Logopolis? Where on earth am I to start?
I think it's easy with nearly 40 years distance between this story's broadcast and now to lose sight of quite how monumental the Fourth Doctor's departure from the show actually was. In a pre-internet age where the only way of seeing older stories was very infreqeunt repeats, Tom Baker's seven years in the role would have stretched back beyond most people's memories - for some he would have been the only Doctor they have ever known. All those seven years would come to a final end in this four part story at the end of a very meh season that had nevertheless brought in humongous changes. The original arrangement of the theme had been chucked, a new title sequence and style of incidental music brought in, older fan favourite companions shown the door and everyone's favourite Shithead promoted in their place. For a brief moment, the only connection to the ancien regime was Baker himself. And well, given how tired he was with the role at this point, something that could be seen in the performances, that was not a state of affairs that was going to last. The era of the Fourth Doctor was to come to an end, and the story to do so was to be written by none other than Season 18 script editor Christopher H Bidmead oh dear.
Bidmead is one of Who's more interesting writers. He's no doubt a very clever man who has a very strong scientific grounding in his writing and therefore creates some fascinating concepts that can result in very unique and exciting tales. The problem is that he struggles at some of the less important parts of writing, like plot, dialogue, character etc. The last time we looked at one of his stories was Frontios, which hardly lit the world on fire but ended up being a perfectly serviceable story. But Logopolis can't just be a perfectly servicable story. It has to be the climatic ending to one of the most important eras in the show's history. And well, sadly, the jury is very much out as to whether he pulled it off.
But is Logopolis bad? No, it isn't. The scientific concepts are all meaningless gobbledegook, sure, but they somehow come together to create stakes that feel enormous, the directing and soundtrack are excellent and Tom Baker gives one last strong performance. So it doesn't fail as a story... but is that good enough if it fails as the end of an era?
 |
| I don't know why you're looking at him Doctor, he's not going to know |
Let's start with one of Logopolis' most prominent features. Bidmead grounds the story in a lot of very complicated and completely made up science. This works to the story's detriment and advantage - on the one hand, the endless Star Trek: Voyager style technobabble gets very tired very quickly. He gives mumbled explanations for things like Block Transfer Computation or Charged Vacuum Emboitments but no real indication of how they work or why, and other things are just said and that's it. And yet somehow, he works it so that it all makes sense. The Master is holding the universe to ransom by using a lightspeed overdrive to open up a Charged Vacuum Emboitment to allow the universe to cease being a closed system, thus allowing entropy to spread and consume the entire universe. He did this by destroying Logopolis and thus preventing their Block Transfer Computations, a sort of mathematical computation done by utilising the spoken words of thousands of Logopolitans, from keeping the CVEs open to prevent entropy consuming the universe. What's complex about that?
I think it's therefore to Bidmead's credit that he's managed to make something so complex and ridiculous genuinely weighty - there's a real sense of stakes to what's going on, that the universe really is at risk despite the viewer not understanding a goddamn thing about why. Quite a lot of that is the direction to be fair, and we'll get to that, but Bidmead's strength is with these scientific concepts, and managing to translate them into something to be understood I think is something that does him credit - mostly. It does get fairly old fairly quickly and there's never not the sense that it isn't just meaningless drivel, which does impact the story somewhat. Had he cut down on it a bit it would have been much more successful probably, but as it is, it does just about work.
The general story is not all great mind - there are some baffling moments, not least the much-mocked plan to flush out the Master from the TARDIS (Guess what Doctor? If you flood your TARDIS with water, all the Master is going to do is dematerialise his TARDIS), and as we'll examine a little more closely later some of the Master's plan doesn't make much sense. But still, in general, it does all come together to be generally accessible and surprisingly easy to follow.
Unfortunately, the story does get bogged down by some poor pacing - Part One is actually paced really well, but it unfortunately really sags in the middle, with Tegan spending what feels like an eternity running around the TARDIS and a bunch of pointless scenes where the characters run around the Pharos Project. It's a shame as it would be such easy fixes at the scripting stage to tidy it up, but alas.
 |
| The Logopolitans were in the middle of furiously arguing on the internet |
The dialogue is, as per his usual, mostly pretty weak and he isn't demonstrating much skill at characters either. The Monitor is the only character apart from the four regulars and the Master who get anything much to do, and while John Fraser gives a good performance as a crusty old bureaucrat unable to step up to the occasion when crisis hits, but the Monitor himself is a pretty blank character who's there to act all worried and spout technobabble exposition.
The actual five main characters are a mixed bag. Nyssa is pretty invisible and has clearly been shoehorned into a script she didn't really fit after they decided to keep her on as a companion. Unlike the other companions, she doesn't contribute much and unfortunately the decision to destroy Traken doesn't really work as well in setting up the stakes as it should, especially as Nyssa's reaction to the destruction of her home and the deaths of everyone she knew is, at worse, mild annoyance. All three companions also stop being at all relevant and useful by the end of Part Four, spending about ten minutes off screen after the aformentioned very pointless chase sequence across the Pharos Project that completely disrupts the flow of the story and isn't very good.
 |
| Don't look at me, I didn't write it |
This is of course the first story for everyone's favourite Mouthy Australian Stewardess, Tegan Jovanka. It's not a hugely impressive first story for Tegan, spending the first half being annoying and useless, especially whenever she's talking to her annoying aunt, and unfortunately Janet Fielding hadn't quite got the hang of this acting lark in her first story. She improved very quickly, but just compare her scenes when she's pathetically lost in the TARDIS in this story and her final scene in Resurrection of the Daleks and the difference will be very stark.
Still, she does become more useful in the latter part of the story, when her skills actually come in handy. She actually has fairly good chemistry with the Fourth Doctor and its a shame we couldn't have seen more of it. Still, it's not a terrible debut for her, but as I said in Kinda, it would be a few more stories before her potential was truly unlocked.
And then there's Adric. I must apologise for saying in the last review that Kinda was his best pre-Earthshock story, as it had slipped my mind that that accolade should really go to this story. Bidmead not only curtails most of Adric's Shithead tendencies, he actually manages to make him useful and insightful. His sole Shithead moment is to go with Nyssa to look for the Master while on Logopolis and even then she outshines him in the stupidity department by letting herself get manipulated. Otherwise, he demonstrates mathematical skill, helps the Doctor escape from the police, attempts to find out more from the Doctor when it would be helpful but accepts his judgement elsewhere and generally acts like someone who vaguely knows what he's doing rather than a bumbling arrogant shithead. I suspect part of it was the need for at least one familiar companion figure to help with the transition, and if it had to be Adric, making him act like someone you wouldn't wish a nasty accident on was probably a good move, but hey - Adric has a good story. Nobody saw that coming.
And then there's the Master.
 |
| *insert evil laugh here* |
This is only Anthony Ainley's second story and given he was not playing the Master for almost all of his first, this is really the first time we get to properly see his Master. It's therefore a wise move on Bidmead's part to keep him off screen until Part Three, and an even wiser move on the part of director Peter Grimwade to use that to build up the suspense for when we finally do see him. We see the consequences of his actions - his point of view, his miniaturised victims and of course we hear his trademark laugh, but it's not until Nyssa finds him in Part Three that we see his face. Not only does this keep his fleeting appearances tense and allow a suitable build up until his reveal, it also leaves a question mark as to the identity of the Watcher - could it be the Master? Only upon that reveal in Part Three is that notion dispelled.
The Master's effect on the story does unfortunately decline a little in the latter half of the story. His plan is suitably charmingly evil of course, and Ainley, while never reaching Roger Delgado's heights, nails the role pretty much instantly. The problem is that his plan doesn't make much sense - he stops Logopolis from operating, seemingly unaware that it would doom the universe to entropy, but is actually pretending to be unaware? In order to recruit the Doctor on the chance he'd find a way to reopen the CVEs in order to hold the universe at ransom? And then when the Doctor thwarts his plan, he doesn't seem particularly bothered that his chance to rule the universe has been scupered, despite the only consolation being the Doctor using up a regeneration. Was this all an elaborate plan to put the events of Castrovalva into motion?
It doesn't really make much sense which is a shame given the excellent build up towards the character in the first half of the story. Still Ainley is pretty great and we get the 'peoples of the universe' line, which is nice. So whatever.
 |
| "Is he the Master?" "No, he's much worse. He's a cosplayer" |
And then there's the Doctor. For him, the theme of this story is change. It starts with him wanting to fix the chameleon circuit and thereby removing a long-standing staple of the series. There's also a nice scene early on when he and Adric reminisce in Romana's room, reflecting the Doctor's feelings towards losing one of his closest friends for good (as far as he knew anyway, Big Finish 4eva) and his feelings towards such change in general. Of course, nobody would confide that in Adric if they had any other choice, but that's somewhat beside the point. That theme is extended even further when he's forced to jettison Romana's room in order to escape from the weird time trap thing the Master set up. The Fourth Doctor is, in this case literally, jettisoning the past.
The point is that this had been a season of change for Doctor Who and for the Doctor in general. Not only had the cosy travelling lifestyle with Romana ended, but he himself had changed. The Fourth Doctor by this point is no longer the bombastic larger than life figure we all know and love. The levity and jokes upon walking into a situation have gone - while he always became serious when the situation necessitated it, by this point his demeanor and actions have changed. Perhaps as a result of Romana leaving, perhaps as a result of the greater challenges he has faced. Either way, the Fourth Doctor is no longer the same person. Other things have also changed - the Master is now free and threatening the universe, and bear in mind that the Master was a rare foe of the Fourth Doctor, having just the one appearance prior to The Keeper of Traken. While I'm not certain if this was intended, having the Fourth Doctor come up against a rare yet dangerous adversary in his final story further reinforces this theme. The change is also represented by the first time he sees the Watcher - there's no wisecrack, no bomast, just silent contemplation upon his realisation of what is happening.
It's clever writing, improved by good directing, but really the credit for most of what is right about the Fourth Doctor's final performance comes from the man himself. Tom Baker was clearly no longer enthused by Doctor Who by Season 18 to put it mildly. Quite a few of his performances clearly displayed his boredom, which earlier in the season were no doubt not helped by his complicated off screen relationship with Lalla Ward. But in this story he gives one final masterclass, one final reminder of what he could do and why he defined the part in a way nobody before or since has come close to.
The eccentricities are mostly gone, but as well as being a subtle, almost mournful performance in places, the trademark charm is still very much there, especially in the early scenes in the TARDIS with Adric. Baker really does nail the serious scenes though - it was always an underrated aspect of his performance, but you can really see how great it is in this story. Just focusing on his dealings with the Master - he goes from shock at what he's doing, regret as to having to work with him, surprise as to find him surprisingly cooperative to disgust to see his true plan. Baker does a fantastic job in his final performance for the TV show until 2013 (Dimensions in Time doesn't count and never will Fuck off).
 |
| It's the end... but the moment has been prepared for with over the top music and ridiculous melodrama yes I am directly @ing you Russell T Davies what are you going to do |
And then there's the Watcher. If I recall correctly, opinion is fairly divided on him, but I'll go on record as saying he was a stroke of genius. He is the spectre of change, the physical manifestation of the change that the Doctor is about to undergo. Debate has raged on for nearly four decades about what the Watcher is meant to be and I think it entirely misses the point. It doesn't matter what he is in universe - he is the ghost of the Fifth Doctor or something like that caused by the entropy or whatever. He matters thematically as the manifestation of the end. Something to stare the Fourth Doctor, the audience and Doctor Who itself in the eye and say, this is the end and I am living evidence the moment has been prepared for.
Of course the Watcher wouldn't work nearly as well if it wasn't for the direction and the music. The Watcher is at first shown in the background, watching on eerily which only adds to the fantastic atmosphere. Only later in the story does he become clearer and more involved, but that only adds to the mystery of who he is and why the Doctor trusts him. The explanation at the end of the story as to who he is (a very misinterpret-able throwaway line by Nyssa) is probably the biggest downside to the character but overall the Watcher is one of the story's most iconic images for a good reason.
 |
| Ah, to go for a nice country walk |
What really elevates this story though is the production. The directing is fantastic - we've already looked at Kinda and Earthshock, two fantastically directed early eighties stories, and they share a common director with Logopolis - Peter Grimwade. Grimwade creates a brilliantly eerie atmopshere for the story, emphasising the mysteries, the importance of the stakes and of course the impending changes. There are so many inspired decisions - keeping the Watcher distant makes him far more effective, leaving the Master's reveal to so late in the story is a great way of building up the suspense, all three cliffhangers are great, the Logopolitans are shot to emphasise their status as dreary mathematicians doing boring and complex work but never is their importance undermined as to make the reveal of what happens when they stop ineffective, the scene on top of the Pharos Tower before the Doctor plummets is superbly tense. This is enhanced by one of the best soundtracks of the entire run of classic Who that conveys both haunting contemplation and shocking action. The production design is also solid - the cloister room is a great looking set, the subtle touch of darkening the control rooms of the fake TARDISes the Doctor and Adric enter in Part One does so much work, etc.
 |
| come here u prick |
I guess we should also touch on the regeneration scene itself, which is a mixed bag. Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton look and sound like they could not give less of a shit about what is going if they tried, which is unfortunate, especially given how well they would both do throughout the Fifth Doctor's era, but Tom Baker is delightful in his final moments in the part, the music is at its very best and the regeneration itself, finally tying the Watcher and the impending regeneration together to result in the Fifth Doctor's triumphant arrival... and then it just ends without him saying or doing anything apart from sitting up. A bit of an anticlimax. But it's decent enough - certainly among the better regenerations the series has had.
 |
| oh hi guys didnt see you there |
So to come back to the question I posed at the beginning of this post - does Logopolis succeed as a) a story and b) a finale for the Fourth Doctor. The answer to the first question is yes, it mostly does. The script isn't perfect but it mostly serves, and Tom Baker and Peter Grimwade do the heavy lifting to make this a mostly enjoyable and well crafted piece. Does it succeed as a finale.... well, no, not really. The pieces were all there, and all the thematic and performance elements do come together. But in the end, its difficult to overlook the fact that Robert Holmes and Graeme Harper managed to put together a regeneration story less than three years later that made the stakes of a single person's life feel much more impactful, and therefore make the regeneration feel much more weighty, than the fate of the entire universe, and that was just the end of a much shorter tenure for a much less iconic Doctor without any recent or impending major changes to the show itself... as far as they knew anyway. I don't want to compare Logopolis to The Caves of Androzani because its an unfair comparison - all but an elite few of stories would fail said comparison. But it's difficult not to see Logopolis as falling short of the mark. The script probably needed a polish to streamline the endless technobabble science, improve some of the dialogue and character work and to tighten up some pointless scenes to stop it dragging. Make no mistake - this is a good story that has some of the best directing and music work in the classic series' history. But as a finale for the most popular Doctor of all time, ending perhaps the show's most important era? I think the jury very much remains out.
Final Score: I agonised for quite a while over this, considering everything from a 5 to an 8, but eventually I decided on giving Logopolis a score of 7/10. The technobabble science gets old and the script needed tidying up in general, especially regarding character work and pacing. But what saves it is Tom Baker's final masterful performance and top level directing. It is not Doctor Who as its best - but it is Doctor Who done well.
Next Episode: Marco Polo
Comments
Post a Comment