Tom Baker: The Beginning, End and In-Between (Part 2)
John Hussey concludes his review of several stories from the Tom Baker era.
‘The Pirate Planet’
By Douglas Adams (1978, 4 Episodes)
“Appreciate it… appreciate it! You commit mass destruction and murder on a scale that’s almost inconceivable and you ask me to appreciate it! Just because you happen to have made a brilliantly-conceived toy out of the mummified remains of planets.”
‘The Pirate Planet’ served as the second narrative to the ‘Key to Time’ arc and saw Douglas Adams join the Doctor Who universe. I really enjoy this serial immensely because of Adams’ approach to storytelling. At moments it can feel silly, other times it can feel grand in its scale whilst also feeling serious which served as the heart of the narrative.
Deep below the fun nature of the plot there was a diabolical plan for immortality at the cost of hundreds of civilisations and planets crushed and squeezed for raw materials. The whole image of the Pirate planet is just horrific knowing that it had been constantly moving from planet to planet and using them as a mining ground. This revelation fit in well with the strange build up prior which showcased the Captain possessing dimensional controls, the people of the world suddenly being granted riches and omens whilst other citizens suffered from physic attacks.
This serial also allowed some good development between the Fourth Doctor and Romana, with the latter still feeling smug about herself in her knowledge of things. Firstly she questioned the Doctor’s non-usage of the TARDIS manual. She later tried being the Doctor in order to gain answers from the locals before eventually being captured by guards and foolishly failing to realise the dangers of the Captain. Romana eventually stood back and watched as the Fourth Doctor took centre stage, learning how ridiculous ideas can resolve a situation. Also there’s the joy of seeing K9’s involvement in the serial, like all his other appearances, especially when he drove the car and played retriever with the Captain’s robot parrot.
The Fourth Doctor’s character was well written through his different traits shown throughout. One minute he was using jelly babies to lure guards out into the open before stealing their ride, then he jokingly teased the Captain before later on becoming appalled by his enemies ideals of art in the form of crushed planets. One also can’t forget the Fourth Doctor cunningly fooling the Captain into believing he walked the plank to his death through holographic projection.
‘Destiny of the Daleks’
By Terry Nation (1979, 4 Episodes)
“If you’re supposed to be the superior race in the universe why don’t you try climbing after us? Bye-bye!”
‘Destiny of the Daleks’ offers the incorporation of both Terry Nation’s genius as well as Douglas Adam’s sense of humour. The mix resulting in a satisfactory return for the evil creatures after being off-air for four seasons. It must be said though that Romana’s regeneration always baffles me as to why it came about, but this lingering question is pushed aside by the hilarious scene of the Fourth Doctor choosing her suitable choice in new form. The expressions and answers he gave were priceless, “No thank you. Not today.” and “Too tall, take it away.” It was also a tremendous shame that K9 wasn’t involved in the serial as it would’ve be fantastic seeing him pitted against the Daleks. Sadly he was left inside the TARDIS with laryngitis.
The Daleks’ incorporation was well done, with Episode One’s cliff-hanger showcasing them as threatening towards Romana as they cornered her in the ruined Kaled city. It was shocking during her interrogation scenes as Romana was shown to have true fear for the first time during her adventures with the Doctor. I also found it clever when she faked her own death to escape the Daleks labour camp through the means of stopping her hearts. The labour camp idea really stood out for showing the Daleks ruthless nature along with the prisoner’s dialogue depicting the Daleks slaughter across the universe.
Davros’ return was a joy to see. I’ve always thought that the Fourth Doctor’s chemistry with Davros was always the best and this serial showcased it perfectly as they constantly challenged each other through wit, especially during the stand-off in Episode Three. Despite the fact that the Daleks tried killing him at the end of ‘Genesis of the Daleks,’ Davros still possessed his insane dream of controlling the Daleks and leading them towards victory, claiming their current achievements were merely their beginning and his return shall commence their true campaign. It was also intriguing to see Davros visualise his place as the Daleks’ leader as his destiny, believing the Daleks need his intelligence to survive.
What lent to this suggestion by Davros was the fact the serial revolved around the idea of the Daleks now becoming totally dependent on logic. They wished to retrieve Davros in an attempt to rekindle their origins of being an organic creature of conscious. I always find that the Daleks simply obeyed Davros from Episode Three onwards and served his very being, despite their statements of not needing him in their previous appearance, was all down to deceit. It was shown in their following serial ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’ that they merely needed Davros to think they served him in order to gain their goals through using him. I believe the same action was put into place here but was simply less obvious.
It was also quite clever that the Movellans had the same problem and intended to use the Fourth Doctor to solve their situation similar to the Daleks using Davros, progressing their stalemate war. The stalemate was shown perfectly again through the Fourth Doctor demonstrating the situation through a game of ‘rock, paper, scissors’. The resolution was great in showing both sides trying to entertain the idea of rash decisions, resulting in self- destruction (literally in the Daleks case) and Davros was imprisoned for his crimes, placing him as a universal enemy and strengthening his status as villain.
‘Full Circle’
By Andrew Smith (1980, 4 Episodes)
“Seek out the Doctor. He can teach you to fly the Starliner. It is my wish that you all leave Alzarius.”
Going from ‘Destiny of the Daleks’ to ‘Full Circle’ you can really see the change in direction and tone, and in many ways is the biggest transformation the show has received (next to the revival of the show in 2005). I believe that ‘Full Circle’, although not the last serial within John Nathan-Turner’s tenure, served as the bridging point between the Fourth and Fifth Doctor’s era.
The introduction of Adric, for instance, served as a massive nod towards the future. Though I always consider Adric more the Fourth Doctor’s companion, it doesn’t alter the fact that he went on to be a vital part of the Fifth Doctor’s era. There’s also the simple point of the serial indulging in the brand-new style of the show, something again that was a huge part of the next era, and I liked that about ‘Full Circle’ because you felt like your were watching the bridging point and observing the period in which the Fourth Doctor was getting ready to leave in the wake of the new generation.
Adric became the main element of the narrative, with Romana and K9 becoming minor characters, in order to showcase the new TARDIS crew and the new friendship born from this. Adric was an intelligent character who could aid the Doctor through his mathematical genius. I felt this was a fresh approach, especially since we hadn’t had a male companion since Harry Sullivan. Still it was strange to see Romana become one of the traditional companions who gets taken over by the villain of the piece.
The story itself was absolutely brilliant, especially with the incorporation of ‘The E-Space arc’ which had the Fourth Doctor, Romana and K9 fall through a CVE into Exo-Space. Conveniently this coincided with Romana’s forced return to Gallifrey which severed as an emotional scene due to Romana not wanting to return to the dull life within the Citadel. She wanted to stay with the Doctor and live his life that she became so fond of. The tragic part was the Fourth Doctor admitting his past defeat at the hands of the Time Lords, showcasing a moment where the Doctor felt vulnerable and without control.
The whole part about the evolution of the Marshmen was fascinating and granted a mystery that kept you engaged throughout. This was added by the secrets the Deciders kept from their people, lending to the question of whether or not citizens should be trusted with secret knowledge and whether or not they can handle the truth. This deceit was questionable throughout and you were forced to watch these secrets control the actions of the citizens as they endlessly repeated themselves in the vein effort of completing their promised goal of returning home to Terradon.
The title of the serial became a full-on meaning to the narrative by revealing that the Marshmen are part of a long cycle of life which the Alzarians are also a part of. This ended up being crossed with the Deciders’ secrets which explained they had never been to Terradon, a myth created to protect the citizens from the truth of their origins. I find this revelation to be a great pay-off and really granted the serial’s cycle of life a firm meaning.
‘Logopolis’
By Christopher H. Bidmead (1981, 4 Episodes)
“It’s the end… but the moment has been prepared for.”
I find myself in the middle with this serial as I don’t fully feel that it gave Tom Baker the send-off he deserved, however I still in some aspects find the serial to be promising, giving the Fourth Doctor a terrible journey during his final hour. It was a clever idea to link the previous and latter tale to this one, formulating a loose trilogy that saw the return of the Master. That was a smart move and helped not only with the transition of eras but allowed a foe worthy enough to defeat the Fourth Doctor into play.
My personal grudges against the serial are its pacing, being far too slow for a regeneration story and also for the Fourth Doctor. He seemed tamed by this point and Tom Baker’s performance wasn’t as riveting as his previous six seasons. It was almost like he didn’t enjoy himself anymore, probably due to the fact that his beloved friends Lalla Ward and John Leeson had moved on and was left with nothing he was too familiar with. By ‘Logopolis’ you could really tell that the tone of the show changed far too much to suit Tom Baker’s performance and this is why I feel John Nathan-Turner’s approach to the show made T. Baker’s final season somewhat disappointing and out of place. It felt like the Fifth Doctor’s era but minus the Fifth Doctor, with the dialogue and actions put into play for the Fourth Doctor appear unnatural to his kind of Doctor.
On top of this the narrative was rather too heavy for casual viewers, loaded with scientific references that makes even a hard-core fan confused. It just seemed rather dull throughout the first two parts before gaining some momentum in the final two. The slow reveal of the Master was interesting but served no real purpose other than his eventual ‘ta-da’ arrival to reveal his big plans. I feel a faster, more adventurous story would’ve better suited Tom Baker for his final outing and thus what we received wasn’t a satisfactory farewell, though in all fairness it was always going to be hard to give the Fourth Doctor’s era the perfect ending it deserved.
What I do like about ‘Logopolis’ is the Master’s mad curiosity to discover the truth behind the Logopolitans, ultimately meddling in affairs that were beyond his comprehension and resulted in the near end of the universe. This bleak part of the serial which depicted entropy eroding time and matter brought about the largest death count within a Doctor Who narrative, making the Master even more of a diabolical person. This was added by the fact that both Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka suffered great loses at the hands of the Master.
The resolution to the serial was the best part of the story, bringing about the Fourth Doctor as the hero of the universe as he attempted to prevent the Master’s blackmail. This of course brought about his death, despite the fact that the Fourth Doctor was warned about the possible outcome of his adventure through his meetings with the Watcher, granting his death a sort of prophecy feel. What also added to the prophecy idea was the Fourth Doctor’s weariness throughout the narrative, showcasing the Time Lord being vulnerable and without control over his destiny.
Even his final words showed this but he wasn’t a man who was defeated but a man who had won, facing his destiny head-on despite the implications involved. His enemies mocked him as his life flashed before his very eyes, but then his companions reassured him and with a smile on his face he knew he was amongst friends and perished doing what was right which in that sense granted Tom Baker a truly wonderful send-off.
