Welcome to The First Eight – The Roarbots’ classic Doctor Who watchthrough. We’re going through the 50+ year history of the Doctor Who franchise in chronological order. This is not a “rewatch”; I’m watching these shows fresh. For the first time. I’ll do my best to leave preconceptions at the door, but I have no baggage at all that pertains to pre-Ninth Doctor reboot.

Want to watch along or catch up on classic Who on your own terms? Check out BritBox, which has every existing episode available for instant streaming. (Note: This serial – “Marco Polo” – is NOT on BritBox.)

I’m not here to write an authoritative history or connect all the dots among the characters, planets, and eras of the franchise. I’m simply here to correct one of my most flagrant Geeky Blind Spots. And I hope you’ll join me on the journey. There’s only 26 seasons and 8 Doctors to catch up on. Easy peasy.

So here we are: “Marco Polo.” This is a story of firsts. It’s the first “missing story.” It’s the first reconstruction I had to watch. And it’s the first story set in a historical (rather than science fiction) setting.

This serial isn’t available to view, but the audio still survives, and there’s a remarkably well-done reconstruction available here. There’s also a novelization, if you’re so inclined.

“Marco Polo” is composed of the following episodes:

• “The Roof of the World” (February 22, 1964)
• “The Singing Sands” (February 29, 1964)
• “Five Hundred Eyes” (March 7, 1964)
• “The Wall of Lies” (March 14, 1964)
• “Rider from Shang-Tu” (March 21, 1964)
• “Mighty Kublai Khan” (March 28, 1964)
• “Assassin at Peking” (April 4, 1964)

Let’s get this out-of-the-way right now: despite the frustration of watching a reconstruction, I really enjoyed this one. Perhaps the characters and setting appealed to me personally (I’ve lived in China and have traveled extensively throughout China and Mongolia), but I rather enjoyed the historical setting.

Obviously, with its limited budget in the early ’60s, Doctor Who could never truly shine as a science fiction spectacle. When it came to special effects, it had some incredible elements, and they certainly made do with what they had, but the fact remains that they just didn’t have the ability to create otherworldly sets and landscapes that transported and immersed the viewer.

Ironically, this story feels the most fully fleshed out of those we’ve seen so far. The sets and costumes are visually impressive, and the production deserves a fair bit of credit for re-creating Marco Polo’s caravan and Kublai Khan’s court in 13th century China . . . on what I assume to be a very limited budget.

In short, I was more impressed and convinced by the visuals here than I was with the depiction of Skaro and the eponymous villains in “The Daleks.”

What continues to amaze me, though, is that this show (as a whole) succeeded. Our protagonist is a crotchety, frail old man who spends a majority of this story either unconscious or off-screen. Watching him today, it’s unbelievable that this character would have a chance to go on and become a cultural icon.

Four stories into the First Doctor’s run and the biggest revelation for me is that Ian (a companion) is the true star here. He’s our leading man. He’s the show’s hero and the one we’re meant to cheer and support . . . not The Doctor. The Doctor we simply tolerate.

Hartnell’s Doctor, we already know, has no tolerance for anyone but himself. However, we’re now learning that he’s not just an insensitive time traveler; he’s an insensitive traveler, full stop. In Yuan Dynasty China, he feels no compunction about dismissing other people’s beliefs and calling them “rubbish” right to their face.

To the show’s credit, they acknowledge this aspect of his character by giving this salient bit of narration to Marco Polo: “To make matters worse, the old doctor continually shows his disapproval of my action by being both difficult and bad-tempered. For three days now, during which time we have covered no more than thirty miles, I have had to endure his insults.”

Welcome to the team. Just be grateful he hasn’t tried to kill you yet. Ask Barbara about that.

We learn a bit more about Susan, too, which is nice, but what we learn really just serves to confuse what we thought we already knew. We were led to believe she was a child genius whose knowledge far surpasses her teachers’. However, she’s never heard of Kublai Khan, seems genuinely confused by the differences between Europeans and Asians, and actually claims to have never seen a moonlit night.

Okay, then.

I don’t want to be too hard on this story, though. (Is it too late?) I said I liked it, and I did! I like that the overarching narrative of the story is given to Marco Polo. His journal entries serve as voice-over narration, which brings a fresh and unique perspective to the show.

There are also some charming scenes of The Doctor and Kublai Khan together. They are both frail, crotchety old men who hit it off remarkably well. The scene of the two of them playing backgammon together is adorable. Of course, we have to ignore the fact that, historically, Kublai Khan was about 55 at this time, so his portrayal as a geriatric emperor isn’t entirely accurate.

I also really enjoyed the music for this story, which relies heavily on traditional Chinese instruments, such as the guzheng and pipa.

Again, this might be due to the nature of the reconstruction, but the story really began to drag about halfway through. Somewhere around the fourth or fifth episode, I lost almost all interest. It didn’t help matters that the story could have easily ended with the fifth episode, but thanks to a few completely unnecessary plot devices, it continued for another hour.

In the end, it just went on too long and then, ironically, ended very abruptly. Seriously, the ending felt like it came out of nowhere. We got an extended swordfight scene, and then suddenly the gang was all aboard a fading TARDIS. Zai jian!

Despite my complaints, “Marco Polo” gives me hope. I’m thrilled to truly experience classic Who for the first time. Our characters are slowly getting fleshed out and coming into their own, and I know there will be several more historical stories to come. I’m excited for them.

Bring it on!