1. "What is the secret of Logopolis?
Who is interfering with the Numbers?
What is the imminent all-enveloping end?"
(Radio Times)
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2. This episode was first shown on 14 March 1981.
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3. It was seen by 5.8 million viewers.
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4. The Tardis is made to glow using
the electronic Quantel image-processing system.
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5. Barry Letts advised against using such optical
trickery to shrink the Tardis.
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6. "The base is apt to wander,
instead of staying attached to the floor."
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7. That's why you don't see the floor at all here!
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8. Instead, he recommended using a succession
of scale models in different sizes.
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9. That was how he'd done it in 1973
(in 'Carnival of Monsters').
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10. This is a quarter-sized model.
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11. In the script, the Monitor continues,
"And more than honour - much more."
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12. The script asks for
"a distorted high-angle view" here.
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13. "It is as if some terrific pressure
is bearing down on him."
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14. Anthony Ainley tried to develop
a stronger vein of humour in the Master,
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15. to balance his otherwise unremitting wickedness.
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16. John Nathan-Turner vetoed that version
of the performance, expressing a preference
for "wit rather than belly-laughs".
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17. A fish-eye camera lens was specially hired
for these distorted shots.
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18. The footage on the screen was inlaid
during post-production.
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19. At the time the Tardis scenes were recorded,
the Logopolitan sets hadn't even been built.
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20. The Monitor's costume was originally
covered with spangly sequins.
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21. John Nathan-Turner first saw the sparkly creation
on the recording day.
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22. He didn't like it.
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23. That was June Hudson's dinner break gone.
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24. She and her assistants had to retrieve the
costume from John Fraser after camera rehearsals
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25. and cut off the offending sequins with nail
scissors in time for the evening recording session.
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26. In the script, the Logopolitans are speaking
into the apertures at their workstations,
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27. so the room is full of murmured numbers
rather than the rhythmical clacking of abacuses.
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28. A photographic flat creates an illusion
of depth behind the doors.
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29. This is the same set and extras
that we saw in the last room.
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30. 'Logopolis' went into pre-production on 27 October
1980, when Peter Grimwade began work.
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31. The first planning meeting
was held on 14 November.
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32. By then, casting was well on its way
to meet the serial's modest requirements.
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33. Tom Georgeson (the Detective Inspector)
Was the first to be booked (on 7 November).
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34. Casting followed for Aunt Vanessa (11 November),
the Watcher (14 November),
and the Security Guard (25 November).
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35. The principal guest role was the hardest to fill,
but John Fraser's contract was finally issued
on 2 December.
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36. A late change to the line
taxes John Fraser's memory for a moment.
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37. In the script, "Adric looks at the print-out
in his hand with new respect"
after what the Monitor has told him.
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38. June Hudson designed the costumes
during November.
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39. Tegan's wasn't ready in time
for a photocall on 21 November,
so Janet had to wear a uniform from stock.
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40. Pre-production also saw no fewer than
five major production personnel dropping out.
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41. The original allocation was:
John Howell (Sound Supervisor);
Peter Logan (Effects Designer);
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42. Dennis Panchen (Film Sound);
Errol Ryan (Technical Manager);
and Alec Wheal (Senior Cameraman).
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43. In the script, Tegan says, "Looks to me like
the Monitor's running some sort of slave colony!"
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44. "Adric's throat is very dry now," says the script,
"and he speaks with obvious effort."
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45. Production began on 15 December 1980
with a read-through of the full script.
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46. Then the exterior scenes were filmed
on location over four days:
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47. 16 December (suburban house, Part 1;
river and bridge, Part 2);
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48. 18 December (Pharos Project, Part 4);
and 19 and 22 December (roadside, Parts 1-2).
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49. The Doctor knows this because the buzzing sound
has stopped. Now there's only the usual
Tardis noise in the background.
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50. The filming period was notable
for having the shortest daylight hours of the year.
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51. The cast and crew had to be
at Television Centre at 7 a.m.
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52. A 30-seater coach took them to the location,
and each day's filming was due to wrap at 3:30.
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53. The "real gripping hands"
betray the props' origins as "Action Man" dolls.
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54. After a break for Christmas, the production went
into rehearsal in preparation
for the studio recording.
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55. Five studio days were allocated, in two blocks,
8-9 and 22-24 January, respectively in Studio 3
and 6 at Television Centre.
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56. The first block covered the Tardis and Pharos gantry
scenes, including the Doctor's transformation.
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57. The second block was devoted to Logopolis
and the rest of the Pharos Project.
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58. Rehearsals at the BBC's Acton building
began with another read-through on 29 December.
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59. The cast then rehearsed for eight days,
up to 7 January,
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60. and another nine days, 12-21 January,
in preparation for the second studio block.
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61. The penultimate day of rehearsals
was Tom Baker's birthday.
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62. The "eye" of the Tardis scanner
is in the lamp on the police box roof.
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63. Nyssa's introduction as a fourth series regular
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64. arose from the producer's wish
to surround the new Doctor
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65. with as many already established
characters as possible.
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66. The Doctor misquotes T. H. Huxley's essay,
A Liberal Education (1868).
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67. John Nathan-Turner liked the stark simplicity
of the Tardis console room
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68. as a focal point of contrast
with the complexity of the worlds outside.
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69. The term "console room" was a new coinage
introduced in the series.
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70. Hitherto it had always been known
as the Tardis control room,
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71. but Nathan-Turner wanted to ring the changes.
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72. The figure of the watching stranger was conceived
in response to the need to end the serial with
the Doctor's transformation.
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73. Adric's mistake is more understandable when
you remember that he has never seen the Master
in either of his bodies.
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74. In the earliest version the Doctor
disabused him after the meeting on the bridge.
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75. Bidmead conceived the stranger
as a kind of embryo.
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76. The catastrophe which is about to be unleashed
is of such a scale
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77. that it distorts the structure of time itself and
causes a version of the Doctor's future self to be
overlaid on his present.
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78. However, Bidmead didn't want this
explanation spelt out,
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79. so Peter Grimwade treated the character
as a phenomenon that had to be explained
by images rather than words.
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80. Director and author had markedly
different takes on the serial.
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81. Bidmead wanted to emphasize technology
and rational thought processes,
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82. whereas Grimwade approached it as a magical,
mystical plot with more metaphysics in it
than science.
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83. In the first outline, it is Adric, not Tegan,
who suspects that the Logopolitans are slaves.
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84. Their "all-consuming dedication" is central
to the story as Christopher Bidmead conceived it:
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85. They work as if driven by "some high threat" -
because, of course, they are.
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86. Barry Letts wasn't happy with Bidmead's emphasis
on their utter asceticism,
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87. "They may not be driven by individual needs,"
he wrote, "but they still have them.
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88. "Not to talk (as they're clearly not telepaths)
Would make survival just about impossible
in the environment we've seen."
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89. In the earliest version,
the Master looks older, not younger.
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90. Anthony Ainley (died 2004) owed his casting
to previous roles in two BBC classic serials.
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91. In Nicholas Nickleby (1977), produced
by Barry Letts, he had played Sir Mulberry Hawk.
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92. He struck up a friendship with the costume
designer, who was none other than June Hudson.
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93. In 1980, he dropped in to see her at the BBC,
and she expressed a wish to work with him
on her current series: Doctor Who.
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94. Ainley liked the idea, and phoned his agent.
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95. As luck would have it, this was at the very moment
Doctor Who was looking
for a new semi-regular villain.
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96. John Nathan-Turner instantly fancied
Anthony Ainley for his Master.
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97. He'd worked on Nicholas Nickleby too,
but he remembered the actor
even better for an earlier role
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98. as a slimy Prague clergyman
in The Pallisers (1974),
a series which often influenced
his casting decisions in Doctor Who.
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99. Ainley's contract was issued on
12 September 1980, while the serial
'Warriors' Gate' was in production.
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100. In the draft script, Tegan took her
aunt's death more casually.
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101. "Surely Tegan should be upset and be
comforted by the Doctor," commented Barry Letts.
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102. All three of the Doctor's new sidekicks
in the 1980-1 series join him
after the death of a close relative.
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103. In the script, Adric identifies Nyssa's new bracelet
as "a sort of communications device",
picking up one of the serial's leitmotifs.
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104. The bracelet is the centre of a minor
sub-plot in the earliest version.
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105. Using the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor gets it off
Nyssa's wrist in time to stop her strangling Adric,
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106. but the bracelet then takes on a life
of its own and pursues them, firing laser bolts.
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107. The Doctor calculates its strategy
and manoeuvres it into destroying itself,
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108. only to realise that it was too simple
to be a real trap.
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109. The Master planted it to divert
the Doctor's attention from his main activities.
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110. The script assumed a much larger
sonic projector screen,
so that we barely glimpse
the Logopolitans behind it.
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111. That's why the camera zooms in here,
to conceal what's about to happen to them.
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112. This set was also used, redressed,
for the Pharos Project corridor in the next episode.
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113. Some of the original viewers were better informed
about the mysterious watcher than others.
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114. Those in the know had heard Peter Davison's
guest appearance on Radio 4's
Start the Week that January.
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115. When the presenter Richard Baker asked him
how he was going to make his first appearance
at the end of 'Logopolis',
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116. Peter gave the game away by telling listeners
that the strange "cloaked figure"
would turn out to be him.
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117. Dorka Nieradzik thought of the watcher
as the Doctor's soul and conscience.
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118. Accordingly, she designed his make-up
to suggest a supernatural figure, like a ghost.
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119. In the script, the Doctor passes a cell
with a Logopolitan sitting in the entrance,
motionless and silent.
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120. He reaches out, and the alien mathematician
disintegrates at his touch, "a hollow, fragile shell".
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121. Studio recording was as fraught as ever.
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122. On 9 January, the session overran
its allotted finishing time of 10:00 p.m.
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123. The wrap was only fifteen minutes late,
but that was fifteen minutes' overtime
multiplied by the entire cast and crew.
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124. The overrun was partly caused by a succession of
technical problems on the first and second days.
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125. A videotape machine broke down,
a studio monitor broke down,
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126. the line-up (equipment testing) at the start
of recording took longer than it should have.
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127. All that and a faulty Tardis console too!
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128. But the main cause of the overrun
was the time spent
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129. getting right the very last scene recorded
on 9 January: The Doctor's transformation.
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130. Both the Master's outfit and Nyssa's
were designed by Amy Roberts
for 'The Keeper of Traken'.
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131. Out of her Traken context,
Nyssa was nicknamed "the fairy" on set.
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132. Barry Letts expressed intense distaste
for the Master's next line.
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133. "There may be a place for walking corpses,"
he said, "but I don't think it's in Doctor Who."
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134. Post-production ran from January to March,
with each episode dubbed to a master copy
on the day before transmission.
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135. The video effects were added to the recorded
pictures in an eleven-hour session on 28 January.
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136. This was bedevilled by another overrun after
a hungry recording machine chewed up some tape.
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137. The radiophonic music and special sound
were prepared in late February,
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138. and the final sound dub took a total of 52 hours
on five days between 22 February and 13 March.
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139. Paddy Kingsland composed, in all, 41 minutes
and 30 seconds of incidental music for 'Logopolis'.
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140. Part of his brief from Peter Grimwade
was to write music
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141. that would negate the script's more
alarming qualities and implications.
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142. For example, Grimwade felt that some viewers
might mistake the watching stranger for Death,
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143. so Kingsland scored his appearances
with comforting, positive resonances,
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144. designed to suggest that the character
was, on the contrary, a figure of Birth.
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145. A music cue that's coming up will
interfere with an intended effect in this scene.
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146. When the Master switches off,
we're supposed to hear a continuing
absolute silence - not some music!
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147. In the script, the streets of Logopolis
silt up as the Master's sabotage takes effect.
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148. The city's contoured cerebellum smooths out.
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149. "From all around comes the creak
and shuffle of shifting structure."
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150. In the studio, the corpse was nicknamed
the "dustman".
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151. Christopher Bidmead imagined the Master
as a charismatic figure of extreme evil,
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152. akin to Milton's Satan
in the epic poem, Paradise Lost (1667).
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153. He was keen to get inside the character
and find out how he works.
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154. One of the central features
of the scripted characterisation
is that, unlike the Doctor,
the Master has no aesthetic sense.
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155. At one point he dismisses the Doctor's
assessment of the situation as mere "poetry".
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156. "You're a poor scientist," he tells the Doctor.
"It's easy to see why you make so many mistakes."
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157. "And why you make so few friends,"
retorts the Doctor.
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158. It's made of crumbly polystyrene.
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159. Studio recording at the BBC typically
began with camera rehearsals.
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160. For 'Logopolis', the cast rehearsed only in partial
costume, and changed for the recording itself.
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161. For example, Sarah Sutton wore the Nyssa jacket
with a pair of her own tight corduroy trousers,
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162. a look which so impressed John Nathan-Turner
that he had it adapted as Nyssa's
regular costume in the 1982 series.
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163. Earlier in the 1980-1 series, the Tardis slipped into
another universe, where the Doctor met Adric.
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164. Tegan's Australian accent
is especially broad in this serial,
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165. partly as an artistic decision to differentiate her
from her well-spoken "English" predecessor,
Romana,
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166. but also partly because her early scenes
were played against another
heavily accented character, Aunt Vanessa.
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167. The accent was toned down in later serials
because it would have been too strong
against the predominantly British casts.
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168. During the 1980s, Doctor Who periodically tried
to dispose of the excess baggage of its past,
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169. and establish a looser format
on the lines of its original, simple premise:
A man travelling through time and space
in a police box.
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170. Here, Christopher Bidmead attempts to write the
Time Lords of Gallifrey out of the series for good.
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171. These initiatives never came to anything,
because the production office also believed
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172. that the series' fans loved seeing the return
of characters and settings from its long history.
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173. So the Doctor did return to Gallifrey,
without reprisal, for his alliance with the Master,
at the start of the 1983 series.
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174. Tegan's line was originally written for Nyssa,
and vice versa.
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175. The episode was always scripted
to end on the Doctor's handshake with the Master,
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176. but originally it was earlier. All this business
with the Tardis came at the start of Part 4.
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177. Because he's working with the Master,
he says in the script,
"That makes me a highly unsuitable person
to have around."
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178. Also seen in this episode were:
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179. Charles Stewart, Colin Thomas
(Logopolitans)
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180. John Tucker, Walter Turner
(Logopolitans)
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181. Peter Whitaker, Bill Whitehead
(Logopolitans)
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182. Uncredited production contributors
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183. Dave Bezkorowajny
(Visual Effects Assistant)
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184. Lan Hewitt (Graphics)
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185. Sarah Bird (Contracts Assistant)
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186. Gordon Phillipson (Grams Operator)
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187. Charlotte Norman, Suzanne O'Mahoney,
Viv Riley (Make-Up Assistants)
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188. Demelza Rogers, Karen Turner,
Karen Waite (Make-Up Assistants)
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189. Derek Leigh, John Stephens
(Props Buyers)
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190. Chick Hetherington
(Show Working Supervisor)
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191. Sandra Wynne (Floor Assistant)
re you doing?
- Please.
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192. As Time Lords,
you and I have special responsibilities.
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193. - Together, then?
- But, Doctor...
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194. I've never chosen my own company.
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195. Nyssa, it was you who contacted me
and begged me to help you find your father.
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196. And, Tegan, it's your own curiosity
that got you into this.
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197. And Adric, a stowaway.
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198. - The Tardis!
- It's followed us from the Central Register.
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199. - How can it get here when there's no one in it?
- Did I say there was no one in it?
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200. It must be the man who brought me to Logopolis...
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201. I don't want any further argument. One, two,
three of you into the Tardis. Quickly. Go on.
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202. - Look, we want to help you...
- It's impossible.
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203. My friend in there will look after you.
I'm collaborating with the Master. Now, go on.
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204. - Battle stations.
- The man's a murderer.
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205. Come on, Nyssa, he means it.
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206. - Together?
- One last hope.
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