Marco Polo
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(Doctor Who Story No. 4, starring William Hartnell)
- written by John Lucarotti
- directed by Waris Hussein (episodes 1-3 & 5-7),
and John Crockett (episode 4).
- produced by Verity Lambert
- music by Tristram Cary
- 7 episodes @ 25 minutes each, all missing:
| 1. |
| The Roof of the World |
| 2. |
| The Singing Sands |
| 3. |
| Five Hundred Eyes |
| 4. |
| The Wall of Lies |
| 5. |
| Rider From Shang-Tu |
| 6. |
| Mighty Kublai Khan |
| 7. |
| Assassin at Peking |
|
Story:
When the TARDIS malfunctions on the icy heights of the
Himalayas in 1289 A.D., the Doctor and his friends are
forced to join one of Marco Polo's later caravan journeys
into China, taking the TARDIS along with them until it
can be repaired. But is the accompanying warlord Tegana
really an emissary of peace from Kublai Khan's old enemy
Noghai? If not, what is he really after?
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In-Depth Analysis Review
by Martin Izsak
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WARNING: This review contains "SPOILERS", and is intended for
those who have already seen the program. To avoid the spoilers,
read the Buyers' Guide version instead.
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These days, about the best one can do to get a proper appreciation
of this lost story is to listen to the full seven episode
soundtrack on CD. It's even better if one can open
Doctor Who Magazine issues 342 - 347, and follow along
with the telesnap photos of the finished Waris Hussein episodes
while listening. These are more recent luxuries.
Previously, fans who had missed the original broadcast
(often by not being born early enough)
could only judge this story by its official
novelization from John Lucarotti for Target Books, a somewhat
condensed affair that wasn't particularly effective at
highlighting and conveying the production's strengths,
managing to feel as though it were still too long,
and somehow surprisingly boring.
I believe the story should become infamous for
committing one cardinal, critical error, which
no version of the story available today has successfully
de-emphasized properly.
This mistake is all in defining the goals of the regular
characters. As portrayed in the book, they would have loved to
simply dematerialize in the TARDIS and move on to their next
adventure, but the TARDIS is suddenly out of power, and then it is
kept away from them by Marco Polo's caravan and the Chinese. Result:
the audience is also interested in only seeing the characters get
back into the TARDIS and move on to their next destination,
especially those of us who like Doctor Who for its science fiction
elements which are not active in this story.
To an extent, almost every season one story features a challenge
preventing our regulars from moving on in the TARDIS as soon as
they might like,
but "Marco Polo" is particularly bad because it attempts to make
this the main thrust of the drama until it occupies 50% or more
of the characters' screen time over seven episodes.
What this story desperately needs is for one or more of the
main characters to take interest in Marco's journey - to the extent
that the plot will revolve around that interest, much as Barbara
managed to do in
Lucarotti's upcoming Aztec story,
resulting
in much essential, philosophical conflict between her and the Doctor.
In this story, the regulars just don't care and don't want to be
there, and as a result, neither does the audience. In fact,
Marco Polo himself is not all that interested in his own journey
either, since he has already made the trip many times at this point
in his life, and he would much rather be at liberty to remain at
home in Venice!
On most other counts, this is still a fairly rich story,
containing dramatic substance of other flavours where more
worthy conflicts and interests are concerned.
Animated map graphics alone,
narrated by Marco himself, do much to captivate my
interest. Apparently, this was also one of William Hartnell's
own personal favourite stories.
It certainly is full of interesting character moments,
usually acted out quite powerfully.
Tristram Cary may be more famous for his very strange
electronic music that debuted in
"The Daleks" (story no. 2),
but he proves here how versatile he is using more traditional
instruments to create an exciting, exotic, and thoroughly enjoyable
score that remains appropriate in scene after scene.
I'm particularly fond of the cue backing most of Marco's
journal entries.
Many oriental treasures went missing here when the BBC destroyed its
original copies of this story, and it is a shame
it wasn't in colour also, as the costumes and sets are
brilliant and full of life. The variety of settings,
dangers, intrigue and incidents along the way is nearly enough
to match
the following "Keys of Marinus" story,
but the curiosity
and purposeful, quest-like atmosphere is missing, and an aura of
"let's not be here" is too often on display as a poor substitute.
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Episode One - The Roof of the World
This first episode is not bad, and turns out to be one of the better
ones from the story. Both the regular characters and the guests are
all introduced very well, and the story, such as it is, gets a fairly
complete setup. We don't get a visual TARDIS materialization or any
real view of the interior, but the machine is certainly explained well
enough throughout the episode. Many of the earliest scenes are not too
unusual for a Doctor Who story, but the mechanics and challenges
of Marco's journey later bring a uniqueness to this tale that has
never quite been duplicated since.
There's not much of Marco's plans for the TARDIS that I would leave
in a condensed version of this story, but perhaps a few of his bizarre
misunderstandings of what it could do, followed by the Doctor's big
belly laughs, are still entertaining enough to warrant inclusion.
Thus the Doctor's response acknowledges Marco's plan without
taking it seriously, as today's audience no longer can either,
and almost all portions of any scene concerning that dead-end plot line
can be dropped out of the story altogether.
The real intrigue of the story surrounds Tegana, and it is good that
the revelation of his plan to the audience forms the first cliffhanger.
The novel had sadly de-emphasized that bit by hiding it amongst some
of episode two's events....
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Episode Two - The Singing Sands
This episode has its moments, but is far from great. William Hartnell's
Doctor does not appear until the last five minutes, and only then to
mumble and collapse and be fussed over. They should have given him the
week off, and written his character into "The Keys of Marinus" episode 3
instead, but no such wisdom was followed.
The other three regulars do an exceptionally good job of being interesting
on their own. Having to waste no time looking for the absent Doctor,
they can carry on with their relationships with Marco, Tegana, and Ping Cho,
until Hartnell is scarcely missed.
There's some fine acting while going over the problem of the time travellers
wishing they were elsewhere - their death-knell motivation that should
be removed from the story. The episode fairs better as the concepts
of a moonlit desert at night, and later a sandstorm are explored.
However, when this finally needs to be turned into a man vs. nature
conflict, additionally adding man vs. man as characters debate the best
way of dealing with nature, the acting is a let down. Susan and Barbara
revert to their idiotic, desperate panic modes, filling the soundtrack
with unnecessary inarticulate noise, while Ping Cho, Marco, and Ian
get dragged into it with them as they too try to interact and be heard.
The episode's best conflict turns out to be fueled by Tegana, as his
intrigue is spelled out for the audience, creating anticipation of
juicy conflict to come. But it's a conflict that isn't really here yet,
as our protagonists remain blissfully unaware, while the Doctor isn't
even present enough to gain the slightest clue.
Episode Three - Five Hundred Eyes
The third episode is a significant improvement over the previous one,
only spoiled by the occasional outburst of Mark Eden's Marco Polo
turning into a control freak and the typically overheated response
from our four time-travellers. Although the whole get-back-to-the-TARDIS
plotline is less than ideal, William Hartnell has a good scene of
outwitting Marco with a second key. This is perhaps entertaining enough
to warrant it staying in the episode, along with talk of TARDIS repairs.
(Of course one wonders how there weren't two TARDIS keys to begin with
in "An Unearthly Child" (story no. 1)
so that the Doctor and Susan could each have one and enter the TARDIS
separately as they are seen to do.)
Ping-Cho's tale of Hulago and the Hashashins should be one of the
highlights of the episode, but this turns out to be an over-rehearsed
one-sided propaganda version of a story that might once have been real,
and its very static monologue recital here isn't that good at gripping
an audience. It does perhaps still fit thanks to later payoff in the
cave.
We can be thankful though that William Hartnell's Doctor is very
busy and heroic in this episode, and surprise surprise, gets some scenes
inside the TARDIS. Here he is, solving problems of crossing the desert,
outwitting Tegana without anyone realizing it except Tegana and the audience,
and becoming a central figure exploring the Cave of Five Hundred Eyes
on a rescue mission. Excellent job.
The Cave is one of the story's highlights, and features some excellent
design work on the carved faces. More traditional Doctor Who plot points
seem to be at work here, and are exceptionally well executed. A good
cliffhanger leads us to anticipate more of the same next week, with the
stakes raised a bit higher again....
Episode Four - The Wall of Lies (directed by John Crockett)
Episode Four isn't too bad while it is wrapping up events in
the Cave of Five Hundred Eyes, rich as that setting is with
intrigue. Tegana proves to be quite a slippery foe, able to
stay on Marco's good side through quick thinking.
The episode tanks soon after, as the angst that the time-travelers
have to leave Cathay comes before any desire to do good deeds for
Marco, and makes them deceitful in front of him. Tegana expertly
uses that to his advantage, distracting Marco from the real dangers
he should be wary of.
And the story palpably feels as though it is dragging at this stage,
unable to come up with a conflict we haven't already seen, and failing
to move through to a conclusion as it should. It really is just
perpetuating more of itself without good reason....
John Crockett must be enjoying Tristram Cary's music in this episode,
as he will later pinch some of the cues used here and add them to
Richard Rodney Bennett's score when he comes to direct
"The Aztecs" (story no. 6)
several weeks later....
Episode Five - Rider From Shang-Tu
There is a decent beat at the beginning of this episode as Marco and
the time travelers unite against an attack of bandits - at last some
decently motivated action reminiscent of most good Doctor Who stories.
As the episode progresses, the moronic desire to leave the story
takes over, which when retardedly thwarted, makes one wonder why one is
still watching.
"Marco, I wish I could explain to you, how important the TARDIS is to us."
Alright then, why don't you? Talk to him about it traveling through time,
how there's no way to recreate it in this time and place, where each of
the travelers comes from. Stop talking down to the people of 1289 A.D.,
and start being honest with them. Tell them too how lost you are
in time and space, and how the Khan could do little better than to
lose himself or his armies as well should he use it. The alternative
deception is stagnant and boring.
And good God, why do Ping-Cho and the time travelers promise Marco
on separate occasions that they will not try to get the keys and get
back into the TARDIS when he asks them to? It's their aim to get those
keys and take-off. When he asks for those promises, they should tell
him where he can stick his ideas. Utter rubbish.
Further good bits include a messenger explaining his trade to the
travelers and thus the audience, some really nice character moments
between Susan and Ping Cho, and a meeting with a bizarre way station manager
whose acting style will no doubt not be to every viewer's tastes.
William Hartnell has some fun imitating him and putting him down.
But this episode in particular can't rise above the escape drive
that isn't going anywhere, and is all much-ado-about-nothing
for the most part. The audio quality is noticeably more challenging
on this episode than many others as well. As much as I normally like
TARDIS interior scenes in the middle of an adventure, and this episode
surprisingly gives us the longest and most proper interior views in the
entire story, these interior scenes bridging
this episode and the next are at the center of some of the dumbest story
beats ever on Doctor Who. "Marco Polo" really proves to be a tale
of little progress here.
Episode Six - Mighty Kublai Khan
This turns out to be one of the better episodes of the story, although
it takes some time to show its quality. The reprise of course has to
clean up the wasted tension surrounding another failed attempt by the
protagonists to leave the story early. Ian finally comes clean with
Marco surrounding the time travel ability of the TARDIS, but still
doesn't attempt to make any case for how useless it would be to the Khan,
or suggesting alternatives to solve Marco's problem of getting home to
Venice which is the real source of the trouble. Even with the extra
step of honesty, there are no developments here.
While the Doctor is not seen for most of the middle of this episode,
Ping Cho launches off on what at first looks to be a subplot designed to
help pad this story out to its allotted length. Ultimately she doesn't
need any motivation for this from the fiasco over the TARDIS key, as
her engagement situation is motivation enough. But what really works
is the fact that this is the beginning of a larger hook giving the
protagonists a view into the real villains' plans, not to mention
launching a separate strand of the story. This is the kind of development
that the story so badly needed.
Final portions of the episode prove entertaining once again as
the Doctor and most of the entourage get to meet Kublai Khan.
We haven't had anything this worthy of exploration on this long trek
since the Cave of Five Hundred Eyes. Talk of armies gradually taking
up positions is EXCELLENT. The stakes are successfully raised here,
creating anticipation of a good final episode next week, while the
cliffhanger is about something far more relevant than another aborted
attempt to cop out of the story.
Episode Seven - Assassin at Peking
Considering what we've learned about the origins of the word "assassin"
earlier in this story, one wonders if the title shouldn't have been
"Hashashin at Peking"? ...but that wouldn't have been entirely accurate.
The momentum building up to the last episode's cliffhanger isn't
really sustained here, as the writer seems keen to revert back to the
old formulas he's been padding the story out with since episode two.
Not all the development has been lost, but the restraint feels awkward
and unnatural.
William Hartnell's Doctor continues to get many good scenes with
Kublai Khan. These look like they're getting somewhere, but again,
it all turns out to be a bit artificial.
Most of our guest characters get decent resolution for the various plots
and arcs they are involved in, and our four regulars equally get their due
as a sort-of undifferentiated quartet. But the story feels like it simply
coasts through these final turns of events after having run out of gas
and time, and the "solutions" that succeed in the end seem
under-motivated, less interesting, and not as well-thought-out
as earlier solutions that failed.
In particular, Tegana has been too obvious a villain since episode one
for him to remain interesting or really work as a still-unmasked infiltrating
traitor in episode seven. I think we would have needed a second villain
to be revealed in the last episode, while Tegana could have been given
more rope to act on his true colours earlier on.
The Doctor and crew get a bit of a good scene near the end where they
try to piece together some of the political intrigue of the story, but
it really is too little too late, and their ability to use this to aid
the resolution is far too marginal to be ideal.
This episode is still one of the better ones of the story, but let's
face it: With the characters as misguidedly motivated as they have been
all through this, "Marco Polo" does not turn out to be all that great
a story in the end. The third episode is my favourite, as the Doctor,
the conflicts, and the philosophical thrust of the story are in better
form there than anywhere else in the tale.
"Condensation, do you understand?"
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Doctor Who's "The Beginning" DVD box set goes beyond just the first
three Doctor Who stories, to offer a condensed version of
"Marco Polo" as well. It's a very similar experience to
listening to the audio soundtrack while leafing through the
telesnap photos, but it attempts to cram the entire story into a
time frame barely longer than one of its original seven episodes.
Mind you, "Marco Polo" is probably at its best after significant
trimming, but so much has been trimmed here that inevitably many
of the story's best moments have been lost.
And for my tastes, the bits that were included were not always
the best choices. First and foremost, the desire to jump in
the TARDIS and abandon the story has GOT to GO, along with any
drama attempting to prevent it.
All in all, the 30-minute DVD presentation is not too bad,
managing to give viewers a decent sampling of what the original
story was like, and it does leave out a good number of the worst
scenes. Much of what I liked from the second half of my favourite
episode "Five Hundred Eyes" is completely missing, ultimately my
biggest beef with this version. However, it might have been left
out due to the lack of any telesnaps from the John Crockett episode
that came after, which would be needed to resolve the situations
that arise.... if so, fair enough. The fiasco over the key and
Barbara forcing Ian to talk to Marco are sections that really
didn't need to be included though. And perhaps a testament to
the lacklustre conclusions in the complete final episode,
resolution for several of the main characters' issues
(Ping Cho's in particular) has also
been left out of this DVD version, even after it included scenes
to highlight those issues earlier on.
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Journey to Cathay, or The Scenic Route to Marinus?
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Some 20 years after the story's original broadcast, an official
novelization was published,
authored by the story's original writer John Lucarotti.
Many things changed for better or worse, some scenes were
reduced to footnotes, other sections were expanded or more
eloquently described, and in some cases, events were completely
altered.
The sections of the story that previously formed episode two
on television received the best improvements, with the Doctor
becoming an active, interesting, and even heroic participant,
taking over some of what previously had been Ian's role on TV.
Tegana's participation in the final two episodes is changed
fairly radically as well, becoming far more believable, but
at the same time far less dramatically compelling.
Noticeably expanded are the cultural descriptions for everything
from Italy to India to China/Cathay and all points in between,
most of which cuts to the heart of the intended teaching of
history and geography in which this story excels. In particular,
we get a lot of descriptions of food here,
which the TV version had not begun to comment on.
But most damaging of all is the increased ease and frequency with
which the writer emphasizes our four time-traveler's desire to abandon
the journey to Cathay and move on in the TARDIS to their next
destination, which we fans know will be the planet Marinus
in the next story. Adventurous scenes that successfully built
anticipation for other things on TV usually appear in the book
undermined by appended thoughts from the Doctor or his friends
on how they plan to be off (to Marinus) before it happens. That
kind of thing usually makes me look at the number of pages left to
read through before I can switch to the Marinus story.
It's particularly bad during the third quarter of the book,
when the TARDIS is repaired and journeying with the characters,
taunting them while the main plot remains relatively stagnant.
....And the Indians take the fort.
Bizarrely, the bandit attack that kept episode five alive
is reduced to little more than one paragraph, while its
effect on the TARDIS escape goes on for pages. I think we can see
here how the book encouraged many fans to dismiss this story
for so long.
As the story enters its final movements, Ian and Barbara and Susan
seem to fade more and more into the background, while the Doctor
and the guest characters take center stage. This benefits many
of the guests including Ping-Cho, Ling-Tau, Kublai Khan, and
the Empress, as they get expansions of their characters and
more things to do than in the TV version. Many of the locations
definitely seem to expand to something far larger than what would
have been affordable for the television story.
But the ending still feels sudden, rushed and under-motivated.
We are still something like only five minutes away
from the conclusion in episode seven, before the Doctor FINALLY
becomes curious about the political intrigue that has been
afoot throughout the story - curious enough to do something
about it, that is, instead of running away in the TARDIS.
Quickly putting
everything together in his head, he leads a heroic charge through
a secret passage that only he could know about to save the day.
Now that the Doctor we know and love is finally on the scene....
the story is over and he leaves. Not a bad finish for the book,
but too little and too late in terms of allowing the reader to
truly enjoy the journey.
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Though I enjoy this story in its CD audio plus telesnap photos form,
it ultimately is not one of my cherished favourites. It is probably
of more interest to completists, or historical / culture buffs,
than to the average fan or casual viewer. However, the accomplishments
of the production can not be so easily dismissed when we come to rank
the first season's stories.... Read on to find out how well "Marco Polo"
fares....
This story is now available on audio CD and, in a condensed form, on DVD:
Coverage on Marco Polo includes:
- Marco Polo - a 30 minute condensed version of this
lost 7-episode adventure, featuring "telesnap" still photos
synchronized to the original TV audio.
- Photo Gallery (colour and BW).
This 3 CD set features the complete audio tracks of all
7 television episodes of this story, in two formats:
- The CD Audio version features narration by
actor William Russell (who also played Ian Chesterton)
to help listeners follow what used to be visual aspects
of the story. This version spans all 3 discs
and is playable in any normal audio CD player.
- The .mp3 version can be accessed from the first disc
by computer only (Mac or PC),
and features the original sound
from the television episodes with no narration added.
This package also includes:
- A detailed map of Marco Polo's journey, both printed in
hardcopy and stored in .jpg files on disc one in six
different sizes.
- More bonus data files on disc one, including a .pdf
file of the linking narration script.
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