Leela’s great (obvs), but I’ll add that I’ve listened to a fair amount of audio stories with her in them, and the character really shines on audio as well.
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It’s because Louise Jameson’s voice talent is out of this world. She knows exactly how to make the tiniest voice speak for her, exactly when Leela needs to be quiet or loud. It’s incredible
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I don’t know, I do feel (without having listened to any audios with her apart from Destination Nerva; wait, or was she in Zagreus?) that even though her voice acting is incredible, something has to be lost. Because you don’t have all the little actions she does in the background of shots she’s not the focus of… although I have seen someone comment on the fact that apparently she’s able to substitute / adapt that for audio through interlocutive noises or whatever the correct term for that is. I suppose I’ll have to judge that when I listen to the Gallifrey audios.
Anyway, I just finished Part 1 of The Horror of Fang Rock, and so far she has changed from one great outfit into a different even better outfit (cozy knitwear!), has had great banter with the Doctor (and the other characters as well, but the banter with the Doctor is especially great), taken out her knive at every occasion and done some investigating on her own. So I might have little Leela left, but what I currently have is fantastic.
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It does miss the fluidity of her movements, that much is true, but as you say, those intermittent noises really shine through in a way I’ve not heard any other actor do it. Leela really would have been an easily forgotten companion if it had not been for her skill
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Just finished The Keeper of Traken - a really strong story, four and a half stars and it dethrones State of Decay as my current favourite of season 18. Now, onto the Fourth Doctor’s date with destiny in Logopolis…
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I hope you enjoy Logopolis!
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Finished up Tom’s era by watching The Keeper of Traken and Logopolis for the first time. I definitely preferred Traken (and think it’s the highlight of season 18), but Logopolis has its moments.
The Keeper of Traken: A tense and smartly written Faustian horror, that works splendidly in isolation and as a reintroduction to the Master after a years-long gap between appearances. The sets and costumes are gorgeous here, with Traken being probably the most well-realised alien planet in the programme’s original run. Tom Baker and Matthew Waterhouse have an easy rapport, Anthony Ainley, Sheila Ruskin and Sarah Sutton are compelling as the ill-fated Tremas family and Geoffrey Beevers is spine-chilling in his one on-screen appearance as Gallifrey’s other most infamous renegade. Some minor issues with the effects and the Melkur costume aside, this is fantastic.
Logopolis: A story with some huge ideas, concepts and stakes behind it, that unfortunately does very little to make them dramatically interesting to watch. You can tell Bidmead is more interested in the big sci-fi stuff than trivial things like “the plot making sense”[1] or “characters behaving in a semi-realistic manner”[2]. Like Planet of the Spiders, this is a really weird and atypical note to end a popular, long-running era of the programme on, to the extent that I actually found it quite jarring to get flashbacks to the Fourth Doctor’s earlier companions and seasons near the end. Tom is on good form and Anthony Ainley is very watchable without descending to scenery chewing (although that won’t last long), but Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding unfortunately don’t make fantastic first (or second, in Sarah Sutton’s case) impressions here, doing very little to play on the admittedly meagre opportunities to give their characters some personality offered by the script. Matthew Waterhouse, at least, continues to play well against Tom Baker, and I enjoyed his little “fake bicycle crash” distraction to help the Doctor escape the police in part 2. I like the idea of the Watcher, Logopolis is well-realised by the production team, and the atmosphere of the serial is nicely melancholic, but there’s far too much technobabble gobbledegook as there has been throughout most of season 18. On the whole, it just about hangs together, and it’s certainly unique, but not massively satisfying as a farewell for the programme’s longest-serving star.
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Wrapped Invasion of Time last night. Loved it - there was so much going on in this one, and kept guessing from the extra-cold opening.
Really enjoyed the interactions between the Doctor and Borusa. His old tutor from the academy revealing some interesting things about the Doctor’s past. So sad to see Leela go, but happy that she found someone to chill with on Gallifrey.
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Watched the full version of the sea devils last night and it was actually a bit better than I remembered, and just better without being cut down. It feels very S7 (I mean considering it’s just the Silurians but water and it’s now got Jo and The Master) and that’s my fav season of this Doctor so that’s fun!
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Two more season 18
Full Circle is one of those stories that has some good parts to it but is not especially outstanding in any aspect so I will give it a 5/10, enjoyable but not amazing. If I had to rate Adric right now he would slot in right at the bottom of my companion rankings, below Katerina!
State of Decay I will also give a 5/10. I think it is a better story than Full Circle but Vampire style isn’t my thing so that will prevent me giving it a high rating. Kind of making the most of the 4th Doctor and Romana while they’re still here (I’ve managed to avoid spoilers of which exact story Romana departs so far). Romana is now my 6th favourite companion, ahead of Jo and Leela, but honestly my top 5 is so cemented right now I don’t know if any of the future companions are going to break into it. Adric certainly will not.
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After wrapping season 15 the other day, it was back to…. season 12 recently. Thanks to a birthday gift of more Doctor Who blurays. It’s a bit out of order, but I think I’ll cope. And first up was Robot.
I’ve always enjoyed this one, just because it gave us Tom Baker as number 4, but also as its got a decent script with some great lines: You may be a doctor, but I’m the Doctor. The definite article, you might say. Also Sarah Jane and the doctor gel immediately.
Next up The Ark in Space. I wore out my VHS copy of that as a child.
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Dalek last night. Yep. Still a masterpiece, the Daleks still never bettered since on TV.
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The mutants is fine. Boring in the first half and it does get better from the end of ep3 and beyond.
Also finished the first two episodes of the Sarah Jane adventures aka revenge of the slitheen it’s very fun! Like it a lot.
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I’m three episodes into The Mutants myself! Already enjoying it, so good to know it gets even better.
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Girl in the Fireplace during supper.
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I finished “Galaxy 4” for the first time. I liked the Rills quite a bit, but most of the other things felt pretty weak to me. 4/10.
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Properly struggling through The Space Pirates as it turns out. I haven’t thought about skipping something for a while, but this feels like a prime candidate. I wish I could find something to like about it, but even Patrick Troughton isn’t able to for this one, so it seems like a futile endeavor.
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That’s not actually the first episode. Invasion of the Bane is.
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I’ve watched invasion of the bane but that’s technically a “special” to me and revenge of the slitheen are the first of s1 
at least that’s how I see it
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