Marco Polo (short story)
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Marco Polo was a prose adaptation of the Doctor Who serial of the same name and the fourth instalment in a series of such adaptations by Doctor Who Magazine. It was published in the sixth issue.
Summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
to be added
Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]
- First Doctor
- Susan Foreman
- Ian Chesterton
- Barbara Wright
- Marco Polo
- Tegana
- Ping-Cho
- Kuiju
- Kublai Khan
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Doctor deduces that the footprint found by Susan is simply that of a mountain bear which has been enlarged by the warmth of the sun.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- This story was the first prose adaptation of Marco Polo, predating its full-length novelisation from Target Books by six years.
- This story establishes Tegana is in the service of the Mongol leader Noghai, a detail not present in the original TV story but which was retained for the later novelisation.
- Unlike its TV counterpart which explicitly takes place in 1289, the setting of this story is not nailed down to any particular year.
- This story was the first in the series to not credit anyone for adapting the story. The previous instalments were all credited to Jeremy Bentham.
- For the second story in a row, this story incorrectly credits "Mervyn Pinfold" as a producer instead of Mervyn Pinfield.
- This story features no in-universe cliffhanger, though the brief out-of-universe analysis teases that the travellers will next find themselves on the planet Marinus, a reference to PROSE: The Keys of Marinus [+]Loading...["The Keys of Marinus (short story)"].
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The electrical systems of the TARDIS have been damaged by their last ordeal, as seen in PROSE: Beyond the Sun [+]Loading...["Beyond the Sun (short story)"], meaning the Doctor and his companions have no food or fuel until it is repaired.
