Doctor Who Rewind - Marco Polo

For the past week I've been up to my neck in Tele-snaps. No it not the latest kiddie cereal to hit the market, but the only remaining visual imagery from many lost Doctor Who episodes.

Back in the 60's a guy by the name of John Cura began keeping a permanent record of many BBC TV programmes with a specialist camera that captured still full frame images of broadcast material. As video tape was still in the experimental stage and very expensive, this offered both the BBC and its actors a way of keeping a record of their output. Many programmes were recorded in this fashion, but DW has become linked with Tele-snaps as many fans have now combined the snaps with home taped audio recordings of transmissions to recreate the lost stories. These then, are the famed DW reconstructions.

It's a great pity that this first great historical Doctor Who expedition has been lost, as the production is quite lavish. It seems like the Beeb spared no expense in the sets and the costumes. As its a big seven part story I suppose they felt they had to. Not only that, but the duration of the piece gives the characters we meet time to develop.

After landing in a cold mountainous area the TARDIS conveniently (for our story) breaks down. Some dodgy circuitry is blamed. With not an intergalactic AA man in sight, and no warmth or water available, Ian suggests he go of and find some fuel. That's what I like about Ian, he's ever the optimist. Even at the top of the Himalayas, he thinks he'll be able to find a service station. What he doesn't realise is that this is the year 1289, and the TARDIS has brought them to China in the rein of emperor Kublai Khan.

Soon enough the crew meet up with Venetian traveller, explorer and merchant Marco Polo and his caravan, which is journeying along the famed Silk Road to see Khan. Initially he agrees to help the stranded crew by taking them in and transporting the TARDIS while it is out of use.

It isn't long however before Polo realises that the blue box must be some kind of magical item that is capable of many wondrous things and the Doctor a magician from far away. It may even perhaps, impress the mighty Khan enough to allow Marco to return home to Venice.

Polo takes the TARDIS key and intends to let no one enter until they arrive at the palace of Khan. Therefore subjecting the crew to endure the arduous journey through the Gobi desert toward Peeking.

While all this is playing out the ambitious Mongol warlord Tegana, who is travelling with Marco, plots his own selfish plan to sabotage the caravan and ultimately assassinate Khan, in order to take his place and seat of power across all Cathay.

In the early days of Doctor Who, one of the main remits of the programme was to be an educational device for young children. By focusing on historical characters and places and building a story around them the programme could secretly educate under the banner of science fiction. This was a master stroke by its creators and it works surprisingly well. It's a pity that as the show progressed the monsters took prominence more and more.

In this story the evil Tegana and his tribe get to replace, say, The Daleks, to bring a more earthly threat to the Doctor and his travellers. Though at first this isn't obvious to them.

I found that a couple of episodes into the story i didn't really miss the mutants and the monsters, being immersed into a historical world where the story really took its time to let the audience get to know its characters.

In modern DW we rarely get a chance to revel in the depth of the characters with the pressure of exciting effects and plot turns and twists. These are all well and good, but if the writing isn't up to scratch its all pretty much an anti climax. Here the gentle meandering story lets you fall into it. And having Polo narrate it via his journal entries really helps to move things along.

For instance, we see a strong friendship between the two young women Susan and Ping Cho (who is on her way to Peeking to marry a man who she has never met and is three times her age). This alliance will turn out to pay dividends later in the story when the crew regain the TARDIS key. But because of the time invested in this story (some three hours plus) we get to see their friendship develop, over nearly two months if you were watching back in the 60's.

Elsewhere we get to learn the reasons why Marco desperately wants to return home to Venice, and the why he has taken such drastic action against the TARDIS travellers from a far. For the most part he's a gentlemen who happens to be in a bad situation and seizes the opportunity to change his destiny. He's honest, friendly and speaks with the queens English! And it's hard to hate him really.

Ping Cho's delightful telling of Aladdin and the Hashashin during the third episode is further evidence that this story is allowed to breath. Everything is allowed to stop while she takes centre stage for a good five minutes to recite the story within a story.

The actor Darren Nesbit,who plays the villain Tegana kept on reminding me of James Mason for some reason, something about his face. For such a treacherous blood thirsty person he also speaks with a text book English accent, and an almost hypnotising voice at that, which lulls you into a false sense of security. You want to like him, but then he goes and sabotages all the water gourds, or abducts Barbara or tries to poison Marco Polo. Poor fellow, I think he's just misunderstood.

In a story dominated by history it's also nice to see science still playing a little part. When for instance there is no water, and condensation forms on the inside if the TARDIS walls, the Doctor and Susan collect it for Marco, who upon seeing it - is furious that they have been keeping it to themselves. Ian, steps in and gives Marco a little lesson in the change of the physical state of matter from gaseous phase into liquid phase, but in lay mans term of course.

Hartnell's performance again is eccentric and confident, despite a few line fluffs (which only add to his dotty nature). He tells Polo he is dealing with a superior intelligence. He shouts and protests when the TARDIS key taken from him and goes off for a good sulk. And, he makes friends with the much hyped emperor Kublai Khan when they compare notes on the frailties of old age. He even plays Khan at backgammon and despite winning thirty three elephants, four thousand white stallions and the sacred tooth of the Buddha, fails to win back the TARDIS.

Also worth mentioning, sound on this story really plays another important part in bringing the story to life. Tristan Cary does a wonderful job with the Chinese incidental music and the BBC Radiophonic workshop create one hell of a sand storm that seems to have originated in the depths of hell itself. It's like they've given the sand a voice, and its shouting obscenities at the top of its register.

All in all I really enjoyed this story, despite only experiencing it through photos and sound. I just hope that maybe one day a copy of it might turn up somewhere.

Next time on Doctor Who Rewind we travel to Marinus for a quest like no other.








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