The Terminator Review "I'll be back!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, for this post I've dug well back into the past to redo an old one, so this will be based on my very old review of the sci-fi action classic, The Terminator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role as the ruthless killing machine that targets a young woman named Sarah Connor. Also given its now the film's 40th anniversary, its also a perfect time redo this post as well given its been given a brand new 4K release (which I am watching at the time of typing this sentence!).

So, after 40 years, let's see how this action classic fairs...

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!  

So, the story is set in Los Angeles in 1984, where at night a strange electric storm takes place and from a blinding white light, the figure of a naked man appears, the Terminator (Schwarzenegger).  The Terminator soon comes by a group of punks, who attack him with flick knives, but the terminator fends them off with ease and kills one of the punks, ripping out his heart, and he takes the clothes from one of the others. Around the same time another electric storm occurs, where we see another naked man materialise, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) who quickly evades nearby policeman, by breaking into a closed clothestore, he gives them the slip, and takes a shotgun out of one of the cop cars.  

The next day, a young woman, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), who works as a waitress in a local diner, learns on the TV of a murder of a woman with the same name as her, but she brushes it off as a coincidence.  The murder was of course committed by the Terminator, who later on kills another woman of the same name.  With the police deciding to make this information public, Sarah hears this on TV and get's in touch with the police, and when she walks out on the streets, she notices Reese following her, so she goes into a nearby nightclub.  Sarah phones the police on the payphone inside, and speaks to Lt Traxler (Paul Winfield) who tells her to stay put.  

Meanwhile the Terminator locates Sarah's apartment and goes in and kills her flatmate Ginger (Bess Motta) and her boyfriend Matt (Rick Rossovich), and listens to Sarah's voice message who calls from the club.  The Terminator soon tracks Sarah to the nightclub, and before he can shoot her, Reese guns down the Terminator with his shotgun, just in time, as people flee the nightclub, he helps Sarah up and they escape the club, just as the Terminator get's up and chases them, unharmed by the gunshots.  Reese and Sarah drive off with the terminator in pursuit as well as the cops, and after eventually shaking off the police, Reese ditches the car in a parking lot and sneaks into another car.

Reese then explains to Sarah that he is from the future and also that in the future that the world was nearly destroyed by a nuclear war created by the AI military defense machine network Skynet, and out of the ashes rose the machines, who took over the world and put the surviving humans into slave labour.  Reese then tells Sarah that he has been sent back in time to protect her from the terminator, who he reveals is a cyborg assassin, who has been sent to kill her as  her future son John Connor, will become a future resistance leader against the machines.  The terminator soon gives them chase again on the streets, but Sarah and Reese are soon arrested by the cops, who take them both into custody.  

At the police station, Reese is questioned by a criminal psychologist, Dr Silberman (Earl Boen) whom he tells his story to, but naturally Silberman thinks he is delusional.  The terminator soon however arrives, and crashes his car into the station, killing many of the police officers in the station, in searching for Sarah.  Reese however manages to escape custody and rescues Sarah before the terminator can get to her.  

On the road, Sarah and Reese soon stop at a motel, to lay low, however while at the hote, Sarah phones her mother's cabin house, where the Terminator, who has already gotten there, has killed her mother, and pretends to be her on the phone (as the Terminator can mimic anyone's voice) in order to find out where she is.  Reese later on confesses to Sarah that he travelled back in time to meet her because he had always been in love with her since John gave him a picture of her, Sarah touched by this, kisses Reese and they make love.  

Later on the Terminator tracks them down at the motel where they are staying, and Sarah and Reese escape just in time, but the terminator soon chases them again for the final time...

THOUGHTS

The Terminator is without a doubt one of the best sci-fi films of the 1980s, and it stands as one of James Cameron's very best films.  Cameron himself stated that the idea of the terminator came to him in a nightmare he had when he was suffering from a fever, which gave him the image of the metal skeletal figure surrounded by flames.  Cameron also said that he was also influenced by the sci-fi series Outer Limits as well as films such as The Driver, that helped give him the ideas he needed to develop the story.  

The terminator itself remains one of the great villains in modern cinema, as a killing machine, that has no pity, fear, remorse, or any emotion, and is programmed to do just one thing: kill.  The idea of the terminator as a cyborg is also great, and also how tough and resilient the terminator is, as a cyborg it takes on the appearance of a human on the outside, but has a powerful metal endoskeleton underneath, and in the final scenes where we see the terminator emerge from the flaming remains of the big fuel tanker truck, is one of the film's most memorable images. 

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers and strong language!)

In terms of the performances in the film well you have to say that Arnold Schwarzenegger is the star of the film, even if he isn't a great actor, his performance as the T-800 series Terminator is sheer perfection, as he plays the ruthless killing machine better than anyone ever could have.  

Arnie himself of course has plenty of great moments in the film such as his first scene where (or second technically) where he walks naked, up to three punks and demands them to give him their clothes. So, in the scene one of the punks (played by Bill Paxton) says "Nice night for a walk, eh?" and Terminator responds "Nice night for a walk" and the 2nd punk asks "Wash tomorrow, nothing clean right?" and Terminator says "Nothing clean, right". The 1st punk then says "I think this guy is a couple of cans short of a six pack!" and the Terminator then says "Your clothes, give them to me now!". The 1st punk then shouts "Fuck you, asshole!" as they bring out their flick knives and the Terminator knocks out the 1st punk and kills the second one, leaving the terrified third one to strip off his clothes. 

Then there is the scene where the Terminator goes to a gun store to get some weapons and he asks the salesmen behimd the counter for various weapons. So, the Terminator asks for "The 12 auto gauge loader" and the salesman says "That's Italian, you can go pump or auto". The Terminator then asks for "The .45 long slide with the laser sighting" and the salesman then hands him it and says "These are brand new. I just got them in. Just pull the trigger and red beam comes and you put the gun where you want the bullet to go, you can't miss". The saleman then asks "Anything else?" and the Terminator asks "Phase plasma rifle in the 40 watt range" and the salesman irritated says "Just what you see pal" and the Terminator looks above him and says "The Uzi 9mm". The salesman then get's down the Uzi and says "You sure know your weapons, buddy" but as he get's it, the Terminator helps himself to a shotgun shell and loads it into the gun and the salesman says "You can't do that!" and the Terminator aims it at the salesman and says "Wrong!" and shoots him.

And then we have the iconic scene where the Terminator enters the police station to find Sarah and he asks the desk sergeant at the front desk of her whereabouts. So, the Terminator says to the sergreant "I'm a friend of Sarah Connor's. I was told she was here, could I see her please?" and the sergeant says "You can't see her, she's making a statement" and the Terminator asks "Where is she?" and the sergeant says "Look, it could take a while, if you want to a wait, a bench is over there". The Terminator then scans the room for its structural weaknesses and looks at the sergeant and delivers the immortal line "I'll be back" and he walks out. 

Then there is the scene where the Terminator sits in his dingy motel room, reading through Sarah's address book and there is a porter outside his room, who knocks on the door. So, the poter knocks the door and asks "Hey buddy, you got a dead cat in there or what?" and the Terminator, looking all sweaty and presumably smelling from body odour visualises some response on his vision "YES, OR WHAT? GO AWAY? COME BACK LATER. FUCK YOU ASSHOLE!" and of course he selects the final one and says "Fuck you, asshole" and the porter walks away. 

And last of all is the scene where the Terminator in pursuit of Sarah and Kyle comes off his bike and goes underneath a large tanker and with the driver jumping out to check the back off the tanker, the Terminator kills him and limps toward the driver seat. So, as the Terminator get's in, the driver's passenger says "Let's get out of here" and the Terminator turns to him and we see his remaining eye socket is damaged and tells him "Get out".

Linda Hamilton is excellent as Sarah Connor, a young lass who basically went from having an ordinary life, working as a waitress, living with her somewhat self absorbed flatmate Ginger, to being thrown into the chaos of playing a crucial part in the fate of the future of the world, and being hunted relentlessly by an unstoppable enemy. Linda also makes that nice transition from a young scared woman, into a strong independent fighter by the end of the film.  

Linda also has her share of good scenes such as the one where Sarah calls the police at the nightclub, Tech Noir. So, Sarah tells Lt Traxler, "Look don't put me on hold and don't transfer me to another department!" and Traxler says "Look don't worry I won't, can you tell me where you are?" and Sarah says "I'm in this bar called Tech Noir" and Traxler "Yeah, I know it, its on Pico. Are you alright?" and Sarah says "Yeah but I don't want to leave, I think there's a guy following me". Traxler then tells her "Look don't go into the restroom, stay visible and I'll have a police car out there in a hot minute" and Sarah says "OK" and hangs up.

Then there is the scene where Sarah patches up Reese's bullet wound on his arm under a bridge as they are on the run from the Terminator and the authorities. So, Sarah as she dresses up Reese's arm wound, asks "You're talking about things I've done in the past tense. Its driving me crazy! Are you sure you've got the right person" and Kyle smiles a little and says "I'm sure". Sarah then angrily says "Oh come on, do I look like the mother of the future?! I mean, am I tough? Organised?! I can't even balance my cheque book!!". Sarah finishes the dressing and angrily says "Look Reese, I didn't ask for this honour and I don't WANT IT! ANY OF IT!!". Kyle then tells her a message he was told by her son John and memorised it for her, so after he flexes his arm and says "That's a good field dressing" and Sarah says "You like it? Its my first".

And then there is the scene where Sarah and a badly injured Kyle, flee from the Terminator into a factory and Kyle activates some machinery to distract the Terminator. So, Sarah asks "What are you doing?" and Kyle weakly says "Cover, so he can't track us" but he soon collapses having been shot by the Terminator. So, Sarah screams at Kyle to get up as the Terminator, now in steel skeletal form, smashes its way into the factory, so Sarah grabs Kyle and shouts "On your feet, soldier! ON YOUR FEET!!!" and he finally get's up. 

This is then later followed by the moment where the Terminator, having been blown apart by a stick of dynamite, comes alive again and crawls after Sarah as she crawls her way through a hydraulic press and climbs out the other side and shuts down the gate on the Terminator, who claws at her. So, Sarah reaches for the button to activate the press and tells him "You're terminated, fucker!!" and hits the button, finally crushing the Terminator once and for all. 

And last of all is the final scene where out in the Mexican desert, we see Sarah, alone in a jeep, now pregnant with her future son and she records her thoughts on tape. So, she says into the recorder "The hardest thing is deciding what I should tell you and what not to. But I guess I've got a while yet before you're old enough to even understand the tapes. They're more for me at this point just so I can get it straight. Should I tell you about your father? Boy, that's a tough one. Will it affect your decision to send him here, knowing that he is you father? If you don't send Kyle, you can never be. God, a person can go crazy thinking about all this...". 

So, as she finishes her thought, a young Mexican boy takes her picture and an older man translates what the boy says to her "He said you are a very beautiful senioritta and he wants you to pay dollars for this photo but if you don't, his father will beat him". Sarah smiles and says "Pretty good hustle, kid" and she takes the photo and its the photo that Kyle had on him in the future we saw earlier on. The young boy says something in Spanish and Sarah asks "What did he say?" and the old man says "He said there is a storm coming" and Sarah looks ahead and says "Yes, I know" and she drives off. 

Michael Biehn is also excellent as Kyle Reese, the human resistance fighter from the future, who protects Sarah from the terminator, who he plays it pretty much straight and serious down the line, but its a good solid performance, and he captures the pain and loneliness of Reese's character very well.  

Biehn himself has plenty of good moments such as the one where he prevents the Terminator from killing Sarah, so he shoots the Terminator at the nightclub. So, Kyle runs up to Sarah and urgently tells her "Come with me if you wanna live" and we see to Sarah's disbelief, the Terminator get up slowly after being hit several shotgun rounds, and Kyle shouts at her "COME ON!!!" as Sarah get's up and they run for their lives.

Then there is the scene where in a parking lot, Kyle explains himself and what the Terminator is, so as he tells her about the Terminator being a cyborg, Sarah says "Look I am not stupid, they can't make things like that yet!" and Kyle says "Not yet, not for about 40 years". So, Sarah asks "So, are you saying its from the future?" and Kyle says "One possible future, from your point of view, I don't know tech stuff". So, Sarah asks "So, that means your from the future too?" and Kyle says "Yeah" and Sarah says "Right!" and she tries to leave the car but he stops her and she bites his hand and Kyle let's go and warns her "Cyborgs don't feel pain, I do! Don't do that again!".  Sarah then says "Just let me go" and Kyle warns her "Listen and understand! That Terminator is out there! It can't be bargained with, it can't be reasoned with and it doesn't feel pity, remorse or fear and it absolutely will not stop EVER until you are dead!". 

Another good scene is when Kyle is held at the police station and questioned by Dr Silberman, the criminal psychologist (who appears in Terminator 2 and 3) about how he came to the past and the Terminator. 

So, in the scene Silberman asks how did Kyle go through the time machine equipment to arrive in the past and why didn't he take any weapons with him. So, Kyle says "Something to do with the field of a living generator, nothing dead will go" and Silberman asks "Why?" and Kyle annoyed says "I didn't build the fucking thing!". So, Silberman then asks "So, how are you supposed to get back?" and Kyle says "I can't, nobody goes home, no one else comes through, its just him and me".  

So, in the recorded video tape later played back to Sarah, Silbermen then tries to ask more questions but Kyle grows impatient and demands "Look! You've heard enough! I've answered your questions, now I have to see Sarah Connor!". Silbermen however then says "Well, I'm afraid its not up to me" and Kyle looks incredulously and asks "Then why am I talking to you? Who's in authority here???!" and Silberman says "Reese..." and Kyle shouts "SHUT UP!". Kyle then looks straight at the camera and says "You still don't get it, do you?? He'll find her! That's what he does! That's ALL HE DOES! You can't stop him!" he then get's up and is restrained by the officers in the room as he shouts "He'll wade through you and reach down her throat and PULL HER FUCKING HEART OUT!! LET...LET GO OF ME!!!" and Silberman turns the tape off at Traxler's request as Sarah looks upset and Silberman says sheepishly "Sorry".

Then there is of course the big reveal of why Kyle came to the past and he tells Sarah of his feelings for her as they sit alone in a motel room. So, Kyle says to Sarah "John Connor gave me a picture of you once. I didn't know why at the time. It was very old - torn, faded. You were young like you are now. You seemed just a little sad. I used to always wonder what you were thinking at that moment. I memorized every line, every curve... I came across time for you, Sarah. I love you; I always have". Kyle then get's up and goes over to the table and feeling embarrassed, starts to shove the pipe bombs he made into a bag, and he says "I shouldn't have said that!" but then Sarah comes over and they start to kiss and we know the rest!

And last of all is the scene where Kyle and Sarah run into a factory and Kyle activates some machinery to cover themselves from the Terminator, who breaks its way into the factory by bashing the front door in. So, Sarah asks Kyle "What are you doing?" and Kyle tells her "Cover, so he can't track us!" but very soon, the Terminator in skeletal form, catches up to them and Kyle tells Sarah "Sarah, run!" and picks up a metal pipe and he yells at Sarah "RUN!!!!" and he takes aim at the Terminator as it nears him and he says "Come on, motherfucker!!!" and he gives it a few almighty whacks with the pipe but it soon recovers and knocks him back down the stairs.

There are also some good supporting cast performances as well, especially from Paul Winfield, as the police Lieutenant Traxler, who tries to help Sarah, before the goes down at the station.  Winfield also shares a nice bit of banter with Lance Henriksen in the film, who plays the part of one of his fellow policeman, Hal, and I like the way Traxler always cuts off what Hal says before he can finish.  

And Winfield has some good scenes that include the one where Traxler and Hal talk with each other, as Hal tells him about the two murder victims that were both named Sarah Connor. So, as the press hound them outside Traxler's office, Traxler decides to go and see them and does up his top button on his shirt. So, Traxler says to Hal "I'm going to talk to them, maybe I can get on the tube by 11pm, make these jackals work for us for a change" Traxler removes his glasses and asks Hal "How do I look?" and Hal bluntly says "Like shit, boss" and Traxler says "Your mama!" and walks outside to the press.

Then there is the scene where Traxler comforts Sarah after her and Kyle are detained at the police station. So, Traxler tells Sarah "Why don't you stay here, it will be at least an hour before your mother get's here from Big Ben" and Sarah says "I can't sleep". Traxler then says "Try" and he get's Sarah to lie down on a couch and he says "It may not look it but that couch is very comfortable" and Sarah says "Thank you".  

Earl Boen is also very good as the criminal pscyhologist, Dr Silberman, who plays him as being rather smarmy, and he would later on go to play a larger part in Terminator 2 and 3.  

Boen has a few good scenes in the film such as his first where Traxler introduces Silberman to Sarah and Silberman warmly says to her "Hi, Sarah". So, Sarah, still shaken up by her experienced asks Silberman "Are you a Doctor?" and Silberman yawns and says "Criminal psychology". Sarah then asks "Is Reese crazy?" and Silberman takes out his clipboard and pen and says "Well, that's what we're going to find out". 

And lastly there is the scene where Silberman shows the video footage of his interview with Reese, and in the video he asks Reese "Why didn't you bring any weapons with you? Like ray guns" and Reese missing his sarcasm replise "Its something to do with the field generator, nothing dead will go" and Silberman asks "Why?" and Kyle angrily says "I didn't the build the fucking thing!" and Silberman backs off and says "OK OK". So, Silberman stops the tape at one point and he then says to the Traxler "I could make a career out of this guy! Do you see how he doesn't require a shred of proof? I mean most paranoid delusions are intricate but this is brilliant!". So, he resumes the tape, which culiminates with Kyle shouting in the camera how the Terminator will find Sarah and Traxler tells Silberman to turn it off. So, Silberman does and he turns to Sarah awkwardly and says "Sorry" and Sarah after a pause asks "So, is Reese crazy?" and Silberman says "In technical terminology, he's a loon!".

Lance Henriksen is also pretty good in his role as the cop, Hal, who shares a rather comical relationship with his superior officer, Lt Traxler. 

So, I will quickly mention a couple of his scenes, such as his first one where the press are outside and Hal shows the record of the two murders of the women named Sarah Connor. So, Hal says to Traxler "Look at the name, Ed" and Traxler reads it in surprise "Sarah Connor" and Hal nods and Traxler says "A one day pattern killer" and Hal says "I hate the weird ones! Especially the press cases!". 

Then there is the scene where after Sarah watches the tape of Kyle, is shown a bullet proof vest and suggests the Terminator must have been wearing one. So, Sarah then asks about the Terminator punching his arm through the car windshield "What about his arm?" and Hal says "He might have been on PCP. He could have broken every bone in his hand and he wouldn't feel it for hours. There was this one guy..." and Traxler cuts him off and says "Thank you". 

Finally Bill Paxton makes an amusing brief cameo as the punk leader at the start of the film who taunts the naked terminator. So, in the scene the punk leader says "Nice night for a walk eh?" and the Terminator stops and repeats "Nice night for a walk". So, the 2nd punk asks "Wash day tomorrow, nothing clean right?" and the Terminator says "Nothing clean right". So, the leader then grins and says"I think this guy is a couple of cans short of a six pack!". So, the Terminator then demands "Your clothes, give them to me now!" and the punks all take out their flick knives and the leader says "Fuck you, asshole!".

DIRECTOR 

Moving onto the director, James Cameron does a great job in what was only his second feature film, having directed Piranha II, two years previously, which bombed critically and financially. Cameron also took influence from 1970's thriller, The Driver and the 1981 sci-fi thriller Mad Max 2 as well. Interestingly enough, Cameron had the idea to make the plot of the first film feature two Terminators, one of which was made of liquid metal, which would later become the plot of Terminator 2, but the technical constraints of the 1980's made his original plot not feasible to shoot as a movie. 

Cameron of course here does a terrific job at building the suspense throughout and keeps both the Terminator and Reese's intentions not truly apparent as both of them could be out to kill Sarah but its not until the nightclub scene we see what is happening with his motives. Cameron also expertly handles the action scenes, which are also very suspenseful and intense and the image of seeing the metal sekelton Terminator rise from the fire, is one of the most memorable in the film. So, overall this is definitely one of Cameron's very best films. 

VISUAL EFFECTS 

So for a change, I thought I would also mention the film's visual effects and visually the film looks very impressive given its small budget of 6.4 million dollars, the model effects of the machines in the future look great. Also great credit must go to the effects make-up of Stan Winston, for the terminator which are great as is the actual design of the terminator skeleton metal frame.  Although of course it is pretty obvious the scenes where we cut from the mechanical version of Arnie's head, to the live make-up he is given to wear! The terminator's infra-red vision effects are for their time are actually quite impressive and I quite like the way they are revealed in the chase scene after Sarah and Reese escape from the nightclub.   

The only downside to the effects is the scenes where we see the skeletal terminator stalk towards Sarah and Kyle at the end and these scenes are done using stop motion instead, which makes it look a bit false. Despite all this though, the film does very well with its efffects espeially given it was on such a meagre budget. 

MUSIC 

As for the music, the score by Brad Fiedel is excellent and very memorable, particularly the film's main theme, which plays over the start and end credits. Fiedel himself composed the score primarily for synthesizer but there are also some piano pieces, particularly for Sarah and Kyle's love scene. Fiedel's theme for the Terminator himself is also great with the effective use of a creepy synth and the mechanical heartbeat. So, overall this is definitely a fine and memorable score from Fiedel, who later go on to score Terminator 2 and True Lies for Cameron.

FLAWS 

So, does the Terminator does have any flaws worth a mention? Well, yeah there are some. 

For starters I would say the film probably like others of its time is a victim of the fashions of the 1980s, and it is populated by some cheesy 80s pop tunes, which we hear Ginger listen to on hear tape player, and the scene in the nightclub and when Kyle turns on the car radio.  So, overall the film does have a pretty dated feel but despite that, it still  of course works. 

Another scene that bugged me somewhat is where the Terminator has Sarah in his sights with his laser sighted gun and she doesn't move or anything and sits still with a blank expression waiting to be shot! I mean its clear as day, the Terminator means to kill her yet she just sits there and does nothing at all to protect herself, such as run or even duck under the table! So, yeah its a pretty daft moment in itself and just as well Kyle turned up at this point to shoot the Terminator. 

Then there is of course the question as to why didn't the Terminator ever think to wash itself and give itself a bath or a shower???!  As surely its skeletal frame would be able to cope with water, as it can certainly cope with fire!  The scene where the housekeeper in the motel knocks on the terminator's door and asks if he has a dead cat in there or what, is quite funny, especially when the terminator responds by telling the housekeeper to go f himself, but it also highlights the terminator has no regard or concern for trying to fit in and not drawing attention to itself by stinking out the place. But wouldn't it make a bit more sense if it did, rather than walking round with stinky BO?! But ah well, the Terminator doesn't care about his hygiene even if he does care a little about his hair, as we catch him fluff his hair a bit in the mirror after he puts back on his shades after removing his damaged eyeball.

And I always thought the line where Sarah finally kills off the terminator by crushing it in the hyrdaulic press, and saying "you're terminated, fucker!" was a bit unecessary, as I think it would be better if she just said "you're terminated!", or at least they could have made it funny by her saying "you're terminated, bitch!" or "you're terminated, shithead!".   

You could also argue that the Terminator lucked out in finding someone who's clothes would be a good fit for him in the last standing punk at the start, who strips off to give the Terminator his clothes. So, the fact that the punk's clothing fitted the Terminator so well, is a pretty neat coincidence if nothing else! Although they did make up for this in the sequel where the Terminator analyses one of the bikers in the bar at the start for his build to assess if his clothes were suitable.  

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, in the end The Terminator still to this day remains a must see classic action film thanks to its suspenseful and relentless action and fine performances from Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn, not to mention Arnie is perfect in his role as the ruthless killing machine, the Terminator. James Cameron also provides some tight direction throughout and the music score by Brad Fiedel is also very memorable and the special effects of the film are also impressive given the film's small budget. And out of all the Terminator films, the original is still unquestionably the best.

So, I will rate The Terminator:

10 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and to paraphrase Arnie, "I will be back" for another post soon! 

Until then bye for now! 

Doctor Who Review Revisited - Logopolis "One last hope!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, as my previous post was for the penultimate story of Tom Baker's era of Doctor Who, The Keeper of Traken, I thought I would cover his final story here, which is Logopolis and its one I've done before, so I thought I would update it a bit more.

So, let's take another look at this story 43 years on from its broadcast and see how it fairs...

And yep the usual warning is coming......

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!

STORY

So, the story begins with the Doctor deciding to try and fix the TARDIS's broken chameleon circuit, which he sets about doing by measuring the exact dimensions of a police telephone box, which the TARDIS is currently modelled on with the help of his companion and mathematic genius, Adric (Matthew Waterhouse). Once the Doctor has the measurements he plans to take them to the planet Logopolis, which is inhabited by a population of mathematicians who will be able to repair the Doctor's circuit with their calculations.

In the meantime, an airline stewardess named Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) stumbles along the TARDIS as her car breaks down she looks to try and call for help, however instead she enters the TARDIS and get's lost in its maze of corridors.  The Doctor and Adric also soon learn that the Master (Anthony Ainley) is on their case after escaping from Traken (in the previous story, The Keeper of Traken) as he has materialised his TARDIS inside the Doctor's.  This causes a strange loop where the Doctor and Adric keep entering inside the Master's TARDIS over and over and the Doctor soon decides the best way to banish the Master would be to flush him out as they land the TARDIS at the bottom of Thames.

However, the Doctor looks outside and sees the TARDIS has in fact just landed on a boat by the river but the Doctor soon sees a mysterious white figure, the Watcher, which the Doctor meets with up, who advises him to travel to Logopolis as soon as possible.  The Doctor and Adric then set the TARDIS for Logopolis (with the Master's TARDIS now having dematerialised from the Doctor's) but enroute they discover Tegan onboard and the Doctor decides she has to come with them.

Once the Doctor, Adric and Tegan arrive on Logopolis, they are met with by the Monitor (John Fraser) the chief mathematician to whom the Doctor gives his new dimension calculations for the TARDIS to.  However, it is soon apparent that the Master has arrived on Logopolis also as he kills several mathematicians, which ends up sabotaging the calculations for the Doctor's TARDIS, which begins to shrink as a result.  This leaves, Adric and the Monitor to frantically try and work out a solution to attempt to get the Doctor's TARDIS back to full size.

Meanwhile, the mysterious Watcher figure has brought Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) to Logopolis, who is an aristocrat from the planet Traken (who appeared in the previous story TKOT) and she is reunited with Adric and meets Tegan.  The Doctor's TARDIS is eventually restored to full size, however at this point, the Master reveals himself and he uses a device to temporarily disable the Logopolitan mathematicians from their calculations, which soon causes them to erode and turn to dust.

This now has catastrophic consequences for the universe as the Logopolitans were using their calculations to excise off entropy in the universe into other universes through the use of charged vaccum emboitments (CVEs).  This now means that the universe could be in danger of being wiped out unless the Doctor and the Master can find a way to restore one of the CVEs.

And from here, the Doctor now must pull resources with the Master and form an uneasy alliance, so they can try and save the universe from certain destruction.......

THOUGHTS

As a swansong for the Tom Baker era, Logopolis remains a fine story and a very respectable send-off for the fourth doctor, although it has to be said its not a classic story by any means, however it still has plenty going for it.  The story also sees the introduction of a new companion in Tegan Jovanka, who makes for a pretty feisty and entertaining character, who although she starts off a bit brazen and annoying at first, she soon mellows a little becomes one of the more memorable companions of the 1980s.    

The plot of the story is pretty dense and complex but it remains a very intelligent script written by Christopher Bidmead, who himself was a former actor, who turned to being a writer and journalist and he wrote several articles for science journals.  Bidmead at the time of this story was also the show's script editor and in Tom Baker's last season he certainly helped bring back a bit more credibility to the show after some of the overt humour we had seen during the Graham Williams produced era of the show, particularly in Tom's previous season (season 17 and his 6th).  So overall this is a good story from Bidmead.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for the performances, well they are for the most part very good here.

Starting off with Tom Baker, who is great in his final performance as the fourth doctor and by now he had grown so well into playing the role that he seemed to have wound himself well and truly up in the Doctor's own eccentric personality.  Although in this story we do get a more serious Doctor from Tom as he plays him with perhaps a sense of a man who is aware that the time of his incarnation might be numbered. 

Tom has plenty of good moments in the story that include his first when he talks to Adric in the cloister room (which is the room containing the bell that sounds in the event of impending danger) about how the TARDIS is starting to decay.  And the Doctor says to Adric "The second law of thermodynamics is taking its toll on the old thing. Entropy increases".  And as Adric asks "Entropy increases" the Doctor rambles in reply "Yes, daily. The more you put things together, the more they keep falling apart, and that's the essence of the second law of thermodynamics and I never heard a truer word spoken!  Come on".

Then there is the scene where the Doctor tries to flush the Master out the TARDIS by landing it at the bottom of the Thames river, however they end up materialising on Cadogan pier in Chelsea (London).  And as the Doctor and Adric step out, the Doc says "Ah. I thought there's be a perfectly simple explanation!" and Adric offers "Nearly got it right" but the Doctor says "Nearly, but not quite right. There's something not quite right about all of this".  Then the Doctor sees the Watcher in the distance on Albert bridge and waves at the Doctor to come up and the Doctor looks on rather worried saying "Nothing like this has ever happened before" then he goes off to speak to the Watcher.

Another good scene is when the Master reveals himself on Logopolis and Nyssa, who has mistaken him for her father (as the Master used Nyssa's father's body to regenerate) shouts out "Father" only for the Doctor to tell her "That's not your father. Tremas is dead, murdered by him, the Master!".  And Nyssa looks at the Master coldly and says "You killed my father??" and the Master tells her "But his body remains useful.  Without it I could not have conquered Logopolis!".  However the Doctor angrily tells the Master "This is not conquest, its devastation!" and the Master says "Its nothing more than a blanket of silence" and the Doctor tells him "Which is killing the Logopolitans and turning them to dust!" and the Master scoffs "You expect me to believe that?" and the Doctor shouts "YES!!".

Then there is the moment where the Doctor decides to pool resources with the Master in order to try and save the universe from its possible destruction at the hands of the entropy caused by the death of the Logopolitans.  And the Doctor tells the Master "We must pool our resources" and Nyssa interrupts "That creature killed my father!" and the Doctor annoyed says "I can't choose the company I keep!".  So, the Master smiles and says "An alliance with you, Doctor?" and the Doctor says "In the circumstances, yes" and the Master tells the Doctor "If we do cooperate, there will be no question of you ever returning to Gallifrey" and the Doctor reminds the Master "If we don't cooperate, there will be no question of Gallifrey!". 

Nyssa then objects again to the Doctor "But Doctor!" and the Doctor interrupts her and says angrily "I've never chosen my own company. Nyssa, it was you who contacted me and begged me to help you find your father. Tegan, it's your own curiosity that got you into this. And Adric, a stowaway!".  So after, Adric, Tegan and Nyssa depart in the TARDIS with the Watcher, the Master approaches the Doctor, he extends his hand out for him to shake it, saying "Together?" and the Doctor says "One last hope" and he reluctantly shakes hands with the Master.

And last of all is the scene where the Doctor (SPOILER!!!) manages to finally foil the Master's evil plans at a cost of his own life as he falls from the Antenna of the Pharos project to the ground where his surrounded by his companions.  And the Doctor thinks of his old companions and enemies throughout his 4th incarnation and he then looks up at his friends and says his last words "Its the end, but the moment has been prepared for..." and we then see the Watcher walk towards the Doctor and merge with him, which sees the Doctor begin to regenerate.

Matthew Waterhouse next up does fairly well in his role as Adric although it has to be said he never really looks that comfortable onscreen as he spends alot of time fidgeting about not knowing what to do with his hands!

And Matthew has some good moments here and there although I will only mention a couple such as the scene where the Doctor is detained by a police detective (Tom Georgeson) after they find the miniaturised corpses of Tegan's aunt and a policeman.  So the Doctor calls out for Adric to devise a ruse so he can get away from the police and in the scene Adric spots a bike and he uses it to pretend he has fallen off it.  And Adric yells "Help me!  Help me, please!  Quickly!  Help!!" and the Doctor then flees to the TARDIS and as the policemen approach Adric, he pushes the bicycle into them and he runs into the TARDIS too. 

And once they are back in the TARDIS, they both notice the police box that was previously inside the control room has gone and Adric says "The box has gone!" and the Doctor suggests "It could be anywhere in the TARDIS!" and Adric asks "Battlestations?" and the Doctor replies "Absolutely!".

Then there is the scene where Adric reunites with Nyssa on Logopolis, who calls out to him "Adric!" and Adric smiles and greets her "Nyssa!" and rushes up to her "How did you get here?" and Nyssa tells him "A friend of the Doctor's brought me here.  He's here somewhere".  Then Adric and the Monitor both watch as the TARDIS begins to shrink and Adric asks "What's the matter?" and the Monitor says "Transfer instability.  It may only be temporary".  But the TARDIS continues to shrink and Adric says "Something's wrong!" and the Monitor says "Yes, you're right" and Adric asks "Can't you do something?!" but the Monitor is lost for an answer "I don't understand.  I simply don't understand!".  And as the TARDIS shrinks even more, Adric looks in horror and says "But the Doctor's in there!".

Next is Janet Fielding, who is pretty good in her debut role as the airline stewardess, Tegan Jovanka, who ends up getting lost in the TARDIS, mistaking it for a real police telephone box before she meets the Doctor and Adric.

And Janet has a few scenes worth a mention such as her first one where Tegan get's in her car, wearing her stewardess uniform, along with her Aunt Vanessa (Dolore Whiteman).  And in the scene, Tegan's Aunt can't get the car started, so Tegan tells her "Okay, Aunty Vanessa, let's go. More choke. Easy on the throttle as you turn her over" and Aunt Vanessa tells her "While I do that, dear, I wonder if you'd mind shutting the front door!" and we see Tegan's house front door is left open.  And after Tegan comes back to the car, having closed the door, she swaps seats and get's in the driving seat instead and manages to start the car first time and she smiles at her Aunt and says "I've got the knack!". 

And just as Tegan is about to drive she goes through her little airline stewardess speech as if speaking to passengers onboard a flight "Ladies and gentlemen. Although the fasten seatbelt sign is now off, we suggest that you keep your seatbelt fastened when seated. If necessary, you may move about the cabin. Smoking is now permitted!". 

Then there is the scene where atfer Tegan has continually wandered hopelessly around the TARDIS's maze of corridors she finally ends up in the main console room to see the Doctor and Adric, who both look on in surprise.  And Tegan angrily says to them "I demand to see whoever's in charge of this ship!!" leaving the Doctor and Adric speechless.  Tegan then angrily says to the Doctor "You can take me right back where you found me, Doctor whoever you are! My aunt's waiting in the car to take me to the airport!".  This then sparks the Doctor's interest as he asks "You're aunt?  Woman in the white hat, red sports car?" and Tegan asks "You've seen her?" and the Doctor plays it down and says "Well, a little of her!".

Lastly there is the scene where the Doctor having sent Adric, Tegan and Nyssa off with the Watcher in the Doctor's TARDIS, we see Tegan come back out the TARDIS as she wants to find the Doctor to take her back home.  And Adric protests to her "Look, we all want to help the Doctor, but we've got to do as he says!" but Tegan tells him "Listen.  The Doctor's my ticket back to London airport, so I'm going after him!" and as Tegan is about to go, Adric calls out "Tegan!" but she turns to Adric and says "Have a nice trip!" and heads off.

Sarah Sutton is also pretty good (and looks rather cute in that outfit of hers!) as Nyssa, the young aristocrat from the planet Traken, who's father Tremas, was killed by the Master, who inhabits his body.

And Sarah's most notable scene comes when the Watcher having taken Adric and Nyssa out of time and space itself on the TARDIS, Adric get's back to the control room with Nyssa and sets the TARDIS co-ordinates for the Pharos project on Earth.  And Nyssa in the scene, flicks a switch that brings on a displays of a cluster of stars on the monitor screen and Nyssa says "Adric, the scanner" and Adric looks at it and says "The whole universe.  Of course.  We're beyond space and time!".  And after they spot Earth on the scanner, Nyssa looks closer at it and suddenly becomes a little emotional and tells Adric "Adric I can't see Traken".  And Adric has a look to see and says "Traken should be..." and Nyssa continues "I can't even see Metulla Orionsis. The Master killed my stepmother, and then my father, and now the world that I grew up in, blotted out forever!".

Then we have Anthony Ainley, who made his debut here as the Master, although he previously appeared as Tremas in the story prior to this one, "The Keeper of Traken".  And it has to be said that Ainley really seems to enjoy hamming things up here in his role as the Master as he always plays the Master with a rather cheesy evil grin on his face and has him often laugh out loud!  Despite this though I've always quite enjoyed Ainley's portrayal of the Master even if it can be a bit pantomine-esque and his debut here is still fairly solid.

And Ainley has his share of good moments too that include the scene where we finally see the Master in person on Logopolis (prior to that we just hear him do a lot of wicked laughter off camera!) just after the TARDIS has shrink, as a result of the Master killing a few of the Logopolitans, it sabotaged the dimensional calculations for the TARDIS's restructuring.  And in the scene as we see some of the Logopolitans carry the TARDIS off to the central register to try and restore it, we see the Master hiding in one of the doorways and he laughs saying "At last, Doctor.  At last I've cut you down to size!".

Then there is the scene where Nyssa first meets the Master on Logopolis and she thinks he is still her father, Tremas.  And Nyssa says to the Master "But what is this mission of yours, father?  You're so changed by it.  You look younger, but so cold!".  And the Master says to her "Logopolis is a cold place. A cold, high place overlooking the universe. It holds a single great secret, Nyssa, which you and I must discover together!".  And in the scene, the Master tells Nyssa she should return to the Doctor and Nyssa says "Father, I don't want to be parted from you" and the Master says to her "No need to, my dear.  Here, wear this" and he givs Nyssa a gold bracelet to wear, which he places on her wrist.  And the Master tells Nyssa "It will keep us in mind of one another. Remember to tell no one that you've seen me, yet!".

And lastly there is the scene where the Master and the Doctor, having pooled their resources to try and activate the one last remaining CVE at the Pharos project (which would in effect save the universe from being wiped out due to the catastrophic effects of entropy caused by the destruction of  Logopolis).

However in the scene, the Master plans to blackmail the universe by controlling the CVE and threatening to deactivate it unless they bend to his demands.  And in the scene the Master tells the Doctor "And now I think it's time for you to go and explain the presence of your friends. There's quite a hubbub outside" and the Doctor says "You're quite right.  One mistake now could ruin everything" and the Master tells him "I know that, Doctor, and it could happen so easily".  And the Doctor, suspiciously asks "What do you mean?" and the Master says "The universe is hanging on a thread. A single recursive pulse down that cable and the CVE would close forever. Even a humble assistant could do it!" and the Doctor looks shocked and says "You're mad!".

So, the Master then plays a recorded message of his blackmail to the universe over the Antenna control room's speaker system, leaving the Doctor appalled and he says to him "Blackmail" and the Master says "No, Doctor, I'm merely reporting the state of affairs. I have it in my power now to save them or destroy them!".  And the Doctor looks at the Master in disgust and tells him "You're utterly mad!!" and the Master holds his gun up to him and warns "Back, Doctor. The proceedings must not be interrupted!" and he looks at the control room and laughs to himself "It's mine. The CVE. It's all mine!".

And last of all is, John Fraser, who is very good in his role as the chief mathematician on Logopolis, the Monitor.

But to save time I will just mention one of Fraser's scenes as the Monitor and its the one where the Master turns on a device that acts as a sound canceller that temporarily will disable the Logopolitans from their calculations, however this leads to disastrous consequences.  And in the scene, the Monitor warns the Master "You're destroying everything!  It may already be too late!" and the Master says "You exaggerate, Monitor.  Logopolis is not the universe" and the Monitor shouts back "But it is! Logopolis is the keystone. If you destroy Logopolis, you unravel the whole causal nexus!".

And the Master says to the others "I can demonstrate the continued functioning of Logopolis from here. This device only creates temporary silence and can be switched off!" as he switches off the device but there is nothing but silence.  And as they run outside they see the Logopolitans having indeed decayed to dust and the Monitor dispairs "You will hear nothing. Local disruption of structure is now irreversible. Logopolis is dead!".

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As for the direction, Peter Grimwade does a fine job here with the story as he paces it out at a nice leisurely speed and it rarely ever lags and he also allows for the injection of some fun into the story with the arrival of Tegan and the Doctor and Adric trying to flush out the Master from the TARDIS.  Grimwade himself was already a member of the show's production crew prior to becoming a director of several serials (including "Earthshock" during the Peter Davison era) and so it remains that this is easily one of his better directorial efforts for the show.

Lastly we move onto the music score, which is by Paddy Kingsland, who was around that time already a member of the BBC Radiophonic workshop and he has prior to writing scores for Doctor Who also did the music score for the sci-fi radio show "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy".  Kingsland would also go on to score other TV shows in the future such as Michael Palin's "Around the world in 80 days".   

As for Paddy's actual score here, its actually not too bad and it is purely electronic synthesizer based (although I think it does feature a guitar in there somewhere!) as were all the other scores were during the 1980's era of the show.  The score however is not that memorable in itself and it is better served simply to listen to while watching the story rather listen to it by itself as an isolated soundtrack but it is still fit for purpose and is pretty decent.

FLAWS (Warning: this section may also contain spoilers!)

Now flaws....does Logopolis have some???  Yes it does have some albeit nothing too drastic.

And to kick off it has to be said that with this story, Christopher Bidmead's script is at times just a bit too convoluted to follow as the whole plot can be quite difficult to follow.  And even though its an enjoyable story for adults I could easily see it quickly being a bore for children as it would most likely just confuse them!  

As for one of the big plotholes of the story, the biggest one for me was the Master's ignorance as to what the consequences would be if he tampered with the operation of Logopolis, as it really never occurs to him by doing this that he would potentially cause irriversible damange to the universe!  Yet the Master in the scene where he enables his signal cancelling device at the central register on Logopolis, he is totally oblivious to the results it will have, yet even the Doctor is aware!  It makes you think at times, the Master really isn't as bright as he would like to make himself out to be!

Another issue I had with the story was the silly scene where the Doctor and Adric decide to try and flush out the Master's TARDIS from the TARDIS by materialising it underwater in the Thames.  I mean its a pretty stupid idea and ultimately it never works because the Doctor lands the TARDIS on a pier instead!  Also the Master could have easily dematerialised his TARDIS before the Doctor even managed to try the manouvere in the first place. 

Then there are one or two continuity issues in the story itself with the main one being the scene where Adric creates a diversion so the Doctor can escape from the police, who have detained him, so Adric uses a nearby bike to pretend he has fallen off it and he lies down on the wet grass and when he get's up, his outfit is all damp and a bit muddy at the back.  However once we cut to the Doctor and Adric back in the TARDIS we can see that Adric's outfit is now completely clean and there is no damp or mud on it at all!  So its a pretty silly continuity error that obviously went unmissed.

There are also one or two laughable moments in the story too, such as the one where we see the Monitor lead the Doctor and the others through the corridors of the office on Logopolis, where we see the Logopolitans seated at work.  However as the Monitor goes through the next door we see a cardboard cutout of the previous room, which evidently exposes the show's rather modest budget at the time!

And then there is the laughable moment near the end where the Doctor tries to make his way out onto the Pharos project's radio antenna walkway but the Master has activated the dish, which makes the walkway start to spin around and leave the Doctor clinging on for dear life.  However in this scene we can also see another cardboard cutout of the Master in the background as the Doctor desparately tries to cling on to the walkway and again it just looks as fake as anything and laughable!   

Then there is the whole concept of the Watcher in the story, which is a strange one in itself as we later discover that (SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!) the Watcher was in fact the Doctor all along.  Now that would suggest to me that if you hold to the theory in the Jon Pertwee story "The Three Doctors" if the Doctor's other selves co-exist together at the same time then this would transgress the first law of time itself.  So this means that yet again, the first law of time here had indeed been transgressed once more, and you also never get to the find out just where did the Watcher come from and who, if at all, sent him???     

And last of all is the Tom Baker's final scene where we see him lying on the ground after his fall from the radar dish scaffolding in his dying moments, as his companions gather around him. However, it has to be said, the way in which the Doctor has fallen down, he looks like he has been tucked up into bed as he lies in a nice comfy position rather than stay on his side or something. So, in the end, it looks like he just had a leisurely fall instead of a fatal one, which makes it look all the more silly.

And further to this, one last note on the final scene, what really annoys me about the end of the story is the sloppy direction choice of having witnessed Tom Baker regenerate into Peter Davison, we then see Peter Davison, as the 5th Doctor, just sudddenly sit up and look at everyone. It just always really struck me as a poor way to end the serial and a bit too jarring to have the newly regenerated Doctor pop up as if he just got out of bed! So, yeah, I was never keen on this story's ending.  

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum it all up, "Logopolis" is an enjoyable and worthy send-off for Tom Baker as the Doctor, even if the story itself isn't a classic, it still has plenty to commend it with its intelligent (albeit overly complex) script, fairly solid performances and decent direction.  The story however is of course a bit too complex at times to follow with its convoluted plotlines and the story isn't really a classic as such and yes arguably, Tom Baker could have recieved a better send-off than this one.

However despite these flaws, "Logopolis" is still well worth a look and as far as swansong stories, it does nothing to disgrace the Tom Baker era and it sees one of the show's most popular incarnations get a decent finale. 

So, I will rate Logopolis

8.5 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post hopefully before the month is over.

Until then its bye for now! 

Doctor Who - The Keeper of Traken Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, its time for another review on the blog and I figured I would do another Doctor Who story and this is a new review of a story I've not covered before, which is the penultimate story from the Tom Baker era, The Keeper of Traken.

So, this story is one that I've never been that keen on in the past although it is well regarded by fans but I thought I would give it another go. So, let's find out how TKOT is after 43 years.

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!

STORY

So, the story follows the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and his companion, Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) who are intercepted on their travels in the TARDIS by the elderly keeper of the planet Traken (played by Denis Carey). The Keeper warns the Doctor that although he is set to transfer his powers to one of the council on Traken named Trimas (Anthony Ainley) he senses a great evil, which he wants the Doctor's help with. 

On arriving at Traken, the Doctor and Adric find a statue called Melkur, which is an evil creature that has become calcified, which is the source of the evil that the Keeper referred. However, as the mysterious Melkur statue kills two guards, the Doctor and Adric are soon blamed but Tremas comes to their defence. However, it is soon apparent that Tremas's wife, Kassia (Sheila Ruskin) is a worshipper of Melkur and is prepared to do its evil bidding but it is soon revealed that inside the statue is an old enemy of the Doctor's, who has revenge on his mind...

THOUGHTS (SPOILER AHEAD!!!)

Although I wasn't a big fan of The Keeper of Traken when I first viewed it, I quite enjoyed it this time around, even if it does still have some issues. The story itself does have a fairly intriguing concept, with the Doctor having to pit his wits against a malevolent statue that houses one of his oldest foes, the Master. The story also nicely introduces a new character in Nyssa, who is the daughter of Tremas and she would in the next story join the TARDIS crew on a long term basis well into the Peter Davison era. So, while its not one of my favourite stories from the Baker era, there is still enough here to commend it.

PERFORMANCES 

As for the performances in the story, starting with Tom Baker, he is great here as usual and adds a nice layer of sadness to personality here given that his faithful companion, Romana (Lalla Ward) departed in the previous story, Warrior's Gate even if it is somewhat glossed over. Tom also has som nice moments in the story where he shows his usual mix of cheerfulness and seriousness all rolled into one, even if this isn't a top tier serial, Tom is always watchable no matter what. However given this was he penultimate story, Tom naturally by then was keen to leave shown given the annoying changes at the hands of the then new producer, John Nathan-Turner. 

Matthew Waterhouse on the other is the weak link in the chain here (as he usually was!) as the somehwat petulant teenage mathematical genius, Adric. Waterhouse doen't have too many memorable moments in the story in all honesty although still does share a couple of nice moments with Sarah Sutton, playing Nyssa. 

Anthony Ainley is also excellent in his role as Tremas, the friendly Consul member of Traken named Tremas and this would be his first and only appearance as this character in the series, as he would later go on to play the Master himself for the remainder of the JNT era. Ainley actually gives a more restrained performance as Tremas before he would start really hamming it up as the Master during the Davison era. 

Sheila Ruskin is also very good in her role as Kassia, Tremas's wife, who is drawn to the statue of Melkur and secretly serves it but is really being manipulated by the Master himself, who is concealed within the statue itself. 

Denis Carey also is excellent in his role as the aged Keeper, who warns the Doctor against the evil on Traken, which he wants him to investigate. Carey himself appeared previously on the show in the incompleted serial in Baker's previous season, Shada as Professor Chronotis and Timelash, from the Colin Baker era. 

John Woodnutt is once again excellent in his role as Seron, one of the Consul members of Traken, who debates on the killings at the hands of Melkur. Woodnutt himself previously appeared in a couple of stories most notably in Spearhead from Space, Jon Pertwee's debut and also in Tom Baker story, Terror of the Zygons. Also rather curiously, Woodnutt adopts a Scottish accent again for this role like he did in the Terror of the Zygons, which is interesting!

Sarah Sutton also makes a good debut in her role as future regular companion, Nyssa, who is the daughter of Tremas, who fatefully later on (SPOILER!) will lose her father at the hands of the Master. Sarah also looks rather cute in her outfit with her queenly crown it has to be said and she actually manages a decent rapport with Matthew Waterhouse. 

And last of all is Geoffrey Beevers, who is pretty good in his role as the Master, who still takes a rather emaciated and disfigured appearance similar to how he looked in The Deadly Assassin with his cloak and hood. Beevers also makes good use of a creepy voice in his depiction of the Master, which is also distorted behind the statue of Melkur. Beevers himself was credited as Melkur during the story to avoid giving away from the twist that it was the Master. 

DIRECTOR

As for the director, John Black, does a pretty decent job here as the story's pacing is relatively swift at just four episodes and for the most part it doesn't really lag. Black would then go on to direct a couple more Doctor Who stories, Four to Doomsday in the Davison era as well as the spin-off episode, K9 & Company that featured Elisabeth Sladen also as Sarah-Jane Smith.

MUSIC

Moving onto the music, the score is by Roger Limb and its overall a pretty good one and its most memorable part is Nyssa's theme, which is very good and has a nice, jaunty feel to it, which is at odds to the rest of the score's tone. Limb often provided some excellent electronic scores during the JNT era and this was actually his first for the show, with the bulk of the rest being in the Peter Davison era and lastly Revelation of the Daleks in the Colin Bakera era. 

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for flaws, yes The Keeper of Traken isn't perfect. 

For starters, I still feel this isn't exactly one of my favourite stories from the Baker era even though I did enjoy it a bit more this time round, I tend to think its just a bit overrated. And compared to Tom's more solid finale in the following story, Logopolis, TKOT just somehow doesn't quite do it for me as its characters are definitely a mixed bag. I also felt the story does lag a bit early on in the first episode before the Doctor and Adric even get to Traken. 

Another issue I had was to do with how the Doctor didn't twig sooner that the Master was behind the statue of Melkur as he dropped enough hints that he was an old enemy to him. However, the Doctor just keeps guessing who it is up until the moment where he finally meets him although I kind of appreciate this was an attempt to disguise the Master being in the story itself. 

I also felt that the story's climax was a bit silly where the Doctor is forced to punch in the code to shutdown the servo that powers the source of the keeper's power. This is silly because as far as I remember, the Doctor has to punch in three digits but when you look at how he hits the numbers on the panel, he appears to miss the final one quite badly! 

And last of all, I found it a bit strange as to just how does the Master manage to take over Tremas's body to regenerate? I mean he basically just merges into Tremas and bingo becomes the Master, but we've not really seen anything like that before in the show, so its weird to think the Master has such transformative powers at his fingertips, but I guess he does here.

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, the Keeper of Traken is for the most part quite an enjoyable story with some good performances from Tom Baker and the supporting cast, particularly Anthony Ainley as Tremas, Geoffrey Beevers as the Master and Sheila Ruskin as Kassia as well as Sarah Sutton in her debut as future regular companion, Nyssa. Its not perfect of course with some pacing issues early on and some plot niggles as well basically being a bit overrrated in my humble opinion. However that aside, The Keeper of Traken is still a decent Doctor Who story and worth a look.

So, I will rate it:

7 out of 10

So, that's it for this one and I will be back hopefully with an updated review of Tom Baker's final story, Logopolis.

So, until then, its bye for now!