Despite the title sounding like a Scottish copyright regulatory body, Logopolis is a planet where the inhabitants do complex computations in their heads, somehow keeping the universe together. A white figure tells the Doctor to go there, an old villain arrives, new companions are introduced, and (unbeknownst to me while watching) a new Doctor is too. For such a busy serial, it is surprising that it feels padded and dull. The plot doesn't zing as the return of the Master suggests it should, nor does it carry the weight that the end of Baker's era should.
Deep down there are interesting themes - everything is crumbling, decaying, and breaking down; it is interesting because there is the feeling even retrospectively that the fading away of Baker is somehow related to a dip in the show's quality. If this is a deliberate theme then it is not used well because it does little with it apart from have lots of bits of the set fall down (although the sets look so basic here that one wonders if their crumbling was not just fortuitous and not by design). Outside of this we have a lot of characters being moved around but not doing much; considering the stakes are so high there was also a lack of urgency, and the presence of The Master didn't seem that big of an event.
The cast are mostly uninspiring. Baker does his usual stuff but not much to play with here. Ainley tries with a thankless task, but it was probably a mistake to try to copy a better performance, as opposed to just make the character a new one. Waterhouse, Sutton, Fielding - all very am-dram at times. Baker gets a good send-off, with some reflection of villains and companions etc - not quite the full 'gay wedding' we get with modern Doctors, but nice nonetheless. Aside from this though, it is quite an unremarkable serial, mostly due to uninspiring plotting and sets.
Deep down there are interesting themes - everything is crumbling, decaying, and breaking down; it is interesting because there is the feeling even retrospectively that the fading away of Baker is somehow related to a dip in the show's quality. If this is a deliberate theme then it is not used well because it does little with it apart from have lots of bits of the set fall down (although the sets look so basic here that one wonders if their crumbling was not just fortuitous and not by design). Outside of this we have a lot of characters being moved around but not doing much; considering the stakes are so high there was also a lack of urgency, and the presence of The Master didn't seem that big of an event.
The cast are mostly uninspiring. Baker does his usual stuff but not much to play with here. Ainley tries with a thankless task, but it was probably a mistake to try to copy a better performance, as opposed to just make the character a new one. Waterhouse, Sutton, Fielding - all very am-dram at times. Baker gets a good send-off, with some reflection of villains and companions etc - not quite the full 'gay wedding' we get with modern Doctors, but nice nonetheless. Aside from this though, it is quite an unremarkable serial, mostly due to uninspiring plotting and sets.