The Myth Makers (TV story)

"You're a bit late to say "whoa" to the horse..."

- Paris

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


Outside Troy the Greek warrior Achilles slays the Trojan Hector when the arrival of the TARDIS disturbs his concentration. When the Doctor emerges, Achilles believes him to be Zeus, and insists he goes to the Greek encampment. They encounter Odysseus, who travels with them to the camp. When they arrive, Agamemnon insists the Doctor help him against the Trojans and will not let him depart until he has done so. Odysseus is more skeptical branding the Doctor a Trojan spy.

The Doctor’s companions Vicki and Steven have watched him being led away. Vicki is still injured from Galaxy Four, so Steven ventures out alone to help the Doctor. He is spotted heading for the Trojan camp by Cyclops, a mute servant of Odysseus. Odysseus soon catches Steven and takes him to the camp as well, where he must pretend not to know the Doctor in order to maintain his guise as Zeus. The Doctor eventually persuades the Greeks to spare Steven until the morning. Moments later Cyclops returns to the Greek camp, and through sign language communicates that Zeus’ temple (the TARDIS) has disappeared from Troy.

The next morning, the Doctor and Steven travel with the Greeks to the plains and discover the TARDIS has disappeared. The Doctor confesses that he and Steven are friends and not gods. Odysseus decides to let them live, but demands that their powers be used to destroy the Trojans within two days, or they will be killed. Steven privately suggests to the Doctor to use the Trojan Horse.

The TARDIS has been taken into the city of Troy and is presented to King Priam by his son Paris, but Priam is more interested in revenge for Hector's death. The blue box is denounced by the prophetess Cassandra -- she has dreamt that the Greeks will leave a gift on the plain which will contain soldiers to attack the Trojans. She demands the TARDIS be burnt, but before it can be set alight, Vicki emerges from within and taken as a sign from the gods. The King and Paris are enchanted by her and the King renames her Cressida. This enrages Cassandra, who believes Vicki to be a rival prophet.

Priam sends Paris out on to the plains to avenge Hector. Paris calls for Achilles, and Steven manages to persuade the Greeks to send him instead, hoping he can get injured and then taken to Troy to search for Vicki. Adopting the name Diomede, Steven engages Achilles in battle and Paris decides to take him as a prisoner back to the city. When he arrives Vicki greets him with his real name and this is taken by Cassandra as a sign they are both spies. She calls for soldiers to kill them both.

Paris intervenes to save Steven and Vicki. But Unless Vicki helps Priam end the war, he warns she will die. Steven and Vicki are taken to cells to prompt her into prophecy. Whilst there Steven tells Vicki that the Doctor has a similar deadline. Cyclops appears and is given a message for the Doctor, asking him to avoid an attack for two days so that they are not killed. The next visitor to the cells is Priam’s youngest, Troilus, who has a romantic attachment to “Cressida.” Vicki is equally attracted, and seems successful in persuading him to try to get them released. When Troilus departs, it seems Vicki has fallen for him, contemplating staying behind. Elsewhere, Cyclops is slain before he can pass on his message.

The Doctor has now come under such pressure to help the Greeks he proposes the wooden horse to Odysseus. The construction will be left outside Troy and filled with Greeks, who hope the horse will be taken within the city, allowing them to attack. Agamemnon approves the plan, but the Doctor will be placed inside the horse for its fateful journey. The Greeks build the horse and the following morning the Doctor and Odysseus join the soldiers inside. Soon the gift is placed on the plains and is spotted by the Trojans and dragged with ropes inside their city.

The Trojans respond to the seeming disappearance of the Greek army by rejoicing, and Priam has Vicki released. Steven is kept in prison due to Troilus’ jealousy. When Vicki reaches the court, she learns from Paris that the wooden horse has been found on the plains and is being brought into the city. The gates of the city are open and the horse is now within.

The Trojans dismiss Cassandra’s prophecies but in the melee Vicki slips away and rescues Steven from the dungeons. They then head for the square, where a vast crowd has assembled to greet the giant wooden horse, and worry about what will happen when the Greeks hidden inside disembark. Cassandra’s handmaiden, Katarina, arrives in the square to find Vicki for her mistress. This prompts Vicki to leave Steven in a hiding place (his escape having been noticed) while she mingles with the royal party that has just arrived. She then heads off to the palace where she meets Troilus and she tries to persuade him to flee with her from the city by telling him Diomede is on the plain. He is persuaded to venture outside.

Night falls again, and under the cover of darkness the Greek navy returns to the Trojan coast, while the Doctor, Odysseus and the Greek soldiers exit the horse. The city is soon besieged. Priam, Paris, and the proven Cassandra are soon the prisoners of Odysseus. The two men are slain and Cassandra is kept alive as a prize for Agamemnon himself. She is taken away in bondage, prophesying Odysseus won't see home for another 10 years and death for his people. Out on the plain Troilus finds Achilles and slays him, though he is wounded in the process.

The Doctor finds Vicki in the carnage and they hide in the TARDIS while Katarina, who has been trailing Vicki, obliges the Doctor by searching for Steven. She finds him in battle with a Trojan soldier and he is badly wounded, but she helps him return to the Doctor’s "blue temple". When Katarina and Steven reach it, both the Doctor and Vicki seem very tense. Odysseus arrives and the Doctor takes the opportunity to dematerialise the TARDIS with Steven and Katarina on board. Vicki, however, has slipped away with his blessing. She journeys on to the plains where she finds Troilus and they declare their love. Moments later Troilus’ cousin Aeneas arrives with reinforcements and helps them escape the area.

Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor explains Vicki has departed. He is very concerned that Steven’s wound is now infected and the situation is getting worse. Katarina, however, believes they have already died and are now en route to the afterlife. The Doctor knows they need the right medication to save Steven and hopes their next landing will provide it. (Going to shorten soon)

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


 * This serial had a sizeable cast of background characters, extras, and stunt doubles that did not receive on-screen credit.

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

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 one 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.

Timeline

 * This story occurs after Snowman in Manhattan
 * This story occurs before Scribbles in Chalk

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, but Part 2 has always, to date, failed to work once the customer tries to play it.

Novelisation

 * Main article: The Myth Makers (novelisation)


 * Novelised as The Myth Makers by Donald Cotton in 1985.