Get Him To The Greeks

This week, I've been listening to an evocative production of a historical adventure for William Hartnell's Doctor. You'll be aware that, as part of the show's Reithian remit in the 60s, the Tardis's meanderings resulted in adventures with Marco Polo, the Aztecs and Robespierre. There were several unmade proposals too, including the Indian Mutiny, the Spanish Armada and Eric The Red. Before Christmas, Big Finish released two of these unproduced scripts as The Lost Stories- The First Doctor Box Set.

  I found last year's series of  Sixth Doctor Lost Stories fairly disappointing. I bought four of the eight releases, which all turned out to be silly and cliched space adventures. They differ from this set in that they are traditional BF full-cast plays, whereas the Box Set employs narrators and guest voices. The first three disks are devoted to Moris Fahri's historical Farewell Great Macedon, in which the Tardis materialises in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, during a conspiracy to kill Alexander the Great.
At six episodes, the plot is a little thin- the Tardis crew spend a great deal of time enjoying the hospitality of the Macedonians- and the guest characters are rather one-dimensional. Alexander, in particular, seems to only have two modes: manly soldiering or kingly anger. Similarly, the conspirators are eeevil, weak and cowardly (although that does lead to my favourite lines: "Your arena is politics. Naturally you are a bad judge of character.") Also, building a working iron lung in the Ancient World seems a bit of a tall order, even for a party of time travellers.
But the readings, the performances and especially the music combine to create the absolutely convincing impression that this is a legitimate Doctor Who adventure from 1964. Carole Ann Ford's ageless voice and William Russell's vigourous reading sustained my interest to the end. I would now really like to hear them  read a version of  the Robin Hood proposal, particularly Jonathan Morris's witty short story, The Thief of Sherwood, which was printed, handily, in one of BF's Short Trips collections, Past Tense.

Just over a decade ago, BBC Books commmisioned writer Jim Mortimore to tell his own version of the First Doctor's encounter with Alexander. The book was cancelled for contractual reasons but in 2000, Campaign was printed independently as a fanzine by the author to the benefits of the Bristol Area Down Syndrome Association. I think I bought a copy at a collectors event at the SECC; I do recall reading it on the train from Edinburgh to Glasgow.Some strong drink had been taken which didn't help me come to grips with it.

I re-read the book last week, prior to listening to the BF discs but I confess to struggling to find a way to write about it. You can see why the BBC might have rejected it since it's a colossal departure from the house style, which was to emulate the respective eras of the seven Doctors. Unlike the Who hardbacks of the last five or six years, they were only rarely All-Ages books but Campaign bares little resemblance to anything in either range, before or since.
The book requires familiarity with the original character outlines for the Doctor, "Cliff", "Lola" and "Biddy". It uses unusual typesetting and features internal illustrations, a boardgame and a comic strip. The historical encounter with Alexander is merely a springboard for a rambling, free-form bout of sci-fi miserabilism and the accidental destruction of the universe. Without an editor, Campaign suffers from some awful Beatnik prose-poetry
(" Susan stood, child-willow drinking sunlight"; "horse-thought burned moth to the flame of boy alone"). It also ends with that ghastly schoolboy blunder "It was all a dream"- particularly galling as Mortimore was one of the Virgin New Adventures writers who liked to employ a bit of physical and psychological torture for his characters. At best, it's an iconoclastic entry in the annals of Who spin-offs and it certainly pushes the envelope of what can be done with the format .
 

Speaking of Alexander, last night I was watching the Director's Cut of  2003's Daredevil, where a twitchy Colin Farrell stars as the eye-popping Bullseye, with a target ludicrously embosssed on his forehead.I've only seen Farrell in comic roles , such has been my movie consumption, but his OTT performance creates a campy tone. Nevertheless,despite my own personal preference for the wise-cracking Man Without Fear depicted by Gene "The Dean" Colan ( rather than Frank Miller's tormented Catholic-turned-ninja) Bullseye's gurning is the only real stumbling block in a fairly faithful adaptation of Marvel's gloomy urban vigilante star of the 80s.
I like the blokey dynamic of the Nelson and Murdock team and Ben Affleck's lanky boyishness provides a nice contrast to his balletic costumed persona. There's also a greater sense of menace to the character of the Kingpin in this version. Jennifer Garner is a little too cute and girlish as the lethal Elektra but the flirtatious playground battle scene is very effective. The cliched dark and rain-swept atmosphere of the movie isn't helped, however, by the traditional Rock soundtrack with its typically adolescent blend of bombast and self-pity.

Next time: Rhythm and Blues
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