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“LOGOPOLIS: THE FOURTH DOCTOR'S MELANCHOLIC FAREWELL”

After seven seasons of adventures, monsters, and iconic moments, Logopolis marks the end of Tom Baker’s legendary tenure as the Doctor. The story, directly following The Keeper of Traken, serves as the middle chapter of a loose trilogy and sets the stage for an era-defining change. Beyond Baker’s departure, Logopolis is also significant for introducing Anthony Ainley’s Master in full force—an incarnation who would go on to become a staple of the show until its 1989 cancellation. Additionally, it brings Tegan Jovanka into the fold, the second new companion in as many stories, making for an already packed script.

AN UNUSUAL, EERIE BEGINNING

The opening is surprisingly light, considering this is the start of the Doctor’s final adventure. Rather than an immediate high-stakes crisis, we get an amusing moment where a police officer tries to use the TARDIS’s telephone—only to discover it doesn’t work, as is rarely acknowledged in the show. The twist that it’s actually the Master’s TARDIS only adds to the intrigue. Meanwhile, the Doctor, in a rather casual turn of events, decides to take Adric to Logopolis to fix the chameleon circuit. This setup is wonderfully odd—block transfer computation, real-world police box measurements, and a seemingly endless TARDIS recursion loop provide a playful, almost nonsensical charm.

While little seems to happen plot-wise in the opening episode, the eerie atmosphere keeps things engaging. The first cliffhanger, with the disturbing miniaturisation of Tegan’s Aunty Vanessa and a policeman, is particularly unsettling. The second, featuring the Doctor trapped in a shrinking TARDIS, is equally effective.

COMPANIONS AND CHARACTER MOMENTS

Tegan’s introduction is refreshingly modern, offering a glimpse of her ordinary life before she stumbles into the Doctor’s world. She’s resourceful, determined, and pragmatic—refusing to call for help when her car breaks down, attempting to fix it herself, and, upon discovering the TARDIS, quickly taking charge, pressing buttons and levers in an effort to get assistance. Her strong personality is immediately apparent, and her fiery demand that the Doctor take her back to Heathrow leaves him momentarily speechless. Her forced entry into the Doctor’s world mirrors Nyssa’s—both losing loved ones to the Master’s cruelty.

Adric is a mixed bag here. He spends much of the first half serving as an exposition vehicle, asking the Doctor all the right questions so the audience can be filled in. However, in the second half, he becomes more active, working with Nyssa and the Logopolitans to rescue the Doctor. Nyssa, meanwhile, is reintroduced with almost no explanation for her presence—seemingly appearing from nowhere and slotting into the story as if she were always part of the group. Despite this, she once again proves her intelligence and adaptability. Her heartbreak upon realising the Master has not only killed her father but also destroyed Traken is one of the story’s most emotionally charged moments.

THE MASTER IN THE SHADOWS

Ainley’s Master is introduced gradually, his presence felt through laughter, ominous TARDIS sightings, and the mounting body count before he finally emerges at the end of Part 3. His portrayal immediately sets itself apart—while still recognisably the Master, he is both softer in delivery and more theatrical than Delgado, bringing a pantomime villainy that will define his tenure. The way he manipulates Nyssa, exploiting the fact that he now wears Tremas’ face, is particularly cruel. It’s a cold, calculated move, reinforcing his heartlessness while adding a deeply personal layer to Nyssa’s tragedy.

LOGOPOLIS—A CITY OF NUMBERS AND DECAY

The second half of the story shifts focus to the titular Logopolis, an alien city carved into rock, populated by cape-clad mathematicians who control reality itself through their computations. Much of the story here consists of scientific jargon that makes little sense, yet the setting, atmosphere, and slow realisation that something is terribly wrong keep it compelling. The city’s gradual decay, symbolised by crumbling rock and dust-filled air, is surprisingly well realised, heightening the sense of impending doom.

As the stakes escalate, the Doctor is forced into an uneasy alliance with the Master—one that mirrors their collaborations in the UNIT era. The dynamic is effective, with the Doctor reluctantly working alongside his greatest foe to prevent a catastrophe.

A HEROIC BUT UNDERWHELMING END

Despite the weight of the story, Part 4 ultimately feels like a bit of a runaround, stalling until the climactic moment. The Doctor, ever the hero, risks everything to stop the Master, but his demise is rather mundane—falling from a great height after being betrayed. While the moment itself is thematically fitting, showcasing the Doctor’s self-sacrifice, the execution feels slightly janky, and the idea that this larger-than-life incarnation meets his end by simply falling is a little underwhelming.

That said, the Watcher’s presence throughout the story adds a haunting inevitability to events. The Doctor understands from the beginning that his time is up, trying to leave his companions behind to face his fate alone. The final moments, where the Watcher merges with the dying Doctor to trigger his regeneration, bring an eerie, melancholic close to Baker’s tenure.

📝VERDICT: 8/10

Logopolis is a strange but compelling swansong for the Fourth Doctor. Its pacing is odd, the science is nonsensical, and the resolution is slightly underwhelming, yet the atmosphere, character moments, and the sense of impending doom make it an engaging watch. Ainley’s Master makes a strong first impression, Tegan’s introduction is refreshingly modern, and the eerie presence of the Watcher gives Baker’s exit an appropriately mythic feel. While not the strongest regeneration story, it remains a fascinating and unique chapter in Doctor Who history.

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.