Marco Polo

"Only a fool defends his enemies."

Writer: John Lucarotti

Format: Novel

Released: April 1985

Series: Target 94

Featuring: First Doctor, Susan, Ian, Barbara 

Synopsis

The young Venetian Marco Polo is on his way to the Emperor's court in Peking when he meets the intrepid time-travellers, for the TARDIS has landed on Earth in the year 1289. 

Marco Polo recognises in the TARDIS a means of winning favour with the Emperor. But in the end the Doctor has no one but himself to blame for the loss of his wondrous travelling machine – which he gambles away to Kublai Khan...

Verdict

Marco Polo was a decent novelisation of the first season serial! I do remember enjoying the reconstruction a whole lot more, which is a bit of a shame as I found the book a little less entertaining. I don't feel like I've been able to give the story in its truest form a fair crack as I imagine the actual version would be somewhere between the two ratings awarded. I am amazed by how much I remembered about the story considering all seven of its television parts are missing, but a number of the details came flooding back to me! It is a privilege to be able to consume this story in a complete form, and I loved going back to the extremely early days of Doctor Who. This does feel like it's brand new and that's exciting, but the scale of this adventure has to be up there with the longest on screen. It's somewhat ironic because a story taking place over the span of this one is usually reserved for something like a novel, but with it then being novelised it kind of felt like we were skipping over a lot of stuff on the journey. I understand why it happened because in the story terms there wasn't a lot happening on those lengthy passages of getting from place to place, but in a book that felt a little strange. Compared to what we know now, I liked how basic the TARDIS felt with it being easily put out of action. I thought that worked well for the story at hand though and starting off the book with the prospect of the TARDIS quartet exiting into temperatures of -20C was quite frightening! I'm Welsh and used to the cold, but that sounds pretty terrifying. I really enjoyed the pure historical nature of the story and having threats like a lack of water is something I'm well on board with. There's no impressive speech or devious tricking of a monster that can solve that problem. Tegana is a fascinating character and I think it's a bit of a shame that he is so explicitly revealed as being against Kublai Khan from the start. A little more ambiguity would have been welcomed there, but I loved the audacity of him to empty the water. The First Doctor is presented as being rather old and frail which is a little bit of a shame, but I do enjoy the vulnerable side he has. Riding a horse for a week doesn't put him in the best position to bow before Kublai Khan, but throughout his mind is at work. I'm amazed he didn't have more outbursts against Marco Polo for denying him entry to the TARDIS to start repair works, but he does enjoy defeating him at chess. Susan and Ping-Cho's relationship is undoubtedly a highlight of the book and I like how the former is trying to make the latter see that she shouldn't have to marry because her family said so. Especially not to someone aged 75! Susan was horrified by that revelation and rightly so. She would get her way a little serendipitously at the end with her would-be husband passing away and her getting the relationship she wanted with Ling-Tau. I think the novelisation would have benefitted a bit more from including some of Marco Polo's detailings of events on his travels, and just a little more on the character himself. I think we had one too many attempted getaways by the Doctor, and his relationship with Polo seemed to be shifting every couple of chapters. It was just a game of patience by the end for the Doctor to obtain the TARDIS key and escape. He would show Kublai Khan and Marco Polo the truth of the flying caravan which was fun, and I loved the way things ended with the paragraph about the second TARDIS key now being in a museum in Peking adorned as the Key to the World. I thought that was a really nice touch and played on the historical significance of the story very nicely. Overall, a delight to experience the story in a complete form and I always love going back to the first season. It's all so brand new and the show feels like it's learning. An intriguing read but it perhaps did just overstay its welcome slightly. 

Rating: 7/10