Written by John Lucarotti | Directed by Waris Hussein | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 03/21/64
Seeing the guard dead, the TARDIS crew decide to warn Marco Polo rather than go through with their plan, which at first struck me as idiotic, since they needed that guard out of the way anyway. But they don't know why he's dead, and may not be able to pull it off if there are bandits or about. So Ian warns Polo, and they all run out to see Tegana standing there. Polo isn't suspicious of him at all (still!). Tegana passes out swords, even as he claims there are no bandits. The Doctor suggests they all get into the TARDIS, "where it is grace... safe!" Poor Hartnell and his fluffs - he's barely in large swaths of Marco Polo, yet he still messes up lines.
Tegana suggests to Polo that the Doctor and his friends probably killed the guard to try to escape, which sounds plausible. But Ian points out that they wouldn't have warned Polo had they killed the guard, they'd have captured or killed him in his sleep. The audience finds out the bandits, if they don't receive the signal from Tegana, will attack anyway when the moon is at the highest point in the sky. Ian comes up with the genius idea (citation needed) to stack bamboo and light it on fire when they arrive to make a big scary noise so all they'll run away. He then tells Polo exactly what they were going to do had their plan not been messed up by the dead guard. Ian has taken his stupid pills today, it seems (apparently it was unknown in this time that bamboo would explode if burned, but how this translates to a plan on Ian's part to scare bandits away, I have no idea).
When the bandits arrive, the Doctor had fallen asleep, but he wakes up and fights with everyone else (oh, what I'd give to see Hartnell swing a sword around. Perhaps they used a stunt double, though, I have no idea. Strange that swordfighting doesn't seem to ruin his back like bending over does in a few episodes, though). In the fight, Tegana kills the bandit leader, Acomet. Just after that, the bamboo explodes and the bandits run off. Ian thinks they were scared of the noise at first, but the Doctor suggests it's because their leader was killed (for the record, the Doctor is right. Come on, Ian).
Later, the Doctor realizes Tegana must have killed the guard and was planning to signal the bandits while everyone slept, and Ian escaping the tent and discovering him foiled that plan. Barbara had recognized the dead bandit Acomet as one of the men, when she was captured in the Cave of Five Hundred Eyes, and they reason that Tegana had to kill him so Barbara didn't out him in front of Polo.
A rider with a message from Kublai Khan arrives, and Ping Cho goes to find Polo. When she does, she sees him hiding the TARDIS keys in a little spot inside his journal. He makes Ping Cho give her word not to tell anyone, and she obliges. Satisfied he hasn't left any pesky loopholes in his order for Ping Cho to take advantage of, he goes to receive the message from the rider. Kublai Khan wants to see Polo immediately, so they must leave and rush to meet him.
When they arrive at the next city, the TARDIS is placed in some stables. The guy running the hotel, Wang-lo, is a creepy, overeager guy who the Doctor satisfyingly mocks for sounding like a moron (he's a comedy character who isn't very important to the plot, which is done better elsewhere, but is a character I like, usually. The cook from the 1967 Second Doctor story Enemy of the World comes to mind as another example of this character type, and I think he's written better and funnier). Outside, Ping Cho and Susan are comparing goldfish in a pond to people they know (boredom must be driving them batty). Ping Cho reveals she knows where the TARDIS keys are, but tells Susan she can't tell her, because she promised! If only there was some kind of loophole she could take advantage of to get the keys to the travelers, somehow...
Tegana meets with the one-eyed man Kuiju, to have the man steal the TARDIS overnight. Tegana promises him 100 gold pieces for his effort.
Meanwhile, Ping Cho takes the TARDIS keys from Polo's journal when he leaves his tent. She figured it out! Who didn't see that one coming from a mile away? Well... children, I suppose. I like that the lesson here seems to be find loopholes when given orders, don't follow the spirit of the rule. Not something you usually get in television designed for children... She tells Susan that she's not breaking her promise to Polo because she's not telling her where she got the keys from. Susan, impressed with Ping Cho keeping her promise, promises Ping Cho that she won't leave without saying good bye, a decision which will prolong this story another two episodes, unfortunately.
Off screen, Susan has given the keys to the Doctor, and they make a break for it. Ian pretends to be drunk then knocks out their guard (it's an amusing little scene, and I wish I could see William Russell act it), and they make a break for the TARDIS. They make it inside! Then they realize that Susan isn't with them, because she made that infernal bloody promise to say goodbye to Ping Cho (why didn't she just say goodbye in the freaking courtyard when Ping Cho handed over the keys?!). Susan, while looking for Ping Cho, is grabbed by Tegana and the episode ends.
Another runaround. I understand that this episode is attempting to have the regulars try to win Polo back to their side with the prevention of the bandit attack at the beginning, but I just struggle to care. At this point Polo should have killed the Doctor and his group, or left them in Lop or something. This episode has its moments, but is mostly filler. At least we're getting close to Kublai Khan and his court, I suppose.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "Mighty Kublai Khan"
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