Serial U, in four parts:
- Temple of Secrets - 10/16/65, 8.3m viewers
- Small Prophet, Quick Return - 10/23/65, 8.1m
- Death of a Spy - 10/30/65, 8.7m
- Horse of Destruction - 11/6/65, 8.3m
(Note: I much prefer the unused working titles to part one [Deus ex Machina] and part four [Is There a Doctor in the Horse?], both of which were vetoed by some BBC bigwig with an evident vendetta against puns. One wonders how part two's title escaped unscathed...)
Sound Bytes:
"A witty script from Donald Cotton that blends farce and violence to odd effect. The actors don't seem sure which way they should play their scenes." - Mark Campbell, The Pocket Essential Doctor Who (Pocket Essentials, 2000)
"Bill kept getting angry because he was struggling with his lines in the scene involving Agamemnon's feast and this was holding everything up. (Guest actor) Felix de Wolff was supposed to say, 'Come in Doctor, sit down and have a ham bone,' but he turned to Bill and said, 'Come in Doctor, sit down, ham, and have a bone.' Everyone collapsed but Bill went puce." - amusing anecdote from Who's There? The Life and Career of William Hartnell by Jessica Carney (Virgin, 1996)
"This story... scores over The Romans in that although it too is humorous, the humor is more sophisticated and arises out of the drama rather than being grafted on." - review from The Handbook: The First Doctor by Howe, Stammers and Walker (Virgin, 1994)
Comments:
Doctor Who fans are always lamenting over lost episodes, but very few of them seem to miss The Myth Makers all that keenly. That's too bad, because as comedy historical stories go, this is a good one.
The better you know Greek myth, the funnier it'll seem. As an occasional student of antiquity, I get a charge out of Donald Cotton's sly revisionism; for instance, in his version of the Trojan War, Hector only loses to Achilles because he's distracted by the sudden appearance of the Doctor. Menelaus, meanwhile, has no particular fondness for his wife Helen because she always sleeps around, and he would prefer to stop fighting the Trojans over her and just go home. Agamemnon's imperialist ambitions are keeping the Greeks in Asia Minor, not the face that launched a thousand ships.
Cotton's portrayal of Odysseus is somewhat more conventional; he depicts the mythological hero as a conniving windbag, a characterization that is perfectly in keeping with Roman and medieval (but certainly not Greek) literary traditions. Incidentally, I think it's quite interesting to see Odysseus in a Doctor Who story, because I've always considered him to be the Doctor's spiritual ancestor. Think about it: both men spend their time voyaging aimlessly, searching for home, talking down to their stupid shipmates, and outwitting clumsy one-eyed monsters. Well, I see a connection, anyway.
But I digress; back to the story itself. Like several other Hartnell serials, it's actually got a proper romance in it. Vicki and Troilus probably fall for each other a little too quickly, but at least they get to share a few sweet scenes together before Vicki decides to abandon the TARDIS and remain in the past with him. As companion departures go, it's not the best, but it certainly beats the passionless Leela-Andred and Peri-Yrcanos pairings.
In addition to this foray into young love, The Myth Makers also features some borderline naughty dialog; there are references to an orgy, and to bawdy tales about Aphrodite. There's all the proof you need that sexual overtones in Doctor Who were not invented by writers of the New Adventures.
On the downside, this serial does feature some thoroughly annoying music, and I'm a little concerned that the battle scenes might have been lame (how do you show the fall of Troy on a TV budget?) Strangely, the Discontinuity Guide describes the action sequences as "reasonable," even though I'm pretty sure that no footage of them still exists. Am I missing something here?
Despite that potential bugbear, I feel confident in asserting that The Myth Makers is a solid comedy-drama. I simply happen to like its jokes, so naturally I tend to think that it's a lot wittier than The Romans. For example, there's an amusing scene in which the Trojans bring the TARDIS into Troy, and Cassandra raises the possibility that Greek soldiers might be hiding inside. Paris scoffs at this suggestion, pointing out that the TARDIS looks far too small to hold more than a couple of cramped people. The joke, of course, is that the TARDIS would make a perfect Trojan Horse because literally thousands of soldiers could fit inside... but the joke's not very funny now that I've explained it, huh? Trust me, it works in context.
Grade: B+