The Aztecs The Massacre The Sorceror's Apprentice |
BBC Marco Polo aka. "Journey to Cathay" |
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| Episodes | 7 |  |
| Story No# | 4 | |
| Production Code | D | |
| Season | 1 | |
| Dates | Feb. 22, 1964 - Apr. 4, 1964 |
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With William Hartnell, William Russell,
Jacqueline Hill, Carole Ann Ford. Written by John Lucarotti. Script-edited by David Whitaker. Directed by Waris Hussein (by John Crockett in episode 4). Associate Producer: Mervyn Pinfield. Produced by Verity Lambert. |
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Synopsis: The Doctor's company is forced to travel with Marco Polo to Kublai
Khan's court when Polo confiscates the TARDIS.
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| Note: Audio recordings and telesnap reconstructions of this story are available at Missing Doctor Who Reconstructions & Audios. |
A Review by Daniel Callahan 8/3/98
I wanted to write a review that accurately and precisely detailed all of the well-executed qualities of Marco Polo. The fact is, however, I don't think I'm up to it. This one just speaks for itself. But since I can't expect you to take my word for it, I offer this...
Mark Eden?s narration makes this story perfect for reconstruction or cassette, and the cast performs so well that it?s effortless to imagine the missing costumes and sets. It?s a joy to listen to as the suspense builds during each episode in a way that often fails to occur in even three or four part stories. The well-scripted dialogue and all too-human motivations of Polo, Tegana, Ian, Susan, and Ping-Cho shine through in a way rarely seen in Doctor Who outside of a Robert Holmes or Phillip Martin script. We even get to see (or hear) Hartnell alter his portrayal from the pre-Marco grouch to the post-Marco magician. If there?s one flaw.... No, I take it back. It?s so post-modern, so "in" to find fault, any fault, with anything, that I?ll just admit the truth: considering where this story came from and how it was made, it?s as perfect as you?ll get from television, my friend.
How did they do it? In season one, we have four undeniable classics (An Unearthly Child episode one, The Daleks, Marco Polo, and The Aztecs), one flawed but fascinating jewel (The Keys of Marinus), and a handful of less successful stories that, at the least, offer charm. Having John Lucarotti and Terry Nation pen more than one story was a key factor, to say nothing of the genius of David Whitaker and Verity Lambert. And perhaps there?s something to say for the lack of the big-budget superficiality that Trek writers seem to thrive on: a dumbed-down drama Marco Polo isn?t.
Lucarotti may express preference for his tighter, more Shakespearean The Aztecs, another marvel almost without peer (except this story and his Massacre of St. Bartholomew?s Eve), but Marco offers the epic scope of seven well-used episodes, where even the filler isn?t filler: it?s travelogue. Enjoy the trip!
...which would be better than taking my word for it. Get the reconstructions (a labor of love) or the cassettes. Marco Polo speaks for itself.
A Review by Stuart Gutteridge 10/10/98
Marco Polo can basically be described in one word: wonderful. As with John Lucarotti`s later contributions to Doctor Who, it is historically perfect. All of the regulars get an equal part of the action: The Doctor, ably played by William Hartnell, and his frustration with Polo over the TARDIS; Ian plays confidante to both Polo and Ping-Cho, whilst also getting the role of a hero, in taking on Tegana; Barbara and her mistrust of Tegana; and Susan`s relationship with Ping-Cho gives a rare insight into her thoughts (mostly of home).
Unusually, Marco Polo`s seven episode length is worthy of being this long and actually gives the tale an epic quality, unlike the usual padding in stories this long. This is further justified by Waris Hussein`s assured direction and the excellent production values. From the ornate sets, serving as way-stations to the period costumes, nothing is left out. Another nice touch is Marco Polo`s narration of the journey ovelayed on the map. This only adds to anotherwise outstanding Doctor Who story (which is sadly missing from the BBC archives-fortunately a soundtrack and telesnap reconstruction do exist), which captures the charm and feel of Ancient Cathay exquisitely. Doctor Who at its best.
A True Classic by Tim Roll-Pickering 11/11/98
This story is the main gap in the first two Hartnell seasons, with no episodes, clips or even telesnaps known to exist at the time of writing, but thanks to Bruce Robinson a reconstruction of the story is available, making the story available again. When I received the tape, I planned to watch it one episode at a time, because the length was daunting. I started the first episode, and did not get up until the end of episode seven, 'Assassin at Peking'.
Marco Polo certainly lives up to all the rumours and legends that surround it, unlike many other supposed 'classics' from the sixties. The regular cast had by now meshed together, all providing strong performances, and it is with this story that William Hartnell's characterisation of the Doctor softens from his initially harsh portrayal to a more grandfatherly one. The guest cast are uniformly strong, with Mark Eden (Marco Polo), Derren Nesbitt (Tegana), Ziena Merton (Ping-Cho) and Martin Miller (Kublai Khan) each bringing their characters to life with relish, whilst the supporting roles are all played just as well.
John Lucarotti's script is a wonderful mixture of characterisation and movement, containing many surprises along the way, and so consequently never drags-no mean feat considering that the story takes place over four months. With Mark Eden narrating Polo's journal, the story flows well from one part of the journey to the next. With strong direction by Waris Hussein and the magnificent design work by Barry Newbury and Daphne Dare, it is highly likely that Marco Polo would have secured Doctor Who's future were it not for The Mutants [i.e. the first Dalek adventure] beating it to the audiences. This story is one of the true gems of the series, and easily the best Hartnell story. 10/10
Bruce Robinson's reconstruction of this story is undoubtedly the best of all the reconstructions of missing episodes. With no telesnaps or footage existing, he has used the numerous publicity photos for this story, cleverly cropping them so as to ensure that every single scene is represented. With wonderful touches such as the journal entries, and the running script, this is the best way to enjoy this classic story. 10/10
A Review by Peter Niemeyer 25/1/01
"The journey across this vast ocean...is slow and hazardous."
(Marco Polo, Episode 2)
This was Doctor Who's first purely historical adventure, and the episode has garnered high praise from many people. I have to admit, though, that this episode left me feeling a little let down. The primary problem was that the majority of the serial centered around the TARDIS crew's attempt to get back into the TARDIS. There were so many nearly successful attempts that failed that by the time I was watching episode 5, it felt like I was still watching episode 2.
It's interesting to compare this serial to The Daleks. Both were prototypes for their genre (future stories vs. past stories), and both were 7 parts long. While The Daleks loses momentum in the last three episodes, it was a very entertaining story for the first 4 parts, and at 5 or maybe 6 parts would have been a nicely paced tale. Marco Polo, on the other hand, felt to me like it could have been done in 4 parts. Most of the events in parts 2 through 5 just didn't have an impact on the story.
I liked the way that historical and geographical details were peppered throughout, such as the sandstorm, the way stations, the Chinese/Mongol conflict, the notion of how slow it took to get from one place to another. However, with no propulsive plot, these details felt more like an item-by-item slide show than a continuous, unobtrusive background.
I do have to give my compliments to Derrin Nesbitt, who played Tegana. He really started to irritate me and I was looking forward to his eventual demise. Any time a villain gets under my skin, I have to give some credit to the actor portraying him.
One Thing I'd Do Differently: I'd give the TARDIS crew something to care about other than getting into the TARDIS and going. They want to expose Tegana...they want to see Peking...they want to stop Ping-cho's marriage...something that would have elevated them above the whining and complaining that occupied much of the story.
One Thing I Wouldn't Touch: The use of Marco Polo's diary and map to track the course of the journey. This device, which was never really used again in any other episode, helped the viewer to keep track of where the caravan was, added a sense of education, and emphasized the scope of the journey they were making.
A Review by Richard Radcliffe 16/5/02
After battling Cavemen, Daleks and themselves, the TARDIS crew land with the travelling caravan of the great explorer Marco Polo. His journeyings are one of those historical events that not many know much about - exactly the sort of thing then that will educate and entertain. It has been hailed as Doctor Who's greatest ever story, and that intrigued me. It's a pure Historical, the kind you only find in the 1st Doctor's time (apart from Highlanders that is).
I really like Travel books. Not the kind of Rough Guides to Venice, or Travel Guides - but the kind where the author travels round one country or continent, with observations about his discoveries. The modern day adventurers like Bill Bryson, Paul Theroux, Michael Palin are all such types. One of the first to write about his travels for the entertainment and enlightenment of the masses was Marco Polo. This story therefore is Doctor Who's very own Travel Log - and that promised much.
When I discovered that Loose Cannon Reconstructions existed, and that they had done Marco Polo in Colour, I was very intrigued. Upon receiving the tape, I was fascinated by the way these Reconstructions are put together. Admittedly this is their most recent, and their most challenging too, but what a superb job they have made. Taking photos taken during the shooting of the production, of which many were in colour, hence the reason they reconstructed it in Colour, they have produced the closest thing to the real thing we are ever going to get (without the recovering of the originals and that seems unlikely). But even the original TV story was not in Colour, and the quality of these Sets are that good, that Colour is the best way to see them. I was mighty suspicious of these Reconstructions, expecting poor sound and picture quality, but my fears were unfounded. I hear Marco Polo is the best they have done, but if the others are 50% of the quality of this I'd be happy. They not only take the existing photos, but they cut and paste images around set photos. They give explanations along the bottom, when the situation calls for it, but they are kept to a minimum such is the excellence of the images used. They supplement the photos with a running commentary from Mark Eden, whilst the caravan is on the move using an old map with a bold line drawing the route taken. They colourize Black and White photos, making them fit in with the rest. It really is suberbly done and recreates Marco Polo better than I ever dreamed possible.
The rave reviews from some quarters about this story, heralding it as a "true classic of television", are not too wide of the mark at all. This was clearly a story that was designed to be the focus of the season. More money seems to have been spent on everything in it. There is more time elapsed between the beginning and end of the story, than any I can think of - this is a real journey, and the Doctor and Companions get right involved with Marco Polo's travelling caravan. John Lucarotti gives us an excellent and involved script. There is a lot of research gone into the accuracy of the travels, and the Designers have excelled themselves in the sumptuous sets on offer. The acting is of a higher quality than usual, with Mark Eden as Marco Polo and Derren Nesbit as Tegana particularly excellent.
The leads, thriving on some superb character writing, are excellent. William Hartnell as the Doctor is wonderful, the caravan's travellers rightly acknowledging him as the leader of the mysterious Blue Box, but the Companions also excel. Susan befriends Ping-Cho, in a delightful friendship, and receives more attention than usual, and also better material. Ian challenges Marco as the Action Hero of the story, and the way the two are suspicious of one another is nicely done. Barbara gets to wear some fine clothes and hats, she continues to be the teacher we all wanted at School.
The sweeping saga that was Marco Polo's journeyings is integral to the enjoyment of the story. It makes you want to find these places for yourself on the map, and read more of his travels - the very thing that DW in its educational guise intended. Whilst not being the most action packed story, there is plenty of intrigue and excitement. Everything is done quite sedately though, and the drama results naturally from the clash of personalities and ideologies. The marvelous names that Polo gave places also puts the story firmly in mystery land. The Singing Sands, the Cave of Five Hundred Eyes, the Roof of the World - all evoke such wonder and romanticism. The sedate pace of much of the serial helps convey the passage of time, but it is never boring - and it does recreate the journey well.
Marco Polo was a real joy to watch and listen to, this really is a very fine story from the Genesis of DW - it is marvelous how such a confident and fascinating story could happen so early on. DW really did establish its excellence right from the beginning. 9/10
A Review by Alan Thomas 10/7/02
Based on the Loose Cannon reconstruction.
Marco Polo is a tremendously breathtaking story that has always been surrounded by respect. The story compels the viewer into a journey, which is realistically borne out by the journal and map entries.
When the TARDIS lands on the Pamir Plateau, no time is wasted in getting the set-up. We are introduced to Marco Polo, played by very well by Mark Eden. The other members of Polo's caravan are also well acted, particularly Tegana, played with delicious malice by Derren Nesbitt. Ping-Cho also fulfils her role very well.
The performances by the regulars shine again on this occasion. William Hartnell shows a softer side than he did in the previous three stories, particularly in the scenes with Kublai Khan at the end of the story. He is still very pompous and crotchety, though. William Russell gets to fulfil his hero role, Jacqueline Hill is still very solid as Barbara, and Carole Ann Ford even fares well in her charming friendship with Ping-Cho.
The various subplots are set up well, seeing a mistrust between Tegana and the travellers, as well as an up and down relationship with Polo. The story follows a pattern with roughly every episode introducing a new "terror" - The Singing Sands, The Cave Of Five Hundred Eyes, The Wall Of Lies etc.
The music and set design are astonishingly good for the era, particularly as the production had to work in the tiny confines of Lime Grove Studio D. The direction by Waris Hussein is also very accomplished, and the serial oozes style.
There is real desperation when the travellers arrive at the Khan's court. What can the travellers do to get the TARDIS back? And what about Tegana's plot to kill the Khan? What about Ping-Cho's marriage plans? And Polo returning to Venice? It's all told in a tight way, with all the resolutions being satisfactorily explained.
The reconstruction itself is superb. The colourisation really shows just how great the sets are. The documentary and interviews add another dimension to the tale and help to explain some of the production problems, and how they were overcome. Fascinating.
All in all, Marco Polo is a triumphant adventure. If this were broadcast in the place of The Daleks, the series would still have continued. 10/10
A Review by John Greenhead 7/2/07
Having now devoured the entire Hartnell era, I have come to the conclusion that the strongest stories from this period are, for the most part, the historicals. They generally come across as more intelligent, and better scripted and acted, than their SF counterparts, and it is a real shame that this genre was discontinued after only three years. It is even more of a pity that so many of the historicals that were made are now either lost or partly lost, as many of them rank among the finest Doctor Who stories I have yet come across.
The famously missing Marco Polo is no exception to this, and the numerous lavish photos that survive of the production make one wish fervently that it could still be seen, as there is no question that this is a true epic to which the BBC brought a lot of their costume drama expertise. Thankfully, we do still have the soundtrack, and that by itself reveals this to be an excellent story. John Lucarotti's three contributions to the show are all great, and although I don't think Marco Polo is quite as outstanding as The Aztecs and The Massacre, it nevertheless showcases the strong plotting, characterisation and vivid historical detail that distinguish all his work for Doctor Who. For me, Lucarotti is one of the most impressive of the show's early writers.
At seven episodes, the story is told leisurely, but it hardly drags at all, thanks to the action's continuous movement from Tibet to Peking. Polo's long, dangerous journey back to the court of Kublai Khan invests proceedings with much of their epic quality, and the device of having Polo narrate the course of the journey further enhances this. The length of the story also gives Lucarotti time to immerse us in the culture of 13th century Cathay, which he achieves through nice touches such as Ping-Cho's story about the Hashashins. Tristram Cary's lovely incidental music also helps in creating the period atmosphere, and I am sure the lavish-looking costumes would have done as well, for those lucky enough to watch this back in 1964.
The performances are uniformly strong. Mark Eden does sterling work as Polo, an essentially good-hearted man whose wholly understandable desire to go home leads him into conflict with the Doctor and his companions. A large part of the story's power is generated by Polo's inability to see that the Doctor needs the TARDIS, and that he can't go to Venice and build another one. The tensions and misunderstandings thus generated, and exploited by Tegana, drive the story forward and make the audience hope that eventually Polo and the TARDIS crew will realise that they are on the same side and become friends and allies. Tegana is another reason for the story's success, his deviousness and low cunning making him a really loathsome figure, and his eventual comeuppance very satisfying. Derren Nesbitt plays him in an understated, cold, calm fashion that really emphasises his villainy.
The regulars all do well too. Although he is now getting on with Ian and Barbara, the Doctor remains very grumpy in the early part of the story, and with very good reason, once Polo confiscates the TARDIS. As the adventure progresses, however, Hartnell shows the mellower, humorous side of the first Doctor for the first time, notably in his amusing scenes with Kublai Khan. These are not only the first real comic scenes in Doctor Who, but they also demonstrate Hartnell's great skill as a comic actor. Ian gets the best deal among the companions, as he has plenty of opportunities to be heroic, but another of the story's strengths is that Susan gets a decent role for once, thanks to her strong and rather touching friendship with Ping-Cho. Ironically, considering that she is a history teacher, Barbara has the least to do here, but Jackie Hill's performance is as solid as ever.
There is really very little I would criticise about Marco Polo, except perhaps that it could have been made a little tighter if it had just been six episodes in length. However, overall it is a very fine piece of work, and well deserving of its lofty reputation.
Cathay, Come Home by Andy Wixon 14/2/13
If Marco Polo were an episode of the current series, the plot would no doubt revolve around stranded aliens Wanting To Go Home and looking to infiltrate and suborn the Mongol Empire in order to do so (possibly using Tegana as a pawn). In the end, the Doctor would figure out the aliens weren't actually evil , but due to their technology being empathically powered and him not Wanting To Go Home, he would be unable to help them. Step up Marco Polo, who has been Wanting To Go Home all story, to save the day.
Along the way the Doctor would get a speech along the following lines: 'Marco Polo! Best explorer ever! How brilliant are you! Went to China... came back again... first European to see coal... the man responsible for Japan being called Japan! You're great, you are.'
It's not an episode of the current series, of course, and there are no stranded aliens except the central quartet. The plot essentially revolves around everyone in the story figuring out the significance of the TARDIS as a piece of technology and wanting to grab it for themselves. When the Doctor shares his opinion of Marco Polo with us, it's that he's a 'poor, pathetic, stupid savage'.
Even by the standards of 1960s stories, for the title character of the story to get quite as rough a ride as Polo does here is unusual, given he's not actually the villain. The requirements of the plot dictate that Polo be a selfish, inflexible, rather gullible character, prone to paying too much attention to Tegana's advice. Only in the final episode does Polo get to redeem himself, realising his selfishness, saving Kublai Khan's life and capturing Tegana, and by this point it all seems a bit unfair: Ian has been the leading man of the story thus far, so resolving the plot should by rights be his job.
If, as a story, Marco Polo seems unfamiliar with the standard rules of plotting, that's a fair criticism, but taking it to task for leaving the reservation as a Doctor Who story is unfair, because what this story shows, probably more than any other, is that it took a while for the 'Doctor Who story' as we understand it - even in the context of the original series - to find its true form.
There's the dominance, or least equivalence, of Ian and Barbara, compared to the Doctor, for one thing, and their general preoccupation with leaving, rather than stopping Tegana. These are things which routinely get pointed out with respect to Season One stories, but what's unique to Marco Polo is its treatment of the TARDIS.
We automatically put Marco Polo at the top of the list marked 'pure historical', as if the regular characters had wandered into an ongoing period story. And there are certainly no visiting alien characters here - but, unlike all those stories where the TARDIS conveniently materialises behind some trees or in a shed and is completely overlooked by the locals, Polo and Tegana both instantly realise that this is a very special and valuable object and it starts to affect their actions straight away. (The unusualness of this makes one realise that the fact it hardly happens in other historical stories is as much a narrative convention as everyone in the universe speaking English.) Being a story about how members of a primitive culture react to a piece of higher technology - admittedly this idea is only explored in the most basic way - what grounds do we have for not calling Marco Polo a piece of SF? At this point, even the self-imposed historical-SF barrier is porous.
But then Marco Polo emanates from that very small bubble of time prior to the success of the first Dalek story having a real influence on the course of Doctor Who; arguably, it's only this story and The Aztecs (also by John Lucarotti) that give us an impression of what Doctor Who was really supposed to be like. While the various longeurs and repetitions of the plot do become somewhat tedious, this is no less the case than in many other more typical stories, and I find the cheerfully earnest didacticism of it rather charming, partly because Lucarotti is not especially adept at slipping them into the plot; rather than the historical tidbits you would think the story naturally lends itself to, he gives us bits of physics instead, and even some etymology. Quite how the physics works in the water-condensing-inside-the-TARDIS sequence I don't know, but I suspect it's not nearly as simple as it's presented here.
I think it's a shame there's nothing on TV today that tries to combine entertainment, drama and education as honestly and cheerfully as Marco Polo does. The Doctor Who that has come down to us across the years is a different sort of animal - still wonderful, of course - and the real value of a story like Marco Polo is not what it shows us about what Doctor Who is, but the insights it can give us into what it could have been.
A Review by Paul Williams 5/8/18
This is a review of the soundtrack, because the episodes no longer exist. That's a great shame as Marco Polo is easiest the best of the first four Doctor Who stories. Every scene advances the narrative and virtually every line matters. The well-developed and motivated supporting characters Tegana and Ping-Cho sparkle, with Mark Eden's Polo worthy of an award. You see his frustration growing but know that he's a good man at heart, troubled by his selfishness in taking the TARDIS. When he admits this to the Khan, it's hard not to empathise. His relationship with Tegana is key with the later exploiting situations to his own advantage.
The first six episodes are gripping, when watched a week apart as intended, and the seventh surpasses them. Introducing a way for the Doctor to recover the TARDIS at backgammon then seeing him lose takes the conflict to a new level, building up to the final showdown. And what a wise decision by Lucaroti to write Kubali Khan as a competent administrator rather than a brutal warlord. His friendship with the Doctor adds some comedy but leaves us in no doubt that he's in control. Epic in every sense.
The Undiscovered Country by Matthew Kresal 10/1/20
As hard as it may be to believe in the age of streaming, there was a time when everything on TV wasn't just archived somewhere. Indeed, the BBC didn't establish an archive policy until 1978. As a result, 97 episodes of 1960s Doctor Who are missing as of this writing, their original videotapes wiped and film copies thrown away. The earliest casualty of this is the fourth serial of the series, Marco Polo, which has all seven episodes lost to us. All of which is a shame, because judging the story is infinitely more difficult as a result.
Why? It's in large part due to the way we now have to judge the story. There's the audio of it, recorded off-air by fans in 1964 now cleaned up and released by the BBC on CD and download. There are photographs taken on set by designer Barry Newbery. There are telesnaps, essentially images taken straight off a TV screen, for all but a single episode. There's the Target novelization written by scriptwriter John Lucarotti, published in 1984. There's an abridged reconstruction made for The Beginning DVD box-set as well as the fan-made full-scale Loose Cannon reconstruction done around a decade or so ago. All of which offer up pieces of the puzzle, visions of what the story was like without quite being the real thing. It's also something which has left me frustrated as a fan.
Because perceived fan wisdom, if there is such a thing, is that Marco Polo is a lost classic. It looks scrumptious, being the sort of costume drama that the BBC excelled at making even in the early 1960s. Visually, from the bits and pieces we have via the Newbery stills and the telesnaps, it looks like something of a feast. As the critics of Modern Who would say, however, visuals do not make a story.
It's in the writing and pacing departments that the story feels less than impressive. Lucarotti's script is, at its essence, a travelogue, right down to Mark Eden as Polo offering bits of narration occasionally (with the apparent accompaniment of a giant on-screen map). It's a tale that starts and stops in an episodic fashion, yet feels slow-moving even within each of its seven episodes. Worse than that, it reduces the series' lead characters to being guest stars in their own series. They are not so much active participants having an effect on the plot but unwilling ones caught up in events rather than acting upon it for much of its considerable length. The result, be it either in prose or on audio or as a Loose Cannon reconstruction, is slow, plodding, and deeply unengaging.
But, maybe, just maybe, Marco Polo is a lost classic. Perhaps its seven episodes turning up would reveal a vibrant story with better pacing than these reconstructions and pure audio versions of it suggest. I'm not convinced of that myself, but I'd be very curious to see the reactions if and when the day comes that the story does resurface. Will fans still hail it then, I wonder?
As the Seventh Doctor might say: "Time will tell; it always does."
A Journey to Cathay
17/9/22
As Doctor Who is a BBC show from the 1960s, it is not a surprise that it has several chunks of the 1960s era missing from the BBC Archives. What is extremely lucky is that, unlike other shows, Doctor Who was recorded by fans on reel-to-reel audio tapes, so we have complete soundtracks of all the missing episodes. The BBC also had John Cura take telesnaps of the series on broadcast so we can reconstruct the episodes by taking those pictures and matching them up with the audio track and any surviving clips to make something closer to the original story. They are much closer to other series, which don't even have the audio tapes available to listen to. Doctor Who is also lucky in that its first two seasons only have a total of eleven missing episodes combined, with seven of them being the completely missing serial Marco Polo, which we will be looking at today. Marco Polo has no surviving clips sadly, but many on set color photographs were taken and along with the recently discovered telesnaps we are able to see what this story would have most likely been like.
The first thing that strikes you about Marco Polo is just how stunning the sets are for a Doctor Who budget, as they are these intricate backgrounds portraying Ancient China. There are some sets, however, that do fall flat, especially in Five Hundred Eyes and The Wall of Lies with the cave of five-hundred-eyes set. The story was directed by Waris Hussein for all parts except The Wall of Lies, which was directed by John Crockett. Looking at An Unearthly Child, the other story directed by Hussein, as a guide, the direction for Marco Polo combined with the brilliant sets would have made the story one of the best looking of the first season of Doctor Who. This alone makes it a shame that the story is lost, as the direction would have played second fiddle to the plot of the story.
The plot picks up at the end of The Edge of Destruction where the TARDIS is in the Himalayans where Marco Polo is travelling to Kublai Khan's court with Ping-Cho, a Chinese girl who is to be married to an eighty year old, and Warlord Tegana, a Mongol envoy from another warlord. The story follows along with Polo's caravan, as he takes the TARDIS in his possession as a gift to the Khan, and we really get a series of small adventures before the fifth episode, Rider from Shang-Tu where we lead into Kublai Khan's court, where the story ends in triumph. The first four episodes see an adventure searching for water, an adventure in the cave of five hundred eyes and several altercations between the TARDIS crew and Polo, as they wish to leave once the Doctor has completed a circuit. The plot may be great, but as a seven-part story, it does get a little slower in The Wall of Lies and Rider from Shang-Tu, which are two episodes full of story loops with the Doctor and company being captured and released. The Singing Sands and the beginning of Five Hundred Eyes can be cut out as well or at least combined into one episode to tighten up the pace into a nice five part story.
William Hartnell as the Doctor finally escapes the persona given to him in the first three stories here, as he is allowed to have full reins as the Doctor. Yes he does get very moody, but wouldn't you if a human tried to take away your house? Hartnell actually gets to start to show off his comedic timing in the middle of this story, which is really good, but other than that and rescuing Barbara in Five Hundred Eyes, he doesn't have too much to do in this story. He only gets one line, a scripted cough in The Singing Sands, which is really a disservice, as although his personality is improving the production team are still having him stay as a background player in events. His best bits in the story are in Mighty Kublai Khan and Assassin at Peking, where he has this sort of friendship with the Khan which is hilarious. They're like two mischievous schoolboys who are waiting to get into trouble. It would be like this until The Dalek Invasion of Earth in Season 2, where he is allowed to be in the front of the action for stories to follow.
William Russell as Ian Chesterton is the real hero of the story, as he is the one going through a lot of the action in the story. It is Ian who is constantly in the forefront at finding a way to get the TARDIS back, so he really feels like the protagonist. Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright is really only in the story for expositional purposes as a history teacher, and it shows. She also gets captured a lot in this story which is really out of character for her.
Carole Ann Ford as Susan has a great deal of character development allowed to her here, as she gets paired up with Ping-Cho, played by Vietnamese actress Zienia Morton. They are the youngest in the cast so get paired up, as they have philosophical debates about love and home, which are great for the most part. The problem is that Ping-Cho's entire subplot is about her fear of an arranged marriage, which is just dropped in the middle of Assassin at Peking, which doesn't really do much for her character. Marco Polo, played by Mark Eden, is also portrayed extremely well, as he is a character motivated by homesickness. You can't help but feel really bad for him, as he isn't allowed to go home until the end of the story, and his desire to get there any way he can is admirable, even if it makes him do horrible things to the TARDIS crew.
The primary villain of the story is Tegana, played by Derren Nesbitt, and he is a very one-note character. Nesbitt gives a good performance, but sadly his explanations and cover-ups to Polo either consist of evil spirits or bandits, which makes it hilarious when bandits actually do show up in Rider from Shang-Tu, as he had to be right one of these days. The big shame is that the fight in Assassin at Peking is missing, as Tegana commits suicide when he loses the battle.
To summarize, Marco Polo is a really solid story and an actual shame that it is missing so much material. The acting is great, and the plot is the best of the first four stories, but sadly its reputation has made it extremely hyped as a perfect story when really it isn't worth a perfect score. Some sets stand out as really bad, and there are story loops that bring it down. 82/100
"In Xanadu did Kublai Khan..." by Jason A. Miller
29/11/23
At the dawn of television, the first producers envisioned the medium as a vehicle with which to place highbrow Broadway-quality dramas in every living room. A way to enlighten the masses without anyone having to buy theater tickets. Unfortunately, as history has proven, TV had its own ideas as to what it wanted to be, and thus very few programs today resemble the weighty fourth-wall dramas that dominated, say, American airwaves in the 1950s.
Marco Polo, one of many unique Doctor Who single-serial genres -- experiments the show tried once, hit out of the park and never attempted again -- is such a fourth-wall drama. The show's second historical, this one is based on actual people, places, and events, as opposed to the generic cavemen of the Tribe of Gum. But, unlike later historical comedies, dark historical tragedies and pseudo-historical romps, it's a remarkably straightforward tale. At the Episode 1 cliffhanger, we learn that Tegana is a bad guy. That's it. That's the twist. The TARDIS crew spends most of the next six episodes trying to reveal Tegana's treachery to Marco Polo, without success, but there are no other surprises or revelations.
The pleasure here, then, is not in the plotting, but in the journey. Each episode takes place in a single locale, with evocative, poetic titles. The roof of the world. The singing sands. The wall of lies. The story is driven forward by the succession of locations and sets and by lengthy dialogue passages as characters argue and debate with one another. The thrill is in individual moments. Marco and Ian playing chess in Episode 2. Tegana effortlessly turning Marco against the TARDIS crew in Episode 4. Ian lying to Marco in Episode 6, causing the latter to disbelieve that the TARDIS is a time machine.
The casting, with one very large caveat, is perfect. Mark Eden as Polo and Derren Nesbitt as Tegana are wonderful, effortlessly inhabiting their characters, and you never once doubt for a second that these are 13th-century adventurers, who believe every line of dialogue they utter, which reveals their blinkered, just-post-medieval worldviews; it's a shame that neither actor returned to the Classic Series. Martin Miller as Kublai Khan makes the most of the misdirections of his character and is a delight in his limited role. The Episode 6 title, Mighty Kublai Khan, appears to be ironic, as the Khan is gout-ridden, mercurial and, well, old. But in Episode 7, the finale, Khan sees through Tegana in just one scene, where Polo had spent six episodes blindly defending Tegana against all the TARDIS crew's various accusations of treachery.
In context, though, I don't think the casting is a fatal flaw. Marco Polo has superior dialogue and razor-tight plotting, for all its meandering lack of twists. Ping-Cho puts on a performance of the tale of the Hashashins in Episode 3 - a story told by Dumas in The Count of Monte Cristo - and Ian points out that the word "assassin" derives from the Hashashins; Episode 7 is called Assassin at Peking, meaning that the assassin clue was hiding in plain sight the whole story. And of course the Khan's summer palace at Shang-Tu is the very stately pleasure dome described by Coleridge in the famously unfinished poem Xanadu.
Like a Broadway drama, this is a simple tale propelled by its sets and scene changes and dialogue. You're in the audience to watch top actors trade clever insults and deep philosophy while largely sitting still. Sure, there's a swordfight at the end (lost to us along with the rest of the video), but this serial is driven primarily by its words, and they're good words. Doctor Who would return to the historical genre many more times over its first four seasons, but none of the other serials would ever look or sound or unfold like Marco Polo.
Tegana: "What have I that a Khan should fear?"
But there's that caveat. We have to talk about the yellowface. Asian characters played by poorly-made-up white actors, mostly reaching for haha-look-how-silly-they-all-are laughs. Bear in mind that six of the seven episodes were directed by Waris Hussein. With the exception of Ping-Cho and a one-scene speaking role in Episode 6, this serial helmed by an Asian director has no Asian characters played by Asian actors. There are two comedy roles played by Caucasian actors in varying levels of offensive make-up: Chenchu in Episode 3 and Wang-Lo in Episodes 5/6. It's noteworthy, though, that three of the parts (Wang-Lo, Kuiji and the Khan) were played by immigrant actors, Jewish, "ethnic" types with names like Gabor Baraker and Tutte Lemkow (both semi-regulars in the early Hartnell years' extended ensemble), with Martin Miller even not hiding his native Czech accent. Now, the British actor playing Chenchu (Jimmy Gardner, who went on to a six-decade career) is a travesty, and Paul Carson, playing Ling-Tau toward the end of the story (very effectively), have no such excuse. Can't blame Hussein for hewing to the casting practices of the time, but it makes parts of the story really difficult to sit through, as soaring as the rest of it is.
Khan: "The power of persuasion."