Classic Who day by day
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The Keeper of Traken, part 1
Written by Johnny Byrne
Directed by John Black
The Doctor and Adric are back in what they're calling "N Space" .. the normal universe, as it were. The Doctor ignores the previous call to Gallifrey and instead chooses to listen to a summons from a chap with the title of the Keeper, from a planet called Traken. Traken is a peaceful planet. So peaceful that evil simply stops when it's there. One such example is Melkur. It arrived on the planet many year ago, in a garden. Being so evil, as soon as it was there, it turned to statue, unable to move again.
A young Traken girl, Kessia, tended to it, but grew old alongside her husband named Tremas. Their daughter, Nyssa, was chosen to tend to Melkur when Kessia was promoted to an inner circle of leaders.
The Keeper is well over a thousand years old. He's tired, and ready to pass on. He's chosen a replacement, Tremas, who is overjoyed at the prospect. Kessia, not so much. She's a little jealous, and a bit furious too.
The Keeper fears one of the three - Tremas, Kessia, and Nyssa - will betray him, with horrible consequences, and he wants the Doctor's help. The Time Lord says "okey dokey, McSmokey" and off they go to this serene planet. The Tardis gets parked in the same garden as Melkur. That's probably a bad idea, but who could have known?
The pair is almost immediately taken into custody. The people fear they must be evil wrong-doers. The Doctor convinces them that he was summoned by the Keeper, and asks them to just ask the guy "Hey, did you send this guy here? You did? Oh, groovy!" But when they do, unseen by all, is Melkur parading around in the back of the room while the Keeper points his pointy old fingers around and says "Evil! Evil!" Everyone freaks out like it's a shoe sale at a women's convention the day after Thanksgiving, and it looks like the Doctor has finally met his fate.
* * *
I know, this one doesn't make a lick of sense just yet. But hang on, it gets better. How could it not? We've got one new companion, we've been introduced to someone who becomes a companion, we're meeting the next incarnation of you-now-who, it's only the first episode and the Doctor has already been captured, and it looks like the planet may go all 'splody.
Anthony Ainley, who is credited as "Tremas" in this episode, is pretty marvelous, really. The same cannot be said for Tom Baker. At this point, everyone knew he was on his way out, and there's only one more story to go before he ends his reign as the longest-running Doctor in the series' history. He's phoning it in, and the sheer boredom is written all over his face. And that's a shame.
The Melkur design sure seems familiar. I can't say for certain, but it looks to me like they took one of the costumes used as a mummy in Pyramids of Mars, gave it a new head and a paint job, and here it is as a new creature. They're all about recycling, so it's easily possible.
Written by Johnny Byrne
Directed by John Black
The Doctor and Adric are back in what they're calling "N Space" .. the normal universe, as it were. The Doctor ignores the previous call to Gallifrey and instead chooses to listen to a summons from a chap with the title of the Keeper, from a planet called Traken. Traken is a peaceful planet. So peaceful that evil simply stops when it's there. One such example is Melkur. It arrived on the planet many year ago, in a garden. Being so evil, as soon as it was there, it turned to statue, unable to move again.
A young Traken girl, Kessia, tended to it, but grew old alongside her husband named Tremas. Their daughter, Nyssa, was chosen to tend to Melkur when Kessia was promoted to an inner circle of leaders.
The Keeper is well over a thousand years old. He's tired, and ready to pass on. He's chosen a replacement, Tremas, who is overjoyed at the prospect. Kessia, not so much. She's a little jealous, and a bit furious too.
The Keeper fears one of the three - Tremas, Kessia, and Nyssa - will betray him, with horrible consequences, and he wants the Doctor's help. The Time Lord says "okey dokey, McSmokey" and off they go to this serene planet. The Tardis gets parked in the same garden as Melkur. That's probably a bad idea, but who could have known?
The pair is almost immediately taken into custody. The people fear they must be evil wrong-doers. The Doctor convinces them that he was summoned by the Keeper, and asks them to just ask the guy "Hey, did you send this guy here? You did? Oh, groovy!" But when they do, unseen by all, is Melkur parading around in the back of the room while the Keeper points his pointy old fingers around and says "Evil! Evil!" Everyone freaks out like it's a shoe sale at a women's convention the day after Thanksgiving, and it looks like the Doctor has finally met his fate.
* * *
I know, this one doesn't make a lick of sense just yet. But hang on, it gets better. How could it not? We've got one new companion, we've been introduced to someone who becomes a companion, we're meeting the next incarnation of you-now-who, it's only the first episode and the Doctor has already been captured, and it looks like the planet may go all 'splody.
Anthony Ainley, who is credited as "Tremas" in this episode, is pretty marvelous, really. The same cannot be said for Tom Baker. At this point, everyone knew he was on his way out, and there's only one more story to go before he ends his reign as the longest-running Doctor in the series' history. He's phoning it in, and the sheer boredom is written all over his face. And that's a shame.
The Melkur design sure seems familiar. I can't say for certain, but it looks to me like they took one of the costumes used as a mummy in Pyramids of Mars, gave it a new head and a paint job, and here it is as a new creature. They're all about recycling, so it's easily possible.
The Keeper of Traken, part 2
Kassia tells everyone that the Doctor is an agent of Melkur, which causes everyone to loose their shit. That is, until Tremas flushes and a few others decide to be reasonable. Meanwhile, Melkur is rampaging outside. Kassia hides the resulting bodies. Seriously, she does.
Adric and Nyssa bond over science. He discovers something on a scanner and must get to the Doctor, who - with Tremas - spies of Kassia in Melkur's Grove.
After meeting with Adric, he confirms the boy's suspicions. Based on the readings, there is a second Tardis somewhere nearby.
Kassia murders a man named Seron in plain sight of the Keeper, yet blames Tremas and the Doctor for the murder. The men run away, but they are quickly caught in the Grove, stunned, and have a net thrown over them.
* * *
For awhile there, I wondered who Matthew had pissed off. He's in just about every scene with the Doctor for the first half of the episode, and the most he gets to do is nod his head and walk around, no lines at all. It isn't until about halfway through when he's paired up with Nyssa that he finally gets to speak. I wondered if he'd be silent through the whole episode. Has that ever happened to a companion before? Where they are physically there, but have no dialog whatsoever through the episode? If so, I don't recall it.
I'm not sure this "planet of nothing but good" concept was entirely thought out. It takes nothing at all, not even the slightest hint of temptation, for Kassia to go "let's be evil and start killing people" and they really don't give a second thought to killing the Doctor and Adric in cold blood. As long as someone has the label "evil" it's perfectly fine to murder them in whatever way they see fit and that's "good?"
Then again, that may have been exactly what the writer was intending, so show that under the surface, everyone has the ability to go overboard. It's our choices that ultimately decide whether we behave ourselves or not.
It hasn't been mentioned yet, but something I am curious about ... The Keeper is said to be over a thousand years old. Maybe he's kept alive through artificial/technological means, but just how long to Trakens live? Kassia is Nyssa's mother, yes? Yet when standing side by side, they look to be exactly the same age. To an outsider, they look more like sisters than mother and daughter.
Following that logic, Trakens age rather slowly. Perhaps their life span is two or three hundred years. Who knows? But it does seem clear that Tremas is quite a bit older than Kassia. That means he's likely to die sooner than she. So the gift of naming him the next Keeper means he would live for several hundred more years. As someone who is relatively young, Kassia should welcome this, right? She keeps going on and on about how she's doing all this evil stuff and following Melkur just so she can keep her husband from becoming the Keeper and because she wants to be with him for a long time. Ok ... so if we're thinking logically, let him be the Keeper and you're keeping him around far longer than he otherwise would be.
Or is Kassia perhaps his second wife? That would explain the apparent age difference, and why she is so determined to hang on to him.
Or maybe the genders age differently. Maybe we'll find out in the next episode?
Kassia tells everyone that the Doctor is an agent of Melkur, which causes everyone to loose their shit. That is, until Tremas flushes and a few others decide to be reasonable. Meanwhile, Melkur is rampaging outside. Kassia hides the resulting bodies. Seriously, she does.
Adric and Nyssa bond over science. He discovers something on a scanner and must get to the Doctor, who - with Tremas - spies of Kassia in Melkur's Grove.
After meeting with Adric, he confirms the boy's suspicions. Based on the readings, there is a second Tardis somewhere nearby.
Kassia murders a man named Seron in plain sight of the Keeper, yet blames Tremas and the Doctor for the murder. The men run away, but they are quickly caught in the Grove, stunned, and have a net thrown over them.
* * *
For awhile there, I wondered who Matthew had pissed off. He's in just about every scene with the Doctor for the first half of the episode, and the most he gets to do is nod his head and walk around, no lines at all. It isn't until about halfway through when he's paired up with Nyssa that he finally gets to speak. I wondered if he'd be silent through the whole episode. Has that ever happened to a companion before? Where they are physically there, but have no dialog whatsoever through the episode? If so, I don't recall it.
I'm not sure this "planet of nothing but good" concept was entirely thought out. It takes nothing at all, not even the slightest hint of temptation, for Kassia to go "let's be evil and start killing people" and they really don't give a second thought to killing the Doctor and Adric in cold blood. As long as someone has the label "evil" it's perfectly fine to murder them in whatever way they see fit and that's "good?"
Then again, that may have been exactly what the writer was intending, so show that under the surface, everyone has the ability to go overboard. It's our choices that ultimately decide whether we behave ourselves or not.
It hasn't been mentioned yet, but something I am curious about ... The Keeper is said to be over a thousand years old. Maybe he's kept alive through artificial/technological means, but just how long to Trakens live? Kassia is Nyssa's mother, yes? Yet when standing side by side, they look to be exactly the same age. To an outsider, they look more like sisters than mother and daughter.
Following that logic, Trakens age rather slowly. Perhaps their life span is two or three hundred years. Who knows? But it does seem clear that Tremas is quite a bit older than Kassia. That means he's likely to die sooner than she. So the gift of naming him the next Keeper means he would live for several hundred more years. As someone who is relatively young, Kassia should welcome this, right? She keeps going on and on about how she's doing all this evil stuff and following Melkur just so she can keep her husband from becoming the Keeper and because she wants to be with him for a long time. Ok ... so if we're thinking logically, let him be the Keeper and you're keeping him around far longer than he otherwise would be.
Or is Kassia perhaps his second wife? That would explain the apparent age difference, and why she is so determined to hang on to him.
Or maybe the genders age differently. Maybe we'll find out in the next episode?
Kassia is the second wife - It's been a while since I've watched it but doesn't the first episode show their wedding?
I think the suggestion is that when he becomes Keeper Tremas will have to dedicate his life to the role so she's basically losing her husband immediately.
I think the suggestion is that when he becomes Keeper Tremas will have to dedicate his life to the role so she's basically losing her husband immediately.
The Keeper of Traken, part 3
The trio is taken to a jail cell, where they will be closely watched (uh huh).
Nyssa tells Kassia not to harm her father, pretty much confirming that Kassia is not her mother. Well, that answers that!
Nyssa forces her way into her father's cell, even shooting the guards to do it. She helps the trio escape. They go to her quarters, which have already been searched and are a mess.
They make their way back to the Tardis in the Grove, when all heck breaks out. The Keeper is dying. Kassia, under Melkur's influence, becomes the new Keeper. For about a minute.
The Doctor hears Melkur speaking, telling him to look into its eyes. Familiar, isn't it? We see inside Melkur. It is the Crispy Master, as last seen in The Deadly Assassin. And Melkur is his Tardis.
As everyone witnesses, Kassia disappears from the Keeper's chair, replaced by "Melkur."
* * *
That was fun. It's nice to see the Master back after a long absence.
Kassia didn't get anything she wanted. How sad for her. Because of her own jealousy, she wouldn't let Tremas become the Keeper. This enabled the Master to take control, and in the end, kill her. And who is to blame? In this case, it really isn't the Master. It's her.
The trio is taken to a jail cell, where they will be closely watched (uh huh).
Nyssa tells Kassia not to harm her father, pretty much confirming that Kassia is not her mother. Well, that answers that!
Nyssa forces her way into her father's cell, even shooting the guards to do it. She helps the trio escape. They go to her quarters, which have already been searched and are a mess.
They make their way back to the Tardis in the Grove, when all heck breaks out. The Keeper is dying. Kassia, under Melkur's influence, becomes the new Keeper. For about a minute.
The Doctor hears Melkur speaking, telling him to look into its eyes. Familiar, isn't it? We see inside Melkur. It is the Crispy Master, as last seen in The Deadly Assassin. And Melkur is his Tardis.
As everyone witnesses, Kassia disappears from the Keeper's chair, replaced by "Melkur."
* * *
That was fun. It's nice to see the Master back after a long absence.
Kassia didn't get anything she wanted. How sad for her. Because of her own jealousy, she wouldn't let Tremas become the Keeper. This enabled the Master to take control, and in the end, kill her. And who is to blame? In this case, it really isn't the Master. It's her.
Wow. Thank you.
If I may ask, how did you discover the forum and the thread? And I'm glad you're along for the ride!The Keeper of Traken 4
Adric takes Nyssa into the Tardis. There, they build a device that, they hope, will overload the Keeper's power and destroy "Melkur."
Melkur orders the remaining Consuls (the planet's leaders) to their quarters, dismissing them.
The Doctor and Tremas are escorted to Tremas's quarters. There, the Doctor knocks out the guards and they escape.
Melkur hypnotizes Tremas, who is forced to kill a guard.
The Master finally outs himself to the Doctor. The machine goes haywire, the Doctor escapes, and one of the two remaining Consuls becomes the new Keeper. Shortly after the Doctor and Adric leave, the Master takes over Tremas's body, killing the man in the process.
* * *
In a way, this is the Master regenerating, something that has only been shown one other time, in the third season episode "Utopia." We've seen multi-Doctor stories. This is as close as we've ever had to a multi-Master story. Yes, I'm stretching. But we really do only have two instances where there is more than one Master around (for a regeneration and whatever the hell you'd call this one).
It's a fairly good story overall with little padding. Ah, another one time only thing ... This is the only time I can recall that introduced a companion who wasn't ... Nyssa was introduced in this, but did not leave with the Doctor. Nor did he offer to bring her along. There has been one instance where he offered, the person said no, then at a later point joined up and became a companion - Donna Noble. Adric wasn't offered the position, he just stowed away in the Tardis and they kept him around, so Nyssa is in a unique position.
Up next, we meet Tegan. I like her. She is a raving bitch, but you always know exactly where you stand with her. I can appreciate that.
Heh, the Forum, I think knowledge of TrekBBS in General is in the Genetic Makeup of SciFi Fans. I post on several boards (ABC, 2 B5 Boards, a Stephen R. Donaldson Site, and observe several others
As far as the Dr Who Sub-Forum, I've been watching several things online recently (V's Return, Caprica and SGU return dates and subsequent cancellations, Dr. Who Christmas Special and Primeval Return...) and when I breezed through TrekBBS general Scifi Area, it was all there.
Your thread...It was on the first couple pages, and I read it ravenously.
Yea, I like Teagan, precisely because she's so abrasive, nice contrast to Davison's more mellowed and Mature Doctor. Loved the exchange where she ends explaining how she was so stupid to just wander in.
heh, I was about to correct you on Donna
As far as the Dr Who Sub-Forum, I've been watching several things online recently (V's Return, Caprica and SGU return dates and subsequent cancellations, Dr. Who Christmas Special and Primeval Return...) and when I breezed through TrekBBS general Scifi Area, it was all there.
Your thread...It was on the first couple pages, and I read it ravenously.
Yea, I like Teagan, precisely because she's so abrasive, nice contrast to Davison's more mellowed and Mature Doctor. Loved the exchange where she ends explaining how she was so stupid to just wander in.
heh, I was about to correct you on Donna
The Doctor becomes obsessed with fixing the chameleon circuit. He goes to Earth to borrow a police box, which he will measure and then take the measurements to Logopolis to get the circuits programmed in so they are an exact match.
On Earth, he finds a police box sitting on the side of the road. He materializes the Tardis around it - or so he thinks.
During his travels, he witnesses a strange white-clad figure in the distance.
A young flight attendant on her first day working, has an interesting (if abrasive) personality. Her aunt volunteers to drive her to work, but the car breaks down along the way. This flight attendant, Tegan, sees a blue police box in the distance and walks over to it to call for help.
Inside she goes ... it's the Tardis.
The Doctor and Adric go inside the other police box, only to find out inside it is a Tardis, a duplicate of the Doctor's, only with a different color scheme. And in they go, and in they go. It reminds me of that episode of Star Trek: TNG where they find the Yamata, and Riker and (Worf?) go to the door on the bridge, only to look through and see themselves staring from the other side, it's an endless cycle.
It is the Master's Tardis. And while Tegan is inside, he is playing with her aunt. Yep, he shrinks her down to the size of a doll.
* * *
It's never a good thing for the companions with the Doctor becomes obsessed with something. Remember when Six becomes obsessed with atoning? He tries to kill Peri. Ah, youth.
On Earth, he finds a police box sitting on the side of the road. He materializes the Tardis around it - or so he thinks.
During his travels, he witnesses a strange white-clad figure in the distance.
A young flight attendant on her first day working, has an interesting (if abrasive) personality. Her aunt volunteers to drive her to work, but the car breaks down along the way. This flight attendant, Tegan, sees a blue police box in the distance and walks over to it to call for help.
Inside she goes ... it's the Tardis.
The Doctor and Adric go inside the other police box, only to find out inside it is a Tardis, a duplicate of the Doctor's, only with a different color scheme. And in they go, and in they go. It reminds me of that episode of Star Trek: TNG where they find the Yamata, and Riker and (Worf?) go to the door on the bridge, only to look through and see themselves staring from the other side, it's an endless cycle.
It is the Master's Tardis. And while Tegan is inside, he is playing with her aunt. Yep, he shrinks her down to the size of a doll.
* * *
It's never a good thing for the companions with the Doctor becomes obsessed with something. Remember when Six becomes obsessed with atoning? He tries to kill Peri. Ah, youth.
Well technically you could add Rose and Mickey into the mix. Rose was offered she said no, then ten seconds later she said yes
and Mickey was offered a berth on the Tardis by the 9th Doctor but didn't join up till the following series. 
Well technically you could add Rose and Mickey into the mix. Rose was offered she said no, then ten seconds later she said yes
I still argue that. How do we know it happened just a few seconds later? He was gone. The Tardis was gone. The Doctor ages slowly. He could have easily been gone for a hundred years, had dozens of companions and thousands of adventures before coming back.
Logopolis, Part 2
The Doctor is arrested for Tegan's aunt's disappearance, but Adric smartly gets him out of it.
The Doctor gets an update from Traken. Now he knows about Tremas' death and the Master's escape. Meanwhile, Tegan finds the Master's Tardis inside the cloister room, and she loses it.
The Doctor plans to land the Tardis in water and flush the Master out. It materializes, however, on a boat. In the distance, he again sees the white figure. He speaks with the figure and sets course for Logopolis.
Tegan finally meets Adric and the Doctor. Nyssa pops in to say "hi, Adric."
The Doctor locks them out of the Tardis, which begins shrinking.
* * *
The Master, I get it. I understand that, without question, when they cast the actor in Traken they knew it was going to be an ongoing part. I wonder about Nyssa, though. Was this a case like Donna? Did they decide after she went away that they wanted her as a companion? I don't know. Maybe it's answered in one of the commentaries, I'll listen to them at some later point.
It is so cool seeing the Tardis shrink like that. It's like a baby Tardis.
Something I hadn't realized before ... In the Sarah Jane story where she's going to have a wedding, there's something bizarre going on with the Tardis, preventing it from landing. They used the "Tardis is sick" sound effect from this episode. I hadn't even thought about it before this, but then I'm watching this episode and "Hey, I know that sound!"
Seems so weird to only have two episodes to go with this Doctor. Oh I know, there are a couple stories I skipped. That's because I don't have the dvds, or they came out too late to add them in.
I have a copy of Shada on tape. I bought it from a Hollywood Video that was closing several years ago, but haven't played it before. I might just pop that in before moving on to the Fifth Doctor.
Well technically you could add Rose and Mickey into the mix. Rose was offered she said no, then ten seconds later she said yes
I still argue that. How do we know it happened just a few seconds later? He was gone. The Tardis was gone. The Doctor ages slowly. He could have easily been gone for a hundred years, had dozens of companions and thousands of adventures before coming back.
Logopolis, Part 2
The Doctor is arrested for Tegan's aunt's disappearance, but Adric smartly gets him out of it.
The Doctor gets an update from Traken. Now he knows about Tremas' death and the Master's escape. Meanwhile, Tegan finds the Master's Tardis inside the cloister room, and she loses it.
The Doctor plans to land the Tardis in water and flush the Master out. It materializes, however, on a boat. In the distance, he again sees the white figure. He speaks with the figure and sets course for Logopolis.
Tegan finally meets Adric and the Doctor. Nyssa pops in to say "hi, Adric."
The Doctor locks them out of the Tardis, which begins shrinking.
* * *
The Master, I get it. I understand that, without question, when they cast the actor in Traken they knew it was going to be an ongoing part. I wonder about Nyssa, though. Was this a case like Donna? Did they decide after she went away that they wanted her as a companion? I don't know. Maybe it's answered in one of the commentaries, I'll listen to them at some later point.
It is so cool seeing the Tardis shrink like that. It's like a baby Tardis.
Something I hadn't realized before ... In the Sarah Jane story where she's going to have a wedding, there's something bizarre going on with the Tardis, preventing it from landing. They used the "Tardis is sick" sound effect from this episode. I hadn't even thought about it before this, but then I'm watching this episode and "Hey, I know that sound!"
Seems so weird to only have two episodes to go with this Doctor. Oh I know, there are a couple stories I skipped. That's because I don't have the dvds, or they came out too late to add them in.
I have a copy of Shada on tape. I bought it from a Hollywood Video that was closing several years ago, but haven't played it before. I might just pop that in before moving on to the Fifth Doctor.
Logopolis is a near perfectly executed story
I got my Shada VHS at Hollywood Video in 1998, for $20. It's fun, about 1/3 of it is intact, the rest is storyboarded and narrated. I think Shada would've been a stronger episode than City of Death became.
Well technically you could add Rose and Mickey into the mix. Rose was offered she said no, then ten seconds later she said yes
I still argue that. How do we know it happened just a few seconds later? He was gone. The Tardis was gone. The Doctor ages slowly. He could have easily been gone for a hundred years, had dozens of companions and thousands of adventures before coming back.
well whether it was ten seconds of ten years she still turned it down then agreed
I like to think that he did fly off for ages, and that something in his travels prompted him to go back and ask her again.
Logopolis, Part 3
Adric and one of the Logopolins try to figure out what caused the Tardis to shrink while Tegan and Nyssa explore.
Adric sees the white guy.
Tegan finds laborers in a sort of sweat shop and gets hopping mad. Nyssa hears a familiar voice calling her name. It is the Master, only she doesn't realize it. She thinks it is her father, the reason she came to this planet. He puts a bracelet on her that will cause her great pain, just like he'd done to her step-mother.
The Tardis is restored. The Doctor tells Tegan her aunt is dead, and the Master is to blame.
They all see white guy again. Nyssa tells the Doctor he (the white guy) brought her to Logopolis, saying that he is a friend of the Doctor's. The Doctor tells Nyssa bout her father / the Master. But she's already under his control, so it doesn't do any good.
Due to plot contrivances, the Doctor and the Master are forced to work together to save the universe from going all 'splody.
* * *
In a recent episode of the Sarah Jane Adventures, we find out what past companions are up to in the modern age. Among the list is Tegan, who is fighting for the rights of Aboriginals in Australia. There was the usual amount of chatter on the net about how it seemed out of character for her , but if one looks at this episode, it's not out of character in the least. She is truly concerned for the laborers on Logopolis, and goes out of her way to try and help them.
Yes, I know who the "white guy" is, but he hasn't been revealed yet, so I'm refraining from naming him until they do it in the episode.
Tonight, after watching this episode, I finally popped in the tape of "Shada" ... I had purchased it from Hollywood Video many years ago, when they decided to phase out videotapes, along with about a dozen other Doctor Who titles. A few of them are also unreleased on dvd (Pertwee Dalek stories, for example), but for whatever reason, I have let them sit on shelves this whole time. Well mostly I think because I don't have any other videotapes, nor a VCR anymore. But there is one in the living room, and it was such a cool experience ... I know there was talk of finally releasing Shada on dvd. I really hope they do, as it's brilliant. I honestly think that if the strike hadn't happened - if they hadn't lost those two or three days of filming, and had completed it - this story would have been universally thought of as the very best Doctor Who story.
I'm almost sad to see Tom Baker go, but at the same time, he's not really going anywhere. There are other stories that haven't been released yet - or ones that were recently released and I don't have yet, such as Meglos and Revenge of the Cybermen. But as with The Dominators and the Dalek War stories, after I have completed the Seventh Doctor's episodes, I'll go back and add those in.
Adric and one of the Logopolins try to figure out what caused the Tardis to shrink while Tegan and Nyssa explore.
Adric sees the white guy.
Tegan finds laborers in a sort of sweat shop and gets hopping mad. Nyssa hears a familiar voice calling her name. It is the Master, only she doesn't realize it. She thinks it is her father, the reason she came to this planet. He puts a bracelet on her that will cause her great pain, just like he'd done to her step-mother.
The Tardis is restored. The Doctor tells Tegan her aunt is dead, and the Master is to blame.
They all see white guy again. Nyssa tells the Doctor he (the white guy) brought her to Logopolis, saying that he is a friend of the Doctor's. The Doctor tells Nyssa bout her father / the Master. But she's already under his control, so it doesn't do any good.
Due to plot contrivances, the Doctor and the Master are forced to work together to save the universe from going all 'splody.
* * *
In a recent episode of the Sarah Jane Adventures, we find out what past companions are up to in the modern age. Among the list is Tegan, who is fighting for the rights of Aboriginals in Australia. There was the usual amount of chatter on the net about how it seemed out of character for her , but if one looks at this episode, it's not out of character in the least. She is truly concerned for the laborers on Logopolis, and goes out of her way to try and help them.
Yes, I know who the "white guy" is, but he hasn't been revealed yet, so I'm refraining from naming him until they do it in the episode.
Tonight, after watching this episode, I finally popped in the tape of "Shada" ... I had purchased it from Hollywood Video many years ago, when they decided to phase out videotapes, along with about a dozen other Doctor Who titles. A few of them are also unreleased on dvd (Pertwee Dalek stories, for example), but for whatever reason, I have let them sit on shelves this whole time. Well mostly I think because I don't have any other videotapes, nor a VCR anymore. But there is one in the living room, and it was such a cool experience ... I know there was talk of finally releasing Shada on dvd. I really hope they do, as it's brilliant. I honestly think that if the strike hadn't happened - if they hadn't lost those two or three days of filming, and had completed it - this story would have been universally thought of as the very best Doctor Who story.
I'm almost sad to see Tom Baker go, but at the same time, he's not really going anywhere. There are other stories that haven't been released yet - or ones that were recently released and I don't have yet, such as Meglos and Revenge of the Cybermen. But as with The Dominators and the Dalek War stories, after I have completed the Seventh Doctor's episodes, I'll go back and add those in.
I agree on Shada that it's a shame it wasn't completed properly, and if it had been, it would have been considered one of the best. I take some comfort in the fact it was completed as a flash animated webcast with The Eighth Doctor (with Romana II and K-9). Taken as an audio play, it's one of my favorite stories.
QFT
I had no issue with Tegan becoming an activist, it made sense for the character (and you just know she achieved things unlike Jo who just seemed to protest everthing) but what slightly annoyed me was the nature of her activism. Oh she's Australian so she must be fighting for aboriginal rights, its lazy storytelling, given Janet's own activism it would have been nicer if they'd gone with womens' rights.
As lazy as RTD is when it comes to writing, I was surprised he got as many companions in there as he did. Where was Nyssa? And Turlough? They're aliens, but so what? Couldn't even be name checked?
Logopolis, part 4
Nyssa and Adric leave in the Tardis, her ticket back to Earth.
The Master runs to his Tardis, where he gets buried in rubble, but the Doctor saves him.
White Guy is given a name - the Watcher. He takes over the Doctor's Tardis, as Nyssa and Adric watch, freaking out.
Tegan, the Doctor, and the Master go to Earth in the Master's Tardis. The Watcher tells Adric to take the Tardis to Earth. Planets and galaxies are being wiped out. On Earth, the two Time Lords are working with computers to stop it.
Among the planets gone missing is Traken.
Adric and Nyssa arrive on Earth. The Doctor once again goes to talk with the Watcher. The Doctor and the Master make their way to a giant satellite dish. Up, up, up they climb. They send the "Fix" signal, then fight.
As the three companions watch from below, horrified, the Doctor falls to his death. The Master leaves. Past companions and enemies pop in to say goodbye. The Watcher merges with him as he regenerates into Five.
* * *
Both the plot and resolution for this story were reused in The Shakespeare Code. There, it was words. Here it's numbers. But it's nice to see them going green. Come to think of it, they did something similar in School Reunion as well.
Anywho, as much as Tegan wanted to get back home, she didn't take her opportunity to leave. She could have said "The Hell with this!" and left as soon as they were back on Earth. She makes up for it later by leaving twice, though, so I guess it's ok.
And with this, we say "Farewell" to the longest-running onscreen Doctor. Technically, both Seven and Eight had longer periods where they were the official Doctor, but on screen, Seven had three years, and Eight had just one tv movie. Thankfully, they've both made up for it in spades with the Big Finish audios.
It's too bad Tom Baker checked out midway through this story. This was yet another of those stories that makes absolutely no sense, and we're relying on Tom Baker as the Doctor to raise the level of acting up, either to make it absurd or overly dramatic. He doesn't do either, it's a straight reading of every line. He's checked out, and the others around are trying their best to cover for it, bless 'em, but when the lead is gone, they can only do so much.
I still say Logopolis is Tom's best, just ahead of Robots of Death and Pirate Planet. It's not like these days where the universe is under threat every week in DW; the threat felt big, to the point a cliffhanger was the Doctor and Master shaking hands.
Well I like it. *****
Well I like it. *****
Castrovalva, episode 1
Written by Christopher Bidmead
Directed by Fiona Cumming
The three companions are briefly captured by authorities. After all, they are trespassing at the satellite. Tegan, Nyssa, and the newly-regenerated Doctor escape, leaving Adric behind. Some time later, they come back and pick up Adric. None of them notice that the policemen are all unconscious and there is a Roman Column in the middle of them. They're all obviously blind.
In his post-Regeneration haze, the Doctor is looking for something called the "Zero Room" ... it's a room in the Tardis which will allow him to relax his mind and body, integrating his new personality fully. As he stumbles along searching for it, his personality alters from one previous Doctor to another.
With the girls' help, he finds the room. Uh oh. While he's in there, Tegan finds out the Master had kidnapped Adric, and now the Tardis is off course, flying directly into the Big Bang!
* * *
As with Matt Smith, Peter Davison likes channeling the elder Doctors. He's not very good at it, but bless him, he tries. I'm sure while viewing this, many Fourth Doctor fans were passing out, near death, from seeing what he *appears to be doing* with the scarf.
This first episode with the new Doctor would be a terrible introduction for new viewers. Previously, writers/producers have taken great pains to tell the new Doctor's story in such a way that new viewers aren't going to be lost. In this one, even long time viewers may be looking at it with a "wtf is he doing?" kind of expression.
I have to say, I am SO over the Master's laugh.
I don't mean him saying some line of dialog such as "You are about to meet your doom, Doctor! Ha Ha!" I mean spending an episode or two doing nothing but laughing off-screen. He all but did that here, until he finally showed up in the last few seconds of the episode. But in Logopolis, that's exactly what he did. The first two episodes, the only thing he did was laugh in his maniacal way. It gets old. At this point, he is not the Master. He is a generic stereotypical mustache-twirling heavy bad guy. After Delgado's brilliant performance, it's a big let down for fans of the character. Beevers was fantastic in the role too ... Ainley DOES get better, but right now? Blah.
Written by Christopher Bidmead
Directed by Fiona Cumming
The three companions are briefly captured by authorities. After all, they are trespassing at the satellite. Tegan, Nyssa, and the newly-regenerated Doctor escape, leaving Adric behind. Some time later, they come back and pick up Adric. None of them notice that the policemen are all unconscious and there is a Roman Column in the middle of them. They're all obviously blind.
In his post-Regeneration haze, the Doctor is looking for something called the "Zero Room" ... it's a room in the Tardis which will allow him to relax his mind and body, integrating his new personality fully. As he stumbles along searching for it, his personality alters from one previous Doctor to another.
With the girls' help, he finds the room. Uh oh. While he's in there, Tegan finds out the Master had kidnapped Adric, and now the Tardis is off course, flying directly into the Big Bang!
* * *
As with Matt Smith, Peter Davison likes channeling the elder Doctors. He's not very good at it, but bless him, he tries. I'm sure while viewing this, many Fourth Doctor fans were passing out, near death, from seeing what he *appears to be doing* with the scarf.
This first episode with the new Doctor would be a terrible introduction for new viewers. Previously, writers/producers have taken great pains to tell the new Doctor's story in such a way that new viewers aren't going to be lost. In this one, even long time viewers may be looking at it with a "wtf is he doing?" kind of expression.
I have to say, I am SO over the Master's laugh.
I don't mean him saying some line of dialog such as "You are about to meet your doom, Doctor! Ha Ha!" I mean spending an episode or two doing nothing but laughing off-screen. He all but did that here, until he finally showed up in the last few seconds of the episode. But in Logopolis, that's exactly what he did. The first two episodes, the only thing he did was laugh in his maniacal way. It gets old. At this point, he is not the Master. He is a generic stereotypical mustache-twirling heavy bad guy. After Delgado's brilliant performance, it's a big let down for fans of the character. Beevers was fantastic in the role too ... Ainley DOES get better, but right now? Blah.
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