DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 17th MEET-UP - THE MYTH MAKERS & THE DALEKS' MASTER PLAN (PARTS 1 & 2)

Sunday 12th October 2014

Another Sunday meet-up and this time we were around Mark's house - meaning we were joined by a Gavin!  Which was nice.

It was also nice that we had two firsts for this meet-up.  It was the first meet-up we had where I was beardless (having shaved it off the week before!) and, perhaps more importantly, it was the first meet-up where Jason was a married man!  He'd gotten married the previous Saturday where all of us Whoresmen had had a glorious time!
 

Photo 1: Gavin, Leigh (holding the Myth Makers DVD cover), Shaun,
Michael (with the sign), Jason & Jim around Mark's house.

Anyway now that Jason's wedding was FINALLY out of the way we could concentrate on more important things....namely carrying on with our marathon - and this week we started with "The Myth Makers".  Now this was our first COMPLETELY missing story (if we ignore the one part "Mission To the Unknown") since we watched "Marco Polo" many months back.  I did worry that it might be a slightly tedious watch.

However such thoughts were to be unfounded!  It was a really good story, fairly pacey and extremely funny!  First time writer for the series, Donald Cotton, really nails some great characters and gives them fantastic dialogue.  The actors seem to rise to this and I, for one, found myself laughing out loud at many a moment in the script!
 

Photo 2: Leigh (holding the Myth Makers DVD cover), Shaun (with the sign),
Jason & Mark (eyes closed) around Mark's house.

The story, to give a brief re-cap, shows us in ancient Greece where the Greek army has besieged the ancient walled city of Troy for 10 years.  On the plains just outside Troy the Greek warrior Achilles slays the Trojan Hector, another son of King Priam, when the materialisation of the TARDIS disturbs Hector's concentration.  When the Doctor emerges from within the TARDIS, Achilles believes him to be the god Zeus disguised as an old beggar, and insists he accompany him to the Greek encampment.  This he is done whilst companions Vicki and Steven can only watch as he's being led away!
 

Photo 3: Gavin, Leigh (holding the holding the Myth Makers DVD cover),
Shaun (with the sign), Jason, Mark & Jim around Mark's house.

They stay within the TARDIS - but that doesn't stop the TARDIS being taken away and left within the walled city of Troy as a prize for King Priam by his, rather bumbling and funny, son Paris.  Priam's daughter, the prophetess Cassandra, thinks the blue police box is dangerous – she has dreamt that the Greeks will leave a gift on the plain which will contain soldiers to attack the Trojans.

Anyhow the story continues on along these lines and of course ends with the Doctor giving the Greeks the idea of building the legendary giant wooden (Trojan) horse that the Greek Army hide in.  Of course Troy gets ransacked and destroyed by the Greeks and history/mythology unfolds.

Quite unexpectedly the story ends with the departure of another companion - Vicki has quickly fallen in love with the warrior Troilus and decides to stay!
Apparently she will pass into legend as Cressida (the name given to her by King Priam).
 

Photo 4: Gavin, Leigh (holding the Myth Makers DVD cover), Shaun,
Michael (with the sign), Jason & Jim around Mark's house.

However as one companion leaves - another joins!  A Trojan girl Katarina ( Cassandra's handmaiden who has been flirting around the edges of the story) enters the TARDIS in Vicki's place.  And so the travels leave - with Steven quite badly wounded after having had a fight with a Trojan soldier.

As I said before I really thought this an excellent story - top-notch stuff with some great acting - yes the story unfolded as expected but the ride was pretty fun!

Jim: "I liked the Myth Makers.  Wasn't expecting the John Le Mesurier-type Paris character but it elevated it above just another historical serial.  Story-wise, it wasn't too great (it ended up unfolding as I thought) but enjoyed it on the whole".

Shaun: "The Doctor's interference directly caused the slaughter at Troy (at which he felt no remorse, in fact didn't even acknowledge it!), and Vicki, out of nowhere, f**ked off with a guy she spoke to two/three times.  So quite jarring.It was a fun romp, Paris was an absolute highlight, and Cassandra's overacting was fun.  A good, solid 4 parter.  I think it included enough characters to hold the two hours, but not too many to feel cluttered".

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We then had a quick break and decided to start the feast that is the 12 part(!) story that is "The Daleks' Master Plan".  This is quite an epic and, sadly, one that never got sold overseas, so the chances of any episodes existing are quite low.....

Photo 5: Gavin, Leigh, Jason (holding the Daleks' Master Plan DVD cover),
Michael, Mark (with the sign) & Jim (with The Lost In Time DVD Cover)
around Mark's house.

...however luckily 3 parts DO!  And one of them was episode 2 (viewable on the 3 disc collection of orphaned stories called "Lost In Time") - which was lucky as we only planned to watch just 2 parts of this story today!

The story starts back on Kembel (where we had seen the doomed mission during the earlier one-off story "Mission To The Unknown" - in fact this is 6 months later) and has the Doctor and Katarina worrying what to do with the still wounded Steven.  Also on Kembel are two Space Agents, Bret Vyon (played by Nicholas Courtney - an actor that would go on to greater glory in later Who!  But that is for later....) and Kert Gantry (played Brian Cant - more known for being a presenter of the kid's show "Play School"!).  Sadly Kert doesn't last long and, in a sequence that still exists, he gets shot down by a Dalek!  Bret, after an initial aggressive meeting with the TARDIS travellers (he very nicely holds them at gunpoint and demands to be taken away from the planet!), cures Steven and agrees to work with them to escape and warn Earth of the massive Dalek-led alliance that is amassing on the planet!

Photo 6: Gavin, Leigh, Jason (holding the Daleks' Master Plan DVD cover),
Michael, Mark (with the sign) & Jim (with The Lost In Time DVD Cover)
around Mark's house.

The Doctor wants to know what's going on and disguises himself as one of the Aliens that are in league with the Daleks (by knocking out said alien and nicking his cloak!).  We then find out that the treacherous Guardian of Earth, Mavic Chen, has brought a sample of a rare mineral Taranium, which is to become a part of the Daleks' ultimate weapon, the Time Destructor.  Why they would want to destroy time isn't explained!  Surely destructing time would destruct them as well?

Photo 7: Gavin, Leigh & Jason (jointly holding the Daleks' Master Plan DVD cover),
Shaun, Mark (with the sign) & Jim (with The Lost In Time DVD Cover)
around Mark's house.

Anyhow the Doctor steals the Taranium but the alien, who he had knocked-out, sounds the alarm!  The Doctor's companions and Bret escape onto Chen's spaceship!  But Chen wants to take off without the Doctor - and so it ends with Steven and Katarina pleading with Bret not to take off....!

Photo 8: Leigh & Jason (jointly holding the Daleks' Master Plan DVD cover),
Shaun, Mark (with the sign) & part of Jim (with The Lost In Time DVD Cover)
around Mark's house. 

Great stuff.  I personally found it quite a good start and I really like the Bond-esque villain Mavic Chen and his little-finger acting!

Photo 9: Mark (with the sign) & Jim (with The Lost In Time DVD Cover)
around Mark's house.

But that's what I thought - how about Shaun?

Shaun: "Slow, but steady pace.  Never boring, but future parts could easily go that way.  We'll have to see.
Interesting politicking, the Guardian of the Solar System's turn and motivation were good. The new assistant is giving a light comic relief to stop it feeling too bleak.

I like that it took less than 2 eps for the Daleks to reveal they plan to betray everyone.
I'd like to see more from the other conspirators and their motivations.

The Doctor was more or less irrelevant to the story so far.  A good start, anyway". 

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I look forward to seeing the next few parts!  But that's for next time (AND the time after!!)! 

Until then I shall return, yes, I shall return....

MJ 13-10-14