Doctor Who (TV Series) Logopolis: Part Four (1981) User Reviews

The end, not a moment I've ever been prepared for.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 9 September 2020]

The Master had caused irreversible damage to The Universe by destroying Logopolis, only The Doctor, along with the help of his old foe can delay the spread of destruction.

I'm not sure that Logopolis, as a story, ends as well as it starts, initially it's so complex and mournful, apart from the main events this final part is somehow a bit wishy washy.

One of the best sequences comes from Nyssa, where the horrified new tea watches as her planet vanishes from the skies. They truly made the right decision in bringing back Sarah Sutton.

Ainley is very good once again, he would have several excellent appearances, none quite so headline grabbing as this one.

Tom, the end off possibly The Greatest Doctor, I am not sure about you, but to me be looks a little ill throughout this one, perhaps exhausted, you decide. He bows out a hero. It's a great regeneration sequence, like a greatest bits of Doctor Who reel.

It's a decent enough story, but the final part is more about Tom than the events on Logopolis, and for that it deserves a good score, 8/10.

Thank you Tom.

All Good Things...

[Xstal · 9/10 · 19 July 2022]

The double crossing Master, can't help his dirty tricks, plotting imminent disaster, is the way he gets his kicks, now he's double crossed the Doctor, who's cascaded to the ground, where the ever present watcher, finds his destiny is bound.

The archetypal Doctor, goes out with a big bang, unforgettable performances, and with such a brilliant twang.

Logopolis Review (full story)

[Harlekwin_UK · 7/10 · 9 May 2023]

This is a nicely done finally for Tom Baker.

The Doctor and Adric attempt to fix the TARDIS's Chameleon Circuit but the Master isn't far behind and once again the Universe is put in jeopardy.

A worrisome Tegan joining the TARDIS crew accidentally when the Doctor stopped to measure a real police box, they hurry to Logopolis where the best and fastest computational mathematicians can be found.

With an enthralled Nyssa in tow and still following the Doctor, the Master starts the chain of events that lead to massive casualties. Even the Doctor won't escape unscathed this time.

Lots of mystery in this story with a white clad figure, the Watcher, following and guiding the Doctor and the potential loss of the Universe to Entropy. The chanting Logopians and their apparently barren planet are an imaginative, though short lived, addition to the Doctor ago stable. The manic laughter of the Master as the Doctor's plans unravel is disturbing. The regeneration into the Fifth Doctor looked painful.

Things to look out for: regeneration, faces of enemies past, chanting mathematics long before Pi by Kate Bush, Tegan utterly lost in the TARDIS, faces of companions past, fair well Tom, hello Peter, nice turn by John Fraser as the Logopian's Monitor.

S18: Logopolis: Mostly unremarkable aside from the headline (SPOILERS)

[bob the moo · 30 August 2020]

Despite the title sounding like a Scottish copyright regulatory body, Logopolis is a planet where the inhabitants do complex computations in their heads, somehow keeping the universe together. A white figure tells the Doctor to go there, an old villain arrives, new companions are introduced, and (unbeknownst to me while watching) a new Doctor is too. For such a busy serial, it is surprising that it feels padded and dull. The plot doesn't zing as the return of the Master suggests it should, nor does it carry the weight that the end of Baker's era should.

Deep down there are interesting themes - everything is crumbling, decaying, and breaking down; it is interesting because there is the feeling even retrospectively that the fading away of Baker is somehow related to a dip in the show's quality. If this is a deliberate theme then it is not used well because it does little with it apart from have lots of bits of the set fall down (although the sets look so basic here that one wonders if their crumbling was not just fortuitous and not by design). Outside of this we have a lot of characters being moved around but not doing much; considering the stakes are so high there was also a lack of urgency, and the presence of The Master didn't seem that big of an event.

The cast are mostly uninspiring. Baker does his usual stuff but not much to play with here. Ainley tries with a thankless task, but it was probably a mistake to try to copy a better performance, as opposed to just make the character a new one. Waterhouse, Sutton, Fielding - all very am-dram at times. Baker gets a good send-off, with some reflection of villains and companions etc - not quite the full 'gay wedding' we get with modern Doctors, but nice nonetheless. Aside from this though, it is quite an unremarkable serial, mostly due to uninspiring plotting and sets.