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Odysseus (Ivor Salter) forces
the Doctor to plot the fall of Troy!
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4 episodes: Temple of Secrets; Small Prophet, Quick Return; Death of a Spy; Horse of Destruction. Running Time: Approx. 100 minutes. Written by: Donald Cotton. Directed by: Michael Leeston-Smith. Produced by: John Wiles.
THE PLOT:
Ancient Troy, near the end of the Trojan War. Greek soldier Achilles (Cavan Kendall) battles Trojan prince Hector (Alan Haywood) outside the walls of the city, mere feet away from a strange blue box. Hector is the better fighter, and his victory is at hand. He taunts his victim before the kill, challenging Zeus to intervene and save Achilles.
Which is the very second that the Doctor steps out of the TARDIS. Hector is stunned - and Achilles takes the chance to kill his opponent in the name of the god who has saved him: Zeus, the Father of the Gods and ruler of the world, who has now appeared to him "in the guise of an old beggar."
The Doctor tries to slip back into his ship, but Achilles insists on taking him back to the Greek camp. There, Odysseus (Ivor Salter) derides the idea that this old man might be Zeus, thinking it more likely that he is a Trojan spy. King Agamemnon (Francis de Wolff) is more cautious, not believing the Doctor is Zeus but not wanting to risk offending the gods. He allows Odysseus to set the Doctor a challenge: Defeat Troy in the next two days, or be executed!
Meanwhile, the TARDIS is brought into Troy on the orders of Paris (Barrie Ingham), the surviving prince. When Vicki emerges, she is immediately captured. The prophet Cassandra (Frances White) suspects her of being a Greek spy, and demands her execution. King Priam (Max Adrian) is sympathetic to the young girl, and gives her an opportunity to save herself. Her test? To defeat the Greeks!
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: William Hartnell is always at his best in the historical stories, and this one is no exception. The Doctor/Odysseus dynamic is wonderfully played. The Doctor employs his usual tactics to try to escape: Bluster, delay, flattery. The battle-hardened Odysseus proves utterly immune. Largely in desperation, the Doctor proposes the idea of the Trojan Horse, and he finds himself among the soldiers inside as the horse is dragged into Troy. As the slaughter approaches, he is helpless to do anything but witness it in disgust and horror. In a striking moment, he denounces Odysseus: "You're selfish, greedy, corrupt, cheap, horrible! Your one thought is for yourself and what you can get out of it!" Hartnell summons a righteous fury worthy of the god he's pretended to be - And at the story's end, Odysseus is left to wonder if the Doctor truly was Zeus all along.
Vicki: Reportedly, incoming producer John Wiles was not pleased observing Maureen O'Brien's complaints about Galaxy Four, and decided not to renew her contract. Thus, one of my favorite companions is lumbered with a rather weak exit, married off to Troilus - an overly earnest and naive young man with whom she's spent less than ten minutes of total screen time! She does get some good material before then, at least. Her interactions with Steven are entertaining, and she bonds quickly with King Priam and his family. Maureen O'Brien is terrific in the final episode, the sprightliness dropping out of Vicki's voice as she realizes what is about to happen to the people she's just befriended.
Steven: Has in many ways emerged as the anti-Ian. Where his predecessor tended to be very stoic in the face of frequent imprisonment and brushes with death, Steven is more inclined toward irritation and sarcasm. When the Doctor declares he did well to materialize on Earth, regardless of the situation, Steven snaps back: "I suppose I should be grateful for standing here, trussed like a chicken, ready to have me throat cut!" His attempt to get into Troy to rescue Vicki backfires, landing him in a dungeon while making her situation worse. His response is to trade barbs with her. Still behaving much like an older brother, he all but makes gagging noises when he sees her flirting with Troilus. But like a good brother, he is highly protective; when hes sees that she cares for the young man, he urges her to get him out of Troy.
Katarina: Cassandra's handmaiden, introduced in Episode Four as a replacement for Vicki. There's really not much to say about her at this point. With the episode missing, there is no opportunity to observe any nonverbal reactions actress Adrienne Hill might have shown, and Katarina has very few lines. She does react to the Doctor and the TARDIS as probably anyone from her time and culture would - Assuming he must be a god, and that she must be dead and on her way to the underworld. Not an unreasonable assumption, given that she's just stumbled in from the site of a mass slaughter.
THOUGHTS:
John Wiles' brief, ill-fated tenure as producer begins. I have something of a split opinion on Wiles. On the one hand, effectively firing Maureen O'Brien was a spectacular act of self-sabotage; not only did he have no good plan for a replacement, but with that one act he soured any working relationship he might have built with William Hartnell - who was at that time, to all appearances, the one irreplaceable member of the cast. In effect, he set himself up for failure.
On the other hand, I have to acknowledge that Wiles produced some fine stories during his short run, and The Myth Makers very much counts among them.
Writer Donald Cotton's script is highly literate, drawing heavily on both The Iliad and Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, but undercutting the heroic figures of those stories with broad irreverence. Achilles is mocked by Odysseus for running away from his enemies. Odysseus is referred to as a pirate, and actor Ivor Salter certainly plays him as such. King Priam seems vaguely ineffectual, Paris vain and foolish, Cassandra an outright shrew. The interactions in both Greek and Trojan camps are often very funny, but Cotton laces the humor with a bleak tone. We are constantly reminded that all of these characters are ready to kill on a moment's notice, with even the kindly Priam ready to burn Vicki as either a spy or a witch - "As one of them, anyway," he says wryly.
It's interesting to compare the ending of this initially comic historical with Season Two's semi-comic historical, The Romans. In both stories, the Doctor ends up being responsible for a devastating event - the burning of Rome, the fall of Troy. In The Romans, he witnesses the fire from a distance, safely removed from the human carnage, and literally laughs it off. Here, he is face-to-face with the suffering. Trojans are butchered by Odysseus' men in front of his eyes. The Doctor reacts with revulsion, probably all the more keenly felt because these people are dying because of him.
Save for the actual sacking of Troy and a couple brief swordfights, this story is almost entirely dialogue-driven. The story is presented and propelled through the sharp, witty exchanges of the Doctor and Odysseus in the Greek camp, or of Vicki and the dysfunctional royal family in the Trojan camp. As such, this is one missing story that works particularly well on audio, with only the sacking of Troy suffering for lack of visuals (and that's pretty well described in the narration, well-delivered by Peter Purves). The later Loose Cannon reconstruction is also good, with wonderfully clear stills throughout - though for whatever reason, this reconstruction suffers from irritating sound fluctuations in the incidental music, which makes the audio in my opinion the better overall option.
Either way, this is an excellent story. The potentially tricky transition from comedy to tragedy works seamlessly, and at four episodes the serial maintains a strong pace, never once threatening to overstay its welcome.
Rating: 9/10. I might have gone for full marks, if Vicki's departure felt a little more convincing and a little less rushed.
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