Christopher Morley looks at the legend behind the 1989 Seventh Doctor adventure, Battlefield.
A Scottish- accented darker Doctor taking the TARDIS into the realm of myth & legend? That's what we'll see when Robot Of Sherwood hits our screens this coming Saturday tea-time. But go back to about the same time on September 6, 1989 & you might just see where Mark Gatiss got his inspiration! For that was the day upon which Battlefield was first broadcast..a sort of pseudo-historical take on the legend of King Arthur, in much the same way Robot Of Sherwood will doubtless play around with the Robin Hood myth.
A Scottish- accented darker Doctor taking the TARDIS into the realm of myth & legend? That's what we'll see when Robot Of Sherwood hits our screens this coming Saturday tea-time. But go back to about the same time on September 6, 1989 & you might just see where Mark Gatiss got his inspiration! For that was the day upon which Battlefield was first broadcast..a sort of pseudo-historical take on the legend of King Arthur, in much the same way Robot Of Sherwood will doubtless play around with the Robin Hood myth.
Arriving in the
lovely little village of Carbury, the Seventh Doctor & Ace are
soon drawn into matters when a crashed ship supposedly containing
Arthur's body ( which is still clutching his famed sword, Excalibur)
is found in the local lake, Vortigern. Quite apt when you consider
that the King is supposed to have claimed the sword from the Lady of
the Lake in several accounts. Another has it that he pulled it from a
stone in order to prove his royal credentials. The first written
accounts of his life appear in Geoffrey of Monmouth's
Historia Regum Britanniae (
History Of The Kings Of Britain)
which detail everything from his birth to his inheritance of the
throne from his father Uther & beyond.
It's Geoff who
also added in characters like Merlin ( with the Doctor in the role of
the wizard).
Villainous sorceress Morgaine ( the summoner of the Destroyer) also
has some basis in the original tale- in which she's known as Morgan
le Fay. Some versions of the legend cast her as Arthur's half- sister
( Arthur's mother Lady Igraine's daughter by a marriage prior to that
which resulted in the birth of the King). Le Fey
in itself comes from the original French la fee,
which simply means ' fairy'- no wonder she's thought of as a
supernatural force to be reckoned with once she crosses into Carbury
from another dimension with her son Mordred & Arthur's faithful
knight Ancelyn.
Mordred too has a
role in the actual Arthurian narrative- they're rivals after he's
earlier betrayed the King, and he'll die at the Battle of Camlann
after inflicting a fatal wound on his enemy. He's also Morgaine's
son, though his father depends on which version of events you
believe. Its either Arthur himself or a king with the rather
excellent name of Lot of Orkney! Presumably so called as he ruled
Orkney & there was a lot of it in those days? Either way, all
three recognise the Doctor as ' Merlin', even though he hasn't the
foggiest idea how they've got it into their heads that its him.
Given the
wibbly-wobbly nature of his own time-line, he knows not whether he
has been or will be Merlin. Come to think of it, how could he not be
if he's been recognised as such? As a great man once said, ' to the
rational mind, nothing is inexplicable, only unexplained'. By which
logic we've got some delving to do! Of course all the Arthurian types
could be said to be composites created from taking bits of other
similar real-life characters, but Merlin is the only one for whom
there's evidence of that being true if you choose to believe it.
But who's the
basis for Merlin? A likely candidate is the Welsh bard Myrddin
Wyllt. According to the folklore of the Valleys, he was both a
prophet & a madman. A description that equally fits the Doctor
himself,
wouldn't you say?
On which basis its entirely appropriate that the Seventh would be thought of in similar terms...
On which basis its entirely appropriate that the Seventh would be thought of in similar terms...
Its also fitting
that what really kicks things off is something entirely in keeping
with the spirit of Arthur. Archaeologists led by one Peter Warmsly
are excavating the battlefield of the story's title, & the power
of a scabbard they've found is troubling local pub landlady Elizabeth
Rowlinson. She's visually impaired but a powerful psychic, & ever
since the artefact’s been hanging by the fireplace of the Gore Crow
Hotel she's known that it can't possibly be of this world.
Just how right
she is becomes apparent when Ancelyn turns up. Following the same
signal that drew the TARDIS into events-which he interprets as the
call of Excalibur
itself & the herald of a ' final war' which is predicted to end
with Arthur's return to his throne- its not long before Mordred
arrives & attempts a ritual which will link Carbury to the
dimension from which Ancelyn's just come. Morgaine will also then be
able to cross over, & then things will get really
interesting......
She arrives &
promptly shows her power by plucking a helicopter carrying Brigadier
Lethbridge-Stewart out of the sky. Warmsly shows the Doctor & Ace
around the site of the dig- at which point the man in the pullover
finds an inscription with a note in his own handwriting. Its telling
him to dig a hole in the ground, which he does with a little help
from Ace & her taste for explosives! This leads to a tunnel.
Investigating its contents they find a mysterious room- the door to
which opens at the Doctor's command. He comes to the conclusion that
if he was indeed Merlin, he must have built all this.
But the room
isn't quite a room at all. Its a spaceship- containing Arthur in a
form of suspended animation! Attempting to remove Excalibur
from his clutches doesn't seem to end well for Ace, though.
Triggering a defence system by which she'll surely drown, its not
looking good. Until she emerges from the lake holding the sword!
That's the ' Lady in the Lake' ticked off our check-list too at a
stroke, then. Yet more magic happens when the Destroyer is summoned
to help Morgaine make her grab for the iconic sword. All of which
should provide food for thought for any adherents of Clarke's Law- a
set of three missives cooked up by the late great Arthur C.Clarke.
The one which
applies most here is ' any sufficiently enhanced form of
technology is indistinguishable from magic'.
Not good enough for the Doctor, though, who states that in fact the
reverse is closer to the truth while probably secretly being a bit
impressed with his lady companion. Whether its technology from
Arthur's realm or actual magic, it could be about to cause the
universe to go up in smoke, until the Brigadier goes toe to toe with
the Destroyer & wins the day. Whether the great King himself was
flesh & blood or a fabrication ( a question Robot Of
Sherwood may will attempt to
answer regarding Hood), it all makes for quite some source material-
little wonder Gatiss may have turned to it, in a sense!
