As Susan crosses the courtyard to join the others in the TARDIS, Tegana emerges from the shadows and seizes hold of her...
Tegana calls out that he will kill her unless the Doctor comes out of the TARDIS and shows himself. Marco arrives just as the Doctor emerges, and he hands over the key of the ship to him.
The next day everyone travels on to their next stop, but this time the TARDIS will follow with a separate caravan. Marco has often expressed his opinion that the travellers can simply build a new ship, either here or in Venice. Ian admits to him that it can also travel through time. Marco has seen many strange things during his travels in the Far East, but he cannot bring himself to believe that the TARDIS can travel to yesterday or to tomorrow.
It is then discovered that Ping-Cho has run away. Ian agrees to ride back to Cheng-Ting to find her. There, the devious Kuiju has pretended to be the driver of the caravan that will carry the TARDIS.
Ian arrives and finds Ping-Cho who has lost all her money to the thief. Ian discovers that the TARDIS has been stolen when the real caravan driver turns up.
On hearing that Susan and Barbara are opposed to arranged marriages, Marco sends Tegana to find Ian and Ping-Cho, worried that the travellers are trying to sabotage the forthcoming wedding which his master has planned.
The others have moved on to Shang-Tu, where the Doctor finally meets Kublai Khan. The great leader is now an old man, and the pair bond when they start to compare their various aches and pains. They will depart shortly for Peking, and the Doctor may ride in his carriage with the Khan.
The reason that he wanted to speak to Marco urgently was that he has heard that Lord Noghai is encamped with an army at Karakorum.
It is on the road to Karakorum that Ian and Ping-Cho catch up with Kuiju and the TARDIS.
Ian forces the thief at knife-point to hand back the money to Ping-Cho. Kuiju admits that it was Tegana who asked him to take it. The warlord suddenly approaches, threatening Ian with his sword drawn...
Next episode: Assassin At Peking
Data:
Written by: John Lucarotti
Recorded: Friday 6th March 1964 - Lime Grove Studio D
First broadcast: 5:30pm, Saturday 28th March 1964
Ratings: 8.4 million / AI 59
Designer: Barry Newbery
Director: Waris Hussein
Additional cast: Martin Miller (Kublai Khan), Peter Lawrence (Grand Vizier)
Critique:
In this episode we finally get to meet Kublai Khan, who is staying at his summer palace of Shang-Tu. Also known as Shangdu, the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge immortalised it as Xanadu in his 1797 poem Kubla Khan (first published 1816).
"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A Stately Pleasure Dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round;
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery".
Kublai Khan (born 1215) was the grandson of Genghis Khan, who died when he was 12 years old. He
became the fifth emperor, or Khagan, of the Mongols in 1260, and went on to found the Yuan Dynasty of China in 1271.
He realised that China was the key to his rule and so fought his way to conquering it. The last emperor of the old dynasty killed himself by jumping into the sea when his army was defeated. Kublai Khan made his grand capital at Dadu (Beijing) and had a second summer capital established at Shang-Tu, and employed many Chinese nobles as his officials. He embarked on a building programme, adopting Chinese styles of architecture over Mongol ones, and encouraged the arts and sciences. He also wished to be seen as a religious leader. We'll talk about his economic reforms and currency next week, when it becomes a feature in that episode.
At the time of this episode (1289), Kublai Khan had lost his favourite wife as well as his designated heir. Depressed, he had turned to over-eating and drinking too much, causing him to become obese and to suffer from gout and other ailments. He died on 18th February 1294, aged 78.
Viewers today would have learned the derivation of the phrase "to kowtow", meaning to show subservience or accept the superiority of another. The Grand Vizier orders the travellers to kowtow to Kublai Khan which, in Imperial China, meant that they should kneel down and press their forehead to the ground three times.
There is a beautiful speech from Marco, which is based on some of the tales the real Polo told in his Travels, after Ian has told him that the TARDIS is a time machine:
"On my travels to Cathay, Ian, I have come to believe many things I'd previously doubted. For instance, when I was a boy in Venice they told me that in Cathay there was a stone that burned. I did not believe, but there is such a stone - I have seen it... And if stone burns, why not a caravan that flies? Birds fly; I have even seen fish that fly. You are asking me to believe that your caravan can defy the passage of the sun? Move not merely from one place to another, but from today into tomorrow, today to yesterday? No, Ian, that I cannot believe".
The burning stone is, of course, coal. It was in China around 4000 BC that coal is first recorded as being used - as an artistic medium for sculpture rather than for heating. Marco Polo mentioned coal fires in his journals, commenting that it allowed the Chinese to have up to three hot baths a week - an unheard of notion back home. In Europe, coal had been known of and used by the Romans but it had fallen out of common usage during the Dark Ages.
Overall, there is a sense that the story is treading water at this stage. Ian actually retraces his journey to Cheng-Ting, where Ping-Cho has gone, whilst everyone else has moved on to Shang-Tu and Kublai Khan's presence. There is also a growing frustration that Marco still hasn't sussed that Tegana can't be trusted. Returning to Cheng-Ting at least affords us more time with Gabor Baraker's increasingly camp way-station manager - the unfortunately named Wang-Lo. The scene where the Doctor first meets the Khan allows Hartnell some humorous dialogue as he bemoans his bad back.
Trivia:
- From this episode onwards, Doctor Who was given a new time slot, 15 minutes later than previously.
- This episode lost one million viewers on Rider From Shang-Tu. This may have been down to this being the Easter bank holiday weekend in the UK.
- The Doctor states quite clearly once again that he is not a doctor of medicine. He claims to suffer from rheumatism.
- There was a near disaster in the studio when the action moved on to the throne room set. A camera hit one of the large columns, knocking it from its position. Luckily it had been secured at the top by a chain and so only swung to and fro, avoiding damage to the rest of the set.
- Going back to that episode of The Prisoner ("It's Your Funeral") which starred Mark Eden, Derren Nesbitt and Martin Miller, there were no scenes featuring all three actors together, but here is an image of Miller with Eden.
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