Logopolis

Chapter The 212th, entropy, entropy, they've all got it: entropy!

Plot:

The Doctor plans to fix the TARDIS chameleon circuit, so takes Adric to early 1980s Britain to find one of the last police boxes in service to materialise around and then measure. Unfortunately, the Master is out for revenge / mischief / gain / your guess is as good as mine, and has disguised his TARDIS similarly to the Doctor's and materialised round the real police box first. One TARDIS inside another creates lots of dimensional instability, but this doesn't stop air hostess Tegan Jovanka - who, along with her Aunt Vanessa, has broken down when driving nearby - from entering the TARDISes thinking she can call for help. The Doctor and Adric eventually escape the nested TARDISes, and discover that Aunt Vanessa has been shrunk by the Master's tissue compression eliminator. The Doctor is all up for a crazy plan to flush the Master out of the TARDIS with water from the Thames, when he talks to a mysterious ghostly figure who has been popping up occasionally nearby watching. After the conversation, the Doctor programmes the TARDIS to arrive on the planet Logopolis, home of a bunch of mathematical monks that can create any space/time event out of pure mathematics. The Doctor's going to use all their awesome power just to fix a minor function of his time machine that he hasn't been bothered about not working for years. The mysterious ghostly fellow brings Nyssa, who the Doctor and Adric met on Traken, to Logopolis, her father Tremas having been taken over by the Master. 

Having hitched a ride, the Master takes over Logopolis, stopping the Logopolitans from chanting their mathematical sequences for a while. Unfortunately, their calculations were keeping the universe from dying; in normal circumstances, the universe would have already passed its point of heat death due to entropy. By opening windows - CVEs - into other dimensions (for example into Adric's universe of e-space, which the Doctor's TARDIS had passed through previously), this has been kept at bay. Alas, the Master's tampering means the CVEs are closing, and the universe is unravelling (Traken, for example, is completely destroyed - it's really not Nyssa's day). Logopolis also starts to fall apart, so the Master and the Doctor have to work together to save the universe. The Logopolitans were using a replica of the 20th Century Earth Pharos project (played by Jodrell Bank played by a model) to fire signals into space to keep the CVEs open. The Doctor and the Master travel to the real Pharos project, as do Adric, Tegan, Nyssa and the ghostly fellow - in one or other of their two TARDISes. In the control room at the top of the radio telescope, the two Time Lords fix it up to send the signal to make the CVEs stay open permanently. The Master, though, double crosses the Doctor - he intends to use this set-up to blackmail the peoples of the universe to obey him. The Doctor decides to pull out the cable to prevent this, which he does (presumably after a CVE has been permanently opened, as the universe doesn't end), but after a scuffle, he falls from the top of the telescope. The ghostly watcher figure turns out to have been the Doctor all along (somehow), and he merges with the prone Doctor (somehow) and turns him into TV's Peter Davison.

Context:

When this story came up for the blog, I remembered recently being alerted to the 40th anniversary of the Five Faces of Doctor Who repeat season on BBC2 in late 1981 (see the Deeper Thoughts section of a recent blog post for more details - there was also an interesting article about the repeat season in last month's Doctor Who Magazine if you're interested and can get a copy. Logopolis was the final one of the stories shown in that season, stripped across the week Monday to Thursday from November 30th to December 3rd of 1981. In 2021, I only had to hold off for a couple more days to mean I was able to watch each episode stripped across the week, November 30th to December 3rd of 2021, exactly 40 years later (a couple of episodes were watched pretty much to the minute of when they went out all those decades before). It was Tuesday to Friday this time, but you can't have everything. I watched the episodes from the Blu-ray (part of the season 18 box-set) but I watched the as-transmitted version rather than the special edition with improved special effects. Members of the family wandered into the living room occasionally on many of the evenings, but only fleetingly, not staying put.

First Time Round:

Logopolis was probably the only story that both my Dad and my sister (never particularly interested in Doctor Who) watched before I did. I'd caught glimpses of the odd episode in the late 1970s and early 80s, but didn't start watching until that aforementioned repeats season, eight months after Logopolis first aired on BBC1. As such, Tom Baker leaving the role after his unprecedentedly long run didn't mean much to me. I nonetheless got a hint that it was of some wider cultural significance, but not enough to make me tune in. My Dad and sister, though, must have been intrigued. When I was watching Logopolis episode 4 in early December 1981, my sister came in to the room in my grandparents' house and told me about that first watch with Dad when the story had first gone out; I'd obviously been out that Saturday evening. I was a little bit jealous on hearing this, I have to say. By then, the season of repeats had turned me into a fan (see post here for more details) and let me know what I'd been missing. I'd have loved to have been part of that family watch. Neither sibling nor parent - nor my other parent, so the full fam - ever watched Doctor Who with me again throughout my following years as a fan and to date, except on sufferance; that brief moment of interest in spring 1981 was all there was until 2005 when both Dad and Sis (but still not my Mum who's remained consistent) got interested in the new series.

Reaction:

The first post-regeneration story, The Power of the Daleks, pretty much nailed the template for future such stories. The regeneration story, though, took longer to evolve. Logopolis was only the fourth such story in Who's near twenty years of history up to that point. The initial couple of these stories, seeing out William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton, didn't use the term regeneration and posited that the change of actor could be just because of old age, or could be deliberately instigated. It was only with Jon Pertwee that it was established that the Doctor's metamorphosis is brought on by an accidental near-death, and this would remain the rule forever thereafter. Logopolis refines things further putting another rule in place, that the accidental near-death happens as a result of the Doctor's heroism (Pertwee's is more a moment of self-realisation as he faces his own inner demons, apt for a Buddhist parable, but perhaps not useful longer-term). From Logopolis on, every Doctor that bows out is saving something at the cost of his own life; sometimes (as in Tom Baker's case) it's saving the entire universe, sometimes it's saving one planet, sometimes it's saving one person, and that's all established here. As such, even if Tom hadn't been in the part for such a record-breaking length of time, this would still be a significant story in Doctor Who's history. The longevity in the role of the lead actor is maybe the reason for the doom-laden atmosphere of Logopolis, something that hasn't ever been tried in quite the same way again since. There's no sense - aside from a couple of sets of flashbacks that last the briefest of moments - that this is a celebration of Baker's time in the role, that would be too soft and fluffy - Logopolis is instead ominous.

A key script decision to create the tone is the inclusion of the Watcher in the narrative. Interestingly, this is something that was done in Pertwee's finale too: a character that's a future projection of a Time Lord who's yet to regenerate. Perhaps Barry Letts, who cowrote the earlier story and was executive producer of Tom Baker's last year as Doctor, gave writer Christopher H. Bidmead the idea, or perhaps Bidmead reviewed the last regeneration story in preparation for this one. Whoever thought it up, it allows for some very doomy portents to be included in Logopolis. The mysterious figure being glimpsed in the background on location and in studio is very effective. Also intriguing are the couple of moments when characters speak directly to the Watcher. What does he say to the Doctor on the bridge, for example? We're left to speculate, but the Doctor does then immediately and knowingly deliver the Master to Logopolis, which is an action that starts the unravelling of the universe, and he seems to know for certain that he's heading toward his 'death'. Fate is just as much of a force impacting the narrative as entropy. Another interesting factor influencing tone is how lonely and empty it feels. Aside from the regular characters and the Master, there's only one speaking role in the studio (the Monitor), and the other roles on film are no more than cameos (and there's only three of them: Auntie Vanessa, the Police Inspector and a Pharos Project security guard with one line). The Master is also held back until episode three, only being heard to chuckle occasionally before that. The exteriors look cold, and Logopolis is described as cold. Chilly as well as ominous is Logopolis.

There's nothing much in the way of action until the tussle high up on the radio telescope at the end. Instead, the story is propelled by interesting concepts and a lot of talk. The concepts are cleverly designed to appeal to children of all ages. There are things featured that one wonders why they hadn't ever been done on screen before, like what would happen if one TARDIS landed inside another, or exploring how the interior TARDIS could be an infinitely big space to get lost in. The TARDIS shrinking is also fun, with the trippy interior scenes of the Doctor trapped inside. Block transfer computation is a nifty way of essentially allowing the Logopolitans to be magic wizards and create objects from thin air, but ground it in enough scientific rationalisation that it doesn't seem too out of whack with Doctor Who's principles. Entropy too is just enough of a tricky science classroom topic to make people watching feel clever when it's used as an antagonist, but not so obscure as to be alienating or just sound like gobbledegook (cf. tachyonics). The talk meanwhile includes some great lines, including at least one that's gone down in Doctor Who history "It's the end, but the moment has been prepared for." The reason I think that, despite the lack of action, it never feels too talky, is Peter Grimwade's energetic direction keeping things moving. It is well paced throughout.

Grimwade gets some great performances from everyone. Anthony Ainley gives one of his best (or possibly even his best ever) performance as the Master. His plan is absurd as usual, but he's at least got the excuse that he's making it up on the hoof after having been blind-sided by revelations about Logopolis's importance to the universe's survival. I often picture some civilisation on a distant planet that heard his broadcast warning that he was holding them to ransom, and are waiting, wondering if he's ever going to turn up or say anything else (Big Finish has probably done this as a story). New girl Janet Fielding is shown to be suitably resourceful and sparky, and looks to be an interesting addition to the future crew. Baker is relatively subdued, as he has been all this season, but still has enough moments of greatness that this is a fitting send-off. The music and sound design are both great, so evocative (for example, the Cloister Bell effect, which was used often thereafter and to this day - it sounded when the Doctor and friends crash-landed in the Crimean War during the latest story Flux). Of course it's got flaws and silly moments (A Take Your Litter Home sign next to a bin, a madcap scheme to flood the TARDIS, everyone taking the shrunken people that are clearly dolls very seriously, Tom Baker appearing to fall much faster for Tegan's eyeline compared to Adric's and Nyssa's), but I'm so used to them after having watched this iconic story so many times over the years, I almost welcome them as part of the fun.

Connectivity: 

Both Logopolis and The God Complex feature TARDIS trips to labyrinthine places where matter seems to be created from thin air (the rooms and objects that the Doctor and friends interact with in the Matt Smith story could be holographic hallucinations, I suppose, but they seem to be tangible in various scenes); both these places fall apart toward the end.

Deeper Thoughts:

"There'll be no question of Gallifrey." In any long-running TV series - like in any life - developments for good or bad will hinge on tiny moments and coincidences. A thread of such events running through Doctor Who, classic and present eras, relates to the Doctor's home planet Gallifrey. Its influence on the series hasn't always been 100% positive, so when in the final moments of Logopolis episode three there's a dialogue exchange which suggests that the Doctor, in allying with the Master to save the universe, is burning his bridges and will never be able to return to his home, some viewers may have been relieved. As it was, the series forgot about this soon enough and the Doctor was back on Gallifrey again a couple of years later. This is just one part of a waxing and waning interest in the planet that over the years has seen the place ignored and then featured, being bad then good then bad again, vaporised then not vaporised, missing, found, and finally reduced to ruins. Why should it be that the Doctor's home planet should be destroyed not once but twice (thrice, if you count other media, as the Doctor Who books in the early 2000s before the series came back got rid of it too)? It's partly the fluctuations of any series with longevity where many different production teams, and writers searching for new stories, are involved over the years. My theory (which is mine) is that it may not have been necessary to get rid of the planet ever, if it hadn't been for one writer's movie homage and another's slightly over-reaching ambition.

For the first six years of Doctor Who stories, things were simple: the Doctor was a mystery, and there was only the rarest and tiniest hints given about his origins. Whether this could have sustained for longer one can only debate, as the decision was taken to finally uncover some of those secrets. The Doctor, it was revealed, had got bored and run away from his powerful but stiflingly boring people, the Time Lords, in a stolen TARDIS. Despite this big revelation (in the final episode of Patrick Troughton swansong The War Games), thereafter the Doctor's planet and people still stayed unmentioned most of the time. The aimless adventuring remained, but was supplemented by the occasional Time Lord instigated mission, which the Doctor would unwillingly complete. He was still in opposition to them, a rebel. This state of affairs lasted another 10 years, more or less. It changed only when Robert Holmes was writing a Doctor Who conspiracy thriller (The Deadly Assassin) and looked for his inspiration in Hollywood movies of that type, particularly The Manchurian Candidate. That led him to include an assassination of a political figure and an election in his story. A little joke was in there too that the Doctor - who has put his hat in the ring for the presidency as a ploy to help buy him time to investigate what's going on - may end up as president.

This on its own wouldn't be too bad, if it hadn't been for a script the following year falling through. David Weir was originally commissioned to write the final 6-episode story of the 1977/1978 season, but his epic about killer cats was felt to be too expensive to realise. The script editor and producer had to bash out a replacement in short order (not the final time that would happen) and fell upon a sequel idea to The Deadly Assassin that would see the Doctor becoming the president for real. The story is savvy enough to reverse this by the end, but the damage is done, and in later stories it's picked up again, and the Doctor is president once more for a while. It's fine for the character to be shown in opposition to the Time Lords, but it becomes damaging as soon as he becomes one of the establishment, and not just any one of them but the most powerful of the powerful but stiflingly boring people (who also by now have been shown to be corrupt and hypocritical). They can't send him on covert missions anymore, he's the boss; and if they're still corrupt or boring, that's down to the Doctor - he's the one in charge. From that point on, Gallifrey's days were numbered. In the final years of the classic series, the day to day business of Time Lords and Gallifrey was ignored. Then, as soon as the series came back in 2005, it was established that the planet was gone, blown up in a time war. The Doctor himself is said to be responsible for its destruction, putting him in the ultimate position of opposition to his people, and giving him intergalactic quantities of survivor guilt to propel his character arc for a few years.

There's a seductive charm to lore, though, and even showrunner Russell T. Davies couldn't forever keep from dipping his nib back in that inkwell; to up the ante in his final story in charge, The End of Time, he brought Gallifrey and the Time Lords back with a bang, as they tried to escape from the past of the Time War. The Doctor, having spoken quite kindly of his old people all the time that they weren't around, does an immediate volte face: the Time Lords are evil (so, sets himself up in opposition to them again instantly). It was only the one story, though, and was followed by another reset. Time Lord lore was forgotten again for a while. But then the new showrunner Steven Moffat needed to up the ante again for the 50th anniversary story, so he visited the Time War again. This time, though, Moffat wants to do a story about the character of the Doctor, and how he could never have been responsible for an action like the destruction of Gallifrey, so when Gallifrey is brought back, it stays back, never having been destroyed in the first place (albeit still lost somewhere waiting to be found). That means there's tedious references to it for the next couple of years, with the Doctor actively searching for the place (rather than running away from it, as is his usual mode). By the time the Doctor makes it back there, he's become a war hero who can kick out the current president - back to being part of the establishment. It came as no surprise at all then, that as soon as someone else took over as showrunner, the place was burned to the ground again.  

Of course, another problem with too much focus on the Doctor's people is that with loads of Time Lords around our favorite Time Lord seems just a little bit less special. As such, after the pendulum has swung too much into the realms of the Gallifreyan multitude, there tends to follow a commensurate swing back into some other new idea to highlight how special and unique the Doctor is. In the late 1980s, the Doctor suddenly became more than a Time Lord and hints were dropped about his having been a pivotal figure in the dark times of Time Lord pre-history. This is very similar to what current Showrunner Chris Chibnall has been doing with the Timeless Child arc. As at the end of the Flux serial, he's hedged his bets - the Doctor is special and mysterious, but only because she was kidnapped and experimented on as a child, not because of any position of authority she was in. It's a tough balancing act, and - because of that constant requirement for ante-upping - there will be a temptation to create more definitive lore before Jodie Whittaker bows out. I hope the temptation is resisted and enough is left mysterious. Sometimes, less lore is more.

In Summary:

Ominous, lonely, chilly, occasionally silly, but iconic.