Doctor Who (TV Series) Temple of Secrets (1965) User Reviews

The Myth Makers

[wetmars · 8/10 · 17 September 2020]

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. He meets Agamemnon and Odysseus. Forced to admit he is a mere mortal - albeit a traveller in space and time - he is given two days to devise a scheme to capture Troy.

Steven and Vicki, meanwhile, have been taken prisoner by the Trojans. Vicki, believed to possess supernatural powers, is given two days to banish the Greeks to prove she is not a spy.

Review of four parts -

Ah yes, another chillaxing historical episode but also an actual romance story apart of the plot, it was actually entertaining to watch the story, had a great companion departure, and we get to see Katarina.

About behind the scenes, sadly, this was the beginning of William Hartnell's declining health, he had Atherosclerosis which made it difficult for him to remember his lines. Poor man. Plus, a camera struck and injured him which made a bruise to his shoulder and Hartnell had a very hard time during filming because he wanted to go to his Aunt's funeral who had recently died but sadly the tight schedules prevented him from taking time off.

Great historical story.

8/10

The Myth Makers

[ametaphysicalshark · 29 August 2008]

Much like Cotton's later "Doctor Who" story, "The Gunfighters", "The Myth Makers" is a smart and sharp historical comedy which displays a deep knowledge of the historical era the story is set in and inspired by. Although it sounds like this story holds more promise than something like "The Romans", which is really a straightforward sort of comedy which mocks the stereotypes and media/literary presentation of ancient Rome, and becomes a far-out romp in the third episode and features Hartnell in combat, "The Myth Makers" lacks the consistency of that tale, resulting in a more uneven and in some places utterly bizarre and slightly tasteless story, but still a far from conventional and hugely enjoyable one.

The humor in "The Romans" was often cruel and likely wouldn't ever be included in the current incarnation of "Doctor Who", but even then never even began to approach the audacity of, on a show which was still more or less purely aimed at a very young audience as far as the BBC were concerned, writing a comedy based around the massacre of Trojan soldiers. Really, going through the Hartnell era in order has caused me to question if the writers, particularly of some of the more experimental historicals such as this one, knew they were writing for something that at the time was really still a kids' show? I never saw "The Myth Makers" as a child, but I doubt I would have gotten ANY of the jokes here at all. It's pretty dependent on knowledge of the whole mythology/story it's based on and attempts some pretty sophisticated things script-wise, and gets so dark at points that its tone seems confused even to an adult (that is actually its main flaw, and the reason it's never more than 'very good').

The Loose Cannon reconstruction is absolutely and utterly brilliant. Although there's not necessarily a lot to work with here, there is enough to make this a hugely enjoyable and easy to watch reconstruction, and it is nice to see how the Trojan horse is realized on a 60's BBC budget, for those of us who had the Target novelization far before seeing the reconstruction. The Target book doesn't feature the wonderful performances and off-beat score that make the TV story so enjoyable, but it is one of the better Target books and really does feel like some effort went into it (Cotton adapted his own script, using an interesting narrative device and some surprisingly solid prose in doing so).

"The Myth Makers" is really a very enjoyable story, if a flawed one. It's unfortunate that Cotton didn't have more time to refine his script as it could have worked better with some adjustments. The sheer darkness and horror of the latter half of the fourth episode doesn't quite fit with what came before and constitutes an utterly absurd and badly handled shift in tone, but it is overall a quality story.

Episode 1: 7/10, Episode 2: 8/10, Episode 3: 8/10, Episode 4: 8/10.

Average: 7.75/10

The Myth Makers: Part 1 - Don't Myth This Story

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 9/10 · 19 August 2014]

Review for all 4 parts:

This is a four part pure historical story from writer Donald Cotton beginning with Temple of Secrets. The story is set in the Trojan Wars and plays about amusingly with the myths of the time surrounding the 'Trojan Horse' etc.

It is the first story after original producer Verity Lambert, who had served the show so well, officially moved on and was replaced by John Wiles. Wiles teamed up with story editor Donald Tosh hoping to make the series less 'whimsical' and more 'serious and grown-up'. Here the seriousness is clearly present but is mixed with comedy, some of which is quite sophisticated and funny. The Wiles/Tosh partnership succeeded in having very high standards for the stories they oversaw but this only lasted for a few stories before they both resigned after their wish to replace William Hartnell was over-ruled. Ironically Hartnell was then replaced at a slightly later date anyway.

I was very pleasantly surprised how good this adventure is after reading reviews likening it and even unfavourably comparing it to The Romans, a story I found very disappointing. Those reviews are wrong in my opinion as this story is far more successfully executed with a finely balanced mixture of humour and drama which is carried off very well. The cast are on good form and the story has sufficient interest to maintain top quality across all four episodes. The story also marks the departure of companion Vicki and the arrival of new companion Katarina who would end up not being around for very long.

All in all a great success, yet again showing historical adventures can be great and should never have been totally dropped.

My Ratings: Episode 1 - 8.5/10, Episode 2 - 9/10, Episode 3 - 9/10, Episode 4 - 8.5/10

Overall: 8.75/10