The Myth Makers reconstruction

Killer_banana

So I've finally gotten the chance to return to Old Who again and I've reached the point in season three where every second serial is incomplete or completely lost. I've found the reconstructions and they're very good but I can only watch so many episodes made up of stills in a row. I want to keep going though, especially after watching 'Mission to the Unknown'. I was planning on skipping 'Mythmakers' since it has no full episode surviving and isn't crucial to the future plot (except for the new companion obviously).

Then however I found out that it's Vicki's last serial and I've quite grown to love her (initially she made me scream in frustration =P) so I was wondering is the 'Mythmakers' recon worth watching just to see Vicki's departure or should I just read a detailed synopsis and go on? I don't like skipping whole serials but I can only watch so many reconstructions in a row and I'm not the biggest fan of the historicals anyway but I don't want to miss out on something brilliant at the same time.

ixoy

Well I've watched the reconstructions (only a few more to go now as I'm over halfway through Season 6 which is mostly intact anyway). Like you I struggle at times with watching stills and ticker-tapes so it's a while since I saw "The Myth Makers". It was grand, from what I recall - the reconstruction quality itself was of typical standard (i.e. not a patch on the BBC stuff, but nothing as poor as say "The Highlanders").
Don't give up on all the reconstructions though - there's a lot of stuff that's hard to watch, but you've also got classics like "Evil of the Daleks" and "Fury From the Deep" that are great despite missing most of their original content.

Killer_banana

I ended up just watching the end to see how Vicki left (I found it annoyingly similar to Susan's departure) and skipping on to 'The Daleks' Master Plan' since it has two full episodes and my interest was really spiked after 'Mission to the Unknown'. I think I'll watch 'The Mythmakers' in full after though, it looked like an interesting story.

Anyone else think it would have been interesting if Katarina had been kept around longer?

ixoy

Killer_banana wrote: »

Anyone else think it would have been interesting if Katarina had been kept around longer?

Potentially yes although I'm glad Sara Kingdom got brutally kiled!

BTW, I can't say I was a fan of Vicki and her constant shrieking! Victoria was the better V companion.

Killer_banana

ixoy wrote: »

Potentially yes although I'm glad Sara Kingdom got brutally kiled!

BTW, I can't say I was a fan of Vicki and her constant shrieking! Victoria was the better V companion.

Ah Sara wasn't so bad. I just like that she was the first female companion who wasn't afraid of her own shadow. I'm not being feminist or anything I just don't like companions who do noting but whimper and scream all the time, it isn't exactly thrilling. As you mentioned Vicki did do a lot of shrieking but she showed some courage and potential in her later stories which is why I ended up liking her. She also stopped acting exactly like Susan. I know she was written in as a Susan surrogate but it took far too long for her to show any unique characteristics. Still her arrival got rid of the constant 'Grandfather!' calls (I'm not a fan of Susan at all). Anyway I'm ranting and way off topic so I'll stop.

popebenny16

God be with the days when i used to go to Waterstones to get my BBC Cassettes (yes - TAPES) of those serials.

Interesting debate on the development of the "companion" (watching School Reunion the other day and Rose's visible disgust with the term was classic) during the sixties. How about the Terrence Dicks Reset after Liz Shaw was deemed too far? Even by todays standards she looked, well, dated....

So, who in our modern viewpoint, is a fully fledged, how shall we say, emancipated, companion? Zoe? She was from the future after all....

Ace?

Charley from the Big Finish Audio Dramas (and she was from the 1930's!) ?

Rose, or is her infatuation with the Doctor ruling her out, and what about Marthas therefore?

Donna!!

OY!!

(yes, i know i am pulling away from the topic.......)

ixoy

popebenny16 wrote: »

How about the Terrence Dicks Reset after Liz Shaw was deemed too far? Even by todays standards she looked, well, dated....

Can you expand on that? Was Liz Shaw seen as too equal to the Doctor in intellect? I always liked Liz. It helped she was in a very strong season, whose darker tone suited a more serious companion. She seemed able to contribute more than a shriek like many of the ones before.
Jo, after her, was like a timid bunny and sure she had great chemistry with Pertwee (of the avuncular sort) but hardly a liberating step.

So, who in our modern viewpoint, is a fully fledged, how shall we say, emancipated, companion? Zoe? She was from the future after all....

LOL. She started out meant to be a sort of human computer. A few episodes in and she's screaming with the best of them. The rare time she contributed her "intellect" seemed very contrived. And really - putting her in that cat suit? Hardly vouching her brains as her best assets.

Ace?

The Beeb's attempt to show that they're down with the youth, yo. As much as I've fond memories of that time being my Doctor, I'm under no illusions about Ace. Sure she was a bit disrespectful and called him Professor (ugh) but she doesn't seem a feminist icon.

I don't think much of Rose or Martha as strong women because of their infatuations. Donna was far more so - independent minded, even if that stubbornness drove many fans mad.

What about Sarah Jane? She had her own proper career before starting and seemed inquisitive (good enough for a spin off!).
Or Leela? A "savage" but quite capable of looking after herself.

flazio

Sorry but what do you mean by 'watch reconstructions' I have the 'Adventures in history' audio set on my hard drive and that includes a narrated soundtrack of Mythmakers but AFAIK there isn't a photo novel anywhere of this story.

popebenny16

may not be the one the OP is referring to but its an example:

http://www.recons.com/recons/lc26.htm