Live from Master Closet Studios, you’re listening to the only podcast on the internet surrounded by a soft white glow: It’s the Noobs and the Whovian!
My name is Austin and I’m the Whovian, and these are my sons Corbin and Tripp and we’re the noobs!
This is the podcast that introduces a whole new generation to Doctor Who by watching an episode each week and discussing it from the perspective of a dad who’s seen it before, and two sons who haven’t.
Welcome to Episode 188 covering season 18 serial number 7, Logopolis.
Super-short Recap
This is the one where the Doctor meets up with some big brains that are holding the universe together with thought and 20th-century computers. And the Doctor falls to his death.
Production notes
- Story # 115
- Originally aired February 28 – March 21 1981 to 7.1, 7.7, 5.8, & 6.1 million viewers
- Written by: Christopher Bidmead
- Directed by: Peter Grimwade
Misc Trivia
- Show runner John Nathan-Turner discovered an actual police box on the Barnet bypass in London and decided to film there for this episode. It was vandalalized before they could do so, so they had to use a TARDIS prop anyway.
- This is the last story to credit “Doctor Who” for 24 years. Peter Davison requested that he be credited as “The Doctor” and this stayed in place until Tennant requested to be credited as “Doctor Who”.
- This is also the first regeneration story to credit both incarnations of the Doctor.
Cast
- The Master – Anthony Ainley
- Played Temas in the last story and then the Master for a while
Checklist
- Name of the episode spoken in dialogue?
- YUP!
- Creature of the week
- Logopolitans
- Jiggery Pokery
- TARDIS
- Psych! That’s not the TARDIS!
- What the heck “part of the TARDIS” was that?!
- Cloister bell – you can ring them in times of wild catastrophe
- He needs to run a tighter ship because entropy is increasing on the TARDIS
- They’re headed to Earth to measure a police box so they can take those measurements to Logopolis
- It’s only his on a finders-keepers basis
- He materialised around an actual police box! Or is it the TARDIS itself?!
- Have we ever seen the left door open?!
- TARDIS
- Cutting-edge special effects
Other stuff we noticed
- You’ve seen my aunt? Well, a little of her.
- Is he called Monitor because he is the output interface of the computers?
- Carbon chauvinism – block transfer computation is too complex for simple machines it requires the living mind
- I love the sci-fi trope if you’re really smart, you have bulging veins on your head because your brain is trying to break out of your skull
- So their city is like an algorithm in physical space?
- Why didn’t they just open the doors and talk to him?!
- The Pharos Project (sci-fi SETI?) is an attempt to contact aliens
- Tripp said maybe that’s why we keep getting aliens on Earth. BTW, we take Christmas off, so that’s definitely when you should invade!
- Was that the Mario theme song at one point?
- So wait, was this The Flux before The Flux!?!?!
- Half the universe was destroyed by entropy, and then the Doctor just dipped out!
Who’s Who?
- Who is Adric?
- VERY smart
- The Doctor taught him to read Earth numbers, the very clumsy symbols
- Who is Tegan Jovanka?
- Very forgetful/disorganized
- Is she Australian?
- Who is the Watcher?
- Is it the Master?
- Is it a Timelord?
- The Doctor seems to know and trust him after talking to him
- HE’S THE FIFTH DOCTOR?!?!?!?!?!
- Who is the Master?
- He escaped Traken by taking over the body of Nyssa’s father, Temas
- He came to take over Logopolis for some reason
- Envy is the beginning of all true greatness
- Who is the Fourth Doctor?
- Never guess, unless you have to. There’s enough uncertainty in the universe.
- Say what?!
- Doctor Who-ever-you-are
- He hates farewells, so he doesn’t say any to Adric and Tegan
- He’s never chosen his own company
- He fell to his death
- Cf. The Woman Who Fell to Earth
- Never guess, unless you have to. There’s enough uncertainty in the universe.
Overall impressions
- Overall rating out of 10 –
- Jared – 9 Long Scarves
- Austin – 8 recursive TARDIPODES
- Corbin – 5 brain veins
- Tripp – 4 dumb ways too die
The Game Plan
- Next week we’re doing a Timey Wimey on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. It’s on Disney+.
The following week we’re doing our Best of Nine episode, Series 1 episodes 9-10: The Empty Child & The Doctor Dances.
Closing
Noobs and the Whovian is a production of Master Closet Studios, where it’s always smaller on the inside. Your Senior Producer is Austin Reason. Our Audio Engineer is Thing One: Tripp Reason. Our Production Editor is the Other One: Corbin Reason. Special thanks to tardis.fandom.com for the trivia, and to Jared for the Classic Who Connection. Shout outs to Victor and Jared for their Patreon support.
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Until next time, be safe if you can. But always. Be. Amazing.
