Doctor Who: "Marco Polo"
Apr. 20th, 2010 12:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pmcrayThe 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).
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).
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no subject
Date: 2010-04-20 08:06 pm (UTC)I assumed 10s wandering decade was all encapsulated in ep 1 when - if I recall correctly - and I should really check this out before posting but you'll tell me if I'm wrong - doesn't he disappear for a moment and then come back for Rose? In that moment he laid down the titanic picture etc.
- and yes, to my mind, he had regenerated just before the episode, and then the series with Rose were pretty much as we saw it, with space for ones we didn't see too but not so many that Rose would have particularly aged.
>(the Doctor is constantly late)
oh, I see.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-20 08:36 pm (UTC)Seven and Eight can spend hundreds of years wandering time and space, but I like the idea of Three or Four nipping off in the TARDIS and returning fifty years later to Jo and Sarah-Jane and UNIT.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-20 08:55 pm (UTC)I'm not sure I like the idea of hundreds of years of seven and eight, oh, was that your implied.
One day this story will be rewritten from the Dalek side, with a diagram. (in four dimensions)
I like the idea of Three and Four nipping off, too.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-20 08:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-21 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-21 03:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-21 08:53 am (UTC)