Marco Polo (TV story): Difference between revisions

{{Infobox Story

|season number          = Season 1

|featuring              = [[Marco Polo]], [[Kublai Khan]]

|writer                = [[John Lucarotti (writer)|John Lucarotti]]

|broadcast date        = [[22 February (releases)|22 February]] - [[4 April (releases)|4 April]] [[1964 (releases)|1964]]

|network                = [[BBC tv]]

}}

{{dab page|Marco Polo (disambiguation)}}

'''''Marco Polo''''' was the fourth serial of [[season 1]] of ''[[Doctor Who]]''.

''Marco Polo'' did a much better job of recreating historical societies than other serials. It showed a mixed-ethnic group rather than a stereotypical collection of one race. Reference is made to real-world narcotics when [[Ping-Cho]] relates a fairytale that features [[hashish]]. Such references don't reappear until ''[[The Talons of Weng-Chiang (TV story)|The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]''.

Almost uniquely for the 1963 series, this story has a narrator. [[Mark Eden]] reads aloud while the map of the travellers' journey is shown. As of 2021, there have been few if not any televised stories that feature a character providing linking narration between sequences, with the debatable exceptions of [[Rassilon (The End of Time)|Rassilon]] in 2010's ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'', [[Clara Oswald]] in 2013's ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'' and [[Tasha Lem]] in ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]''.

''Marco Polo'' is perhaps most notable as the earliest and longest ''Doctor Who'' story which is completely [[missing episode|missing]]. Its first episode, "The Roof of the World", is the earliest-broadcast episode to be missing. As of 2021, no episodes exist in the BBC archive.

Meanwhile, at the capital city, the Khan engages the Doctor in a game of [[backgammon]]. The Doctor wins thirty-five [[elephant]]s, four thousand white [[stallion]]s, twenty-five [[tiger]]s, the sacred tooth of the [[Buddha]] and the entire commerce of [[Burma]] for a year — but wagers all this on the liberation of his TARDIS and loses. The Khan presses Marco for the history of the "magic caravan". The emissary admits he was wrong to try to obtain the vehicle, but he only did it to buy his freedom. The Khan is not impressed. He warns Marco that if he does not regain his trust, he will be banished from court.

When Tegana returns to court, he convinces Khan that Polo has been defying the laws of the land by not confiscating the TARDIS and slaying the Doctor and his companions when they tried to steal it back. Ian and Ping-Cho tell Khan that Tegana stated he is working for Noghai. Khan is not sure whether to believe them. He says it must be judged in a matter of the court.

Nevertheless, events take a turn for the better for others. Ping-Cho is spared a loveless marriage when she learns the elderly man she was to marry has passed away after drinking an elixir of life. Offered the chance to return to Samarkand, she instead chooses to remain with the Khan's court in Peking.

The Doctor and his companions, now imprisoned, decide someone has to stop Tegana. They believe he is going to kill Khan to create an easy victory for Noghai's army. They attack their guard and break free. They meet Polo and tell him of their theory. Polo immediately runs to the throne room.

Tegana has slain Khan's guards, as well as the Grand Vizier when he tried to protect the Khan and is moving in for the kill when the Doctor and his allies arrive. Tegana is stopped by a lengthy sword fight with Polo. His mission failed, Tegana takes his own life with a spear rather than be killed by Khan's men. As the bodies are removed, Marco Polo hurriedly gives the Doctor and his party the key to the TARDIS and bids them escape. The "magic caravan" fades away before the eyes of the Khan and his courtiers. The Khan forgives Marco Polo and implies that he will be permitted to return to [[Venice]]. As Polo wonders where the Doctor and his companions are now, an image of the time travellers standing around the TARDIS console is shown superimposed against a starscape.

* [[Kublai Khan]] - [[Martin Miller]]

* [[Chenchu]] - [[Jimmy Gardner]]

* [[Man at Lop]] - [[Leslie Bates]]

* [[Mongol bandit|Mongol Bandit]] - [[Michael Guest]]

* [[Malik]] - [[Charles Wade]]

* [[Acomat]] - [[Philip Voss]]

* [[Ling-Tau]] - [[Paul Carson (actor)|Paul Carson]]

* [[Wang-Lo]] - [[Gabor Baraker]]

* [[Kuiju]] - [[Tutte Lemkow]]

* [[Empress (Marco Polo)|Empress]] - [[Claire Davenport]]

* [[Vizier (Marco Polo)|Vizier]] - [[Peter Lawrence]]

* [[Office foreman|Office Foreman]] - [[Basil Tang]]

* [[Yeng]] - [[O. Ikeda]]

* [[Writer]] - [[John Lucarotti (writer)|John Lucarotti]]

* [[Director]] - [[Waris Hussein]], [[John Crockett]] ("The Wall of Lies" only)

* [[Assistant Floor Manager]] - [[Catherine Childs]]

* [[Costumes]] - [[Daphne Dare]]

* [[Film Editor]] - [[Richard Barclay]], [[Elmer Davies]] and [[John House]]

* [[Make-Up]] - [[Ann Ferriggi]]

* [[Production Assistant]] - [[Douglas Camfield]], [[Penny Joy]]

* [[Special Sounds]] - [[Brian Hodgson]]

* [[Studio Lighting]] - [[John Treays]], [[Howard King]]

* [[Studio Sound]] - [[Jack Brummitt]], [[Hugh Barker]], [[Derek Miller-Timmins]]

* [[Theme Arrangement]] - [[Delia Derbyshire]]

== References ==

== Story notes ==

* The working title for this story was ''A Journey to Cathay''. ([[Doctor Who Yearbook 1996]])

* This is also the only incomplete story to have two directors.

* In crafting his scripts, [[John Lucarotti (writer)|John Lucarotti]] drew heavily from Polo's memoirs, published in the fourteenth century as ''The Description Of The World''. The route followed by Marco in the serial was inspired by his first journey to Peking, which culminated around 1275. His escort of Ping-Cho was based on a real event in 1292, in which Marco brought the young Princess Kokachin to Persia to wed a grand-nephew of Kublai Khan only to learn upon their arrival that the older man had passed away. Tegana, Acomat and Noghai were all named for Tartar rulers mentioned in Polo's memoirs.

* This was the second story of ''Doctor Who'' to be comissioned, discounting previous storylines that were later abandoned.

* This was the only television story to feature a narrator and a map tracking the journey of the main characters.

**Despite this, ''Marco Polo'' is one of the most well-documented stories ever produced in terms of photography, with many photographs existing for each episode and full sets of telesnaps existing for "The Roof of the World" to "Five Hundred Eyes" and "Rider from Shang-Tu" to "Assassin at Peking". However, no telesnaps are known to exist for "The Wall of Lies".

* Somewhat ironically, this serial was sold to more countries than any other serial of the 1960s. At least nineteen different countries purchased it.[http://unlimitedricepudding.com/MissingWhoList.html#Story] For it to be completely missing, more copies of this story were likely destroyed than of any other serial.

* According to [[Heather Hartnell]], William Hartnell's widow, this was her husband's favourite story. She also alleged that it was his idea to do a Marco Polo serial.

* The serial's designer, [[Barry Newbery]], used Aurel Stein's ''Ruins of Desert Cathay'' (1912) and Nelson Ikon Wu's ''Chinese and Indian Architecture'' (1963) for research of the 13th century designs. Newbery also found that Korean architecture from 1900 was similar to that of the 13th century.  

* [[John Lucarotti (writer)|John Lucarotti]] had previously worked on the 18-part radio serial ''The Three Journeys of Marco Polo.''  

* While developing the storyline, [[John Lucarotti]] struggled with "The Wall of Lies", and used anecdotal material from Polo's memoirs, ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', to pad out the plot.

* Composer [[Tristram Cary]] used conventional instruments for the score, including flute, harp and percussion, and he recorded electronic voices for the second episode's sandstorm scenes.  

* [[Waris Hussein]] cast [[Mark Eden]] as Marco Polo after seeing him in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of ''[[A Penny for a Song]]'' in 1962.  

* For the role of Ping-Cho, [[Waris Hussein]] wanted an "oriental" actress who had not appeared in the West End production of ''[[The World of Suzie Wong]]'' or the film ''[[55 Days at Peking]]'' (1963), due to the prominence of those productions. [[Zienia Merton]] auditioned at Hussein's home, and was offered the role.  

* When [[William Hartnell]] became ill, quick rewrites were performed on "The Singing Sands" to eliminate the Doctor from most scenes; Hartnell only had one line of dialogue in the episode.

* [[William Russell]] was unhappy with sudden rewrites minimising his role in the serial, and his agent wrote to BBC's head of serials [[Donald Wilson]]; Wilson replied to Russell's agent, assuring that he would "be watching very carefully" to ensure the scripts "use [Russell's] talents to the maximum".  

* The serial gained the attention of two sources for further development: in June 1964, Young World Publications showed interest in adapting the serial for the Super Mag comic series, but were turned down as the comic rights had been sold to [[TV Comic]]; and in July 1964, [[The Walt Disney Company]] approached the BBC for the film rights, though no developments were made.

* The horses of the Mongol bearers are the first live animals used in the series.

*In the mid-to-late 1990s, a television station in West Africa contacted the BBC, offering to return the 'complete' first and second seasons of the 1960s era. The BBC staffer on the phone, for whatever reason, said no, and the reels were presumably destroyed soon afterwards. ''Marco Polo'' was possibly included in this batch.

**However, according to the website BroaDWcast (which goes into detail about broadcast dates and what countries ''Doctor Who'' stories were sold to), this story, ''[[The Reign of Terror (TV story)|The Reign of Terror]]'' and ''[[The Crusade (TV story)|The Crusade]]'' (all serials from the first two seasons that still contain missing episodes) might not even have been included in the set, which would explain why the staffer ordered they be destroyed instead of returned to the BBC, since they would not require additional copies of existing episodes. It will never be known which side of the case is true unless evidence of their destruction or their return to the archives is seen.

* The story was re-released in 2010 as part of the box set ''[[Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes - Collection One]]''.

MarcoPolobbcaudio40.jpg|CD release

Missing Eps coll1 cover.jpg|The Lost TV Episodes - Collection One