Doctor Who Club of Australia

[Theta Sigma]

Part 1:
As Bob Carr officially left as NSW Premier yesterday, Tom begins his final adventure as the Doctor.
Although credited, we do not see Anthony Ainley as The Master but we do hear his laugh.
The introduction of Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka, Doctor Who's only Australian companion.
The site of the original serial of the series starring William Hartnell, Totter's Lane is mentioned.
Cute seeing the TARDIS landing beside a real Police Box.
Who is this mysterious white figure?
The concept of a TARDIS within a TARDIS had also been used in the Jon Pertwee serial The Time Monster produced by Logopolis Executive Producer Barry Letts.
Tom Georgeson appears as the Detective Inspector. He had previously been Kavell in Genesis of the Daleks. Another fun theory of mine: since Kavell wasn't seen exterminated with his fellow Kaled rebels perhaps somehow the Detective Inspector os him with absolute no memory of his Kaled life.
Peter Grimwade directs Logopolis after having previously done Full Circle earlier in the season. He is in fact the only person to direct a second serial for the season as Grimwade and the season's five other directors made their directorial debut on the series. Of the six only he and Peter Moffatt (State of Decay) went on to direct on the series post-Tom although Terence Dudley (Meglos) wrote three stories for Peter Davison. Grimwade has also written three stories for Davison as well.
A very solid opening episode which again proves my point that Tom is better without Lalla around.

[the wheel]

great australian accents!

[Dougy]

Another in the long list of WHOs I havent seen, I really enhoyed the first ep. Athought I havent seen it I know enough WHO lore as to know how this ends, and it's a sad time. However, I'm looking forward to the next Docotr too becuase I havent seen many Docotr eps after Baker left. I'ver havent seen ONE Colin Baker episode. Disgusting, I know.

[meglos]

This is one of my all time favourite stories. I don't know why, I just love it

[Linx]

[dunmall]

i just like it for the regeneration...between this and caves of androzani...man best regenerations ever....

[Theta Sigma]

On a related note I just got my essay back which I did on Doctor Who examining City of Death & Rose and just before I went in for the film lecture saw the notice of the Postgrad screening of The Mind Robber DVD. Since it will be shown at 5pm today it means they will be showing it while Logopolis Part 2 is on the ABC. Out of the two stories I am going have to say I prefer Logopolis (perhaps due to my bias towards Tom).

[Darth Sidious]

Very good rating, a pretty decent finale for Tom, although it still doesn't make much sense to me.
The cliff hangar to episode one is a corker.
Aunt Vanessa's death is actually sad and regretable (which is rare for classic who when you usually don't care when a supporting character dies)
Episodes 2 and 3 are a bit of a mess, plot wise though

[Dougy]

Don't say that, ep 2 is on tonight!

[Wester]

Yep, agree. This story is very sad being Toms last. However, I understand he could not be the Doctor forever. I think he gives a great preformance. I love the incidental music.

[the wheel]

wow, this is really good!

the logopolis landscapes looked a bit shaky but overall a very enjoyable two episodes.

[Theta Sigma]

Part 2:
Although this is Tom Georgeson's last appearance in the series , his Doctor Who association does not end
there. He later appeared in the mini-series GBH which included a sequence that takes place at a Doctor Who convention! This is most probably due to the fact that GBH Executive Producer Verity Lambert
was the first producer of Doctor Who. (Incidentally Lambert who presided on much of the First Doctor William Hartnell's tenure was asked in an interview on Dreamwatch last year what she thought of the post-Hartnell Doctors in which she said that Tom was the closest in persona to Bill.) If you seen A Fish Called Wanda then you would recognise Georgeson as Jamie Curtis' gangster boyfriend.
I love Adric's diversion.
The TARDIS will also turn out to be a real Police Box in the new series episode Father's Day shown just last month on the ABC.
Clapped when the Doctor said he was going to jettison Romana's room.
The Doctor and Adric learns that Tremas has vanished.
The view of the Thames on the TARDIS scanner looks like it was later used for Eastenders.
Laughed when the Doctor and Adric fell down when the TARDIS made her "splashdown".
The Doctor does not confirm or deny to Adric that the white figure is The Master.
After going through the TARDIS, Tegan finally meets the Doctor and Adric to their astonishment.
"Doctor whoever you are" says Tegan.
The Master's TARDIS appears as a pillar for the first time.
Nyssa finally turns up but at the end of this episode.
As with the previous episode Ainley is still credited even though we only hear his laugh.
Even though he is a guest star and not a regular, John Fraser (Monitor) is credited after Tom and ahead of Janet Fielding, Matthew Waterhouse and Sarah Sutton in that order.
Once again the voiceover says, "Tonight's Doctor is back on Monday."

Quiz update: Just read the answers for Medium Quiz 16 and the answer for "34. Which air hostess entered the TARDIS thinking it was a police telephone box and became a companion of the Doctor?" is "Tegan".

[Drakul]

I can still remember seeing this episode for the very first time(when I was 12)...and I hated it. I was dreading Tom's final story and this didn't really impress me back then

BUT

I have to say I am really enjoying it this time. Even Adric doesn't seem quite as annoying as he did when I was a teenager.

[Dougy]

I'm LOVEING this story. The suspence is great, and its all so mysterious. This is just brilliant, the way WHO should be!

[AaronBrockbank]

When the ABC first showed this, TV Times referred to it as 'Logo Polis'! I even think the ABC called it that on air (now there's a project, I'll have to dig that tape out and play it to see).

I wonder what differences in characterisation Jeanne Little would have made if she had have been allowed by Equity to participate. She was JNT's first choice for Aunty Vanessa, IIRC.

[Theta Sigma]

With Tom's era about to end, this morning I had just read Nicholas Courtney's interview in the SFX Doctor Who special originally published in Christmas 1998 in which he was asked among other questions which Doctor would he "WANT TO ACCOMPANY HIM ON A PUB CRAWL?" His response to that was, "Oh, Tom Baker, I would think. In fact, I've been on a pub crawl with him anyway... Tom's a very, very amusing man to be with, and a great actor."

[Doctor_Geordie]

We get two re-generations this week.

Tuesday Night for the classic (Im going to miss Tom Baker ) and Saturday in the current (also miss Chris Eccelston ).

Doctor Who will be a classic for all this week.

[Theta Sigma]

Part 3:
After a couple of episodes laughing Anthony Ainley finally turns up as the Master.
Nyssa finally finds out that her father is dead with his body now occupied by the Master.
The first time we see Tom together with Matthew Waterhouse, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding. In fact the first we see all of them together with Ainley.
Tom delivers the line of not being conquest but devastation perfectly.
Quite bizarre that two of the companions here had a relation murdered by the Master, Nyssa's father Tremas and Tegan's Aunt Vanessa.
Quite nice to see Tom's smile. Haven't seen it in quite a while.
The use of the CVE links this trilogy with the previous trilogy in E-Space.
Did not realise how limited Tom's part was in the first half of this episode as he has a much more substantial part in the second. Perhaps it was meant for viewers to get use to the sight of Adric, Nyssa and Tegan together without Tom around.
The Doctor's statement about not picking the company he keeps could be a subtle reference to the program of Doctor Who itself, in particular the Fourth Doctor era as it nears his end, not being directly responsible for the kind of audience it gets. It all happened accidentally.
The Fourth Doctor says "One last hope". He has no idea how right he is.
I love that cliffhanger. It could easily have been Doctor facing impending death but here it is of him forming an uneasy alliance with the Master. Forming an alliance with an enemy who could easily stab him in the back.

Part 4:
Tom's swansong is definitely better than Jon Pertwee's swansong Planet of Spiders.
With the Watcher piloting the TARDIS, Nyssa says that she rather be with the Doctor she does not realise how right she is.
The Doctor does not get the attention of that technician. Funnily enough earlier in the day, I was trying get the attention of a girl who was in one of my classes last semester just to say hi. She did not notice I was right next to her until I had to prompt her.
Traken is destroyed and to think that Nyssa was originally intended for the previous story which would mean she would have been killed off along with her world.
Nice touch of the images of the Fourth Doctor's foes and friends but the according to the Doctor Who Reference Guide the image of the Brigadier came from Invasion of the Dinosaurs, a Pertwee story.
Nice shot by director Peter Grimwade of the Doctor losing his grip after saving the universe.
Tom regenerates into Peter Davison.
With Tom and Peter both credited, the closing credit sequence is a little bit different.
The last time Barry Letts is credited as Executive Producer.
The Watcher turns out to be an interim incarnation of the Doctor. The Watcher will later be used as the pseudonym of a writer who writes articles in DWM.

What trailer was shown: the Sunday line-up which includes Billie in The Canterbury Tales and Peter Davison's At Home With the Braithwaites wife Amanda Redman.

[Wester]

As soon as 'that' music played and the camera closed in on Tom, I knew he just had one line left to say.
Wow, just one more line and an era was over. Just like that.
How sad.
But there were new adventures and new characters to see.

On with the show!

[the wheel]

wonderful

brilliant

fantastic

absolute genius