Logopolis (Doctor Who)

Doctor Who fans know that the TARDIS takes the shape of a British police box because of a broken chameleon circuit; it’s supposed to be able to take any shape, but the circuit got stuck in its most recognizable form. Determined to fix the problem, the Fourth Doctor and Adric go to Logopolis, a planet with astounding powers of mathematical calculation, to get the chameleon circuit fixed. But then the Master has to show up…

This is notable as the story that introduces Tegan and features the Fourth Doctor’s regeneration into the Fifth Doctor. It’s a delightfully weird story filled with scientific and mathematical technobabble. The novelization was pretty good, although perhaps lacking a final proofread (“pouring over documents”, show more “led” being spelled “lead”, etc.). Recommended for fans of the show. show less

http://nhw.livejournal.com/1052749.html#cutid2

Bidmead's write-up of his own story is reassuringly dynamic and exciting, if just a little over-written in places. In particular, Logopolis itself feels more like a real place, and the minor characters more like real people; the whole thing makes slightly better sense than what we saw on screen.

Christopher H. Bidmead's novelization of his four-part serial "Logopolis" is a standard adapt the script for the printed page affair that was common to the Target novelizations of the time. Bidmead does take the opportunity to try and iron out some of the inconsistencies in his script but except for a few limited passes, he rarely expands the story beyond what we saw on-screen.

The novelization itself is a three-star read. But the audio adaptation is only a two-star listen. A lot of that has to do with Bidmead as a narrator. He does well enough when the story is at its most descriptive, but when it comes down to imitating on-screen characters, Bidmead falters. His impression of Tegan is shrill and difficult to listen to while his fourth show more Doctor sounds more like Christopher Lee than Tom Baker. A good audio reading can be enhance or detract from a story--in this case it detracts.

Also, it's odd that the audio is produced by BBC Audio but that it's limited in which sound cues it can utilize in the story. I understand that it won't use the same incidental music, but the story can afford to have the TARDIS materializing sound effect but yet uses a new one for the cloister bell. The new effect is far less ominous and too light for the story, which took me out of the story as I was listening to it.

Not the best effort from the BBC Audio range of Target novelizations on CD. show less

As a story, well, I've always loved Logopolis, although it makes almost no sense whatsoever. (What exactly is the Master trying to accomplish at any given point in the story?) As a novelization, it's obvious the writer was working off a script rather than the finished filmed product, in which Tom Baker & Anthony Ainley add a lot.

Logopolis, the last Tom Baker adventure is a classic Doctor Who story. The book faithfully follows the tv episode so I liked the thing here I liked there and vice versa (I`m looking at you Watcher).

This is actually quite a good one.