Written by John Lucarotti | Directed by Waris Hussein | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 02/29/64
This is a strange episode. Not bad, just strange. I assume it might be a little more straightforward if we could actually see it, but as it is, there's a sequence in the middle of it that is almost scarier because we have no idea what's going on.
At the beginning, though, we're told the Doctor has basically been whinging, sulking, and insulting over the past few days, which is apparently his only plan to try to get his TARDIS back at the moment (it's about all I'd be good for, so I'm not holding it against you, Doctor). We don't see Hartnell until the tail end of this episode (he only has a line or two in this one), so he must have had this production week off. Susan is upset with the Doctor for his attitude, and that he won't listen to her or even talk to her.
Ian and Polo play chess. We don't know what moves they make outside the ones they mention in dialogue. I doubt actually seeing them play chess on video would really be that much more exciting than on audio with still images, but still, it'd improve the scene. These middle episodes of Marco Polo are really where I got bored while listening to the audios, and scenes like this are why. It's probably supposed to be a metaphor for Marco Polo playing an ingenious game against his enemies, and that Tegana, who spends this episode sabotaging the group, is being even more devious in response, but... and then I fell asleep before I could come up with an end to this sentence.
I'm kidding. Whatever they're trying to say, it's not all that interesting. I will say that none of the characters, thus far, have mentioned how remarkable it is that they're traveling with Marco Polo. I feel like if I were Ian, I'd have an out of body moment, sitting there playing chess with someone famous who lived and died hundreds of years ago (and you'd think they'd have room for a scene like that, considering how much padding these seven episodes have).
Later, after dark, Ping Cho shows Susan around the desert. We're told it's beautiful - I'd sure like to see if it is (the missing episodes often have this ironic feeling to them, where the entire point of a scene is visual and the characters remark how interesting it is and we, cruelly, aren't privy to it). A sandstorm comes, and since Susan and Ping Cho had been following Tegana since they saw him while out looking at the desert, they are lost amongst the sand. This is the weird bit - we hear screaming and singing and - presumably - Ian calling Susan, and for over a minute we hear this while Ping Cho and Susan stumble or run around the desert trying to get their bearings. If we were able to see this sequence, I'm sure it'd be the two actresses running in place while being pelted with sand, but it's hard to say (this is directed by Waris Hussein, though, so maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt and assume it looks good, since he proved himself quite capable with the first four episodes of the show). As it is, though... it's probably scarier on audio, since what we hear is unintelligible in spots. This might just be the reconstruction, though. For all they clean up some of the visual aspects - coloring the screenshots we have and adding, somewhat inexplicably, a scene where we see actual motion of sand blowing around the desert, as well as some sand moving over still images of Susan and Ping Cho, they don't clean the audio up to make whatever the two girls are saying intelligible. Why we need to see sand blowing around when we've been told there's a sandstorm but not the character's dialogue is beyond me. Perhaps the person who made this recon is the sound mixer at the BBC right now (is this my first slight against nuWho? I think it might be! Don't worry, I still love it and am exaggerating anyway). It's a good scene, though, most interesting in the episode by far, and it's left largely unexplained - apparently the sandstorms just sound like that in the Gobi desert.
Back at camp, Barbara and Ian freak out once they realize the girls are out in the sandstorm, but Marco Polo won't let them out to look for them. Tegana eventually arrives when things calm down with the girls. Susan later tells Ping Cho that she's very suspicious of Tegana, but can't quite explain why. She's convinced he lied about his reasons for being out in the sandstorm. We then get an odd scene where Tegana seems to test Polo's reflexes by drawing his sword and yelling "Polo!" Polo responds by leaping up and grabbing his own sword. Satisfied, Tegana leaves the tent and proceeds to lure the guard away from the supply caravan, and empties the gourds containing all the water they have. Why Polo seems unfazed by this, even if he assumes Tegana is an ally, is beyond me. If someone pulled a gun on me just to see my response, I'd be pretty pissed, myself. Then again, we have no idea how Polo reacts visually, so maybe he scowls at Tegana or flips him off or something (oh, what I'd give for that last one).
The next morning, Polo thinks bandits came and drained the water to make the travelers return to Lop where they'll have sprung a trap for them (it was Tegana who drained the water). The group debates what to do, and it's made clear that they don't have enough water to finish crossing the desert and barely enough to make it to Lop or an oasis to the north. Tegana wants them to go back to Lop, but the group decides to go to the oasis. A few days pass, and we get more narration from Polo to explain how they're traveling more slowly with each passing day, and after five days, still not having made it to the oasis, they run out of water. We then get a near minute and a half scene of everybody standing around in the heat, which I'm sure is more interesting on video (though even that might be a stretch). The Doctor finally shows up in this scene, to ask Polo if he could have more water and to collapse (Hartnell earned his paycheck this week, dammit). Ian and Barbara want the Doctor to be comfortable, and thus in his ship, so Polo allows him and Susan to rest in the TARDIS, but Barbara and Ian must stay outside with the caravan. Tegana offers to go ahead with his horse to get water and return to the caravan since he and his horse are still in good health, so Polo lets him. The episode ends with Tegana, at the oasis, happily drinking water to his hearts content and dumping the rest on the ground while taunting Polo and laughing to himself.
For all I'm complaining about these episodes, I still would like to see them. I think Waris Hussein's direction probably improves the story immeasurably, whereas on audio it's a little stale. But of course the bloody missing episodes are the longest yet. This one clocked in at almost 26 minutes, depending on how long the original credits were (they were remade in full for the recon as far as I can tell). Past episodes were usually 21-24 minutes in length, then of course we get to an episode where there's a scene where everyone stands around for a full minute and we don't even get to see it.
I love the costumes, from what we can see, though, and I'm glad we do have color photos of them, whether they were colorized by the recon people or were taken on set. Tomorrow... I couldn't tell you. Like I said before, the middle episodes of Marco Polo are a blank to me, because they could barely hold my attention. This blog is making me pay more attention to the serial, though, since I'm watching one episode per day and can focus harder on it (taking notes helps, too). I dread a full episode of padding in missing episode form, and they do exist...
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "Five Hundred Eyes"
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