Doctor Who Retro Review: Serial 020—The Myth Makers
By T. Scott Edwards
I have listened to the audio track for The Myth Makers before, and whilst it
was entertaining enough, it was never one of my favourites. Watching the series
in order from the start, however, one sees just how groundbreaking it is –
Donald Cotton's writing is magnificent, and it is almost impossible not to fall
in love with the serial; indeed, it may well be one of my favourites from the
Hartnell era now. I got hold of the soundtrack to this in the same way that I
got hold of them all – a friend, James, sent me them, and I devoured the whole
lot, not necessarily in order, but without paying a great deal of attention to
some. Whilst Marco Polo soaked me in
completely from the first 2 minutes, The
Myth Makers was rather more background music than absorbed entertainment. I
gave an occasional chuckle, but that was all.
Despite not existing save for scant
telesnaps, the occasional brief moments of low quality 8mm footage and the
audio track, it is an absolute pleasure to 'watch'. Interestingly, almost all
existing footage is of Maureen O'Brien – it would appear that whoever took the
time to record this clearly felt passionately about Vicki's character! The
wonderful costumes and sets really help to sell the production, too – what we
can see of them, of course – John Wood's realisation of the Trojan horse is
particularly spectacular, and the costumes are exceptionally splendid, realised
wonderfully by Daphne Dare and Tony Pearce.
Opening the serial here was a brave move
– following last week's brief distraction, featuring an unknown cast of
characters and the reappearance of the Daleks, a contemporary audience must
have been totally thrown by the absence of them for this serial. Mission to the Unknown had promised
outer space, Dalek battles, a Secret Service in the future, and no appearance
of the Doctor and the TARDIS. To follow it up with an historical must have
really confused the kids at home, desperately hoping to see the Doctor's
involvement with that story. But instead, we arrive on the plains outside of
Troy, to two soldiers sparring both physically and verbally.
The opening scene is fantastic – the
action opens on Hector and Achilles battling furiously, verbally assaulting
each other with prosaic, Shakespearean dialogue – "Your bones would be the
meatier, Trojan. Though meat a trifle rough at that. Well, all's one. They will
whiten well enough in the sun!" has a fabulous ring to it – but what makes
this work so well, although we cannot see it, is the comedy which then
underlies it; rather than face off admirably, Achilles decides to turn and run
away as Hector gains the upper hand. The action then cuts to the interior of
the TARDIS, with the Doctor, Vicki and Steven watching the struggle on the
scanner. The Doctor even openly criticises the action outside, in a knowing and
metatextual nod to the style of the serial, commenting that "they're doing
more talking than they are fighting."
When the Doctor steps out of the TARDIS
and is mistaken for the father of the gods, Zeus, there is some wonderful
comedy, and Hartnell, as always, thrives on the chance to sink his teeth into
the meaty text. The idea that he is told that he looks like "the guise of
an old beggar" is beautifully delivered with dead-pan aplomb by Cavan
Kendall, and unlike with Barbara in The
Aztecs, the Doctor is quite willing to go along with the mistaken belief. It
is the distraction of the Doctor which allows Achilles to win in his battle
with Hector, and upon the arrival of Odysseus, it is evident that despite being
an historically famous fighter, many have little faith in Achilles' abilities
as a warrior. It is suggested that Achilles tired Hector out by running away
and exhausting him in pursuit, and again through the lampooning of historical
figures, the comedy is bountiful – Odysseus' mocking echoes that of King Priam
and his son in the next episode. Cotton is purposefully confusing the audience,
suggesting that there is a fine line between fact and fiction, one which is
readily blurred through mythology. This becomes a theme later with the Trojan
horse.
Sadly, some of Cotton's finest work
would have been in his use of wordplay – the titles of the episodes would have
forewarned the audience of the inherent comedy of the serial, but most were
vetoed – originally, episode 1 was to have been entitled "Zeus Ex Machina",
with episode 3 entitled "Is there a Doctor in the Horse?" As it was,
only the second title is particularly amusing – "Small Prophet, Quick
Return".
The action soon moves to the tents of
the Greek warriors Agamemnon and Menelaus discussing the tedium of battle – the
ten years war has driven the troops to distraction, and all over Helen,
Menelaus' wife, who has run off with a Trojan. Of course, the tale of Helen of
Troy, whose face could launch a thousand ships, is infamous, but it is the
distracted way in which Menelaus says that he is "heartily glad to see the
back of her" which raises laughs. The two are portrayed as bickering
siblings, rather than fear-inducing monarchs, and the "stop interrupting"
of Agamemnon adds to the humour, whilst also reminding us of the underlying
threat. We are frequently faced with powerful men for humorous purposes – such
as Nero in The Romans – yet there is
always the underlying threat of death should our travellers fail to please
them. These are powerful men, who need only click their fingers to have someone
put to death, but by showing them as such tired and bored men helps to create a
sense of levity. As Agamemnon, Francis de Woolf is superb – last seen as Vasor
the trapper in The Keys of Marinus,
here he is superb. Rather than milking the scene by hamming it up, he plays it
straight, which makes it all the funnier.
Further comedy arises in the form of
Cyclops, played by Tutte Lemkow. As always, there is no existing footage of the
character – poor Lemkow barely exists as far as Doctor Who is concerned! – but
the mute spy approaches Odysseus. Where the comedy is milked from this scene,
however, is all down to the outstanding Ivor Salter as Odysseus – his one-sided
conversation with the spy is brilliant, as we are forced to imagine just how
exactly Cyclops was able to mime all of the information which his master gleams
from his report.
The first episode ends with the
abduction of the TARDIS by the Trojans, with Vicki still inside. Through its
placement within the Trojan camp, this allows us access to the opposing side,
and Cotton is just as scathing about them. Led by another dangerously bored
character, Priam oversees his court with wonderful dead-pan humour. His open
mocking of the soft and pathetic Paris is superb, as he questions "what
sort of brother are you? Furthermore, what sort of son?!" due to Paris'
failure to avenge Hector's death. Paris' pride at bringing the TARDIS as a
prize underlies his utter incompetence – and foreshadows his idiocy at the end
of episode 3, once again bringing a 'gift' into the city without thinking of
the consequences.
What is so spectacular about The Myth Makers is that whilst it is
certainly a comedy, and a rich one filled with fantastic dialogue at that, at
no point does anyone ham it up, or play it for laughs. It is performed as
though it were a straight piece, making the comedy all the funnier. Even the
characters that perform no comedic part, though, are brilliant – Frances White,
as Cassandra, is a part that gets nothing comedic to deliver, yet becomes the
butt of many a joke. Priam's declaration that he suspects "it's a kind of
insurance, so that if things do go wrong she can always say 'I told you so.'"
is wonderfully delivered. The most tragic thing about this, of course, is that
Cassandra is right to worry about the strangers, and worryingly, her
predictions are true – she dreams that a gift containing Greek soldiers will
arrive and destroy their lives as they know them, but it isn't the TARDIS of
which she has predicted – it is the Trojan horse. Likewise, we are expected not
to like Odysseus, as he is a brute of a man, a closed-minded warrior. Yet he
too is right not to trust the Doctor – his disregard for superstition is
founded on sense.
Vicki's christening as Cressida is a clever
move by Cotton too – Vicki sounds far too much like "a heathen sort of
name" – and almost any viewer will know that Cressida will marry Troilus. Here,
though, so many of the conventions of Greek mythology are muddled that it
throws us; whilst that is how the story goes, we have no way of knowing how
their story will end. Achilles isn't the hero we believed. Odysseus is a
pillager and a brute, not the hero we expect. So how will their story end?
As Paris, Barrie Ingham gets some
wonderful comedy to play with – the scene in which he attempts to challenge
Achilles, but his voice gradually becomes quieter and quieter as he realises
what the fight would mean, is wonderful, and when he manages to get into a
fight with Steven, posing as Diomede in an attempt to infiltrate the Trojan
city, is also wonderful – the bluster he manages to convey simply with his
voice is phenomenal – as Steven wins over his 'captor with unfounded praise
(Oh, I could tell them a tale or two of your valour that that would make even
King Priam blanch to hear.) it is Paris' response of "Oh, I say – could
you really?!" which makes the scene so funny.
The most intriguing thing about this
serial, as I've mentioned, is the frivolous way in which it changes the
conventions of Greek drama, and our expectations of characters. This serial is
actually the first in which the Doctor actively attempts to manipulate the
past; despite the slow-dawning realisation that he gave Nero the idea to burn
down Rome in The Romans, it was only
by pure accident that it happened. Here, though, Hartnell is actively engaging
in the events of history, attempting to create a method for Odysseus' men to
attack Troy. When Steven suggests the Trojan horse, the Doctor instantly
pooh-poohs the idea, claiming that it was obviously exaggeration and created by
Homer as a dramatic device. But when his plans for flying machines fails – principally
due to his fear that he will be put
in one – he changes his tune and decides to design the horse after all. It is
this creation which has a direct result upon history; and whilst the story is
fixed in books anyway, it is because of the Doctor's invention that it exists
at all. The model work on the horse is superb, and the scenes inside it are
intriguing – we can only wonder what it looked like in there, as the exterior
is so superbly crafted. Incidentally – and again, riskily, considering Doctor Who is principally for children –
Odysseus even gets to make a throw-away joke about an orgy! It's genius!
The climax to episode 3 has one of the
greatest – and cheesiest – lines ever – Cassandra's doom-laden "Woe to the
House of Priam! Woe to the Trojans!" is swiftly countered, again by Paris,
saying "It's a bit late to say 'whoa' to the horse" as it is being
brought into the city.
After such lightweight and frivolous
scripting in the first three episodes, episode 4 comes as something of a shock
to the system. The fight scenes sound incredible, and Peter Purves' narration
on the audiotrack is superb, verging on extremely graphic. The scene in which
Troilus slays Achilles is incredible, and the moment where he looks down at the
city of Troy burning to the ground is horribly distressing – bellowing "Cressida!"
into the air as he believes that she has brought about the end of everything he
knew. It is easy to forget that this is exactly what the serial has been
working its inevitable way to; lives are readily disposed of, characters
dispatched brutally, sometimes off-screen, such as with Priam and Paris, and
the fate of Cassandra is inevitable. It seems a bitter pill to swallow.
Vicki's exit seems somehow strange,
though – although it was equally inevitable, the Doctor seems rather blasé
about it at first. Her fate is to remain with Troilus, and create the tales
which are still told to this day, yet what makes it truly heartbreaking is
that, as the Doctor and the wounded Steven, along with Katarina, stumble into
the TARDIS and disappear, Vicki is left to be with her true love – yet he
cannot trust her. He genuinely believes her to have caused the fall of Troy and
the House of Priam, but she persuades him that all is not lost.
The oddest thing about this serial,
though, is the character of Katarina. After all that the crew have faced in
this serial, it is Katarina that is used to replace Vicki – despite her only
arriving some five minutes before the end of the serial and barely speaking. Her
purpose, of course, is intended for The
Daleks' Master Plan, the epic 12-part adventure which follows this serial,
but regardless it all seems rather odd. To some extent, she is a very primitive
Jamie McCrimmon – her lack of understanding of science leads her to believe
that she has died and is being transferred to the next world in this "blue
temple". Her naivety is wonderfully touching.
Scott Edwards is a teacher of English and Theatre Studies at Barnard Castle School in the North East of England, with a BAHons in English Literature and Film Studies. He is also a self-professed ‘ming-mong,' and in addition to timelordapprentice.blogspot.co.uk he also runs facebook.com/Classic.Doctor.Who. You can also follow him on Twitter: @TimelordTSE.
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