I Was Unprepared for the Moment

No matter how I'm feeling about its story mechanics, the new companions or even Tom Baker's question-mark infested lapels, Logopolis is always an emotional story. And no more so after this incredible rewatch. It's meant to be epic, and the excitement and dread I felt the first time I watched the story still echoes across the years (not unlike the Watcher himself).

The money shot of Logopolis has always been that moment when the Doctor emerges from the TARDIS, having escaped the Master's little recursive trap, to spy the Watcher standing by the fence on the other side of the Barnett bypass. The haunting look on Tom Baker's face and the lovely little bit of sad incidental music from Paddy Kingsland are married into one of Doctor Who's truly iconic moments. And thanks to the fall filming schedule, you can see the Doctor's breath, adding an extra layer of poignancy.

The show feels like a different program since the season eighteen debut of The Leisure Hive. The domestics between Tegan and Auntie Vanessa are light years away from the otherworldly discourse of the Doctor and Romana.

And to paraphrase Alice I try to believe 6 impossible things after imbibing a bottle of red wine:

• That you can flush out your evil nemesis by materializing your TARDIS under the Thames and opening the door.
• That the Doctor would fall for that phony Light Speed Overdrive trick; I mean couldn't the Master materialize inside the control room and THEN take the damned thing out.
• How exactly were the peoples of the universe suppose to respond to the Master? Was there a 1-800 number? Were they supposed to text STOP or UNCLE?
• Why didn't the Doctor and Tegan just allow Nyssa's rogue arm to strangle Adric. Think of all the grief that could have been avoided!
• Retroactively, was the 4th Doctor particularly fragile when he fell from that telescope? After all the 10th Doctor managed quite the impressive skydive in The End of Time.

And so the "grand tour" comes to an end after a little over 10 months later. And what a fantastic journey it's been. Appointment Doctor Who is always special and adds that extra bit of anticipation to the nostalgia. It's remarkable to experience the changes that came during the fourth Doctor's era. Between 1974 and 1981 Doctor Who changed with the world around it. Robot and Logopolis look like very different programs, with both the Doctor and Tom Baker almost unrecognizable from start to finish. Try and imagine the universe-weary soul who paces around the TARDIS cloister room, jumping rope with Harry Sullivan. It blows my mind thinking about it. Those early stories had an optimism about leaving behind the earth-bound UNIT set-up and strikingly out into the Hinchcliffe/Holmes universe.

Trying to block out viewing time each week was also a challenge. This was a solitary viewing experience and while it became essential viewing, it was just watching the same old, same old Doctor Who to my partner, family and friends. It certainly helped to open that bottle of wine every week, mind you. All good ritual must have its accoutrements. I will certainly miss wandering through the aisles of the Summerhill LCBO, marveling at the hundreds and hundreds of vintages and table wines. I always felt a rush when I found a selection that perfectly complemented a story.

And of course there is always that bittersweet feeling when doing a rewatch that I might be watching a particular story for the last time. I encourage any Doctor Who fan to take the plunge and do a sequential rewatch. Feel free to use my reflections as a jumping off point or better yet, go out and buy yourself a copy of Running Through Corridors by Toby Hadoke and Rob Shearman. Heck, when their second volume comes out I'll probably be tempted to do the whole thing over again.

Viva la 4th Doctor, may he live forever!

Original viewing date: December 31, 1984

Wine: Black Tower Dornfielder Pinot Noir

Music: "Missing You," by John Waite