The Sea of Death

"Choice? What choice?"

What bliss after a year, my own fault I know, to be watching a DVD of Dr Who again and not squinting at photographs on Youtube. Ah, a sofa, a cat, a drink, moving pictures! Civilisation rediscovered. And I rather like this story. I know it's not the best, but it does try.

The Voord are genuinely creepy, wetsuits in various forms will be used throughout Dr Who in the future.

I like the first modelwork in the series with the island,

the miniature TARDIS materialising (first use of the phrase in this episode I understand)

 and the Voord ships beaching on the er... beach.

I like the way the Dalek shaped doors are repeated in this alien city only they're triangular now, matching the Voords' headgear.

Arbitan has obviously gone to the same school of fluffing as William Hartnell who is all over the place in this episode.

He has a new hairdo too, perhaps that's what did it.

It's unclear why Ian didn't just deck Arbitan and make him release the TARDIS, but hey they're already feeling guilty about not helping, so maybe that's why they all go along with it. I like the way the Doctor is unphased by the size of the wrist transporters and seems to actively enjoy the experience.

The effect of our travellers jaunting off is good enough for those days,

and by sending poor Barbara off ahead and finding her wristband with blood on it we have a cliffhanger for precisely no cost at all. Genius.

Here are some lovely production photos....

Other things I liked? The way that glimpses of what's outside the open TARDIS doors can always be seen in these early stories. The way the regular cast are so convincing on a small set...

The fact that Ian still wears his lovely jacket from Marco Polo's court as a gentle reminder to the viewer of what has gone before, but the others have changed and the Doctor has had his hair done and so time has obviously elapsed on board TARDIS.

The way once again they are physically prevented from leaving where they have landed.

And the revolving doors of the city that draw everyone in. The scene where a Voord is holding a knife waiting for Susan and is suddenly, bewilderingly, rotated inside is a great way of saving one of our heroines from jeopardy.

All in all, very enjoyable. Did I mention that the pictures are moving?

Next episode: The Velvet Web

Playing Polo

Well here we are, finally, at the end of Marco Polo! Sorry it took me a year. You probably won't notice a thing if you just click on the links. It's been epic in more ways than one and I've enjoyed it immensely.

Thoughts along the way? I'm very glad you asked. Despite having the soundtrack and linking narration, the telesnaps, the many wonderful photographs, the experience is simply not the same as watching Dr Who on television. Don't get me wrong, I am so chuffed that what still exists exists, I really am. And I am utterly grateful to the many people who have taken the trouble to make such inventive reconstructions. But I yearn to see it in the form it was intended. I still hold out a hope, but as the years go by it seems increasingly unlikely that it will ever be uncovered somewhere. My only true hope around the missing instalments is that some sour fan who may have been keeping an episode or two to themselves will eventually die a horrible death and we may look upon their booty once more as is, after all, our right. That, or technology will allow computers to extrapolate enough data to enable the telesnaps to move and morph. I love 'The Invasion' animations as well, I think those are a great way forward.

After I blogged about the last episode yesterday afternoon, I watched the thirty minute reconstruction on 'The Beginning' boxed set which was very pleasant. Pleasanter still was re-watching the documentary on the same disc about the origins of Dr Who. Lo and behold, there was the documentation supporting my idea that the production team originally planned for 18 episodes which would have been the first story, the Daleks and Marco Polo, and that Beyond the Sun was inserted when the top brass would only commission 13 episodes. The lovely ending to Marco Polo suddenly makes absolute sense.

If you haven't yet 'watched' this story I highly recommend the BBC audio CD. The soundtrack is beautifully restored and the linking narration is helpful and unobtrusive. And it's read by lovely William Russell. There are some great extras on one of the discs, including a map which you can save to your desktop and which has been an enormous help to me. And, unlike me, you will probably not be hampered by losing your copy mid-way through the story only to discover that it has disappeared behind a radiator having been kicked from your desk by a cat seeking more room to stretch. Two grown men with coathangers, much swearing, and a missing afternoon interspersed with dim recollections of Ker-Plunk and fairground machines with hands that failed to grab, and it was back. The reconstructions are all available on Youtube which is becoming quite the resource for Dr Who enthusiasts old and new. The telesnaps are in past editions of Dr Who Magazine which are eay to pick up on eBay and the like, and these have all been scanned by the reconstructors. And there are bucket loads of production photographs from this story available for free on the internet. I've also mentioned the 'The Beginning' DVD boxed set which is well worth having and gives an insight into what the series might have been if it hadn't been recommissioned. Do let me know your thoughts as you watch, via the comments section.

Anyway, although I very much enjoyed the story, I didn't really savour the telesnaps experience and so I take heart that we have a pretty clear run of episodes that still exist on film coming up, and dread a little some of the great swathes of missing episodes that lie ahead. Perhaps if I don't take a year about the next missing story it will seem better!

Next episode: The Sea of Death

Assassin at Peking

"Does a mighty War Lord kill a child as well?"

Oh, I loved it. Absolutely loved it. As a last episode it doesn't disappoint. Ian's showdown with Tegana is interrupted and the setting quickly moves to the Khan's Court at Peking for the thrilling denouement.

More beautiful sets and costumes, look at what Barbara and Susan are wearing, and the wonderful backcloth:

The TARDIS is set squarely in the throne room, at odds with all around it. Wonderfully symbolic, here is what everyone is after.

Something I really like about this episode is that all of the characters stay true to themselves and every single one of them does something heroic. It's as if the journey brought out the worst in everybody, as journeys often do, but now it is over.

The Khan turns out to be lovely, happily playing backgammon with the Doctor and sanguine about losing to him. He's even a little hen-pecked, hiding his gambling away from the Empress! But, in a brilliant scene with Tegana, he shows intelligence and steel and sees through the War Lord instantly:

"What have I that the Khan should fear?" Tegana asks.

"The power of persuasion," counters the Khan.

Brilliant stuff. Anyway, back to heroics. Marco confesses to the Khan that he should not have taken the TARDIS from the Doctor; Ping-Cho (good to see her as an important Lady of Court as opposed to just a child in a brutish caravan) nobly agrees to stay after the death of her never-seen fiance despite desperately wanting to return to Samarkand, and Tegana attempts to assassinate the Khan, his plan all along. Polo takes him on and they fight before the TARDIS.

Polo prevails, and Tegana takes his own life. Polo then, brilliantly, hands the Doctor the TARDIS key and our travellers make a run for the stars. At last! The last scene is enchanting with the Khan marvelling at the caravan that flies and Polo wondering where our travellers are next. There is a caption of them standing around the TARDIS console superimposed across a starfield background. This feels like the natural ending to the series had no further episodes been commissioned, and indeed is mirrored at the eventual end of the first series in 'A Reign of Terror'.

And so, dear reader, our journey is finally over. I realise, rather shamefully, that it has taken me a year to the day to complete this story. I can only promise somewhat swifter progress from now on.

Next episode: The Sea of Death

Article: Playing Polo

Mighty Kublai Khan

"If a stone burns, why not a caravan that flies? Birds fly."

And so Tegana makes everyone come back out of the TARDIS and return the key once more. There is so much intrigue in this episode it is hard to keep up, but it's hugely enjoyable. Tegana is right at the centre once more and must rank as one of the series' earliest and best villains, well drawn and beautifully acted.

The pace has lifted - at last we meet the Mighty Kublai Khan who turns out to be a frail, if incredibly powerful, old man.

And there is room for comedy with Gabor Baraker's turn as Wang-Lo the Inn Keeper and more especially involving the Doctor and the Khan. The Doctor is almost crippled by so much travel on horseback. Having the Khan and he meet as two rickety old men allows an instant intimacy which prevents the dialogue being restricted by the pomposity of the court.

Ian comes clean to Marco about the TARDIS being able to travel through time, but this ultimately backfires amongst Tegana's machinations.

There a deft mid-episode cliffhanger with:

"The TARDIS has been stolen!"

Eventually though, Ian finds the TARDIS, rescues Ping-Cho, wrestles her money back from Kuiju and finds that the mercenary was paid by... Tegana, who appears, right on cue, to nonchalantly challenge Ian to a sword fight and feature in his fourth cliffhanger of the story. Smooth. A great villain indeed.

A note here about the production values of this serial which, if the wealth of set photographs that exist are anything to go by, were extraordinarily high in terms of sets and costumes, both of which are exquisitely detailed. There is even a monkey:

An odd thing has happened as I've been watching this story that maybe mirrors the long journey, about 30 days, of the story itself. I started off enthusiastically enough, waned a little in the middle, but now I am hooked and a little bit in love with it once more. I confess that I was going to go straight on to the final episode this afternoon, but now I feel like savouring almost being at the end. A little like our travellers themselves.

Until perhaps tomorrow then, dear readers. A pleasure deferred.

Next episode: Assassin at Peking

Rider from Shang-tu

"I wish I could explain to you, Marco, how important the TARDIS is to us."

"And I wish I could explain, Ian, how important it is to me."

A lovely scene; we can sympathise hugely with both of them. What the TARDIS, in this episode relegated to the stables of a picturesque Inn ("What does he think it is, a potting shed or something?") means to our travellers is obvious, but it also, rather cleverly, represents a chance for Marco Polo to be able to go home too if he ever manages to get it to the Khan as a gift.

It's stalemate. Everyone is pleasant enough, with people's word being taken as guarantee against action, but this is an elaborate and powerful game with three intelligent factions, Tegana being the third, desperately trying to outmanoeuvre each other to the point were Ian and co unite with Polo and his men to fight off Bandits so effectively that Tegana murders his accomplice to avoid Polo's suspicion.

There is another moving scene between Ping-Cho and Susan as the former steals a TARDIS key after hearing that Susan's home is 'as far as a night star.'

Our guys get tantalizingly close to escaping, three of them inside the Ship!, when Susan is grabbed by Tegana who emerges from behind what he sees as a War Lord's tomb.

I'm gripped again, as is, I suppose, Susan.

Next episode: Mighty Kublai Khan

The Wall of Lies

"Oh rubbish, child"

Right, off we go. This is my second attempt at this episode as the first time I couldn't take it in at all. I think because it's the only one without any specific telesnaps, so the reconstructions on YouTube are just guessed at using production photographs.

But, I have a plan dear reader. Normally I watch an episode right through and then gather my words of wisdom for you. Tonight, however, we'll do it as we go along shall we? I will pause along the way to make sense of things and, in the spirit of lost images, illustrate this post with random stills from my bucket of Polo snaps.

Here's the first one now.

I also have the novelisation to help me. And a glass of beer. God help us all, let's start!

"Ah yes, I forgot, you're a magician aren't you?"

I do find Tegana quite captivating although he's the most dreadful shit-stirrer, here trying to influence Polo against the friendship between Susan and Ping-Cho and then dropping the Doctor right in it:

"Does a magician need a key to open a door?"

Well, yes he does at the moment; we're a long way from the Tenth Doctor's finger snapping control over the TARDIS lock.

"Now my caravan seethes with suspicion."

Well whose fault is that then Marco Polo? The map he draws is a lovely idea as a device for following their progress, although the unfamiliar place names make it a little confusing. We've just got to the beginning of the Great Wall of Cathay. This story apparently takes place over some thirty days. I wonder what they'd make of '42'?

Here's another rather lovely picture:

The friendship between Ping-Cho and Susan is delightful and very astute on behalf of the writer and producers. Even an alien teenager must find being couped up with two of her teachers and her Grandfather a bit stifling! It reminds me of the friendships that Ace would later strike up with people of her own age in much later stories.

But, oh bum, Tegana has overheard them talking about the second TARDIS key.

Off we go again. Several more days of travelling are described. I found myself wondering what exactly the TARDIS crew found to talk about, who they talked to.... The novelty of being in 1289 must wear off quite quickly.

Tegana is plotting in the town, and we the audience become ahead of our travellers as his plans are revealed. Lovely caricatures are drawn - Polo will die in his bed like an old woman, but the Doctor, the magician, must have a stake through his heart!

"You need more than a key to enter my ship, you need knowledge."

With this the Doctor stalls Polo who must have been tempted to look inside. Or perhaps there really is more to the TARDIS lock.

"You poor pathetic stupid savage."

Best line of the episode. The Doctor, the lovely old scared, all this is new to me, Time Lordy Doctor, has had enough. This is reminiscent of his attitude to Ian and Barbara and later the cavemen in the first story. He's already mellowing, shielding them from his alienness, but in moments of stress like this it comes out.

Polo puts all of his eggs in one tent and there's a lovely twist when they try to escape and find the guard already dead. Tegana's plan is coming to fruition and they're all in terrible danger!

This is the only episode of this story to be directed by John Angus Basil Crockett (wonderful name) and the absence of any footage makes it hard to know if there were any significant differences in style to Waris Hussein's episodes.

Anyway, one more gratuitous photograph:

and we're on to the next instalment.

Next episode: Rider From Shang-Tu.

William Hartnell

Today would have been William Hartnell's 103rd birthday (well, not really, but you know what I mean). Let's pause a minute to think about that remarkable man and just what he started. Fondly remembered.



Next episode: The Wall of Lies

Five Hundred Eyes

"What misery."

Says Polo about a dreadful night without water in the desert. Everyone is very much up against it at the start of this episode until condensation starts to form in the TARDIS. When I first read the synopsis of this story (in the Radio Times 1973 Doctor Who 10th Anniversary Special - link to be posted later - and which quickly became a bible to me) I assumed that the water formed on the outside of the TARDIS, I hadn't realised that the Doctor and Susan had slept on the inside of the cold, deactivated ship. I assume that they used back projection as it can't have been feasible to build the TARDIS control room set for such a short scene.

"Our fate rests with Tegana."

Indeed it does, and what a manipulative piece of work he's turning out to be. Although I am distracted by the fact that Derrin Nesbitt was rather attractive all those years ago!

"Pray attend me while I tell my tale."

This could be John Lucarotti again, but it's actually Ping-Cho as she tells the story of Ala'ad-Din. This scene makes sense of so many of the on-set photographs that exist of this third episode. In true story-telling tradition, everyone, including protagonist Tregana, gather to hear Ping-Cho tell her story of Aladdin. An interesting, mid-episode educational pause which, followed by Ian's explanation to Susan (having a young alien to aid plot exposition is a marvellous device) is not only beautifully acted, but genuinely interesting, and delightfully enhanced by the oriental music beneath it. I love the way Susan sits so naturally in front of the Doctor, her Grandfather's arms around her.

"A caravan that flies."

Keep your eye on the prize everybody.

And then, delightfully, the scene that has become such an iconic image in the history of Doctor Who, so much so that it was mimicked for the publicity for the eighth Doctor; that of the first Doctor, burning lantern in hand, slipping back to his ship to repair it in the night.

And then we have poor Barbara in jeopardy again, with a knife to her throat as Susan and Ping-cho and the Doctor search for her. I happen to have a rather nice picture of this so here it is:

I thought that drawing the eerie figures of the hashashins around seams of quartz in the walls so that their eyes appeared to be glowing was really clever. And then two of them start moving!

Next episode: The Wall of Lies

Article: William Hartnell