20. Marco Polo, Part VII: Assassin at Peking

“Marco Polo” is not terrible as a story, in spite of unfortunate casting choices and performances that don’t hold up well. It probably could have been 1-2 episodes shorter, but churning out an episode a week invariably leads to some filler material. I think I will still watch the condensed version on “The Beginning” DVD to see which is preferable.

A couple random observations: For a schoolteacher, Ian is pretty adept at overpowering professional guards. Also, swordfights are not great cinema when you’re watching telesnaps.

Link to Episode

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

54. The Romans, Part I: The Slave Traders

I remember liking this story, but this episode did seem rather slow to get going. I’m not sure the previous cliffhanger turning out to be totally irrelevant to the story helped it. I mean, the TARDIS falls off a cliff, and then it’s barely mentioned again? Seems like they could have landed in the Roman Empire and been attacked by slave traders or something for the cliffhanger. At least then it would have had some relevance to the story. The lecherous way the slave buyer asks about “The British woman” does not fill me with confidence that issues related to sexual violence will be handled appropriately for a children’s show in this story.
Read more

100. The Daleks’ Master Plan, Part X: Escape Switch

I realize I shouldn’t expect total plot consistency, but it seems like the Daleks let Mavic Chen off the hook an awful lot, even when he messes up, which seems rather un-Dalek-like. As long as I’m pointing out flaws, there is unfortunate makeup on the lead Egyptian. That being said, the plot seems to be finally moving along. GRADE: B 
Read more

64. The Crusade, Part I: The Lion

Image
My public library system hasn’t yet been defunded by the Trump II Administration and actually had a copy of the DVD “ Lost in Time .” So I didn’t need to spend any money to watch this episode, which was refreshing. Not sure I buy Hartnell as being able to hold his own in a swordfight, but it was nice seeing an actual person of color cast in this episode – even if he played a guard with no speaking lines. I got something of a Master Thespian vibe from Richard, although I realized after the fact that he is, like, a legit actor . Anyway, this is a definite improvement over the Web Planet. Looks like I’ll be turning to the Loose Cannon reconstruction for Part II . Disappointingly, the DVD contains only the audio for Part II. They could have at least thrown in some Tele-snaps! Grade: B
Read more