While this episode refers to Satan by the Christian name, it also works to name him as Hades. That being said, keep in mind that no matter what Disney does in James Woods voice, Hades was never viewed as evil by the Greeks. He was the god of death and precious metals, but he was never evil. He just drew the short end of the stick, is all. Moving on, and for the purposes of this discussion, lets let Satan and Hades intermingle. One of the very basic classifications of a Greek hero is to go down to the Underworld/Hell and then come back up alive. It basically means to cheat death and this is done countless times in Greek mythology - Heracles (that is spelt right, it's Disney that made the typo!), for example, did it as one of his trials. In the Odyssey, Odysseus goes down to the Underworld and comes back up. The Doctor becomes a Greek hero in these episodes by not just escaping death but by destroying him as well. These episodes portray some of the themes that have been around for over a thousand years, and do so beautifully. There is also the scene in which Toby is not supposed to turn around, no matter what he hears, but he ends up doing it regardless. This is similar to what happened with Orpheus and his wife, Eurydice, who died after their wedding day. He went to the Underworld to bring her back and he was told that he could only do so if he could go through all of hell without looking behind him or at her - even if she was crying out for help. He ends up falling at the last hurdle. The idea of not being able to look behind you in the Underworld is not a new idea, and very few of the ideas in this episode are new, but they are all wonderfully realized nonetheless.
Alexa is a Doctor Who writer on Whatculture. She lives in the boring state of Illinois, USA. She is an anthropology and creative writing student. When not writing or watching Doctor Who, she is probably cuddling with her pet hedgehog, playing Super Nintendo, and reading horror novels.
