Doctor Who-Logopolis (1981) |
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Doctor Who-Logopolis (1981) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Science Fiction |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Tom Baker, Janet Fielding and Christopher H. Bidmead Informational Subtitles Featurette-A New Body at Last Featurette-Nationwide - Tom Baker Featurette-Nationwide - Peter Davison Featurette-Pebble Mill at One - Peter Davison Featurette-News Items Featurette-Trails and Continuities Gallery-Photo DVD-ROM Extras-1982 Doctor Who Annual DVD-ROM Extras-Radio Times Billings DVD-ROM Extras-Doctor Who Season 18 Sales Literature |
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| Year Of Production | 1981 | ||
| Running Time | 98:25 (Case: 179) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (67:35) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Peter Grimwade |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Tom Baker Peter Davison |
| Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
| RPI | Box | Music | None Given |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Full Frame |
English Dolby Digital 2.0  (192Kb/s)English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Alternate Music/Sound Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.29:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.29:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English for the Hearing Impaired English Information |
Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
The cloister bell in the TARDIS is ringing. That means trouble is on the way for the Doctor (Tom Baker), but trouble is something he would rather ignore until it is actually upon him so the Doctor looks for something to fill in the time until that time. Having recently seen a TARDIS with a working chameleon circuit (a gizmo that allows the TARDIS to take any external shape in order to blend in to the surrounds), the Doctor is inspired to finally get the chameleon circuit on his TARDIS fixed.
The Doctor and Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) briefly head to Earth to make sure they have the correct exterior dimensions for his TARDIS and inadvertently kidnap an Australian airline stewardess named Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) in the process. The Doctor and company then head to Logopolis, a city where the humanoid inhabitants (the Registers) live to perform calculations and have the ability to alter reality when their mathematic ability is combined.
Unbeknownst to the Doctor, along the course of his journey he has materialised his TARDIS around that of the Master and is now carrying the Master's TARDIS within his own. Worse still, this has created a near-infinite recursive loop of TARDIS' within one another - a convenient decoy for the Master to occupy the Doctor with as he tries to take over Logopolis. Furthermore, the Doctor is being shadowed by a mysterious white figure everywhere he goes.
Unfortunately for the universe, the Master's plan manages to unravel a secret the Logopolans have been hiding for generations - that their very ability to bend makeup of the universe has introduced such entropy into it that the universe is literally bursting at the seems. Only the concentrated efforts of the Logopolans can repair this damage, but it's nigh on impossible to concentrate when the Master is running around shrinking any Register that gets in his way!
This heavily conceptual mathematics-themed story has the entire universe in jeopardy - even more so than the average Doctor Who story anyway - and spells the end of the Doctor's life as he currently knows it... as Tom Baker that is.
Logopolis manages to weave a lot of conceptual mathematics theory, albeit largely simplified, together for a rather epic and sinister tale. It is one of the more dialogue driven stories that furthers the character of the Master almost as significantly as it does the Doctor himself. All in all it makes for a fitting exit for the longest surviving Doctor.
The video quality of these episodes is good, but not the best for Doctor Who of this era. Like most Doctor Who stories of this age, it is sourced from a mix of video (in-studio) and 16mm (on location). The difference between the two is obvious while watching, the former being sharper but prone to video artefacts and the later being softer and prone to film artefacts and grain.
The episodes are presented in their original 1.29:1 full frame aspect ratio.
The episodes are reasonably sharp, even the 16mm scenes, but suffer a significant amount of low-level noise. Some scenes, such as at 6:40, suffer from significantly worse levels of noise than others. This does not make the episodes unwatchable, but they are certainly inferior to many other recently released episodes of Doctor Who.
The colours appear fairly typical for a show of this age, pale by today's standard but reasonably accurate and certainly consistent. There is typically a good amount of shadow detail visible
No significant MPEG compression artefacts are noticeable beyond some mild background macro blocking. A raft of the usual old video artefacts, such as occasional comet trails and mild cross colouration, are noticeable but not terribly distracting. Several scenes (eg. at 37:07) appear to have undergone excessive edge enhancement, however, and this can be a little distracting.
White English subtitles for the hearing impaired are included. Based on the small section I sampled, they appear accurate and well timed.
This is a RSDL disc. The layer change occurs between the third and fourth episodes at 67:35.
A good deal of information about the restoration and transfer is available on the Doctor Who Restoration Team website.
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An English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kbps) audio track and a music-only Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kbps) audio track are available.
The remastered audio is of fair quality, although some portions sound noticeably worse that the rest. In particular, the dialogue in some scenes sounds heavily processed and a overly compressed (eg. at 2:00). These issues do not extend to the score, which has been very cleanly remastered. Even when it is at its worst, the dialogue is clearly audible and understandable (it just isn't terribly crisp) as well as well synchronised to the video.
The score for these episodes is very distinctive and a little different to many other Doctor Who scores in that it has a fairly identifiable hook to it. It also a slightly more traditional sounding score that opts for a more straight forward electric organ sound than some of the far out synth sounds found in other Doctor Who scores.
There is a modest degree of pro-logic surround usage in the soundtrack, mostly by the score, but there is very little bottom end that reaches subwoofer level.
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Fairly standard animation with clips and audio form the show.
The three commentators have quite a lot to say during the course of this commentary, not much that is terribly insightful but there is hardly a dead moment in this chatty commentary. Pet hates, favourite bits, dodgy behind-the-camera anecdotes, comparison between the Logopolans and sweat-shop labour - it's all surprisingly fluffy and makes for a better than average Doctor Who commentary.
A set of subtitles with production notes and other trivia about the episodes. Like many of the trivia tracks on Doctor Who releases, this one is filled with interesting information and well worth a read.
This is a bit of a mish-mash documentary that is loosely about the transition from Tom Baker to Peter Davison. It covers a bit of history around Tom Baker as the Doctor, a bit about the transition of personality and style between the fourth and fifth doctors and a bit about the actual transition that takes place during The Keeper of Traken. This hodge-podge nature actually does a good job of keeping the featurette interesting for its' duration. This one is well worth a watch.
Tom Baker appears on the British infotainment show Nationwide to discuss his departure from the show. As per most interviews with Tom Baker, he seems a little off in the clouds for the most part is strangely interesting nonetheless. This clip also provides a little history on past Doctors.
Peter Davison appears on the British infotainment show Nationwide to discuss his arrival to the show. This interview offers a little insight into Davison's goals in the role of Doctor Who and conjecture on how it would be fitting to dispose of Tom Baker.
Peter Davison appears on the long-running BBC lunchtime chat show Pebble Mill at One to discuss his debut as the Doctor. Beyond Doctor Who, Davison also discusses his time on All Creatures Great and Small and his then upcoming sitcom Sink or Swim. The highlight of this interview sees Davison commentating on a range of suggested new outfits for the Doctor (including one female outfit!).
A series of news items from the BBC news reports that announced the departure of Tom Baker and the arrival of Peter Davison in the role of the Doctor. These clips are very brief, many are just one-liners, but provide an interesting timeline of the change.
A series of clips of the continuity announcements bookending the episodes during their numerous broadcasts in the UK.
A fairly run-of-the-mill set of production stills done as a slideshow and backed by one of the better passages of music from the episodes.
A PDF copy of the 1982 Doctor Who annual, faithfully re-produced. This is the same document that appears on The Keeper of Traken and Castrovalva.
A 5 page PDF document that collates a variety of clippings about the episodes from the Radio Times (Britain's equivalent to the TV Guide) when the episodes first aired. Interesting archival material.
A 14 page PDF file with synopses, images, cast information and technical details of the episodes, used for international sales of the series. This is the same document that appears on The Keeper of Traken and Castrovalva.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
Logopolis is only available in Regions 2 and 4 as part of the New Beginnings box set. It will be available separately in Region 1 as of around June 2007 and features an identical set of special features to the Region 2/4 disc. I would favour the Region 2/4 release as it preserves the original PAL formatting.
A fitting farewell to the longest serving Doctor, Tom Baker, and truly the end of an era. Logopolis features an engaging and sinister plot that well and truly ranks at the better end of Doctor Who episodes.
The range of extras focus heavily on archival material, but are is pretty much about as good as you could ask of a single disc release.
The video and audio are both reasonable, but far from perfect. The video, in particular, appears to have suffered the ravages of time (no pun intended!) in the form of a noisy picture, despite extensive restoration.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | LG V8824W, using S-Video output |
| Display | LG 80cm 4x3 CRT. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Pioneer VSX-D512. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Pioneer VSX-D512 |
| Speakers | 150W DTX front speakers, and a 100W centre and 2 surrounds, 12 inch PSB Image 6i powered sub |