The Myth Makers

Dorney
(3/5/04 3:40 pm)

The Myth Makers 1
I'm a sucker for Greek legends. Love them to pieces. Did Classical Civilizations for A-Level. However, I always feel that their representation in art/theatre etc. is always annoyingly po-faced. These stories are entertainment, pure and simple. I don't honestly think they're vastly illustrative of the human condition, they're entertainment pure and simple - ok the Illiad and Odyssey are great poetical works, but the main joy of the stories comes from a surface sense of adventure/excitement and above all fun. Which makes it a perfect match for Doctor Who.To illustrate this further, I'm prepared to admit that my definitive treatment of the Trojan War is not that of Homer - but 'Odysseus - The Greatest Hero of them All' by Toby Robinson and Richard Curtis. Fun, fast and concentrating on a rolicking good story (in a way that countless theatre companies parading endless dreary reinterpretations of Medea as a feminist icon miss). So it's not going to be a suprise that I love the Myth Makers.For some reason my CD of this is autographed by Peter Purves. I've never met the guy, never got him to autograph a thing, so this is quite a surprise for me. I assume I must have bought it like that in a shop, but I can't honestly remember.This story is a joy. I love the way it leaps head first into the centre of the war – rather like the Doctor himself does in an act of sheer madness. Within a few wonderfully melodramatic moments we know where we are and who these people fighting are, and already we’re rather pleased.The Doctor’s taking to being a God is nicely done, and one of the principle pleasures of the episode is his wit and intelligence in manipulating the situation – the ease by which at the end of the episode he’s managed to come up with a perfectly acceptable solution for everyone (albeit one ruined by the vanishing of the TARDIS) demonstrates exactly why we love the character.Steven is as brash and foolhardy as ever. I think, and in deed hope that the return of the Daleks will knock this out of him pretty promptly, as his bullheadedness could become a little tiring. It’s still a very engaging performance, and it does seem a shame we’ve lost him to corporate video hell.Vicki is treated less well, getting an off-camera sprained ankle, and as a result barely registering in this episode at all. The main brilliance of this story is in the dialogue – witty and soaring. OK, the scene between Agammemnon and Menelaus doesn’t exactly advance the plot, but it illustrates their characters, enrichening them – and doing so whilst keeping us easily entertained. If you want it in a word, the major success of this episode is in the characterisation. Not much in plot terms actually happens, but we get to know the Greeks without it feeling contrived or boring. The Doctor and Steven merge into the history rather more effectively than the last couple of historicals, seeming to drive the plot themselves (what story there is is purely based around their prescence), rather than walk through it.Episode one summed up is slight but elegant, witty, clever and fun. The cliffhanger suggests the story is going to be heading off fairly soon. Looking forward to part two (which due to my laziness in typing up this report is going to be later tonight!)

ianzpotter
Castellan(3/6/04 3:18 am)
I also love Classics and did them for A level. I suspect we can both blame Doctor Who to some degree!I'm really looking forward to getting to The Myth Makers again (I suspect it'll be all that's keeping me going through The Chase).My absolute fave version of The Odyssey by the way (though I do have a huge soft spot for the EV Rieu translation) is a radio play from the mid 80s called Odysseus on an Iceberg by Alick Rowe, it out Spooners Spooner!'Rosy-fingered Dawn had bitten her finger nails right down to the quick...'

Dorney
(3/6/04 4:20 am)

Blame Doctor Who - I think you may be right on that. The amount of things I can blame on Doctor Who... my obsessive reading, my writing, my lack of a social life...

The Myth Makers 2:
I really love the tone of this story. It's like a turn of the century drawing room comedy. This is particularly obvious with the Trojans - a squabbling family of broadly comic figures whose main function is to say lines of wit and humour. Paris comes over as a doddering posh twit along the lines of Bertie Wooster, which is of course utterly wonderful. Like the last episode, we are focused on the detailing and development of these characters - this time the Trojans rather than the Greeks, though Odysseus still has some scenery chomping. The plot is getting more defined, returning to the old 'need to escape' story of the first season, with the focus being the regular's attempts to pass through history unscathed. Sure it's slight, but there is an underlying tension generated by our foreknowledge.I notice in a few of the reviews of this story - the Pocket Essentials one most clearly - there is some criticism of the fact that the story has variable tone. OK, so far there hasn't been much darkness, but our knowledge of the fate of Troy does rather influence matters. Now for me, this is what makes the story. I think it was the League of Gentlemen who said that comedy is at it's funniest when there's something at stake - it's quite true (look how all the great sitcoms are based around dark centres, tragic personal relationships, etc.). So the encroaching menace gives weight to the humour, meaning it doesn't come over as frippery.And what wittiness it is. Paris and Steven's fight is fantastic, and the banter in Troy nothing but superb line after superb line. But, as with all good comedy drama, the comedy is there as a gloss, rather than the sole purpose. Vicki's awkwardness about the Trojan Horse underlines the dilema she's in - and the basic sadness of the story. Even as we are entertained we are reminded that Priam will be dead soon.And what with Vicki - of the magically healing ankle - getting called Cressida, and seeming to be quite taken with Troilus - he the completely invisible, the air of gloom is prevalent. Obviously, we know she leaves here, but it still doesn't seem a foregone within the story itself... all we know is that this is going to lead somewhere sad. Like the whole thing, really. Witty, yet melancholic and ultimately rather beautiful.

Tried to post this last night, but EZboard wouln't let me reply to anything for some reason...



Myth Makers 3:
I'm really begining to get quite downbeat that this story's missing from the archives. I think this is the one I'd want back most of those I've heard so far.Now, I love Marco Polo - but it does seem practically a radio play. Galaxy Four I couldn't care less about, and the odd episodes of the Crusade and Reign don't feel as important - we've got a sense of what they looked like.Something about this I really want to see. Maybe it's because the actors are so fine (Max Adrian who was always great fun, and Frances White who I completely failed to identify until after hearing this episode as the lady from May to December and Brian Blessed's sluttish daughter from I Clavdivs.) Or maybe it's the joie de vivre of the script. I don't know. I'd just love to see it done.This episode doesn't make me change my mind in the slightest. I've said that the previous two episodes are slight on plot, but thinking back I'm not so sure that's true. Historical's against a backdrop as well known as this have a real problem in this department. We know what's going on, so the traditional explanations of who everyone is, the early mysteries are obvious. We're used to the plot, so it's easy to miss it, if you like. Certainly with this story, and this episode in particular, I'm inclined to think it's just marking time til the horse turns up - but that's not entirely true. It's taking the plot, twisting and turning it, developing the characters and their relationships in a way that the plot of any regular story does. The inevitability of the outcome means that the plotting is less obvious because it therefore only seems to be about the regulars - just imagine this story taken lock stock and placed in another environment, a different world, and its plotting should be apparent. The story is still more interested in it's characters than it's plot though, but that's not a bad thing. The more likeable we find the people involved in a story the more engaged we are. Was there honestly anyone you could care two hoots about in Galaxy 4? Here you like everyone. They seem real, intelligent, funny, above all human. Even screeching Cassandra is entertaining company.It's another fine episode - there's a slight weakness that the Troilus/Vicki romance seems to leap in at the deep end. We haven't met him before, he's been offstage, so his romance with Vicki seems a bit sudden. It is however, very sweetly written and played, perhaps more so than the Susan romance, to my suprise. They knew how to do this is the old days (Leela and Andred take note). Likewise, the spiky interaction between Steven and Vicki is back in force, and you can't help but wish they'd had more than three stories together.The Doctor's wonderfully barking plan about paper darts is hilarious, and his confrontations with Odysseus - all rivalry and cynicism are the highlights of his side of the story. It's nice to see an historical character completely unimpressed by the Doctor's posturing for a change. Hartnell always seems great playing him when he was outfoxed, as he is here.The horse building seems to be acheived pretty damn quickly it must be said.And it should have been called 'Is there a Doctor in the Horse' too.




Re: Day by Day


Tried to post this last night, but EZboard wouln't let me reply to anything for some reason...Myth Makers 3:I'm really begining to get quite downbeat that this story's missing from the archives. I think this is the one I'd want back most of those I've heard so far.Now, I love Marco Polo - but it does seem practically a radio play. Galaxy Four I couldn't care less about, and the odd episodes of the Crusade and Reign don't feel as important - we've got a sense of what they looked like.Something about this I really want to see. Maybe it's because the actors are so fine (Max Adrian who was always great fun, and Frances White who I completely failed to identify until after hearing this episode as the lady from May to December and Brian Blessed's sluttish daughter from I Clavdivs.) Or maybe it's the joie de vivre of the script. I don't know. I'd just love to see it done.This episode doesn't make me change my mind in the slightest. I've said that the previous two episodes are slight on plot, but thinking back I'm not so sure that's true. Historical's against a backdrop as well known as this have a real problem in this department. We know what's going on, so the traditional explanations of who everyone is, the early mysteries are obvious. We're used to the plot, so it's easy to miss it, if you like. Certainly with this story, and this episode in particular, I'm inclined to think it's just marking time til the horse turns up - but that's not entirely true. It's taking the plot, twisting and turning it, developing the characters and their relationships in a way that the plot of any regular story does. The inevitability of the outcome means that the plotting is less obvious because it therefore only seems to be about the regulars - just imagine this story taken lock stock and placed in another environment, a different world, and its plotting should be apparent. The story is still more interested in it's characters than it's plot though, but that's not a bad thing. The more likeable we find the people involved in a story the more engaged we are. Was there honestly anyone you could care two hoots about in Galaxy 4? Here you like everyone. They seem real, intelligent, funny, above all human. Even screeching Cassandra is entertaining company.It's another fine episode - there's a slight weakness that the Troilus/Vicki romance seems to leap in at the deep end. We haven't met him before, he's been offstage, so his romance with Vicki seems a bit sudden. It is however, very sweetly written and played, perhaps more so than the Susan romance, to my suprise. They knew how to do this is the old days (Leela and Andred take note). Likewise, the spiky interaction between Steven and Vicki is back in force, and you can't help but wish they'd had more than three stories together.The Doctor's wonderfully barking plan about paper darts is hilarious, and his confrontations with Odysseus - all rivalry and cynicism are the highlights of his side of the story. It's nice to see an historical character completely unimpressed by the Doctor's posturing for a change. Hartnell always seems great playing him when he was outfoxed, as he is here.The horse building seems to be acheived pretty damn quickly it must be said.And it should have been called 'Is there a Doctor in the Horse' too.

Dorney
(3/8/04 4:11 pm)
Myth Makers 4:
Whilst this episode is still wonderful, it does rather underline the story's only flaw.It's almost as if the jokes and wit stop slap bang at the end of part three. Suddenly, it forgets to be funny. It's a slightly odd change in tone. It's not abrupt as all that, and I suspect people who have said so have watched the entire story in one go where it would be more than a little jarring, I'm prepared to admit. It's slightly taking the easy route to quit the comedy like that.It has however done it's job. We've warmed to the characters such that their casual slaying off-screen (Paris and Priam) and capture as a slave (Cassandra) is terribly sad. It does rather bring home the tragedy of war - that these are real people on both sides, real likeable people with real faults and foibles. I've warmed to them, especially the Trojans, rather more than anyone else in a historical. The burden of history on the travellers has never seemed so acute.And likewise, Vicki has obviously warmed to them as well. Her final scene with Troilus is beautifully performed and genuinely touching. I like the way that her leaving is concealed - it does look like she's left as usual. You feel sorry for Troilus as he weeps at the burning city, thinking she's gone, before the whole scene is turned around with the suprise of her appearance - the implications of which don't hit immediately. The whole departure is played in a completely different tone to the previous leavings. Those were given a good ten minutes or so each, whereas the decision to go, and any talk between the Doctor and Vicki is offscreen. His unsentamentalised and understanding explanation of what had happened when he speaks to Steven is rather brave, and ultimately says as much as the more obviously dramatic histrionics of DIOE and the Chase.There was an article on Doctor Who structure in DWM a few years back, and one of the problems it suggested was the need to have the moment of crisis at the end of part three, then hold of the climax for twenty odd minutes. There's a slight air of that here - some of the scenes with Odysseus and the Doctor in the horse are clearly marking time until they get out - because the moment they do the story is effectively over. Odysseus is an instantly memorable character, rather more so than most of the other Greeks, who've been a little sidelined since part one - most not appearing here at all.It all ends in a rather downbeat way, melancholic as I said before - and it could only acheive that downbeat end with the humour. There's been the faint air of gloom over the entire thing through the foreknowledge we have, which gives it a genuine sad joy throughout. Vicki's leaving scene, terribly sweet and romantic, looking for the silver lining just puts the button on this. She seems to have gone too quickly for my tastes. Funny, smart, spunky (can I still say that - oh, I will anyway), reassuringly unperturbed, she really was a terrific, much underrated companion (infinitely preferable to the wet Susan), who I don't think I liked as much until now. I'm going to miss her.Katarina's introduction is practically blink and you'll miss it (obviously that doesn't entirely work on a cd, but you know what I mean). Before you know it she's there. She's been a presence for the whole episode, but it's in a kind of reserved way. Background if you like. Unlike Steven, who we got to know and like before he officially joined the crew, she seems a bit of a wildcard. We know very little about her. She essentially becomes a companion without us knowing, and it's more than a little suprising.One other thing that's surprising is that this story doesn't have a better reputation. I personally think it's wonderful. Perhaps it's change in tone confuses, or it's residue from the undoubted disappointment that it wasn't a Dalek story (which really was quite unsettling and I forgot to mention that in the review of part one - the sudden change to somewhere else with no real explanation of what the previous episode was about is really rather disconcerting). I firmly believe that if this story was recovered tommorow (fingers crossed) its reputation would improve no end, undergoing the sort of revival of interest that was accorded to The Romans and The Gunfighters. Here's hoping.