Four-Gone Conclusion

There’s a temptation when an internet Doctor Who related ‘something,’ a website or a twitter account, is about to go away, either temporarily or permanently, is to use a well-worn line on the way out. One of these is Tegan in Resurrection of the Daleks saying “It’s stopped being fun, Doctor. Goodbye.” Another, and more infamous in its own way, is Tom Baker’s last line from Logopolis, “It’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for.” Heck, we’ve used that line ourselves when important changes are about to happen within the Tour.

Relax Tour faithful, you’re not getting rid of us that easily, even if it were true, but the notion that that particular line should still resonate almost 40 years later speaks to the lasting quality of Tom Baker’s final story, and this is despite the general opinion that Logopolis is not the easiest story to follow. Much of that is down to the Watcher, the spectral mummy-like figure which haunts Logopolis and whose final explanation doesn’t make that much sense, not that it has to.

For fans looking for a different take on what makes Logopolis interesting, and hence worth an occasional re-visit, will have to look elsewhere than the Tour as ours is decidedly down-the-middle. The funereal qualities and the overall sense of doom have seldom been matched in Doctor Who, despite efforts (such as The Name of the Doctor) to try.

One last odd quirk to Logopolis which we were alerted to before our last re-watch, and once you notice it you can’t un-see it, ol’Tom seldom ever, at least obviously, is looking directly at the other actor with whom he’s exchanging dialogue, he’s looking just off to the side or into the middle distance. Perhaps it was a way of cooping that a huge part of his working life was coming to an end, or that despite protestations to the contrary, he really didn’t want to go.