Meglos
HAVE A NECTARINE, GONK
CLASSIC WHO MARATHON
Love reading your opinions as always nutmeg. Really glad you are enjoying this as much as I am.
MARCO POLO
I finished listening to the CD today. It's one of only three stories for which no moving footage exists, unless you count the final moments of Edge Of Destruction. It's also the first story where there is any room for untold adventures, as it doesn't end on a lead-in to the next story. There was a pretty good novel, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, set after it.
I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to visualise this story. The relationships between The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara have stabilised into more of a family unit, with any conflict being typical of family disputes. The Doctor no longer seems to want to murder anyone, which is a relief. Hartnell shines in his scenes where he's trying to con Kublai Khan into giving him the TARDIS back (still usually referred to as "the ship", and as "TARDIS" by Khan). There are other nice touches of humour throughout, like an incredibly camp character who flounces around in a way you wouldn't expect on TV in the early sixties (though I guess it's not a million miles away from Carry On). Susan's friendship with Ping-Cho is well developed, with good performaces from both actresses. The cast is uniformly excellent, including the actors playing Marco and Tegana. The BBC excels at period drama, and it's easy to imagine this one in colour, with vibrant costumes and palaces (probably realised on a tiny budget).
Interestingly, this is one of the few stories for which paperwork exists (or is known to the public) on how much the actors were paid (per episode). William Hartnell £210, William Russell £147, Jacqueline Hill £99.15s, Carole Ann Ford £63, Mark Eden £68.5s, Derren Nesbitt £84, Zienia Merton £36.15s, Martin Miller £84, Claire Davenport £42, Tutte Lemkow £63, Peter Lawrence £42, Paul Carson £36.15s.
Love reading your opinions as always nutmeg. Really glad you are enjoying this as much as I am.
MARCO POLO
I finished listening to the CD today. It's one of only three stories for which no moving footage exists, unless you count the final moments of Edge Of Destruction. It's also the first story where there is any room for untold adventures, as it doesn't end on a lead-in to the next story. There was a pretty good novel, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, set after it.
I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to visualise this story. The relationships between The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara have stabilised into more of a family unit, with any conflict being typical of family disputes. The Doctor no longer seems to want to murder anyone, which is a relief. Hartnell shines in his scenes where he's trying to con Kublai Khan into giving him the TARDIS back (still usually referred to as "the ship", and as "TARDIS" by Khan). There are other nice touches of humour throughout, like an incredibly camp character who flounces around in a way you wouldn't expect on TV in the early sixties (though I guess it's not a million miles away from Carry On). Susan's friendship with Ping-Cho is well developed, with good performaces from both actresses. The cast is uniformly excellent, including the actors playing Marco and Tegana. The BBC excels at period drama, and it's easy to imagine this one in colour, with vibrant costumes and palaces (probably realised on a tiny budget).
Interestingly, this is one of the few stories for which paperwork exists (or is known to the public) on how much the actors were paid (per episode). William Hartnell £210, William Russell £147, Jacqueline Hill £99.15s, Carole Ann Ford £63, Mark Eden £68.5s, Derren Nesbitt £84, Zienia Merton £36.15s, Martin Miller £84, Claire Davenport £42, Tutte Lemkow £63, Peter Lawrence £42, Paul Carson £36.15s.
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