Monday, March 19, 2012

Doctor Who: 020 The Myth Makers

Mission to the Unknown was intended as a prequel for The Daleks' Master Plan, but viewers would have to wait five weeks to see the first episode of that serial. First we rejoin the Doctor, Vicki, and Stephen during the Trojan War where they become part of history in The Myth Makers. This would be Vicki's last story as her character chose to stay behind with Troilus. According to Maureen O'Brien, she had mentioned that she was thinking about leaving, and the new production team wrote her out as of this story without actually talking to her about it and she didn't realize that she was leaving until she got the script.

Yet again, this is another story where all four episodes are missing, so we turn to the Loose Cannon reconstruction. Sadly, due to the new producer John Wiles' decision to not have telesnaps taken, there are no telesnaps and only about a minute or so of surviving footage scattered a few seconds at a time throughout the story. Again, Loose Cannon work magic using set photos, actor photos, scenes from other serials and some creative compositing to give us a feel of what this episode might have been like. The result, again, is nothing short of amazing.

There are several bonuses included on this reconstruction including an interview with Frances White, who played Cassandra. Frances also does the intro and outro as well as a short historical documentary to put the serial in context. These all add quite a bit to the reconstruction and are very similar to the value added content you'd find on a DVD release. In all, a very enjoyable historical, and again, about the right length for the story conveyed.

After leaving Vicki behind, the Doctor heads to the planet Kembel which we last saw in Mission to the Unknown, and which will now be the birthplace for The Daleks' Master Plan...

This single episode serial brings the total number of missing episodes in season three to 8.

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