Doomwatch: The Logicians
Spoiler warning: this blog post gives away the conclusion of the episode.
This post is heavily reliant on the much superior post about this episode on the Archive TV Musings blog which can be found here: https://archivetvmusings.blog/2016/05/08/doomwatch-the-logicians/
This episode of Doomwatch is a rollicking tale of public school life in the UK and is very much of the genre where the boys get out of hand and do things like make a nuclear reactor or riot, or something. I LOVE its depiction of the boys stealing a top secret formula from a pharmaceutical conpany where they're lucky enough to have had outings. I love the depiction of the boys planning this using a paper map in the dormitory. I love the way one of the boys gets trapped in the pharmaceutical company's office because the repeat visit on which he was supposed to have been rescued has been cancelled after the theft of the formula. Basically, this episode is the Famous Five force fed a handful of LSD and let loose on an unsuspecting world.
I am stressing the boys' school story aspect because honestly I think this is the best aspect of this show. Unusually for Doomwatch the ethical aspect in question is not to do with the stolen formula, which is for a newly discovered antibiotic, but is, as the title suggests, about the question of logic, which is where the intended theme of the show rather goes off the rails and makes it best to focus on the show as a rollicking school story.
The problem with the logic theme is this. I just cannot believe that the subject of youngsters taught supposedly in a completely logical, scientific way, would be as disturbing to Doomwatch or anyone else as it is supposed to be in the show. Obviously I may be biased since we live in a world where the lack of reason and logic has become epidemic and we could do with far more people operating with simple logic and unemotionally, in my opinion. In addition to the depiction of logic as more concerning than it would be, we also have the problem that the school is run far from logically. Even the boys themselves comment that there is literally nothing in the way of discipline or order, and beyond the computers in the classroom, the school comes across far more like the legendary Summerhill school. The episode also shoots itself in the foot by making out that the boys are being taught by computer, and yet has a scene where they are clearly being taught by a teacher and the computers are doing little more than a multimedia presentation. I must stress that these mammoth contradictions in the show do not mean I don't think you should watch it, it's great.
It turns out that the reason the boys have stolen the formula is for the utterly endearing one that they want the company to pay a ransom to get it back which they will then donate anonymously to the school, which they know has been struggling financially. This is a striking level of loyalty to the school, given that as far as I can see it's a complete shambles, even by the boys' own estimation.
I think this episode could have been improved by focussing on the way both the school and one of the boys' fathers have rather absented themselves from the role of a parent and instead expected the boys to discipline themselves and hand over the role of teacher to the computers. This would still have allowed the episode's focus on a concern about pure logic by contrasting the logic with the parental and teacher's role.
An excellent adventure, though, and one well worth watching.
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