Review for all 7 episodes:
Marco Polo is a story which covers The Roof of the World and the following six episodes. The adventures take place in the late 1200s in Cathay (ancient China) with Venetian explorer Marco Polo journeying to meet Kublai Khan the Mongol ruler. Polo confiscates the TARDIS and our heroes have an ongoing battle to convince Polo to return it whilst villains try to secure its powers for their own ambitions. The whole story was sadly lost when the BBC wiped the tapes. However the audio survives and along with numerous still photographs from the production a reconstruction is available. There is a full reconstruction with all the audio and stills for all 7 episodes so this is what you need to see, not the 30 minute massively reduced version!
It is a real measure of the quality of this story that even this reconstruction is incredibly interesting and enjoyable. I was totally engrossed despite the lack of moving pictures! The audio preserves the excellent performances of the actors and the brilliant script and story by John Lucarotti.
Marco Polo is an exciting, clever, sometimes amusing and always interesting adventure. The still photographs also leave proof of the superb sets and costumes which make this a high quality production all round.
My Ratings: Episodes 1 and 7 - 9.5/10, Episodes 2, 4 and 6 - 9/10, Episodes 3 and 5 - 8.5/10
Overall - 9/10.
Marco Polo is a story which covers The Roof of the World and the following six episodes. The adventures take place in the late 1200s in Cathay (ancient China) with Venetian explorer Marco Polo journeying to meet Kublai Khan the Mongol ruler. Polo confiscates the TARDIS and our heroes have an ongoing battle to convince Polo to return it whilst villains try to secure its powers for their own ambitions. The whole story was sadly lost when the BBC wiped the tapes. However the audio survives and along with numerous still photographs from the production a reconstruction is available. There is a full reconstruction with all the audio and stills for all 7 episodes so this is what you need to see, not the 30 minute massively reduced version!
It is a real measure of the quality of this story that even this reconstruction is incredibly interesting and enjoyable. I was totally engrossed despite the lack of moving pictures! The audio preserves the excellent performances of the actors and the brilliant script and story by John Lucarotti.
Marco Polo is an exciting, clever, sometimes amusing and always interesting adventure. The still photographs also leave proof of the superb sets and costumes which make this a high quality production all round.
My Ratings: Episodes 1 and 7 - 9.5/10, Episodes 2, 4 and 6 - 9/10, Episodes 3 and 5 - 8.5/10
Overall - 9/10.