This story I've always felt is surprisingly average for the Fourth Doctor's swansong. Tom Baker was such an iconic Doctor, and yet his last hurrah is nothing too remarkable compared to his previous outings.

Logopolis is a decent story, with a clever concept regarding the titular planet that holds the universe together through mathematical equations. It feeds into Adric's character well as a mathematical genius too, giving him a real purpose within the screenplay to assist the workers of Logopolis with the block transfercomputations. I also like the idea of a TARDIS within a TARDIS, and how the Doctor and Adric become stuck in an infinite loop.

However, the Fourth Doctor is surprisingly ineffective for his last story. It's mainly his companions who do all the work, and even though the climactic scene on the telescope is a fantastic piece of television, I can see Tom Baker's concerns in that the fall from the ladder isn't a very dignified way for his incarnation to leave the show. It doesn't work as a 'hero' moment quite as well as the Tenth Doctor absorbing the radiation in The End Of Time.

Probably the best aspect of this serial is the character work. Tegan gets a great introduction, and the serial takes the time to explore the emotional ramifications of her aunt's passing, as well as Nyssa losing her Dad.

I'm glad that they showed Nyssa coming to terms with the Master taking Tremas's body, and the Master cruelly misleading her into believing he was her Dad. It's something the classic series rarely did very well, and it's refreshing to see Logopolis take more time to show how the characters are affected by what's happened.

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Keeper of Traken

"It's the end, but the moment has been prepared for."

Goodbye, to the Fourth Doctor. What a story, the finale to the last 7 years of TV.

There's a sense of bleakness that pervades this story, the Watcher, while he doesn't make sense if you really think about him, just adds so much in the way of mystery in this story. I think this is one of Tom Baker's best performances as the Doctor. Maybe it was unintentional, but he captures the weariness of the wandering bohemian perfectly in this story.

His chemistry with Adric at the start is great and I really feel we were robbed of a full season with them. Tegan's introduction and the return of Nyssa from The Keeper of Traken are also in this story. I'm excited to see how they'll balance such distinct companions in the TARDIS.

The Logopolitans are a fascinating race and another example of the rich worldbuilding in this era of Doctor Who. Anthony Ainley has already sold me on his portrayal of the Master and while I liked the Crispy one, we've been long overdue a "normal" Master.

This is a solid, witty story with a strong looming sense of despair and a fantastic if a bit sad end to Four.

Next Story: Castrovalva

Season 18 Review: 9.5/10

I know a lot of people don't like this season, and honestly I can see why. I will die on the hill that this is one of Tom Baker's best seasons however. Perhaps it's because I listened to the audio stories that take place in this season, perhaps I just like the writing style. Whatever it is, I think this season has such a distinct and surreal style that I can't help but love. The first half is with arguably my favourite TARDIS team of Romana and K9, after that, with Adric in the fold, it just gets better in my opinion.

The mediocre stories of this season don't detract from my rating because at the very least they knew the style they were going for. I think Tom Baker could have easily gone for much longer, but ultimately, this was the right decision for the show to take and I'm excited to fully step into the 80s.

Extended Timeline Season 18 Review: 10/10

I've put this at the bottom so as to not get in the way of people who want a review of the story on it's own. The extended timeline stories that take place during this season are Series' 6 and 9 of the 4DAs. Two very fun series that encapsulate and enrich this season perfectly. Most notably with Series 9 that adds a load of depth to E-Space and really sells the idea that it's a universe different from our own where the same rules don't apply.

This is a season that benefits a lot from Big Finish, a lot of the underdeveloped ideas get a chance to really flourish and it has a positive impact on the episodes when watching all together.

Now onwards to the Fifth Doctor, but first, K9 and Company.

Logopolis is pretty interesting. Out of the regeneration stories it is certainly unique. I love the sense of foreboding that permeates throughout the story, with the Watcher and Master both instilling this rather constant sense of dread. That works well in building up to the end of the Fourth Doctor, especially with how little we see of the Master at first, only hearing his evil laugh and seeing his victims.

The show makes good use of its sets and props here as well, I really like the layered TARDISes and how we go about the mystery in the first few episodes. Tegan has a pretty decent introduction at first and I think gets nicely brought into this story in a way that works well. Her character isn't lionized like in most companions in the revived series, while her joining the Doctor felt thematically relevant to her job as a flight attendant.

That being said, as the story goes on, once we go to Logopolis, things get a little weaker. It's a really interesting idea of a world dedicated to math yet lacking a ton of technology, and I like that the Doctor is already familiar with this world, as it gives credence to his experience as a being this universe-spanning traveller and makes Logopolis feel like a place of meaning. Where it starts to lose me is the idea that this world is the only thing preventing reality from collapsing. It feels like the Doctor just barely saves the universe and it is now only hanging by a thread. It's a neat idea but doesn't fit as well with the larger franchise and feels like an underplayed idea from even this story.

It's a little awkward, as is some of the other aspects of the writing and acting. For example it feels like Nyssa just appears in this story and it is very abrupt and Sarah Sutton feels a little wooden as a performer here even though it should REALLY be a big moment for her character. It's the sort of stuff that makes Logopolis interesting but imperfect. Very important to Doctor Who but not my all time favourite story or even my favourite regeneration event.

And here we are finally, Tom Baker’s last story. It has been a long road since Robot - the longest road I suspect I'll ever spend with a Doctor. Whilst this season has, on balance, been his worst, I can’t say it wasn’t sad to say goodbye. Though we do now have a wonderful cast of new companions to distract us!

Whilst Bidmead is a lousy script editor, his style and tone suddenly makes a lot more sense with his own script. The first couple of episodes are pretty tightly woven with an interesting central idea of The Master’s TARDIS inside The Doctor’s TARDIS, creating a loop.

It was disappointing that Nyssa is just dropped into the story out of nowhere, I feel like that could have been bedded in a bit better. We could have had a pre-filmed slot of The Watcher collecting her from Traken. As it is you’re left wondering how this mute indicated to her that she needed to come to this brand new planet at this time. How did he transport her there?

The Logopolis based material feels a bit more detached and unrelatable than the Earth based material, which has a real buzz about it. Though I have to say, the companions do a great job of keeping the viewer invested.

I hope I’ll get used to Anthony Ainley’s Master, but so far he’s just a bit… crap. Sorry to say. The Master’s technobabble is particularly boring but the way he twists the knife with his final, utterly mad and cruel plan is deliciously evil and a great moment for the character.

As is possibly predictable with Bidmead, it’s all a bit over complicated. The plot falls off a cliff when The Master meekly looks at the entropy he has created and then, without any fanfare teams up with The Doctor, as if it was inevitable and everyone is just going through the motions. Huge plot points like these should make a lot more impact.

The excitement of the end, even if it wasn’t carried off perfectly did make for an exciting end to an uneven serial. Baker will be missed. I'm missing him already. But what a fiery performance to go out on.