Logopolis

Dear Gary—

Unexpectedly I find that I like and enjoy Logopolis. I had some prejudice going in, linking it to The Keeper of Traken in my mind, and since I discovered that my vague dislike of Traken was justified I assumed the same would hold true for Logopolis. I am happy to report, Gary, that this is not so.

The story itself is superfluous. I don’t even mind that Tom Baker’s last serial is only fair to middling. Tom Baker does not need to go out in a big bang. Tom Baker’s seven year tenure as the Doctor is big bang enough. Tom Baker can stand on his Doctor Who laurels and just let this last story play out.

The plot is a bare bones Master‘s plan to control the universe backfires on him and he must team up with the Doctor to set things to rights ala those many Master stories of the Pertwee era. Along the way Logopolis ties in several key elements of the preceding serials, including the idea of entropy, CVEs, and Traken. What I like about this no frills approach is that it provides plenty of time to set up the regeneration.

The bulk of the first half of this serial is devoted to the Doctor and Adric alone in the TARDIS and to introducing the audience to Tegan, destined to become the Doctor’s new companion.

Let me start with the Doctor and Adric. The Doctor is in a reflective, almost somber mood as he considers the rapidly aging state of the TARDIS. “The more you put things together, the more they keep falling apart,” he tells Adric. Following the Doctor around like a loyal puppy dog, Adric provides just the right sort of innocuous note, asking questions and prodding the Doctor along in his musings.

Starting in the ivy-covered Cloister Room, peeking in at Romana’s abandoned bedroom (“I suppose we’re going to miss Romana”), and ending in the Control Room, the Doctor rambles in his mind from the TARDIS (“wheezing like a grampus”), to Romana (“She has broken the cardinal rule of Gallifrey; she has become involved, and in a pretty permanent sort of way.”), to Earth (“my home from home”) to Britain (“the one place where we can find these blue boxes”), to Logopolis (“a quiet little planet”), to the totter’s yard where it all began, and back even further to Gallifrey where he “borrowed” the TARDIS “on a sort of finders-keepers basis.” The Doctor is reliving his past and at the same time looking ahead (“still, the future lies this way”).

In looking ahead, the Doctor decides he must fix the broken Chameleon circuit of the TARDIS, and that means visiting Earth to get the correct dimensions of a proper police box and then on to Logopolis.

Visiting Earth leads us (and the TARDIS) to Tegan. I like that we have a chance to meet Tegan, getting to know her as she bickers with her Aunt Vanessa over a flat tire and chats about her new job as an airline stewardess. It is all ordinary day sort of stuff, until she enters the TARDIS looking for assistance that is. It is reminiscent of our first companions’ entry into the Doctor’s life; Barbara and Ian going through their routine school day, their concern for a student sending them on a mission that ends in the TARDIS. Echoes of Doctor Who past reverberating in this transitional serial.

Her confused mind trying to make sense of what she sees (“there must be intelligent life at the end of this lot”), Tegan wanders deeper into the TARDIS looking for the crew of this strange vehicle she has stumbled into. Meanwhile the Doctor and Adric find themselves in a “dimensional anomaly” of police box within police box, TARDIS within TARDIS (the Master’s TARDIS having disguised itself as a police box and having materialized in the same spot as the Doctor’s). When Tegan finally rushes back into the Control Room to come face to face with the Doctor and Adric it is too late. The TARDIS has left Earth behind and Auntie Vanessa has been shrunk by the Master: “That settles it. She’s got to come with us.”

I have to say, Gary, that I was never the biggest fan of Tegan, but of the three--Tegan, Adric, and Nyssa--she has the most personality, and in watching her introduction in Logopolis I find that she adds some much needed interest to the proceedings. The reaction of the Doctor upon first realizing she is on board is priceless, and I love how he takes Adric aside with, “Who is she? Where did she come from? What are we going to do with her?” The Doctor peppering his companion with questions for a change. Tegan is a surprise who temporarily shocks the Doctor out of his dour funk.

Tegan is remarkably adaptable. Yes she is startled and bewildered by the TARDIS, the Doctor, and the alien world around her, but she doesn’t waste time. “When am I going to get an explanation for all this?” she demands. “Do you really feel up to an explanation?” the Doctor enquires doubtfully, but Tegan’s “I’ll try” proves her to be up to the mind-boggling truth. I think I am going to like this rather blunt and straight forward new companion.

“Listen, the Doctor’s my ticket back to London Airport, so I’m going after him,” Tegan tells Adric and Nyssa. I find it rather curious, however, that Tegan is following the pilot and not the transport. I would think the TARDIS would be a more sure bet for her, seeing as she barely knows the Doctor.

But then, many of the elements of the plot are rather inexplicable, like why is the Master on Earth and how did he know the exact spot where the Doctor would materialize? (I don’t quite buy the Doctor’s explanation of “He’s a Time Lord; in many ways we have the same mind.”) And what is the Doctor thinking in trying to flush out the Master? How exactly is that going to work? And if his intent is to have the water rush into the TARDIS, why does he stand against the doors as if to keep the water out? And how is fixing the Chameleon circuit going to help him at this dire time?

I can set all that aside, though. As the Doctor says, “This is life; nothing’s sure.” The Doctor gets his measurements and he’s off to Logopolis and all of the questions are swept aside.

The ideas of Logopolis and the Logoplitan science of Block Transfer Computation are fascinating. I don’t understand any of it, it smacks of sorcery, but it is fascinating. An entire planet of men intoning calculations, “creating solid objects through pure mathematics.” It is a somewhat dry and dusty planet; I can’t help wondering why they don’t chant themselves up some trees and grass, maybe a woman or two. They could at least conjure up some comfortable furniture to sit on as they endlessly drone away. “We are a people driven not by individual need but by mathematical necessity,” the Monitor explains to Tegan when she questions the sweatshop nature of the work. If the Doctor wasn’t concerned about the TARDIS and the Master and the closing CVE, he might very well look into this whole “they have no need to smile” claim.

I also find it a tad farfetched that just a minute or two of Logopolitan silence results in the destruction not only of Logopolis and its citizenry but of the entire universe. Wouldn’t the Time Lords have something to say about this? Was this perhaps a result of the Doctor’s premature destruction of the Key to Time? That was a season long the-universe-is-on-the-brink-of-chaos-and-needs-to-be-saved peril that the Time Lords instigated; where are they in this new (or is it the same?) crisis?

“Never guess . . . unless you have to. There’s enough uncertainty in the universe as it is.”

Uncertainty abounds, but we can always count on the Doctor. Even if he is a subdued Doctor preparing for the inevitable and teaming up with the Master.

“I can’t choose the company I keep!” Saddled with three companions (Nyssa having mysteriously shown up on Logopolis) who have forced their way into his life, the Doctor faces universal annihilation unless he can work with the Master to undo the harm that evil genius has unleashed.

This sends the Doctor and Master back to Earth and the Pharos Project where magically a few brief seconds of transmitting the Logopolitan mystery code saves the universe. If the code was cracked and ready to use, and if it only took those few brief seconds, why didn’t the Logopolitans do it themselves when they had the chance? And how does the Master think he can hold the universe hostage when it only took those few seconds and apparently now the danger is past?

But none of that is important. The only thing that really matters in Logopolis is that “it’s the end; but the moment has been prepared for.”

“It’s the end.” A pensive Tom Baker recalling companions and memories; purging himself in some ways, much like he tried to flush the Master from his TARDIS; jettisoning Romana’s room, attempting to fix the Chameleon circuit. A weariness shows through, the years having taken their toll. The ominous Cloister Bell beckons and he does his best to ignore it. But he can’t ignore the Watcher. “What lies ahead is for me,” he tells the Monitor. The TARDIS is littered with companions, yet he never seemed more alone.

“But the moment has been prepared for.” The Watcher looms over the proceedings, the mystery man in white.

Tom Baker clings to the last seconds of life. Flashes of enemies and companions consume him. Then he reaches out as the Watcher approaches. Reflections of the past and promises of the future in our present serial of Logopolis. Old enemies and new companions. A bittersweet moment.

 “He was the Doctor all the time.” He was, is, and will be the Doctor. Peter Davison.