Plain of Pamir
The Plain of Pamir, which Marco Polo also called the Roof of the World, was an area of extremely high altitude on Earth. (TV: "The Roof of the World" [+]Part of Marco Polo, Loading...{"namedep":"The Roof of the World (1)","1":"Marco Polo (TV story)"}) While surrounded by mountains, the plain itself was plateau which was commonly traversed en route to Cathay. (PROSE: Marco Polo [+]Loading...["Marco Polo (novelisation)"])
The First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan landed on the snowy plain immediately after fixing the TARDIS's faulty fast return switch. (TV: "The Brink of Disaster" [+]Part of The Edge of Destruction, Loading...{"namedep":"The Brink of Disaster (2)","1":"The Edge of Destruction (TV story)"}) There, in 1289, they met both Polo and Ping-Cho. The TARDIS broke down upon the plain, and was claimed for the glory of Kublai Khan. This meant that the foursome were forced to travel with the captured TARDIS, overland, from the plain to Peking. (TV: "The Roof of the World" [+]Part of Marco Polo, Loading...{"namedep":"The Roof of the World (1)","1":"Marco Polo (TV story)"})
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
In the real world, there is no such thing as the Plain of Pamir. This was evidently just a name that Polo used for the precise place where the TARDIS landed. However, it is used consistently, both in the televised and novelised versions of the story — instead of the real world terms, "Pamir", "Pamirs", or "Pamir Mountains".
