Yeah, I saw your thoughts. I can’t say I agree. It doesn’t feel that repetitive to me. By about halfway through, the TARDIS crew is fully with Barbara against Tegana, the struggle being getting Polo to believe them when Tegana’s got him under his thumb. I like the length because you really get that feel of being on the journey with the characters. I like seeing all the sets and costumes, impressive even with just set photos and telesnaps. Susan and Ping-Cho are great. I don’t think it feels like Marco has taken over the show, still feels to me in that Ian is the main character era. It’s a solid 8/10 from me. Edit: oh and Darren Nesbitt is excellent as Tegana, such a good villain.
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You disagree with my opinion! By the Law of the Internet we are now enemies.
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We’ll just have to focus more on our shared appreciation for Delta and the Bannermen
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But you wrote perfectly about Marco Polo and then you said this! I thought that you had good taste!
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Hate to break it to you, but good taste is recognizing that Delta and the Bannermen is good.
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Children, children! Let’s calm down and revisit this fascinating discussion about Delta and Bannermen in its own thread a couple of years from now!
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Surprised no one has played a game of Marco Polo in here
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Finished this now. It is a great story! Beautiful costumes interesting intrigues and a great villain. I would love a true historical in the modern series, it would be fun and a great change of phase!
It would be fantastic if this was found but the telesnaps and set photos are great and it almost feels like a story that we have.
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This is also one of Susan’s best stories. Her friendship with Ping-Chois just beautiful!
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I like Marco Polo quite a lot and I’ve huge respect for MMF294 making a full fan animation of the serial. I think it’s overall a great time, Susan has one of her best showings, Marco Polo himself is great and the travel log format works well. It’s biggest issues are that Tegana’s machinations get a bit repetitive towards the end, it could be shortened by maybe at least one episode, and of course the racial depictions.
The yellowface can be… well not excused necessarily but understood in that they might not have had access to many Asian actors and the fact that it was normal at this time to cast white actors for Asian roles and give them make-up (obviously just because it was normalized doesn’t make it right because it isn’t). The fake accents that Kublai Khan and the merchant guy have though are pretty yikes. But at least they got one Asian actor in Zienia Merton (Ping-Cho) and her character rocks. Solid 8/10 in my opinion.
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I was planning to crochet while watching the Loose Cannon recon of this story, and somehow ended up too distracted to actually get much done. I was absolutely glued to the screen despite it being only still images! That’s not to say it’s flawless; it does get a little repetitive towards the end and obviously the yellowface is bad. But I had fun watching it, and that’s all that really matters.
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I’m only on second part of Marco Polo actually but I still wanted to make this 
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We do have a Television > TV Club topic for Marco Polo (and all the Hartnell TV serials) where you can share your thoughts on the story and read ours.
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Thank you for sharing it! I’ll share my own opinions once I finish all of the 7 parts
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And there’s a topic for each First Doctor serial. You find them either by direct search, or through the Television > TV Club category or first-doctor tag.
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Hopefully one day I’m brave enough to try the Loose Canon recon; I’ve never done the recons but I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about Marco Polo!
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Once I finish the 2nd Doctor’s era, which after having done multiple stories today including my first audio narrated (Highlanders), won’t be long I’ll be starting this!
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Recons aren’t something to be afraid of, honestly. Some people tend to build them up as this really hard to get into and a slog to watch, but it’s just the episodes, but the pictures don’t move. You get the sound of the episode and basically some illustrations to get a feel for what it looked like. Read along with a transcript as you go to both help you understand what they’re saying and to see some extra information on what’s happening, and there’s also scrolling text in the less dialogue heavy bits. Once you get used to them and learn the best way for you to pace yourself, they aren’t so bad. I just wouldn’t recommend trying to force yourself through them, stick to a part or two at a time, like one would for any classic serial.
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