The Myth Makers (TV story): Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 11:59, 14 June 2008
The Myth Makers was the third story of Season 3 of Doctor Who. This story saw the last appearance of Maureen O'Brien as companion Vicki and the introduction of new companion Katarina, played by Adrienne Hill.
Synopsis
When the TARDIS arrives on the plains of Asia Minor, not far from the besieged city of Troy, the Doctor is hailed by Achilles as the mighty god Zeus and taken to the Greek camp, where he meets Agamemnon and Odysseus. Forced to admit that he is a mere mortal - albeit a traveller in space and time - he is given just two days to devise a scheme to capture Troy.
Steven and Vicki, meanwhile, have been taken prisoner by the Trojans, and Vicki - believed to possess supernatural powers - is given two days to banish the Greeks and thus prove that she is not a spy.
Having initially dismissed the famous wooden horse as a fiction of Homer's, the Doctor is eventually driven to 'invent' it himself, thereby giving the Greeks the means to defeat the Trojans.
In the climactic battle Steven is wounded by a sword-thrust to his shoulder and Katarina, handmaiden to the Trojan prophetess Cassandra, helps the Doctor to get him back to the TARDIS.
Vicki meanwhile, having adopted the guise of Cressida, elects to remain behind on Earth with the Trojan prince Troilus, with whom she has fallen in love.
Plot
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor — William Hartnell
- Vicki/Cressida — Maureen O'Brien
- Steven Taylor — Peter Purves
- Katarina — Adrienne Hill
- Achilles — Cavan Kendall
- Hector — Alan Haywood
- Odysseus — Ivor Salter
- Agamemnon — Francis de Wolff
- Menelaus — Jack Melford
- Cyclops — Tutte Lemkow
- Priam — Max Adrian
- Paris — Barrie Ingham
- Cassandra — Frances White
- Messenger — John Luxton
- Troilus — James Lynn
Crew
- Writer - Donald Cotton
- Director - Michael Leeston-Smith
- Producer - Verity Lambert
- Assistant Floor Manager - Dawn Robertson
- Costumes - Daphne Dare
- Costumes - Tony Pearce
- Designer - John Wood
- Fight Arranger - Derek Ware
- Film Cameraman - Peter Hamilton
- Film Editor - Caroline Shields
- Incidental Music - Humphrey Searle
- Make-Up - Elizabeth Blattner
- Make-Up - Sonia Markham
- Production Assistant - David Maloney
- Production Assistant - Richard Brooks
- Script Editor - Donald Tosh
- Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
- Studio Lighting - Ralph Walton
- Studio Sound - Dave Kitchen
- Studio Sound - Bryan Forgham
- Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
- Title Music - Ron Grainer
References
- Vicki implies in this story that she is 16 years old
- The TARDIS is light enough to be carried by Paris and his men.
Story Notes
- This is the final story featuring Vicki
- This is the first story featuring Katarina
- The working titles for this story included The Mythmakers, The Trojans, and The Trojan War. Individual episode titles included Zeus ex Machina (episode 1) and Is There a Doctor in the Horse? (episode 3).
- All 4 episodes of this story have been lost, with only very limited photographic material being held in the BBC archive
- Some limited material from episodes 1, 2 and 4 exist in the form of 8mm home movie reel shot on a television set
- This is also oOne of the least documented stories, with only very limited material (film/photographic) existing.
- William Hartnell was struck and injured by a camera during the filming of the first episode and sustained a bruise to the shoulder.
- William Hartnell suffered a bereavement while working on the story: the death of his Aunt Bessie, who had looked after him during his troubled childhood. Unfortunately, the tight recording schedules prevented Hartnell from taking time off to attend her funeral.
- In the 1980s, Reeltime Pictures launched a series of home video releases featuring interviews with the cast and crew of Doctor Who. This long-running series of tapes (which later included the first independently-produced Doctor Who spin-offs) was entitled Myth Makers after this story
Influences
- Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
- Virgil's Aeneid
- Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde
- Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida
- The Plays of Euripides
- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Ratings
- Temple of Secrets - 8.3 million viewers
- Small Prophet, Quick Return - 8.1 million viewers
- Death of a Spy - 8.7 million viewers
- Horse of Destruction - 8.3 million viewers
Myths
- William Hartnell refused to appear in scenes with Max Adrian as he was Jewish and gay. (This is not true and it is only coincidental that the two do not appear in any scenes together)
- Frances White who played Cassandra was not credited for this story. (She did in fact appear in the credits for her episodes but was not listed in the Radio Times, at her own request)
Filming Locations
- Frensham Little Pond, Surrey
- Ham Polo Club, Middlesex - Model shot filming
Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
to be added
Continuity
- The Eighth Doctor and Charley Pollard encounter Vicki again in ST: Apocrypha Bipedium.
- The story continues directly on from Galaxy 4 with Vicki still having a twisted ankle.
DVD, Video and Other Releases
- Only eleven short clips from episodes 1, 2 and 4 are known to exist. They are from a reel of 8mm film shot at a TV screen.
- The original audio of this story exists and was released as The Myth Makers on 2 CD's with linking material provided by Peter Purves in January 2001.
- This audio has also been released as part of the Adventures in History CD Set in August 2003.
- A photovideo reconstruction of this story has been produced by Loose Cannon Productions and more information can be found at The Myth Makers Reconstruction
Target Novelisations
- Novelised as The Myth Makers by Donald Cotton in 1980.
