Logopolis picspam: Episode 1
Sit back, relax and put on your Adric-cancelling headphones - it's time for the Fourth Doctor's final story!
This story was first broadcast in 1981 as the farewell episode of Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor. It also featured the introduction of Tegan Jovanka and Nyssa; but more importantly, it was the first full story to feature Anthony Ainley's version of the Master.
Our story begins on Earth, with an unlucky policeman.
This poor man is on-screen for less than a minute before he's dragged into a phonebox accompanied by demonic laughter, thus ruining the suspense later on in the episode when we're supposed to think this is an ordinary police box. This episode is not particularly hot on plot.
Please take your litter home. Do not drop it in this litter bin.
We then join the Doctor and Adric in a very pretty part of the TARDIS, and stay with them for a while as they discuss entropy.
The Doctor manages to avoid going to Gallifrey by muttering something about Romana and an enquiry, and instead decides to go to Earth to measure a police box, in an attempt to fix his chamaeleon circuit. Adric asks a lot of pointless questions and is generally annoying.
'Not funny... is like this."
Back on Earth, we are introduced to Tegan Jovanka, who has the magical ability to start cars. She's on her way to the airport with her Aunt Vanessa to begin her new job as an air hostess.
Nothing has really happened inside the TARDIS, but I really like this room.
The Doctor has a little moment over Romana's old room. D'aww.
He then demonstrates to Adric the wonderful things his superior Time Lord technology could do if he had a working chamaeleon circuit - like...
...turn into an 8-bit pyramid!
The little TARDIS is cute, though.
They park next to what they assume to be a normal police box, but which we know contains a dead policeman and a mysterious laughing murderer.
"This is the 1980s... no knight errants!"
Tegan and her aunt, meanwhile, have stopped with a flat tyre and are industriously attempting to repair it just up the road. Tegan gets a lot of dialogue about doing things yourself and making your own way in the world, presumably to show that she's a Modern Woman.
Our first glimpse of the mysterious Watcher. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Adric have parked on top of the 'police box' and are having fun measuring it...
Until they step inside for some reason, and discover... another control room, and another TARDIS... with another control room inside that.
"But it's just like yours!"
"Yes. Right down to the last detail."
Only MORE EVIL.
Outside, Tegan drops her spare wheel in a ditch and instead of, um, picking it up and carrying on her way to the garage, she stops at the police box and ends up wandering inside...
...and after managing to set off the cloister bell somehow, gets lost.
Aunt Vanessa follows her, but unfortunately ends up falling second victim to the Master mysterious laughing man. How and why he sneaked round to the front door just in time to meet her coming in is anyone's guess.
The Doctor hears the Cloister Bell and decides to carry on through the chain of eternal TARDISes. Luckily, he ends up outside just before the whole thing becomes unbelievably tiresome. Unluckily, there are some policemen outside who are very pleased to see him.
The answer to all this pointless meandering intruiging mystery lies in the front seat of the late Aunt Vanessa's car:
Oh noes! Little shrunken doll people, the signature of the Master! So that's who was laughing evilly all this time! Who would have known?
The episode ends on this not-really-a-cliffhanger, leaving the audience with many questions. Will the Doctor manage to catch up with the Master before he kills again? Will they ever get to Logopolis at all? How long will it be before the Master appears on screen? Will Adric serve any kind of purpose? Who was that freaky guy on the hill? Did Christopher Bidmead spend more than half an hour writing the plot for this episode?
Overall, a pretty dismal introduction to the Fourth Doctor's final story. Hopefully the next episode will improve on things!
This story was first broadcast in 1981 as the farewell episode of Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor. It also featured the introduction of Tegan Jovanka and Nyssa; but more importantly, it was the first full story to feature Anthony Ainley's version of the Master.
Our story begins on Earth, with an unlucky policeman.
This poor man is on-screen for less than a minute before he's dragged into a phonebox accompanied by demonic laughter, thus ruining the suspense later on in the episode when we're supposed to think this is an ordinary police box. This episode is not particularly hot on plot.
Please take your litter home. Do not drop it in this litter bin.
We then join the Doctor and Adric in a very pretty part of the TARDIS, and stay with them for a while as they discuss entropy.
The Doctor manages to avoid going to Gallifrey by muttering something about Romana and an enquiry, and instead decides to go to Earth to measure a police box, in an attempt to fix his chamaeleon circuit. Adric asks a lot of pointless questions and is generally annoying.
'Not funny... is like this."
Back on Earth, we are introduced to Tegan Jovanka, who has the magical ability to start cars. She's on her way to the airport with her Aunt Vanessa to begin her new job as an air hostess.
Nothing has really happened inside the TARDIS, but I really like this room.
The Doctor has a little moment over Romana's old room. D'aww.
He then demonstrates to Adric the wonderful things his superior Time Lord technology could do if he had a working chamaeleon circuit - like...
...turn into an 8-bit pyramid!
The little TARDIS is cute, though.
They park next to what they assume to be a normal police box, but which we know contains a dead policeman and a mysterious laughing murderer.
"This is the 1980s... no knight errants!"
Tegan and her aunt, meanwhile, have stopped with a flat tyre and are industriously attempting to repair it just up the road. Tegan gets a lot of dialogue about doing things yourself and making your own way in the world, presumably to show that she's a Modern Woman.
Our first glimpse of the mysterious Watcher. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Adric have parked on top of the 'police box' and are having fun measuring it...
Until they step inside for some reason, and discover... another control room, and another TARDIS... with another control room inside that.
"But it's just like yours!"
"Yes. Right down to the last detail."
Only MORE EVIL.
Outside, Tegan drops her spare wheel in a ditch and instead of, um, picking it up and carrying on her way to the garage, she stops at the police box and ends up wandering inside...
...and after managing to set off the cloister bell somehow, gets lost.
Aunt Vanessa follows her, but unfortunately ends up falling second victim to the Master mysterious laughing man. How and why he sneaked round to the front door just in time to meet her coming in is anyone's guess.
The Doctor hears the Cloister Bell and decides to carry on through the chain of eternal TARDISes. Luckily, he ends up outside just before the whole thing becomes unbelievably tiresome. Unluckily, there are some policemen outside who are very pleased to see him.
The answer to all this pointless meandering intruiging mystery lies in the front seat of the late Aunt Vanessa's car:
Oh noes! Little shrunken doll people, the signature of the Master! So that's who was laughing evilly all this time! Who would have known?
The episode ends on this not-really-a-cliffhanger, leaving the audience with many questions. Will the Doctor manage to catch up with the Master before he kills again? Will they ever get to Logopolis at all? How long will it be before the Master appears on screen? Will Adric serve any kind of purpose? Who was that freaky guy on the hill? Did Christopher Bidmead spend more than half an hour writing the plot for this episode?
Overall, a pretty dismal introduction to the Fourth Doctor's final story. Hopefully the next episode will improve on things!