Forty Years Since the Folding of the Fourth

It should not come as a surprise to anyone who thinks about it for more than a second, especially if they’ve been a fan for more than that ‘second,’ that any piece of popular culture which has been around for 57 years that the long coattails of history matter every bit as much, if not more so, than the continuing evolution and production of ‘the new.’  Doctor Who is chock-a-block with this of course in the form of anniversaries, heck there’s a running column of these of this very site, but once in a great while there are some points on the calendar (November 23rd anyone?) which hold more sway than others.

Late in 2019 we referenced one of these regarding David Tennant and now (well… tomorrow as this is posted) there’s one for Tom Baker.  March 21 marks the 40th anniversary for episode 4 of Logopolis which ended the Tom Baker era.  It seems like we’ve talked about this funereal final story for Baker more than we really have, and in fact if the Tour really had its act together we would have timed the HD Re-classic-ation upgrade for Logopolis until this anniversary, but the Tour Honchos rarely are that organized. 

In any event the Tour simply loves Logopolis because it is such a distinct story in the panoply of Doctor Who.  Like the nested Tardises this story gets increasing darker as it goes until a significant portion of the cosmos gets blinked out by the forces of entropy.

There are those fans who only like ‘dark’ Doctor Who because of the seriousness, and by extension ‘adultness,’ that this conveys to Doctor Who and away from its ‘childrens television’ roots.  The Tours favorite story The Caves of Androzani, also a regeneration story, is so dark that only 1 character, Peri, makes it out alive.   But the beauty of Doctor Who is the balance of light and dark.  You can also have City of Death,  which despite its title, is as light and frothy as they come, and they’re both adored.