Tuesday, November 24, 2009

#3 Remembering Past Who Episodes - Logopolis S18


This Sunday, being cold as it was, I stayed at home and planned a nice, little afternoon treat. I had considered a DW marathon, Season 18 mostly, but I didn't have the time to actually do it due to the fact that whenever football is on, boys want to watch it... so I only had the time to watch 'Logopolis'. I didn't know where to start, now, or best, what to watch: if there was no marathon, then what would I watch? So I picked up a DVD from my DW collection and it turned out to be 'ogopolis'. I wasn't too thrilled when I first watched it, because seeing Four regeneration doesn't come easy. Still, I did re-watched it and I must confess, it was a joy. I love this episode because of the plot. It's so incredibly clever, and I love the Logopolitans. I'm not too much a fan of Adric's, though, but I quite like him in this episode. He's not as... nosey as he usually is. But that's just my opinion.
The episode starts and, after a little while, the Doctor is explaining to Adric was the chameleon circuit is (I love the way Four gives his explanations, because although very scientific you seem to understand 'em all), and telling him how it is stuck, making the TARDIS look like a police box. I thought that was quite great. It is a good start and it gives the Doctor an 'excuse' to go to the planet. Really love that bit. Anyway, we see Tegan and her Aunt getting ready to go to the airport (Tegan being one of my favourite companions), when noticing a flat tyre, Tegan goes and tries to ring somebody to help them (obviously, a lot of thing happen in the middle, but they're not relevant to this). She then goes into the TARDIS, unaware of it being such. The Doctor and Adric know that something is wrong, given that they're stuck in a recursive system, as the Doctor puts it. By this time, we all know that the Master is behind all these tricks, for we hear his evil laughter every once in a while. To get out of the recursive system, the Doctor suggests that they land the TARDIS in the Thames, but they end up materialising on a boat, in which the Doctor first spots the Watcher on top of a bridge. The figure of the Watcher is very enigmatic and quite good, I think. It was a good way to trick us, thinking that it was the Master all along. Having previously measured a police box up, Adric and the Timelord go to Logopolis to give their people the measures, for them to give them these special combinations to restore the TARDIS' chameleon circuit. They do this by block transfer computation, something beyond any computer, which is funny, in a way. I love the Logopolitans: the clothing is phenomenal, and the little details on the back of their heads are fantastic. They do look like mathematicians and all! The Monitor is absolutely great, we have here some good acting by John Fraser.
This is just the reason why they land on the planet: I'm not telling any more of the plot, so you've got to watch it! The storyline is truly outstanding, Anthony Ainley delivers a perfect Master and Tom Baker is unique as always. I loved watching it, following the plot and trying to work out the little bobs and pieces that I could not understand at first. The ending was sad, though: I think the regeneration process is, by itself, a bit sad: as I love Tom's Doctor, it's always painful having to let go of him everytime I watch this particular episode. When he is lying on the ground, Whovians all over the world get that funny feeling: the stomach feels a bit strange, you get tense and anxious, all that. "It's the end... but the moment has been prepared for." Eventually, he regenerates to Peter Davison, the Fifth Doctor, the youngest by then. Watching the Watcher and Four as one is quite strange... the first time I saw it, I too thought the Watcher had something to do with the Master! It's funny how you feel cheated (sort of, in a good way) when you find out that he was the Doctor all along. He did try to drive Nyssa and Adric to a safe place, anyway, so I guess I should have known better. But that's the beauty of DW, innit? You never know what's going to happen.
Watching this episode made me feel incredibly sad because when I was watching the episode's finale, I kept thinking about Ten... about the fact that he is regenerating... and how I'm not prepared for it to happen at all. He is, in my opinion, the best Doctor we've had. It is for the best, of course, but David Tennant being as unique and outstanding as he is... is hard to let go of. And I feel sympathetic towards all Whovians that had to watch Four go as he approached the end of his life.

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