Doctor Who:
The
Olympian
Experiment
by
Robin
Gordon
Auksford, 2008
PREFACE
I wrote this Doctor
Who
story in 1976 and submitted the completed script to the BBC scripts
department, who accepted it and recommended it for
production.
Unfortunately the production team had just changed, and the new lot had
decided to dispense with humour and concentrate on what they called
fantasised violence aimed purely at an audience of teenage
boys.
They therefore rejected this story, though I have never quite been able
to persuade myself that their use of a human sacrifice scene in their
first adventure was entirely coincidental.
When the production team changed again, the scripts
department
contacted me to invite me to resubmit. I did so, but pointed
out
that the storyline, and in particular the concept of Time Lords, had
moved on and that The
Olympian Experiment would no
longer fit.
It was, of course, rejected again, but what is here presented
is
a Doctor Who adventure that almost made it to the screen.
CHARACTERS
Humans,
Time Lords, Circeans, etc.
Speaking
parts
Sarah-Jane
Smith
The
Doctor
Agamemnon
Odysseus
Poseidon
Leukothea
Zeus
Athene
Young
Time Lord
Eurylochus
Elpenor
Calupso
Aiaia
Harry
Sullivan
Brigadier
Lethbridge-Stewart
Ohica
of the Sisterhood of Karn
Non-speaking
parts
Iphigeneia
Kalchas
the priest
Ogugia
Nausikaa
Sir
Martin Pendennis
Extras
Humans:
Greek
Priests,
Commanders and Maidens
UNIT soldiers,
Orderlies, Sir Martin’s entourage
Time
Lords:
Members
of the
Research Committee
Circeans:
Members of the
Polyfemos
Non-humanoids
Alpha-Centauran
Five
Daleks
Uperonian-Kentar
Siren
A
NOTE ON THE
THREE
NEW RACES
The
Circeans
The essential characteristics of these humanoids are languor,
lassitude and fatigue to the point of near exhaustion. Their
lives are drained of all energy, colour and individuality.
Their
voices are weak, reedy and sexless and their speech is slow and
trailing. The moaning of the Polyfemos is like the
lamentation of
dead souls bereft of reason.
Their garb should be shapeless, floppy and of indeterminate
colour.
Only after their liberation do they show any individuality or
energy. Their voices become stronger and their speech more
normal.
The
Siren
The
Siren is about two feet tall and looks something like a bird of
paradise with a girl’s head. Its song has a
strange,
unearthly beauty.
The
Uperonian-Kentar
As the Doctor explains, the Uperonians are bodiless brains
that
exist parasitically on the other species of their planet. The
Uperonian-Kentar is therefore a hybrid creature consisting of an
Uperonian brain controlling the body of a Kentar, which is like a
giant, multi-legged beetle with pincer like-claws. It is
approximately the size of a small van and capable of carrying loads on
its back.
Links
Episode 1: The Olympos
Episode
2: Odysseus
Episode 3: Circe
Episode
4: Daleks
Episode 5: The Polyfemos
Episode 6: The Sacred Flame
__________________________
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