Logopolis (TV story): Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 09:31, 12 June 2010

Logopolis was the seventh and final story of Season 18 of Doctor Who. It was Tom Baker's last story as the Doctor and marks the first appearance of Peter Davison in the role, at the very end of the story. This serial also marks the first appearance of Janet Fielding as new companion Tegan Jovanka. After being introduced in the previous serial, Nyssa, played by Sarah Sutton, also becomes an official companion. This is also Anthony Ainley's first full story as the Master.

Synopsis

The Doctor goes to Logopolis to repair the TARDIS's chameleon circuit, unknown that a shadowy watcher is spying on him.

His old enemy the Master has plans of his own for the planet of mathematicians, Logopolis and a plan that could spell doom for the entire universe.

The Master's plan could rock Logopolis, the keystone of all life. Could this mean the unravelling of the causal nexus and the end of the universe itself?

The Doctor must pit his wits against the Master in a desperate battle to thwart his plans aware that this might be a fight which could easily spell the end of his life...

Plot

Part One

File:Logopolis part1.JPG
The Watcher - but what does he represent?

A policeman is talking from the telephone of a police box, (which is the Master's TARDIS in disguise.) Suddenly, the phone goes dead, and the policeman goes to the police box. A hand then drags him inside, and there is an evil chuckle. The Doctor is pacing around in the TARDIS Cloister Room, pondering thoughts of decay and entropy. As he and Adric prepare to leave, the large bell in the centre of the room begins to ring. This worries the Doctor, as the sound of the Cloister Bell is a sign of impending universal catastrophe.

The Doctor and Adric with the police box

To keep his mind off this, he decides to repair the TARDIS's chameleon circuit, which has frozen it into the shape of a police box. In order to do this, he intends to materialise the TARDIS around a real police box (thus disguising it), and then obtain its precise measurements in 27 dimensions. With these measurements, he will have the inhabitants of the planet Logopolis produce a mathematical calculation — a Block Transfer Computation — to reset the circuit. However, the "police box" he materialises around is actually the TARDIS of the Master, who has survived their encounter on the planet Traken. When the Doctor materialises around the Master's TARDIS, a recursive loop of TARDISes within TARDISes is formed.

Meanwhile, an airline stewardess, Tegan Jovanka, is being driven to the airport by her Aunt Vanessa. After their car breaks down, Tegan decides to go to the "police box" for help, but finds herself lost in the TARDIS instead. The Doctor and Adric enter another police box in a duplicate TARDIS, but the Doctor, telling Adric to wait behind finds himself this time outside the box. He meets a number of policemen, who find the shrunken, dead bodies of Tegan's aunt and the policeman. The Doctor realises that the Master has escaped from the planet Traken and must be somewhere nearby.

Part Two

The police think the Doctor has caused the incident, but Adric creates a distraction, and allows the Doctor to escape. In the distance, a mysterious white-clad stranger watches the proceedings. Realising that the shrunken bodies are the trademark of the Master, the Doctor decides to materialise the TARDIS underwater, to literally flush him out. The Doctor misses the River Thames, however, and lands on a boat instead. The mysterious stranger appears here too, and beckons to the Doctor, telling him to go to Logopolis.

As the TARDIS arrives at Logopolis, Tegan finds her way to the control room, somewhat annoyed. She asks to know where her aunt is, and the Doctor, realising that Tegan's aunt was the dead woman in the car, skirts the question. Once they exit the TARDIS, the Doctor asks the Logopolitan leader, the Monitor, for his help. The Logopolitans are able to model reality by pure mathematics and whatever they calculate can take physical form. Since block transfer computations cannot be calculated by machines or computers, the Logopolitans speak aloud a line of calculations and passing them on.

However, unknown to the group, the Master has arrived on Logopolis, and has killed several Logopolitans, which disrupts the calculations for the TARDIS. When the Logopolitans produce the required computation and the Doctor attempts to try it out on the TARDIS, it instead shrinks it to half its normal size and causes strange effects inside the ship.

Part Three

"Nothing like this has ever happened to me before...!"

The Logopolitans try to stabilise the TARDIS using sonic projectors to project a stasis field while the Monitor and Adric attempt to uncover the fault. Meanwhile, Nyssa has been brought from Traken by the Watcher, the mysterious white figure the Doctor spoke with. She is searching for her father. The Monitor and Adric work through the city and discover the shrunken bodies of three Logopolitans. Correcting the error this has caused, they bring the new computation to the TARDIS. Tegan holds the notes up to the TARDIS so the Doctor is able to read them through the scanner and correct the fault. The Doctor emerges from the now restored TARDIS, and admits to Tegan that her aunt is dead. Meanwhile, Nyssa finds the Master, whom she believes to be her

Nyssa discovers the Master killed her father, Tremas

father as he is inhabiting Tremas's body. The Master gives her a bracelet, which is actually a device which will allow him to control her actions.

The Master attaches a device to the sonic projectors and sets up a counterwave that brings silence to the Central Registry, preventing the Registers from making their calculations. He then goes to the Registry's control room (a replica of the Pharos Project on Earth, a radio telescope tasked to seek out signs of extraterrestrial life), and demands that the Monitor tell him what the true purpose of Logopolis is. The Doctor arrives with Adric and Nyssa, and Adric deactivates the Master's device, only for the Master to have Nyssa attempt to throttle him. Tegan restores the device, and the Master repeats his demand. The Monitor warns the Master that bringing Logopolis to a halt will cause universal disaster, but the Master replies that it is only a temporary effect, which he attempts to demonstrate by deactivating the suppression device.

However, the silence persists and the calculations do not resume. They go outside, and find all the Logopolitans dead, crumbling to dust, and the city itself collapsing. The Master thinks this is some sort of trick and tries to have Nyssa strangle the Monitor, but the control device ceases to function. He tries to increase the device's power, but this causes it to fall apart as local decay increases. The Monitor explains the situation: the universe had long ago passed the point of heat death. To stave off final collapse, the Logopolitans had been modelling a number of temporary Charged Vacuum Emboitments, like the one through which the TARDIS had been previously transported into E-Space. The excess entropy generated by the universe had been passing through the CVEs to other universes. However, the Master's interference has caused the CVEs to close and the universe is now dying at last. The Doctor orders his companions into the TARDIS and the Master holds out his hand on their agreement to work together. "One last hope." says the Doctor and they shake hands.

Part Four

The Doctor and the Master enter the TARDIS and the Doctor has the Watcher take it out of spacetime. However, Tegan refuses to co-operate and follows the Doctor, Master and Monitor back to the Logopolis control room. The Monitor reveals that they had been completing a program to make the CVEs permanent, and prepares to use it on one of the surviving CVEs, but entropy takes hold of him and he disintegrates before their eyes. The Doctor dismantles the computer and realises the program is stored in bubble memory that they can use with the real Pharos Project. The Doctor, Master and Tegan escape from Logopolis in the Master's TARDIS.

Adric and Nyssa watch helplessly in the Doctor's TARDIS as a portion of the universe is wiped out by encroaching entropy — including Traken. On Earth, the two Time Lords reconfigure the Logopolitan program and feed it into the Project's computers, but the Master points out that the transmitter is pointed away from the last surviving CVE. After speaking with the Watcher, Adric brings the Doctor's TARDIS to Earth as the Doctor and the Master run on foot to realign the dish. The Doctor's companions distract the guards and the two Time Lords get to the dish's control room, hooking up a light speed overdrive from the Master's TARDIS to ensure the signal gets to the CVE in time. Upon transmission of the program, the CVE begins stabilising.

The Master's co-operation with the Doctor has been a ploy, however. Holding the Doctor at gunpoint with his Tissue Compression Eliminator, he transmits a message to the peoples of the universe, saying that if they do not acknowledge his rule, he will send a signal to close the CVE and restart the collapse. The Doctor climbs onto the radio telescope's gantry to disconnect the power cable, and the Master attempts to prevent him by tilting the dish 90 degrees. The Doctor succeeds in disconnecting the cable, but falls off the gantry. As he hangs on to the disconnected cable, visions of old enemies mock him: The Decaying Master, a Dalek , the Captain, the Cyberleader, Davros, a Sontaran, a Zygon and the Black Guardian. Losing his grip, the Doctor plunges to the ground. The Master enters his own TARDIS and it dematerialises.

The Doctor's companions run to the spot where he has fallen. Dying, the Doctor experiences visions of the companions that have accompanied his current form: Sarah Jane Smith, Harry Sullivan, Brigadier Alister Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, Leela, K9 Mk. I and II, and Romana's first and second incarnations. He then observes, "It's the end... but the moment has been prepared for." They turn to see the Watcher approach, and as he does so he merges with the Doctor. Nyssa realises that the Watcher was the future Doctor all the time. As the companions look on, the Fourth Doctor regenerates into a new, younger body — the Fifth Doctor, who sits up.

Cast

Production Crew

References

The Doctor

Races and species

Astronomical objects

  • The entropy field caused by the destruction of Logopolis also destroys a portion of the universe; Traken and Mettula Orionsis (Traken's star) are mentioned.
  • The Doctor's transmission of the Logopolis program saves the rest of the Universe, starting with the constellation of Cassiopeia.

TARDISes

  • The Doctor and Adric walk around the TARDIS cloisters.
  • The Cloister Bell is described as 'a sort of communication device reserved for wild catastrophes and sudden calls to man the battle stations'.
  • The Doctor states that the TARDIS was in Gallifrey for repairs when he 'borrowed' her. "There were rather pressing reasons at the time"
  • There are references to the TARDIS' faulty chameleon circuit and a demonstration of how it could function.
  • After picking up Adric and Nyssa, the Watcher disconnects 'the entire co-ordinate sub-system' of the Doctor's TARDIS, which takes it "out of time and space".
  • The Master's TARDIS disguises itself as a police box, a tree and an Ionic column at various times.
  • The Master suggests "we reconfigure our two TARDISes into time cone inverters... We create a stable safe zone by applying temporal inversion isometry to as much of space/time as we can isolate.".

Technology

  • On Logopolis, sonic projectors are said to "create a temporary zone of stasis". The mathematics of block transfer computation is a way of modelling space/time events through pure calculation
  • The Central Registry on Logopolis is a duplicate of the Pharos Project on Earth.

Story notes

  • This story was the last to feature Tom Baker as "the current" Doctor. He would reprise his role on screen only in recorded links for the video release of the incomplete Shada in 1992 and then on the Children in Need special Dimensions in Time (1993), and for the BBC Audio story arc Hornets' Nest in 2009. As of 2009, Tom Baker holds the record for having the longest tenure (seven years) as the Doctor on-screen, although both Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann would later be considered the "current Doctor" for about nine years each.
  • The key plot point of shunting excess entropy into another universe was previously used in Isaac Asimov's novel The Gods Themselves.
  • This serial arguably — as pointed out in About Time 5 by Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood — has the largest body count of any Doctor Who story, albeit not graphically shown, as the destruction of Logopolis apparently causes a significant portion of the entire universe to be swallowed by a wave of entropy. At the very least, the Traken Union is destroyed, which would put the death toll in the billions and making the Master a mass killer on an unprecedented scale, albeit not by intent. The Last Great Time War potentially had a higher body count, however even were a death toll to be given, it occurred off-screen.

Closing Credits

At the end of Episode 4:

  • Tom Baker's face was electronically removed and the titles were re-shot with Peter Davison's face for the following story, Castrovalva.
  • The lead character was listed as "Doctor Who" for the last time for the next 24 years. Beginning with Castrovalva, until the series' cancellation in 1989, the character was credited simply as "The Doctor". The 1996 television film did not have an on-screen character name credit for either the Eighth Doctor or Seventh Doctor; however, the press kit for the film credits them as "The Doctor" and "The Old Doctor" respectively. The 2005 relaunch reverted to using "Doctor Who" until switching again to "The Doctor" starting with The Christmas Invasion.
  • This is the first episode to credit an actor after a regeneration. Two actors were credited as either "Doctor Who" or "The Doctor" for the first time when a regeneration scene was involved. This also happened at the ends of The Caves of Androzani, The Parting of the Ways and The End of Time. In both of the first two instances Peter Davison recieved second billing.
  • Peter Davison was credited as "Doctor Who" for the only time, hereafter credited as "The Doctor".

Ratings

  • Part 1 - 7.1 million viewers
  • Part 2 - 7.7 million viewers
  • Part 3 - 5.8 million viewers
  • Part 4 - 6.1 million viewers

Myths

to be added

Filming locations

  • Ursula Street, Battersea, London (Outside Vanessa's house)
  • Cadogan Pier, Chelsea Embankment, London (the barge the Doctor lands his TARDIS on)
  • Amersham Road (A413), Denham, Buckinghamshire (the motorway the Doctor lands the TARDIS next to)
  • Albert Bridge, London (location where the watcher first beckons from)
  • Crowsley Park BBC Receiving Station, Blounts Court Road, Sonning Common, Berkshire (doubled as the Pharos Project for some external shots)
  • The Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank was used for the filming of the location scenes at the Pharos Project.
  • BBC Television Centre (TC3 & TC6), Shepherd's Bush, London

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • When the Master puts the bracelet onto Nyssa's wrist, part of it falls off.
  • In part four, when the Master enters his TARDIS, his shadow stays after it dematerialises.
  • At the beginning of part 2, when the Doctor and Adric are going back to the TARDIS to escape the policemen, the Doctor opens the door to the right, however Adric goes through a door that is open to the left.
  • The Doctor's flashback of the Master is of him saying "Predictable as ever, Doctor.", from episode one of DW: The Deadly Assassin, but the Doctor was not actually present when the Master said that.

Continuity

Timeline

Video, DVD, and audio releases

DVD releases

Released on DVD together with The Keeper of Traken and Castrovalva as part of the New Beginnings DVD box set. Released:

Contents:

  • Commentary by Tom Baker, Janet Fielding and Christopher H. Bidmead
  • A New Body at Last - A 50-minute documentary looking at the transition from Tom Baker to Peter Davison, featuring many of the actors and production team involved, including exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the regeneration.
  • Nationwide - Interviews from the BBC news magazine show with Tom Baker and Peter Davison.
  • Pebble Mill at One - Peter Davison interviewed on the long-running BBC lunchtime show.
  • BBC News Reports on Tom Baker's wedding, the announcement of Tom Baker's departure and Peter Davison's arrival.
  • Music-Only Option - The original score for this story is included on a separate soundtrack.
  • Trailers & Continuity Announcements
  • Radio Times Billings (PDF DVD-ROM)
  • BBC Enterprises Literature (PDF DVD-ROM)
  • Doctor Who Annual 1982 (PDF DVD-ROM)
  • Photo Gallery
  • Production Subtitles

Notes:

New Beginnings

Video releases

Released on VHS video in the UK in March 1992, Australia in September 1992 and October 1993 in the US.

Novelisation

Main article: Logopolis (novelisation)

External links

Template:Season 18

Template:Wikipedia