Ok, so with the Christmas period all my good intentions went somewhat to pot and, in the midst of all the 50th anniversary celebrations, I got a bit caught up in watching (and re-watching) new Who, as well as Mark Gatiss' wonderful and moving Adventures in Space and Time. Even so, I did find time to dip into classic who, starting with the first of the missing episodes - the entirety of Marco Polo.
I've never been a fan of Doctor Who historicals, and so had been approaching the Hartnell and early Troughton eras with some trepidation because of this. When I was re-watching classic who on UK Gold some years back, I tended to let the historicals pass me by. Despite the fact that it only exists in audio form (or as a telesnap reconstruction), Marco Polo has made me reconsider my position on this as I was swept up in an exotic tale of a strange land in a far-off time, in which the Doctor, Susan, Barbara and Ian end up as part of Marco Polo's caravan as he wends his way through various perils and treacheries to the court of Kublai Khan. This is definitely one best 'watched' via the Loose Canon reconstruction, which gives a sense of the lush production values of the piece, and all off the key actors seem to be having a great deal of fun with this one.
Ian divests himself of manly British reserve by putting on a silk dressing gown.
There is some nice comedy with the Doctor; Ian - who one podcaster has described as 'a sex-machine in a cardigan' - even gets to divest himself of said cardigan and strut around in a very louche looking silk dressing gown - a kind of Bristish, action version of Hugh Hefner; Barbara displays her independence by getting involved in some significant plot points; Susan even gets to do more than play the role of someone who gets in trouble just to drive the action.
Overall, this is highly recommended - although to get a better sense of the visual richness of the story, I'd definitely recommend trying to view the Loose Canon telesnap reconstruction. Of all of the missing Who episodes/stories, this is the one which I would love to see rediscovered.
