Doctor Who: "Marco Polo"

The first lost story. Which is a great pity as it is supposed to be good. Why was it not part of the 1973 sale to Algeria? I have only seen the 30 minute recap that comes with Beginnings DVDs. Certainly from the production stills it seems to be have been sumptuously mounted. This is the first proper historical and represents both a prototype for much early Who as well as something of another road in terms of its framing device (Marco Polo as narrator and an animated map to show where the progress of the characters on their journey) and the in-story time span (several months). On the strength of "The Aztecs", John Lucarotti's next story, and what we see and hear in the recap, I suspect "Marco Polo" was pretty good with plenty of opportunity for Ian to dress up and play the (historical) action hero (he had done that before and he would do it again) and for Susan to do something other than scream. And the characters start referring to the TARDIS as the TARDIS again. I probably ought to source that CD.

It is interesting that Marco Polo was the choice for the first historical and indeed it is until the end of Season Two  with "The Time Meddler" that we get an historical set in Britain and that's C11th Northumbria, not the most obvious setting. Which I think tells us something about the scope of the series and the assumed level of sophistication of the audience. Contrast with NuWho seasons 1, 2 and 5, which give us first historicals in Victorian Cardiff, Victorian Scotland and WWII London respectively. I think we lost something when we lost Newman's educational remit. We certainly lost something when the producers forgot that there is a whole world with a lot of history out there. Only two NuWho historicals has been set in the non-English speaking past (one by the Moff) and only one before the modern era. The contrast with the Hartnell era is telling.

Now Write On...

Historical drama is supposed to be something that the BBC is good at (of course, we are mostly talking corset operas, but I think we'll come back to that). A pure historical, especially one mounted on a grand scale, would probably seem an affectation today, but there is still of inspiration to be found here (and there is no such thing as a pure historical: the mere presence of the Doctor and his companions, whatever they do, ensures that). Marco Polo was the subject of one of the Ladybird history books. Who else was in that series? The Pilgrim Fathers, Captain Cook, Alexander the Great. I quite like the idea of Vasco da Gama or Magellan (don't think they were Ladybirded).

The notion of a story spread over months offers enormous potential to a writer like Moffat (and consider "The Girl in the Fireplace"). It would allow the characters to act strategically, not just tactically. This is arguably something that drama is not very good at, or, rather, individual episodes are not very good at. If a film or a episode is a short story, then a series can be a novel, thus, proverbially, The Wire, The Sopranos, Battlestar Galactica, Deadwood and any number of other American series going back into the 1990s, and indeed we have the story arcs of recent seasons for what they are worth (very little; as the Weasel has consistently pointed out, irksome foreshadowing is no substitute for actual plot) and the unfolding text of the show over 46 years, but still it is to the shame of British television that it has completely failed to match the US series in terms of ambition and achievement, it barely even seems to have tried, which is very odd considering that television executives are presumably watching the boxed sets of the American shows every night over their Taste the Difference moussaka and glass of Carignan. Clearly DW is a very different beast to Battlestar Galactica or Babylon 5, much less Mad Men. But it will be interesting to see what Moffat does with the arc (so far, not so good; I'm just hoping that Amy's amnesia is something interesting). But, of course, what DW can do and has done is play with form, structure, theme and content, hence the unfolding text (to what extent do Coronation Street or EastEnders or --- it has been going for 37 years, and Tat Wood thinks it's funny these days --- Last of the Summer Wine have an unfolding text? Clearly the characters in EastEnders can never spend several weeks trekking across the Gobi Desert or working as schoolmaster/housemaid in "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood". A few years here or there makes no difference to the Doctor, but could impact interestingly on the companions (the difficulty being that sort of thing might be considered to break the implicit contract with the audience, but see a certain story in Season Two).

Two in "The Tomb of Cybermen" states he is 450; Ten is 906, so that's 456 years somewhere, mostly not on screen. But that seems right. Nine seems to travel only with Rose (has he just regenerated?), but we know that he had a more substantial career (probably several decades). Clearly in the current season, there is something wrong with time (the Doctor is constantly late) and we have already had a two year jump - for Amy, but who knows how long for the Doctor. We know we are getting some kind of flashforward for Amy. It would be fun to have a story spread over a century, although it would be easier to do that with a non-contemporary human companion (and we need another one of those soon; Cap'n Jack, of course).

Doctor Who: "The Keys of Marinus"

"The Keys of Marinus" is utter tosh. Supposedly, the story was late replacement with Nation being brought to crank out the scripts quickly as he had demonstrated the ability to do this on "The Daleks". The idea of the portmanteau story with the different settings was allegedly to save money, although how that can have been thought to be the case, I am at a complete loss. Perhaps Nation found it easier to do a series of vignettes than a longer story (see "The Chase"). George Coulouris, who had been in Pathfinders, another lost sf series from the 1960s, gives a bizarrely stilted performance as Arbitan, and most of the other actors seem to take their cue from him. It's obvious that most of the cast have realised that, on the evidence of the script and the budget, this seems to be a kid's show and there isn't really much point trying very hard.

We get a model shot of the TARDIS dematerialising followed by some footage of the island, which actually isn't that bad and reminded before of Stingray before the wobbly sets are rolled on and everything goes down hill rapidly. Arbitan, Keeper of the Conscience of Marinus (don't ask) sends the travellers off to try and reclaim the eponymous keys, which have been scattered across the planet, and gives them teleport bracelets preprogrammed with the locations of the keys. I know, I know. But this was the early 1960s and Nation was not a hard sf writer. So we get to visit four different locales on Marinus.

First, "Oz", an apparent utopia that is actually a decaying dystopia whose inhabitants are ruled over by BRAINS IN VATS, who use drugs to induce a state of reverie in the inhabitants. Interestingly, it is Barbara on whom the spell fails to take and who smashes the VATS (well, perhaps just a VAT).

Second, "The House in the Jungle". Intelligent plants. We'll see that again with Nation.

Third, "The Frozen Tundra". Actually, Vasor is an interesting character and, trapped in a hut in the middle of  the sub-polar snowfields, there is a genuine sense of menace for the companions (the Doctor is on holiday) This episode might almost have worked where it not for the ice soldiers, who come over look like something out of Monty Python. I could also have done without the implied nature of the particular threat to Barbara.

Fourth, "Rumpole of the TARDIS". The Doctor gets to play Perry Mason and Ian the innocent accused. Contains some of the most ludicrously risible courtroom scenes in television history. 

And then it is back to the island and the Voord, who are only in the first and last episodes. They are wearing flippers and one of the actors manages to trip over his own pair. I can't imagine that anyone really thought they were going to be the next Daleks. Yartek, the leader of the Voord is killed when he inserts a fake key into the Conscience of Marinus. Unlike W&M, I don't see how it could have been intended as an "I'll Be Back!" death.   

Hardly any of TKoM makes the slightest bit of sense. Of course, that is true of most Who, but here there is so little less going on that you'd have chance to ignore the fact that it doesn't make sense. If things had gone on like this, I don't think DW would have lasted the year. Luckily, they didn't. And at least we know where the teleport bracelets in Blake's 7 come from.

Now Write On...

I think TKoM is an object lesson in what not to do. For instance, no "Collect the Plot Tokens" storylines - unless there is something intrinsically interesting about the plot tokens (by extension, this means no MacGuffins) or at least something intrinsically interesting in whatever it is that happens when you bring the plot tokens together (and a good reason why they are scattered in the first place).  Of course, it also helps to  have a coherent plot, scenery that doesn't wobble, monsters who aren't wearing flippers and actors who aren't phoning in their performances.

As Del pointed out many years ago, there is no such thing as a desert planet or a jungle planet and it is always good to see a planet that has different cultural and geographical zones. I think there is stuff that could be done with that. I also  quite liked the idea of the Doctor as advocate. He certainly ends up on trial himself enough times in years to come. Given the popularity of courtroom dramas, the Doctor could surely roll out his Rumpole/Perry Mason routine again to defend a companion. Has this not been done? I think there is definite mileage in a Boston Legal crossover (surely they could get Shatner to do a cameo).

And BRAINS IN VATS. You can never have enough BRAINS IN VATS.