Sunday 28 February 2010

A Matter of Time: Logopolis


ORIGINAL BROADCAST: 28/02/1981

Twenty-nine years ago today, Tom Baker’s final story as the fourth Doctor began, with Anthony Ainley’s new Master making its début. Logopolis is the second of a trilogy of stories featuring the Master, in which two new companions arrive and the Doctor regenerates. Nyssa and Tegan adding to the TARDIS crew meant that there were too many companions for the following series, so it was decided that Adric should be killed of in Earthshock.

The Master suggests that the Time Lords will not approve of the Doctor's alliance with him and will cut him off, yet this is never mentioned in any of the Doctor's later dealings with them. Christopher H. Bidmead said that this was his attempt to write the Time Lords out of the series altogether, but it was never carried through when he left as script editor.

This story was the last story to feature Tom Baker as the current Doctor. Although the Fourth Doctor appeared in the twentieth anniversary special The Five Doctors, this was only in the form of footage from the uncompleted Shada, due to Baker refusing to return. He currently holds the record for the longest tenure of seven years as the Doctor. The projection of the Doctor's future incarnation, in the form of the Watcher, is similar to the future projection of his mentor K’Anpo Rinpoche in the Doctor's previous regeneration story, Planet of the Spiders.

Before the Doctor falls to his death, he sees images of enemies including the Master, a Dalek, the Pirate Captain, the Cyberleader, Davros, a Sontaran, a Zygon, and the Black Guardian. On the ground he sees visions of companions including Sarah Jane Smith, Harry Sullivan, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Leela, K-9, Romana I, and Romana II.

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