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TARDIS Guide

Overview

First aired

Saturday, February 22, 1964

Production Code

D

Written by

John Lucarotti

Runtime

175 minutes

Time Travel

Past

Location (Potential Spoilers!)

the Himalayas, Asia, China, Gobi Desert

Synopsis

Arriving in Central Asia in 1289, the Doctor and his companions join the caravan of the famous Venetian explorer Marco Polo as it makes its way from the snowy heights of the Pamir Plateau, across the treacherous Gobi Desert and through the heart of imperial Cathay.

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7 Episodes

The Roof of the World  Missing

First aired

Saturday, February 22, 1964

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

John Lucarotti

Directed by

Waris Hussein

UK Viewers

9.4 million

Appreciation Index

63

Synopsis

The TARDIS experiences a total power failure and is stranded in the Himalayas in the 13th century. The travellers are forced to join the caravan of the famous explorer, Marco Polo, in order to survive -- but Polo, fascinated by their claims that the TARDIS can fly through the air, seizes it on behalf of Kublai Khan in the hope that presenting the Khan with such a fabulous gift will convince him to let Polo return home to Venice. The travellers are forced to accompany Polo on his long trek across Asia to the Khan's court, but their many attempts to reclaim their property are foiled -- not just by Polo, but by the war lord Tegana, who is apparently on a mission of peace but has entirely different plans for dealing with Kublai Khan...


The Singing Sands  Missing

First aired

Saturday, February 29, 1964

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

John Lucarotti

Directed by

Waris Hussein

UK Viewers

9.4 million

Appreciation Index

62

Synopsis

Tegana sabotages the party's water bags, leaving them in dire need of fresh supplies.


Five Hundred Eyes  Missing

First aired

Saturday, March 7, 1964

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

John Lucarotti

Directed by

Waris Hussein

UK Viewers

9.4 million

Appreciation Index

62

Synopsis

The Doctor and Susan are able to supply Marco with condensation that has formed inside the TARDIS, saving the group from dying of thirst. When the group are reunited with Tegana, the travellers begin to suspect he is up to something.


The Wall of Lies  Missing

First aired

Saturday, March 14, 1964

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

John Lucarotti

Directed by

John Crockett

UK Viewers

9.9 million

Appreciation Index

60

Synopsis

The Doctor's group manage to rescue Barbara from the Mongols but once more Marco remains unaware of Tegana's involvement.


Rider from Shang-Tu  Missing

First aired

Saturday, March 21, 1964

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

John Lucarotti

Directed by

Waris Hussein

UK Viewers

9.4 million

Appreciation Index

59

Synopsis

The Doctor and his friends elect to warn Marco of Acomat's attack even though it means losing their chance to gain access to the TARDIS.


Mighty Kublai Khan  Missing

First aired

Saturday, March 28, 1964

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

John Lucarotti

Directed by

Waris Hussein

UK Viewers

8.4 million

Appreciation Index

59

Synopsis

The Doctor, Ian and Barbara are forced to surrender to Tegana and Marco, leaving both of them the opportunity to gain possession of the TARDIS.


Assassin at Peking  Missing

First aired

Saturday, April 4, 1964

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

John Lucarotti

Directed by

Waris Hussein

UK Viewers

10.4 million

Appreciation Index

59

Synopsis

Tegana finally makes his move to assassinate the Khan, giving the Doctor and his friends an opportunity to thwart his plans and regain the TARDIS.



Characters

How to watch Marco Polo:

Reviews

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24 reviews

This review contains spoilers!

This is a hard story to properly judge. Obviously the episodes are missing, and as good a job as has been done trying to restore the story with set pictures and audio, it can't help but take away from the enjoyment. Things like the climactic sword fight between Marco Polo & Tegana can't help but be less effective when you just see som photos of a sword fight and here the sounds of swords clinking together.

The episode still manages to create an intriguing story and has some tense scenes despite this. I enjoy Susan's friendship with Ping-Cho for example. The Cave of 500 Eyes, was an enjoyable set piece. I also like how they build up Kublai Khan for 5+ episodes and when we meet him, he's not this strong, young warrior king. He's a slightly mischievous older man, still powerful just not in the way I was expecting. It's nice the way he bonds with the Doctor as well, bonding with another older man.

Like many of the older serials however, I think this story is too long at 7 episodes. It repeats the same story beats a lot to pad out the run time. Tegans tries to betray Marco Polo at least 4 times, he's thwarted and despite our heroes suspecting he's up to no good, they can never prove it to Marco Polo. Also the Doctor tries to break into the TARDIS to get it up and running multiple times. These aren't bad plot points, but they lose their impact after they've been done a few times.

If this story was a little shorter/less repetitive and could be watched in it's proper format I think this could be a very good, maybe even great story. However as it stands I only really found it decently entertaining.


Smallsey

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This review contains spoilers!

📝8/10

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

"Marco Polo: A Lost Classic with Some Bumps Along the Way"

Marco Polo shines as one of Doctor Who's most unique serials, with its travel-diary format and animated map sequences that visually track the journey, a feature never seen again in the series. The story seamlessly blends historical, cultural, and scientific lessons, staying true to the educational roots of the show.

The production values are impressively high, given the BBC's budget, giving the story a cinematic, period-drama feel, which only heightens the regret that it’s mostly lost. Despite this, the surviving stills and telesnaps showcase what could’ve been a truly iconic visual experience.

Performances across the board are excellent. Mark Eden delivers a nuanced portrayal of Marco Polo, straddling the line between ally and adversary. This version of Polo is a conflicted, yet commanding leader, which adds depth to the narrative. William Hartnell’s Doctor, though not in control of the situation for once, desperately works to outwit his circumstances, giving his character a fresh angle that’s fascinating to watch.

Susan benefits from being separated from the group, and while her teenage companion Ping-Cho proves more competent, it’s nice to see Susan have moments of growth and agency. As for the villain, Tegana stands out as the first truly memorable foe in the series, calm, calculating, and unnervingly methodical—his subtle threat creates a sense of quiet tension throughout.

However, some elements don’t hold up as well in the reconstructed form. The sandstorm in Part 2 is a frustrating auditory mess, and the fight scene in Part 5 loses its impact in stills. The story is slow-moving, with much of the middle bogged down by repetitiveness and long filler sequences like Ping-Cho’s subplot, which stretches the narrative unnecessarily. Still, the final episodes regain the mystery and tension, culminating in a satisfying resolution that leaves us with a hauntingly unresolved fate.

While Marco Polo offers a fascinating historical adventure, the slow pacing and occasionally problematic stereotypes, particularly in the portrayal of certain characters, prevent it from being an absolute classic. It’s an ambitious, well-crafted serial that ultimately shows both the series’ potential and its growing pains.


MrColdStream

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This review contains spoilers!

Marco Polo is a little like the Holy Grail of Doctor Who. It’s the earliest missing story. Until recently all we knew about the story came from a few photographs and the audio soundtrack. The discovery of telesnaps (for all of the episodes bar episode four, The Wall of Lies) allowed us a more realistic glimpse into the story. Ultimately, though, Marco Polo has, for many years, rested on the laurels of its legacy. The pinnacle of historical stories, we are led to believe.

I beg to differ.

Comparing this to other historical stories, especially those from the first season, it pales into comparison next to The Aztecs and even The Reign of Terror. Marco Polo is just too long. Seven episodes is a rare story length for Doctor Who – the only other stories with 7 episodes are the triumvirate of Pertwee Season 7 serials: Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Ambassadors of Death and Inferno. Those stories, in particular Inferno’s parallel universe plotline, make good use of their seven episodes.

This story has the Doctor, Susan, Ian, Barbara join Marco Polo’s caravan for an interminable journey to meet Kublai Khan. The main thrust of the story revolves around the fact that Marco refuses to let the TARDIS crew return to their caravan (to which the Doctor needs to effect repairs) wishing to give it to the Khan as a gift. Around the fringes of the story are a blossoming friendship between Susan and Ping-Cho and the machinations of the villainous Tegana.

The journey for the characters is long and arduous, and unfortunately it is for the viewer as well. There is an awful lot of talk and not a lot of action. Every episode sees the TARDIS crew trying to convince Marco of their need to return to their ‘caravan’ and Marco refusing. Every episode sees Ping-Cho torn between her loyalty to Marco Polo and her friendship with Susan. Every episode sees Tegana attempt to sabotage the journey, generally fail, be caught out by one of the TARDIS crew and yet remain trusted by Marco.

One of the most frustrating aspects of this story for me is how underused the Doctor and Barbara are. Barbara, as the history specialist, is allowed a bit of ‘knowing the history’ at the beginning, but then spends the rest of the story suspecting Tegana of things which Marco never believes. Her kidnapping in Five Hundred Eyes and The Wall of Lies, is quickly forgotten and as far as I can tell she contributes nothing to the final few episodes. The Doctor disappears almost entirely for Episode 2 (so much so that, until he cropped up for one line towards the end I thought it must be one of the traditional ‘holiday’ episodes). In the next episode he collapses from exhaustion and dehydration. It is only when they meet Kublai Khan that the Doctor is given anything of significance to do. The idea of the aged Khan and the aged Doctor bonding over a game of backgammon is a lot of fun, but comes too little too late.

Added to this is the fact that when the villainous Tegana is defeated at the end of the story, it is Marco, rather than any of the regulars, who fights him leading him to eventually commit suicide. The TARDIS crew simply stand on the sidelines watching, receive the TARDIS key from Marco and depart literally minutes after Tegana’s death.

Throughout the entire story I just had the overriding impression that the TARDIS crew were merely bystanders. As the first proper historical story (100,000 BC was far more concerned with establishing the premise of the show than educating us ‘historically’) Marco Polo suggests that the historical story would gently educate us about famous figures from our past whilst the TARDIS crew potter impotently around the fringes. Thank goodness The Aztecs came along to see the regulars properly interact with history in the same way they were doing in the futuristic stories – contrast the roles of the TARDIS crew in The Daleks with their roles in Marco Polo and you may understand my dissatisfaction.

I think it is telling that The Beginning DVD box set of the first three televised stories contains a 30 minute version of Marco Polo as an extra. Frankly, it manages to tell exactly the same story and very little is lost. I am sure the costumes and sets looked wonderful, particularly for the time, but on the basis of the audio and images available I don’t think I am ever going to rate Marco Polo as one of the all time great lost serials.


deltaandthebannermen

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This review contains spoilers!

The first of the missing stories has distinct, well developed characters who jump out of the screen despite the lack of the visual cues. I ache to see the visuals for these 7 episodes but thankfully the loose cannon reconstruction shows off the beautiful sets and costumes used for the production. Its a particular shame to miss the sword fight in the final installment. The choreographer for this is credited, so I imagining it took a bit of coordination. I hope at least Marco Polo Part 7 is out there somewhere waiting to be rediscovered.


15thDoctor

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This review contains spoilers!

Marco Polo was recommended to me a long time ago as a great example of a historical story from the early days, and a personal favourite of said person.  There is indeed a lot to like here.  The structure of this one - going from destination to destination and showcasing the journey on a map as they travel - was very creative and definitely ahead of its time a bit.  What we know and have seen of the costumes and sets are quite impressive, too.

The characters are pretty good even if there are a lot of white actors playing other races.  It's harder to be overly critical of that kind of stuff when looking back on a low-budget show from 1964.  The culture of the time simply did not even think such a thing could be considered, well, racist.  Yet it is certainly racist.  I won't excuse that or pretend it doesn't exist.

But I won't pretend that it still isn't a fundamentally pleasant watch, either.  While it is important to discuss and mention these racist depictions (Kublai Khan is particularly problematic) it is worth pointing out that the most important Asian role in Marco Polo is played by an Asian woman.  Ping-Cho is a pretty well realized character and a critical part of the story.  Personally, I liked her quite a bit and found her desire not to be married well done on the whole.  Sure, that sort of plot point is so old it is literally used in fairy tales, but Marco Polo does a good job at making it work as a plot point anyways.  It's pretty impressive how they wrote her character on the whole.  Plus, it is an important reminder that even in 1964, Doctor Who was able to cast an Asian actor to play an Asian role.  That is critical in remembering The Talons of Weng-Chiang being produced a decade later as it kind of highlights just how embarrassing the racism is in that story.

It should also be applauded and noted there is a lot of great character work here for pretty much our entire main cast, Ping-Cho included.  The Doctor is fun and it really feels like the companions are all a big part of this story, too.  Marco Polo is also an entertaining character.  I like how he narrates this story and a lot of this content could be argued as being seen from his perspective.


dema1020

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Statistics

AVG. Rating543 members
3.61 / 5

Member Statistics

Watched

951

Favourited

94

Reviewed

24

Saved

7

Skipped

21

Quotes

Add Quote

POLO [OC]: Success. My plan has worked. The strangers and their unusual caravan accompany me to Lop. Our route takes us across the Roof of the World, down to the Kashgar Valley and southeast to Tarkand. Here we join the Old Silk Road, along which the commerce and culture of a thousand years has travelled to and from Cathay. I wonder what the strangers' reaction will be when I tell them what I propose to do?

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Transcript Needs checking

(Transcriber's note - this story only exists now as an audio recording)

Episode One - The Roof Of The World

[Snowfield]

(There's a large footprint in the snow)

SUSAN: Must've been made by a giant. What do you make of this?
IAN: Well, it could be a perfectly ordinary footprint, Susan, and the sun's melted the edges and made it look a bit bigger.
SUSAN: Oh.


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