A story with a clearly strong script, but with several factors that hinder it from being perfect.

The Doctor, Steven & Vicki land in Ancient Greece and meet up with Odysseus, who is planning to invade Troy. Soon, they are split up, with Vicki on the Troy side, and Steven & the Doctor on the Greek side. So how will this mythical conflict play out?

First of all, there are two outside factors which hold this story back. The first one should be pretty obvious: It doesn’t exist anymore. This story is, apart from some vague screenshots and second-long clips, completely missing. This is the first time I’ve really come across that. Marco Polo was similarly missing, but at least some very clear screenshots, a fan-made recreation of episode 1 (look that up!) and a 99% faithful novelization. The latter being my pick for experiencing the story, as it captures the essence of it wonderfully.

This story does not have the same luxuries. So, for the uninitiated, let’s quickly go over the 3 main ways you could go about experiencing this story. The first is the Loose Cannon reproduction. These take the existing audio recordings of the episode and add screenshots and extra material to make the episodes as complete as possible. It’s normally a viable option, but since this story doesn’t have a lot of screenshots, it’s not as good as other recreations. Besides that, this recreation also doesn’t have a narrator who describes what’s going on. Instead opting for scrolling text, which is disappointing.

Your second option would be the BBC narrated soundtrack, narrated by Peter Purves. This basically contains the original audio for the episode, and does have a narrator over it who connects the scenes together. The clear downside of this one is, of course, that there are no visuals.

Your last option would be the Target Novelisation written by original writer Donald Cotton. This one also has an audiobook version read by Stephen Thorne. The upside for this one is that you have a clear, understandable story penned by the original writer. The downside is that there are clear changes from the TV episode, like the entire story being told from the perspective of Homer. You also miss out on the acting for this one, which was quite strong. Especially since we have a few important moments for our main cast.

For me, I swapped between option 1 and 2. I tried to listen to the narrated soundtrack, but found it hard to follow in places. Especially the last episode. So I watched that one in the reconstruction about halfway through. Why no one has made a definitive version by combining the narrated soundtrack and the reconstruction, is a mystery to me.

Anyway, enough of all that. On to the actual story. This story is a pure historical, and quite a creative one at that. Generally speaking, historicals in Doctor Who go one of two ways: They are funny, or they are dramatic. This one is a bit of a middle ground, while leaning a bit more to the funny side.

It has some great moments and interactions between the historic characters, which makes them very memorable. A standout being the scene where Steven convinces Troy soldier Paris that he should take him hostage, which leads to some fun, unearned pride on his side.

There’s also plenty of drama, though. The Doctor is forced by Odysseus to prepare a plan to attack troy. On the other side, Vicki is forced to prepare a plan to attack Greece. Steven is also in this story. Thrown in jail. I don’t know why you would expect anything else from him.

While this could’ve led to an interesting battle of wits between the Doctor and Vicki, the story seems to quickly chicken out and make it all look like a miracle on the Vicki side, so the Doctor can think out a plan and look smart. Bit cheap, really.

Still, the Doctor’s plan is fun on its own. He first dismisses the horse infiltration idea and considers it stupid. Instead, he thinks up a catapult to launch soldiers into Troy. The Greeks are on board and all is well, until they want to launch the Doctor as a test subject. After that, he changes his tune real quick and goes for horse infiltration. Great stuff from a comedy perspective. When they actually enter Troy, it becomes a story of trust, betrayal and violence. Which is great stuff from a dramatic perspective.

And that’s why it is a massive shame that this story doesn’t exist anymore: It is a combination of the two halves of history stories. It is both dramatic AND comedic, and the two sides strengthen each other. This was tried before in the Romans, but there the comedy side and the drama side clashed, thanks to the constant switching between the two. They don’t do that here. In this story, one leads to the other. The comedy banter in Troy builds up the characters, so we later feel the hurt when we see them defeated. The comedy leads to the Trojan Horse, which is used to start the entire attack. Comedy pushes every piece into place, so that the drama can land. I genuinely believe there is no other historical (until now) that has combined the two so well. That’s why it's a shame this story doesn’t exist: If it did, it could genuinely be my favorite pure historical for the way it knows how to strike a balance.

But there is one other factor I’ve kind of neglected to mention about this. And it is the other outside factor I mentioned at the start. When reading the script edit for this story, Maureen O’Brien found out she was suddenly being written off of the show. And that puts a damper on the final product. It’s integrated fine. Not brilliantly. A little lower than Susan, if I had to compare.

But the entire idea of her being written off here is a bit problematic with her character. She had established a familial relationship with the Doctor and Steven. At the same time, both TV and the audio’s have pushed her even further by exploring her relationship with loss and her fear of being left behind. Yet, at the same time. In this story she’s suddenly decided to leave that family all behind. It undermines her bonds and growth in the ways it is presented. And I want to make clear: It is not only the audio’s that have pushed her this far, TV episodes very clearly had the same intention. To throw all that in the bin in what amounts to 5 minutes, is a disservice.

And yet I still love this story. While the decision was made for her, Maureen O’Brien clearly pushes it as far as it can go. Still leaves a mark on the show, even within the limitations the writing put on her. Massive props for her.

But yeah, how do I go about judging this? This story doesn’t exist, had some bad forced decisions, but its actual excellence still shines through and it achieves something other historicals never did as well. I’m torn. It’s like judging the lettuce that has fallen out of your Big Mac.

But dangit, it’s good lettuce. From what is shown, everyone very clearly tried. If this story is ever animated, or better yet, found, I’ll look at it thoroughly. Until then, I’m going to give this an 8 for all that was accomplished. Circumstances be damned.