004 - Marco Polo

Broadcast:

22^nd February - 4^th April 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Mongol Bandits

Written by:

John Lucarotti

Director:

Waris Hussein, John Crockett (ep4)

Music:

Tristram Cary

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

9.47m (9.4, 9.4, 9.4, 9.9, 9.4, 8.4, 10.4)

Summary: The TARDIS is captured by a great explorer and the travellers are forced to travel through Cathay with him, facing bandits and dehydration along the way

I initially thought this would be an easy review. All episodes of Marco Polo are missing from the archive but the audio is presented on the The Edge Of Destruction DVD in an edited form with telesnaps which I remembered watching a few years ago and not enjoying a great deal. They have condensed seven episodes into 30 minutes so it feels very fast, choppy and a little incomprehensible. There are sections of voice over narrating a journey animated on a map and an explanation of condensation that feels very shoe-horned in just to fulfil the educational remit.

I then remembered that Loose Canon have created full telesnap reconstructions of every missing episode (Marco Polo had a fresh make over just a year ago) and while they make a point of only distributing them on VHS (you provide the tape and prepaid postage) the modern computer age has made it easier for others to convert these videos and upload them to sites like YouTube. At the time of writing, only 5 parts are not available (one complete episode and the first half of three others) which is a mere 2.8% of missing material. Once I watched their version of Marco Polo, it was clear that the 30 minute edit on the DVD did not do it justice and I hold great hope for the remaining stories.

And so to the main review...

001 - An Unearthly Child

Broadcast:

23^rd November - 14^th December 1963

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Cavemen

Written by:

Anthony Coburn

Director:

Waris Hussein

Music:

Norman Kay

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

6.3m ([4.4] 6.0, 5.9, 6.9, 6.4)

Summary: Two teachers find that their strange teenage pupil is living in a scrap merchants and her equally unusual grandfather, fearful of the consequences of this discovery, traps them and they end up fighting for their lives when they meet cavemen trying to make fire!

I'll take you right back to the start, this is the very beginning of a TV legend, day one of the longest running Sci-Fi series. Fifty years ago today at a quarter past five, the first episode of Doctor Who was broadcast on BBC Television. To set the scene, Summer Holiday, The Great Escape and The Birds have been big in the cinema and Sean Connery is currently playing James Bond in From Russia With Love. The Great Train Robbery was hot news just a few months ago and The Beatles were producing hip new sounds from Liverpool. Number one singles for the duration of this adventure were "You'll Never Walk Alone" (Gerry And The Pacemakers), "She Loves You" (The Beatles) and "I Want To Hold Your Hand" (The Beatles)

Sadly the world had just been shocked by the assassination of American President John F Kennedy on 22^nd November so this new and exciting show was being broadcast to a sombre and subdued audience. There were also power cuts in parts of the country! As a result of these two combined factors, the first episode was repeated the following week just ahead of episode two, to give it a better launch and it gained almost 2 million viewers.