19. Marco Polo, Part VI: Mighty Kublai Khan

After the unfortunate casting decisions of Wang-Lo and Kuiju in Part V – both of whom reappeared in Part VI, for the record – it seems like history repeated itself with the casting of the Vizier and Kublai Khan in Part VI. In this case, we have standard British actors playing Asian Characters: Peter Lawrence and Martin Miller as the Vizier and Kublai Khan, respectively. Their portrayals seemed again in the ridiculous mold. I get that the writers and director were going for a comedy vibe, but it seems unfortunate by today’s standards in an Asian stereotype sort of way.

The portrayal of Kublai Khan made me think of Michael Palin’s emperor in Monty Python’s Life of Brian. Marco Polo preceded the Life of Brian by 15 years. I wouldn’t think comedy heavyweights like Monty Python would borrow from something not known for comedy like Doctor Who, but Michael Palin would have been 20 when this came out, so … maybe?

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