Logopolis Part Four

The one where the moment has been prepared for...

So here it is: the end. The last time we'll ever see Tom Baker's face in the opening titles, the last episode of a monumentally significant and popular era in Doctor Who history. But this moment has been prepared for...

It's strange watching classic Who through the lens of the 21st century, when the departure of a Doctor is given such apocalyptic importance, such grandiloquence. Back in the "olden days", a Doctor going was often treated with as much importance as a mid-season pot-boiler, and in many ways, that goes for Logopolis. These days, this story would be called something grandiose like The End of the Universe, but in 1981, it's named after a planet. And these days the Doctor would go out doing something far more heroic than simply trying to unplug a cable, but there you go. That's how different television was 40 years ago.

So the Doctor has forged a deal with his arch nemesis to try and save the Universe from the all-pervading field of entropy which is eating it away. I like how the Doctor cannot even bear the Master to touch him, he abhors the collaboration but he has little choice but to go along with it. Throughout his performance in this final episode, Tom Baker has a knowing resignation. The Doctor knows his time is up. He obviously doesn't know exactly how his time will end (otherwise he wouldn't do it!), but he seems at one with the idea that it is ending. There is a defeat in Baker's demeanour, perhaps betraying how he was feeling in real life as well as in character?

The destruction of Logopolis is done quite convincingly for saying it's just a load of polystyrene rocks falling from out of shot. The apocalyptic nature of the streets crumbling to dust and rubble is effective, with the Doctor and the Master wending their way through the carnage to return to the central registry. Following them in warm pursuit is Tegan, who inexplicably decides that the best way to make sure she gets back to Earth is to get off the spaceship that travels in time and follow the Doctor, who doesn't have any means of transportation at all.

The Doctor and the Master decide that the best way to delay the end of the Universe is to open up a Charge Vacuum Emboitement (CVE), and Monitor sets to work trying to calculate a course. Sadly, entropy catches up with the arch-mathematician and he fades away as part of the erosion of Logopolis. "Horrible!" says the Master, while the Doctor looks on implacably. Odd that the Master, the embodiment of infinite evil and a man who doesn't flinch at miniaturising his victims, thinks Monitor's fate is horrible.

This episode is 75% bafflegab and a good 10% of running about. Too much time is wasted with crushingly dull dialogue steeped in science and computing which probably means something, but doesn't matter a bit. Welcome to the world of Christopher H Bidmead, a world of data statements, charged emboitements, time cone inverters and temporal inversion isometry. He thinks it's clever. I think it's boring.

Meanwhile, the Watcher has taken the TARDIS out of time and space by disconnecting the entire coordinate sub-system. Adric can tell he's done this just by peeping through a crack in the control room door. At first I thought I understood why the Watcher takes the TARDIS out of time and space: by way of protection, to keep the TARDIS, Adric and Nyssa safe as the Universe dies. But then the Watcher has a quick chat with Adric and tells him to pilot the TARDIS to the Pharos project on Earth, presumably to meet up with the Doctor again. So the Watcher takes the TARDIS out of time and space just to tell Adric to go back again? Hmmmm...

There's a scene where Adric and Nyssa can see the entire Universe from a position outside of time and space, looking down on all of creation like gods. The moment has such potential, but it's fumbled yet again thanks to Bidmead's naive writing. All credit to him for trying to inject some human emotion into the scene where Metulla Orionsis (Nyssa's galaxy) is eaten away by the entropy field, but the banality of the script, and Sarah Sutton's comatose performance, undermine it. "The Master killed by stepmother, then my father, and now the world that I grew up in. Blotted out forever," Sutton tries to emote, a tear nestling optimistically in the corner of her eye. But the tear does not fall, and Sutton's flat, barely-moved delivery means all potential is lost.

And within seconds, Nyssa is her old cheerful self again, smiling with Adric at the thought of being reunited with the Doctor. How lovely. Your stepmum, your dad, and your entire planetary system have been wiped out, but not to worry, it'll be nice to see that grumpy bloke with the scarf again.

Cue lots of scenes of people running across fields to groovy music. I like the groovy music, it makes it feel like I'm watching a budget Starsky and Hutch. Eventually, the companions join forces to act as a collective distraction so the Time Lords can get to the radio telescope and save the Universe. I'm surprised Tegan can stand the close proximity she has with the Master at times, but maybe I shouldn't be. Tegan has probably forgotten that the Master killed her aunt Vanessa, and so should I.

At the top of the tower the Master keys in the all-important code 3C461, followed by a mysteriously appended 3044, resulting in a CVE aligning with the constellation of Cassiopeia. Which means that there's a way through to N-Space in Cassiopeia, where the Doctor tried to take Sarah Jane for a holiday at the end of The Seeds of Doom. So the E-Space trilogy could potentially have happened much earlier for the Doctor if he'd actually managed to get there!

It seems the Universe is safe from the encroaching entropy field, at least for now. But it's obvious that the scheming Master has other plans in mind, and again Anthony Ainley keeps his performance nicely subtle as the truth of his machinations is revealed. "One mistake could ruin everything," states the Doctor, to which the Master quietly replies: "I know that, Doctor. And it could happen so easily," as he purposefully takes off his gloves. The gloves are literally off now. The Master communicates with the entire Universe using a handheld tape recorder, presenting its people with an ultimatum: a continued existence under his guidance, or total annihilation. Not much of a choice, it has to be said.

"You're utterly mad!" the Doctor astutely diagnoses. Ainley is wonderfully crazed in these scenes, staring into the middle distance and announcing triumphally: "I have it in my power to save them... or destroy them!" Just look at the glint of madness in his eye. "The CVE is all mine!" Cue maniacal laughter.

"Only while that cable holds," mutters the Doctor, before making his way out to the telescope gantry armed with a spanner and a determined approach. It's a pretty underwhelming finale for one of the greatest Doctors ever, after so many years in the part and so much success under his belt. At the end of the day, when all is said and done, it all comes down to unplugging a cable. The downfall of Dr Who is a flat flexible cable (perhaps Bidmead would prefer a CVE FFC?).

The Fourth Doctor's life literally flashes before his eyes. He thinks back to some of the greatest enemies he's faced and defeated in this body: the Master, Davros and the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Sontarans, the Zygons and the Black Guardian. Oh yes, and the pirate Captain too. Paddy Kingland's score builds to a crescendo just as the Doctor loses his grip, and falls. We don't see the Doctor fall, but I always believed I did, in my mind's eye. The imagination fills in the gaps.

The Doctor lies crumpled and defeated at the bottom of the radio telescope, his leg twisted awkwardly as he looks up at the sky, and remembers... Sarah Jane, Harry, the Brigadier, Leela, K-9, and Romana(s). His friends and companions in this life, brought back to mind in his dying moments. And then there's Nyssa and Tegan, almost complete strangers to him, and finally his faithful ward, the boy Adric.

It's a sad end for a magnificent Doctor. The Fourth Doctor was always energetic and mercurial, unpredictable and above all, fun. But here he lies broken, resigned to his death, surrounded by a bunch of young kids who probably mean the least to him of all the people he befriended in his time. It's sad. The original idea was to have Sarah Jane Smith come back for this last story, to ease the transition from old Doctor to new. Sarah's role would eventually become that of Tegan Jovanka, but I can't help wondering how much better Logopolis would be had Elisabeth Sladen returned "for one night only". Imagine how beautiful it would have been, how bittersweet to have the Doctor and his best friend back together at the end?

"It's the end, but the moment has been prepared for," says the Doctor, reaching out to the observant Watcher, who then melts into him as he regenerates. "He was the Doctor all the time," Nyssa miraculously deduces. The regeneration itself is beautiful, a gentle transition, with the spectral form of the Watcher acting as the mid-point between the outgoing Fourth and the incoming Fifth incarnation. The Watcher was a foreshadowing of the Fifth Doctor, a portent of the Fourth Doctor's future. He is a Valeyard, a War Doctor, something in between which is the Doctor, but not quite. A fascinating concept. In hindsight it would have been even better to have the Watcher turn up throughout Season 18, just looking on from a distance, in the style of today's season arcs. And the big pay-off at the end of the season, where we learn just who and what he is, and what he meant. Yes, I like that idea.

And as the new Doctor sits up - a younger, fresher, boyish Doctor - the end titles flood in (complete with a strange square effect) and I think back to the magnificence of Tom Baker. I think about the giddy heights of Season 13, the depressing lows of Season 15, and the comic strip barminess of Season 17. I think of Voga and Kastria, Ribos and Tigella. What an era the Fourth Doctor had. And what an icon Tom Baker was.

He'll be missed. So, so missed.

Logopolis is not a fitting end for this Doctor, or any Doctor. It's all about the end of the Universe and the Doctor's arch-nemesis bringing about his final end, but it somehow feels underwhelming despite these themes. It flies contentedly under the radar, never reaching as high as it could. It doesn't make enough of what it's doing, and fails to give any humanity to proceedings at all. People die - important people who really matter - but it's glossed over in favour of a preference for "clever" science. It's a shame, because that was never what the Fourth Doctor was about. He was a time-travelling bohemian who never took things seriously, except for when he did. Although Season 18 was a refreshing new approach for Doctor Who, the Fourth Doctor, and Tom Baker, didn't really suit the style. So here's to the future, and the Fifth!

First broadcast: March 21st, 1981

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Anthony Ainley slides subtly from being quietly evil to becoming an all-out madman.
The Bad: Too much running to groovy music.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ (story average: 6.5 out of 10)

"Would you like a jelly baby?" tally: 24 - not a jelly baby to be seen in Season 18! The last time the Doctor offered one of his favourite sweets was in The Horns of Nimon.

NEXT TIME: Castrovalva...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Two; Part Three

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: https://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/09/logopolis.html

Logopolis is available on BBC DVD as part of the New Beginnings box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Beginnings-Logopolis-Castrovalva/dp/B000LE1HLQ/