P is for... Polo, Marco

A Venetian adventurer, encountered by the Doctor and companions Susan, Ian and Barbara, on the desolate Plateau of Pamir near the Himalayan mountains. The Tartar warlord Tegana wished them killed as he feared they may be mountain demons, but Marco intervened to save them. He was escorting Tegana to meet with his employer, the mighty Kublai Khan, to discuss a peace treaty between him and the Tartar ruler Nogai. Also in his caravan was a young girl from Samarkand named Ping-Cho, on her way to an arranged marriage with one of the Khan's elderly courtiers.

Having been in the employ of the Khan for may years now, Marco's only wish was to get back home to Venice. Confronted with the Doctor's magic caravan, which could transport him and his companions without horses or even wheels, he decided that he would make a gift of it to his master - in the hope that this might please him enough to let him go home. He withheld the TARDIS key, initially claiming that Tegana and the soldiers accompanying them still thought them demons and the blue box held their magic.

The Doctor later discovered his true motive for keeping them from the ship. 

Tegana began actively attempting to sabotage the caravan, seeking to kill the party. The Doctor's companions realised this, but Marco stubbornly refused to heed any arguments against him for fear of jeopardising the peace mission.

The Doctor was permitted to stay one night in the TARDIS after Tegana had destroyed their water supply. The extreme heat of the day combined with the cold of the night to cause condensation to form within the ship, providing enough water to get them to a nearby oasis. Initially Marco was furious - thinking that the Doctor had hidden a supply of water in his caravan. He and Ian were able to inform him of how the water had formed.

Marco was later disappointed when Ping-Cho stole the key from him to give to Susan, whom she had befriended.

Having seen many wonders on his travels, Marco still could not bring himself to accept that the TARDIS could travel through time as well as space.

Once the caravan had reached its destination, Marco finally came to accept the warnings that the others had been giving him about Tegana. When the warlord attempted to assassinate the Khan, Marco fought a duel with him and defeated him - though Tegana took his own life rather than face capture.

Realising the disservice he had shown the Doctor, Marco elected to return the TARDIS key to him - but the Khan was philosophical about this and said he could return to Venice soon.

Played by: Mark Eden. Appearances: Marco Polo (1964)

• Marco Polo (1254 - 1324) - was born in Venice and travelled to Cathay with his brother and uncle - Niccolo and Maffeo - in 1269. On his eventual return home after 24 years in the Far East, he found Venice at war with Genoa and was imprisoned by Genoese troops after taking up arms against them. It was whilst in prison that he related his adventures to a fellow captive named Rustichello da Pisa. A professional writer of romances, it is widely believed that he embroidered many of Polo's tales, purely to satisfy a sensation-seeking public.
• Polo was released from prison in 1299 and spent the remainder of his life a wealthy merchant in his home city. He is buried in the church of San Lorenzo.
• Eden is best known for playing the villainous Alan Bradley in Coronation Street - a character who tried to bump off Rita but ended up falling under the wheels of a Blackpool tram.
• He, Darren Nesbitt (Tegana) and Martin Miller (Kublai Khan) all featured in the same episode of The Prisoner together - "It's Your Funeral" - in 1967.
• He returned to the world of Doctor Who in 2013 to play the BBC's Donald Baverstock in the anniversary drama An Adventure in Space and Time. This would be his final TV role. He died, aged 92, in 2021.

DWM Terry Nation Special

 

According to the Cultbox site, the next DWM special edition is dedicated to Dalek and Blake's 7 creator Terry Nation.

It is due out on Thursday 6th November. 

That "Legends" subheading suggests this might be the first of a series. They are running out of more general subjects to cover after all, which the bookazines seem to have taken over.

I have read elsewhere that the next bookazine will be dedicated to UNIT, but nothing confirmed so far.

Episode 182: The Ice Warriors (3)

Synopsis:

Varga has freed his crew members from the ice which has entombed them for thousands of years. He announces to Victoria that he is now ready to bring them back to life...

His sub-commander Zondal is the first to reawaken.

Jamie and Arden prepare to set off on their expedition to discover the nature of the spaceship's engines. The Doctor warns Jamie to be careful of Arden's scientific curiosity and not take chances, whilst Clent insists that their mission must take precedence over rescuing Victoria.

Clent admits to Arden that, as a scientist, he too would have excavated the Warrior and brought it back to the base.

After the pair have gone, Clent tells the Doctor that Penley suffered a breakdown due to the pressures of following the base's regulations, but the Doctor suspects that this wasn't the whole story.

At the plant museum, Storr refuses to believe Penley's story about seeing an alien creature. He also refuses to accept that it was science - in this case medicine - which helped him get over his recent injury. He is stubbornly anti-science, which for him is symbolised by the base.

They hear a noise outside and discover Miss Garrett approaching.

She has come to plead with Penley in person to return to the base to help with the Ioniser. He realises that she is only doing this to help Clent who is under pressure from his superiors to give a full report on what is happening at Britannicus Base.

He values individuality and his personal independence too much to return to Clent's automated and regimented world.

When she realises that he will not come back with her she threatens him with a tranquiliser gun, but Storr intervenes. 

As she leaves he does give her one piece of advice, however - to look into his notes on the "Omega factor".

Intrigued by the aliens, Penley tells Storr that he intends to find out more about them and will go back to the glacier.

Varga, meanwhile, has Zondal excavate a cave around the entrance to their spaceship once it is located, large enough to create a trap for anyone who should try to approach. He decides to keep Victoria prisoner for now, as she may come in useful as bait for his trap.

Clent is becoming frustrated with the Doctor's progress in his ionisation researches as he refuses to use the computer. Miss Garrett arrives back and tells them about the "Omega factor", and the Doctor realises this provides the missing data which he needed. She does not say where she got the information from, but after Clent leaves to check it with the computer the Doctor tells her that he assumes she got it from Penley, and still counts him as a friend.

Arden reports by comm-link from the glacier that he and Jamie have discovered a huge cave hewn into the ice. At the rear is what appears to be a metal door.

Arden begins taking radiation readings. 

An Ice Warrior suddenly emerges from hiding and shoots the two men down.

The ambush has been observed by Penley. After the Warrior returns to the ship he discovers that Arden is dead, but Jamie only badly wounded. He drags the boy away.

Varga is pleased that he kept Victoria as a hostage, and orders Zondal to get their engines into working order as soon as possible. Until then, they remain vulnerable.

The Doctor and Clent become concerned when Arden fails to report in at the agreed time, and does not answer when called.

Miss Garrett confirms that the "Omega factor" equation will make the Ioniser work at full efficiency. However, they cannot use it at full strength as they still do not know what effect it will have on the spaceship's engines.

Storr is unhappy that they will have another mouth to feed as Penley brings Jamie to the plant museum. He has recovered consciousness, but is unable to move.

Victoria has been left unguarded and slips out of the ship. She looks for Jamie but finds him gone, then spots Arden's communicator. She tries to call the base.

She is spotted on a monitor by Zondal who insists she be destroyed before she can warn the humans. He activates the ship's sonic cannon, which silently emerges from the wall beside the doorway.

Victoria gets through to the base and tells the Doctor and Clent of the attack on Jamie and Arden, informing them that the scientist is dead and Jamie missing. Clent's only interest, however, is in the engines.

As they try to ask her questions, she is unaware that the sonic cannon has her in its sights...

Data:

Written by Brian Hayles

Recorded: Saturday 4th November 1967 - Lime Grove Studio D

First broadcast: 5.25pm, Saturday 25th November 1967

Ratings: 7.4 million / AI 51

VFX: Bernard Wilkie with Ron Oates

Designer: Jeremy Davies

Director: Derek Martinus

Additional cast: Roger Jones (Zondal), Sonny Caldinez (Turoc), Michael Attwell (Isbur), Tony Harwood (Rintan)

Critique:

The first draft of this episode differed from the final version mainly in its descriptions of the Ice Warriors and their technology. The Warriors themselves were described as looking the same as Varga but with minor differences to denote his superior rank. Zondal was identical, however, and was described as being particularly belligerent.

The Warriors used a form of SONAR to detect their buried spaceship - their chests lighting up and emitting a pinging sound. Once detected they produced sonic pistols to break down the ice, emitting a sound like a slowed down pneumatic drill. Varga opened the door with his helmet - again emitting a light to activate the entry panel.

Following the filming at Ealing, Derek Martinus had been made aware that the actors in the Warrior costumes felt restricted by the heavy helmets, and he noted that they were not able to move their heads very much. He instructed Martin Baugh to redesign the helmets prior to going in to the studio, concentrating especially on the one Bernard Bresslaw would be wearing as he was being asked to deliver a significant character performance.

Martinus also took this opportunity to ask Bernard Wilkie to have the sonic weapons built into the arm of each costume.

From this episode on, Ron Oates was credited as Wilkie's VFX assistant.

Once again, this episode was recorded entirely in the television studio. Joining the cast were the four actors who would be playing Varga's subordinates. One of these was Sonny Caldinez, whom Martinus had cast as Kemel in his last story as director, The Evil of the Daleks.

Of the Warriors only Varga and Zondal had any dialogue, and this was pre-recorded on the Thursday prior to the studio taping.

Isbur, Turoc and Rintan would retain the larger helmets from Ealing, but modified with jaw pieces. The eyes were also enlarged.

The closing moments of the previous episode were remounted in studio. The Ice Warrior crew were seen standing on pedestals of ice, covered with toffee glass. This dropped from their costumes as they began to move. Toffee glass was also dropped from above to show the ice being blasted by the Warriors' weapons as they excavated their spaceship entrance.

Some of the scenes set in the main computer control room were rewritten to take place in the laboratory which doubled as Clent's office.

Wendy Gifford wore a different costume to the one she had worn the previous two weeks.

Two new sets this week were the small spaceship interior and the larger ice cavern exterior. The spaceship entrance was marked with a metallic panel with circular edges - indicating that the ice had been melted away by the Warriors' guns.

This episode sees the first use of the Ice Warrior sonic disruption technique, when they shoot down Jamie and Arden. This was shot out of sequence due to the lengthy setting up required. 

The camera was pointed at a piece of mirrorlon - a lightweight and flexible reflective plastic material. A studio crewmember then prodded the mirrorlon from the rear, to make the image wobble and distort.

The episode closed with a shot of Victoria on a monitor fed into the spaceship set, which had a triangular crosswire superimposed. This effect would be refined for a later episode.

The sonic cannon was an illuminating plastic drum affair, mounted on a trolley so that it could be pushed out from the ice wall. This had a separate inner barrel section which could be pushed out further from behind.

The day after recording, Sunday 5th November, saw the regulars give up their day off to travel down to the coast at Littlehampton to film sequences for the opening instalment of the next story to go into production - The Enemy of the World.

This episode allows us to get to know Penley and Miss Garrett a little better, in the sequence where she comes to the plant museum to try to talk him into returning to the base. He reaffirms his refusal to relinquish his individuality and speaks of Clent's obsession with rules, regulations and conformity. Whilst Clent sees himself as a scientist - telling Arden that he would also have investigated the figure in the ice - Penley thinks of him more as a politician, worried about his own reputation and how he is perceived by his superiors.

Miss Garrett, whose first name we learn is Jane, initially appears to be asking him as a friend to return with him, but Penley sees through this and knows that her loyalty lies only with Clent and the World Computer. She is just as much a willing part of this regimented world as her leader.

We also get to see the Ice Warriors in greater numbers this week. The previous episode featured only Varga, but we got a good enough idea of the Martian mentality from him. Victoria attempted to get him to work with the humans, but he thought they would either destroy or imprison him. This week we see that he is not an atypical specimen of the race, and Zondal seems to be even more aggressive. Despite there only being five of them, and they are cast adrift from their own time by thousands of years, they still believe that they can conquer the humans - and Victoria once again fails to convince Varga that he ought to co-operate with the scientists. They are a proud and arrogant race.

It is no coincidence that Hayles elected to have the Ice Warriors originate on Mars. The Red Planet is named after the Roman God of War after all...

Trivia:

• The ratings continue to improve week on week, now up 0.7 million on the opening instalment.
• Sonny Caldinez will go on to play Ice Warriors in the three other stories of the classic era which featured them, always wearing the Varga costume made for Bernard Bresslaw.
• Michael Attwell, who was an accomplished newspaper cartoonist as well as an actor, later became a regular on EastEnders, and had one further Doctor Who appearance - as Bates in Attack of the Cybermen.
• Tony Harwood had played Varga in the opening episode due to the unavailability of Bresslaw, and had previously portrayed Yeti and Cybermen. He would play another Ice Warrior in The Seeds of Death, before donning the costume for the last time to appear on a screen at the Doctor's trial in The War Games. His final Doctor Who appearance will be in The Ambassadors of Death.
• This would be Roger Jones' only Doctor Who appearance. He had only worked briefly in television up to this point, and gave it up to concentrate on theatre work soon after.
• Radio Times had yet another brief piece on the series this week, concentrating on guest artist Peter Barkworth:

The War Between... poster

Publicity starting today for the UNIT spin-off, and confirmation that it's not being broadcast simultaneously with Disney+. The latest statement simply gives December for the UK, and 2026 for other territories covered by Disney.

As well as the poster above, there are a couple of new photos. Still not sure if these are supposed to be Sea Devils, or the Atlantean Fish People...

What's Wrong With... The Ultimate Foe

Trial of a Time Lord limps to its conclusion, and we have already covered some of the problems with this season-long single story, such as the bizarre vagaries of the Time Lord judicial system.

One thing we have to bear in mind is that the Vervoid story hasn't actually happened yet. The Doctor hasn't met Mel at this point in his own timeline, and what we saw for the last four weeks was simply a look into his future. Which begs the question of what he will actually do when he finally gets that call for help from Special Investigator Hallett?

Do the Time Lords wipe his memory of those events before he goes free after this is all over? There's no suggestion that they do anything of the sort. He simply departs the space station with Mel.

Everyone now knows that he is going to commit genocide at some point in the future, so is that addressed? Unless the Valeyard really messed about with the last bit of evidence then the Doctor showed no sign of remembering having seen these events unfold before. Is he just a very good actor, or does his memory get wiped?

If he does recall those events, will he feel obliged to allow everything to run its course, or will he attempt to handle things differently to avoid genocide - even if that means changing his own timeline and those of everyone on the Hyperion III?

Look at any typical court case and you'll probably find witnesses involved. So far none have been called for the Doctor's case, by either side. It finally gets mentioned here, but the Doctor moans that anyone who might be able to help him is scattered throughout time and space. But these are Time Lords, who can visit any point in time and space they choose - so picking up witnesses should be the simplest of tasks.

We can understand why the Master selected Glitz to be brought to the station, as he had evidence of the High Council's involvement with Ravolox and the thefts from the Matrix, but why bring Mel whom the Doctor only knows through watching an (unreliable) future adventure?

The biggest problem with this pair of episodes is the Matrix. It's an artificial environment which can be manipulated by whoever controls it. In this case, that's the Valeyard.

At one point the Doctor ties him up. But that's Matrix wire he's using. The Valeyard should simply be able to think himself free. Same for everything that happens here, yet he fails to kill the Doctor or Glitz.

Maybe it is the fault of the troubled circumstances under which these episodes were written but there is no consistency regarding the rules of how the Matrix works. One minute it's not real so you can't be harmed, and the next you can be.

If it's an artificial environment fashioned by the Valeyard, how did the Master manage to park his TARDIS inside? It's a physical object, which the creator of the domain must surely have noticed.

The Matrix is said to have seven doors, but the Keeper claims that there is only one key. Does that key then open all seven doors - a bit of a security risk if they left it on the bus. If each door has its own key, then what's the Keeper talking about? Does each door have its own Keeper, and this one only looks after the one on the space station?

Was the Keeper a disguised Valeyard all the time, or did he simply bump him off and take his outfit only after escaping from the Matrix?

The Valeyard, posing for no real reason whatsoever as the Dickensian Popplewick figure, tries to get the Doctor to sign away his remaining lives. The Doctor agrees to do this, on the basis that the Valeyard could kill him anytime anyway. So why doesn't the Valeyard do this? Why only here and now is he able, or willing, to destroy the Doctor and thus gain an existence of his own?

What has giving consent got to do with the process?

The separate business of assassinating another bunch of Time Lords, who all just happen to be gathered to watch this trial, isn't very well set up. It's suddenly added late in the final episode.

If you've got everyone you want to kill assembled in one place, in deep space, isn't it easier to simply sabotage the space station? Let all the air out or blow it up.

The least said about a Megabyte Modem being a devastating weapon, the better... The only thing scary about those was the time it took to download videos.

The Valeyard unleashes a Particle Disseminator onto the court. If this really does what the name implies, then you shouldn't be able to avoid its effects by simply ducking under your chair. Interesting how all the Chancellery Guards leg it from the courtroom, leaving their superiors to fend for themselves. The weapon not only fails to harm anyone in the courtroom, but it doesn't even damage the furniture.

And earlier, did the Valeyard really have to stress the word "disseminate" so obviously when talking to the Doctor - giving away his whole plan?

More Pip & Jane unrealistic dialogue on show, especially things like the Valeyard's "catharsis of spurious morality".

Mel states that Gallifrey doesn't have any Crown Jewels. How would she know? And surely the well known relics of Rassilon - his Coronet, Sash, Rod and Key - constitute a "crown jewels" of sorts.

Once the Valeyard's scheme has been defeated, the Inquisitor simply shrugs her shoulders as though nothing really serious has occurred - even though we've just heard that there's civil strife on Gallifrey. She suggests that the Doctor run for President again - despite now knowing that he's not only capable of genocide but will actually commit it in the near future.

And what has she said or done throughout these entire proceedings to make the Doctor think that she might be the best person for the job? She was all for the assassination plot to take out Crozier for one thing.

The fact that Peri is still alive and married to Yrcanos is a massive cop-out on the ending to Mindwarp.

Bearing in mind once again that Mel will only become his companion at some later date, why doesn't the Doctor simply go and collect Peri now that he knows she's still alive? Does she actually want to be stuck on a barbaric planet with Brian Blessed?

And just what did actually happen at the conclusion of Mindwarp, if she's still alive and not a repository for Kiv's mind? (Or is it actually Kiv whom Yrcanos married...?).

Not a problem at the time, but hindsight certainly hasn't been kind to this story. 

The "gap" between incarnations during which the Valeyard was said to come into being came and went without anyone even noticing it, when Steven Moffat decided to have the Doctor's life-span come to an end on Trenzalore at Christmas 2013. Then Chris Chibnall decided that the Doctor wasn't an actual Time Lord at all, and had lots of incarnations before the grumpy old bloke in Totter's Lane - so the Valeyard should really have come from a point in the Doctor's distant past, and not his future. 

(One way round this is to accept that there is a potential for a Valeyard-type figure for any Time Lord towards the end of their normal 12 regenerations cycle. Perhaps the Borusa of The Five Doctors was actually his "Valeyard", who had bumped off the nice but doddery Arc of Infinity one and usurped his role as President. Left with only a single aged life after finally achieving his own existence, he would certainly want to become immortal).

A lot of unanswered questions, but we should just mention those troubled circumstances under which this story came into being. The Ultimate Foe is a bit like the Valeyard himself actually, falling between the incarnation started by Robert Holmes and completed by Eric Saward, and the incarnation devised by Pip & Jane Baker after Holmes passed away and Saward then fell out with JNT and quit.

Unlike the Valeyard, this story actually succeeded in bumping off the Doctor, as Colin Baker got the chop very soon after...

Doctor Who Xmas Special... in 2026

The BBC have announced today that the next Doctor Who we get to see, other than the CBeebies animated series which is described as "in development", will be a Christmas Special - but not until 2026.

As we have all suspected for months now, it has also been confirmed that the production partnership with Disney+ is not going to be renewed.

The same statement confirms that The War Between The Land And The Sea will be screened later this year, though there's no mention of the possible delay by Disney broadcasting it.

The 2026 Special is to be written by RTD2, and I think we can hazard a guess that it will resolve the Billie Piper appearance which most fans think might be in the form of a one-off, potentially co-starring with 14th Doctor David Tennant, to bridge the gap until the next full-time actor is in place.

The BBC said the usual stuff about the programme remaining important to them and that it will be back etc, etc. - though we heard all that in 1989 and well into the 1990's (and got the TV Movie at the end of it all) so for older fans it's hardly reassurance. A separate announcement on the future of the series is said to be coming later (my guess being on 23rd November).

Presumably another production partner is being sought, as well as the search for a new Doctor.

There will be many hoping that a new showrunner is also being looked for...

It's less than a month to the next anniversary, and there's no word on any new colourised 1960's episodes, or Tales From The TARDIS, and the animation of lost stories has seemingly dried up, apparently being reserved now for filling gaps in the Blu-ray box sets, which are released only twice per year these days. 

It's hardly the Wilderness Years back again, though it might feel like it at times...

Possible broadcast date for spinoff?

It's being suggested that the Doctor Who UNIT spinoff, The War Between The Land And The Sea, might be screened on the BBC in December, but not on Disney+ until the following February. This is obviously very odd if true as, ever since the partnership between the House of Mouse and Bad Wolf began, broadcasts have been pretty much simultaneous. It suggests that Disney might not be all that bothered about the spinoff and are simply slotting it into where they have a gap. There's a general feeling that both partners just want to finish the 26 episode agreement and move on.

If the parent programme hasn't set the world on fire then not much interest may exist for a spinoff from a not-terribly-popular-these-days series.

Just rumour for now, so just have to wait and see.