopolis? Do you think it was the epic regeneration story that Tom Baker deserved? Or do you wish that a different approach had been taken with it? Let us know in the comments below.