20: The Myth Makers

Before Watching

Can you call this one a historical? Well, we’ll see exactly what we can say about which genre, if any, it fits into after we’ve watched it. What I will say is that I’m not really looking forward to it. Let me explain that. When I was a kid I loved reading about Greek Mythology. So much so that I won my first ever ‘Mastermind’ competition at school, in the sixth form, when I took Greek Mythology as my specialist subject. If you’re going to do well in general knowledge quizzes, then a good knowledge of Greek Mythology will always be a boon to you. Well and good. However the negative side of this particular coin is that I used to – well , still do – get really annoyed when people get the myths wrong, or start calling Greek Gods and Heroes by their roman names – the Twelve Labours of Hercules, for example, being a bit of a red rag to a Cretan bull as far as I’m concerned.

My prior knowledge of this particular story includes the fact that this is Maureen O’Brien’s last. We’ll talk about that, and my overall feelings about Vicki, after we’ve watched the story.

After Watching

In terms of the script, and yes, the acting too, I felt that the first episode set an unbelievably high standard for the rest of this story to follow. Basically, the episode sets out quite convincingly to let you know that everything you thought you knew about the Trojan War was nonsense. Far from chasing Hector three times around the walls of Troy, Achilles does the fleeing, and when Hector is knackered, then he applies the coup de grace, just as the Doctor emerges from the TARDIS to be hailed by him as Zeus. There’s a delicious moment when Achilles explains that Zeus has to use a variety of guises to appear to humans, and on this occasion he has obviously chosen to appear as an old beggar.

A number of actors have reappeared in different prominent roles in Doctor Who, including Francis de Wolf, Agamemnon in this story, whom I recognized as being the actor who played Vasor the fur trapper in The Keys of Marinus. More importantly, seeing him in Greek costume I recognized him as the actor who plays Agrippa in my officially favourite Carry On film of all time, namely Carry on Cleo ( De Wolf: I am Agrippa – Kenneth Connor : Well I know a few holds myself.)There’s a terrific scene between him and his brother Menelaus, played by Jack Melford. If you remember, The Trojan War was all in aid of getting back Menelaus’ wife, Helen from the clutches of Paris, Prince of Troy. Far from wanting Helen back, Menelaus it turns out is quite happy for Paris to have her. This is not her first dalliance, apparently.

The tone is maintained throughout the second and third episodes too. Some of these characters are rather broadly drawn, and yet the whole thing is quite irresistible. I really enjoyed Max Adrian’s dotty old Priam, Ivor Salter’s Odysseus, and Barrie Ingham’s Paris. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, someone else comes along with a cynical one liner which knocks you back a bit. For example, in the third episode – Death of A Spy – Odysseus waits impatiently for the Doctor to unveil his master plan for beating the Trojans. The doctor reveals a paper airplane, and asks if Odysseus has any idea what it is. Ivor Salter wrinkles his unlovely nose and replies, “It looks like one of the parchment darts that my kids make” or words to that effect. When Odysseus announces that the Doctor will be in the front of the plane they will build, he rapidly suggests the wooden horse in its place. The irony of this is that Vicki has already told Steven that the Doctor said that the idea of the wooden horse was actually invented by Homer, and didn’t really happen.

This playing with your expectations and consistent undermining of the original myth has made this a tremendously enjoyable story for me. The 2004 Wolfgang Petersen film, “Troy” also removed the mythical elements of the original story, and what resulted was a little bit of a macho bore – this is so, so much better than that, notwithstanding the fact that it’s all recon. Writer Donald Cotton plays around with our expectations so much that he even uses this groan inducing pun as the cliff hanger to the penultimate element. The wooden horse appears outside Troy, and Priam decides that Vicki has done his bidding and used her powers to bring them victory. Cassandra the priestess tells them they must not bring in the horse as it will lead to their doom. A leading Trojan – it was difficult to tell each one – tells her words to the effect of – shut your mush. This is what follows -

“Cassandra : Then woe to the house of Priam, woe to the Trojans!

Trojan : You’re a bit too late to say woah to the horse – I’ve just given instructions to have it brought into the city.”

Cue end titles. Absolute classic work.

The last episode was the first time that I actually noticed Katarina – played by Adrienne Hill. You wouldn’t know her importance from the start of this episode, but I already knew that she was going to join the TARDIS crew – albeit briefly. At the start although the Horse is in the city, and we think we know what is going to happen, the tone remains the same as the other three. The Doctor grumbles about the horse, saying that he wishes Odysseus had given him another day so he could have fitted the horse with shock absorbers.  Of course the tone darkens, for this essentially is the story of a massacre, the massacre of the decent Trojans.

When I read versions of the original myth, I always felt that the true heroes were to a lesser extent Achilles, and to a greater extent Odysseus. Well, as for Achilles in this, he’s far from invulnerable. In fact he turns out to be extremely vulnerable, especially when Troilus dispatches him in their fight. As for Odysseus – well, without wanting to mince my words – he’s a git. A pragmatic, determined, cunning git, but still a git. In a similar way I always felt sorry for Cassandra – cursed with the gift to be able to foretell the future and never have anyone believe her – but here Frances White manages to make her thoroughly unsympathetic. When Odysseus announces at the end that she has been earmarked for Agamemnon it’s him I feel sorry for, and Odysseus makes some comments to the same effect.

I knew that Vicki would be staying with Troilus, but I didn’t know that she wouldn’t get a proper farewell scene with the Doctor. That’s a shame. Vicki was a cut above the stereotypical screamer, and was probably allowed to do a lot more than her predecessor Susan was. Curiously there seemed to me to be far more of a grandfatherly bond between the Doctor and Vicki than there was between him and Susan. Still, for all that she didn’t get a leaving scene with the Doctor, at least he was allowed to express his hope that she will be alright, and how much he is going to miss her. As for Vicki, she has a touching scene with Troilus as she reassures him that they can build a new Troy together. Mind you, am I the only person to detect a note of doubt in the fact that the original (medieval) story of Troilus and Cressida is one of betrayal in love? Bearing in mind the way that this whole story has played around with our expectations, it’s probably deliberate.

Overall, it’s a good example of just how Doctor Who has always been able to appeal to different audiences of different ages and levels of maturity. There’s a lot in this that you probably just wouldn’t notice as a kid – not least Odysseus’ use of the simile  - ‘as nervous as a bacchante before her first orgy’. Even in 4 parter stories I’ve often found that there’s a dip in one of the episodes, but I didn’t really find there was any slack at all. In brief, it’s a remarkably good piece of work that I thoroughly enjoyed.

What Have We Learned?

Hard to tell really

It’s probably best never to meet a hero – in real life he’ll often turn out to be a git.