Notice the big jump. The serial that immediately follows ‘The Edge of Destruction,’ a ten parter called ‘Marco Polo’ is lost to time save for some still photos*. So I guess I’ll never learn how Ian got that truly ginchy Asian-inspired outfit he’s wearing in this episode.The crew finds themselves on an island of glass surrounded by, as Susan learns when she drops a shoe into a tide pool, a sea of acid. They find evidence of glass submersibles and a black outfit that indicates there is life on this planet. Oh, and there’s also this big-ass pyramid-like structure (in more ways than one--Barbara and Ian determine the builders of this structure used the methods employed by Egyptians and Meso-Americans in building their pyramids) that is home to Arbitan (George Coulouris), who is maintaining a device that used to dictate the actions of his fellows. But a rebellion occurred, and a group of brigands called ‘The Voords'--the gentlemen in the rather ornate scuba-suits that the crew discovered--are trying to seize control of it. All Arbitan needs is the four micro-keys that he scattered across the planet, and that he sent his daughter to find. And since his daughter hasn’t returned, Arbitan decides to recruit the Doctor to obtain these guys and rescue his daughter...whether The Doctor wants to or not.
We’re now in the phase of Hartnell’s run where his character emphasizes the ‘grandfather’ aspects than the ‘alien’ aspects. That enigmatic aspect, that unpredictability, is all gone....but his hooty owl chuckle remains. All the tension between him and Ian is non-existent. Ian seems to have taken the center stage, even though Barbara has her moments and Susan...Susan’s there to act all scared and stuff. The Voord don’t do much but skulk around and, in the climax of this episode, stab Arbitan, but their outfits look...intriguing. I keep wondering what they looked like under the vaguely Tokasatu-style helmet....were they just humanoid like Arbitan or somehow mutated?
The one thing that kept sticking in my craw, however, involves the machine that I guess is this serial’s MacGuffin. Maybe it’s because I started my life as a Whovian with Tom Baker, maybe it’s because my exposure to Hartnell is limited (this is the first episode I have not seen before), but I can’t get used to the Doctor being blase’, let alone complimentary, to what amounts to a mind control machine. I expected Hartnell to be more upset at what Arbitan did. It seems weird to me, especially since his being appalled by the device would fuel the crew deciding to leave, which would prompt Arbitan to do what he does to get them to search for the keys. Since starting this journey, I’ve heard some criticism of writer Terry Nation, and in this case I think he doesn’t bother to structure this half-hour as well as he could.
I also have to wonder if this serial wasn’t influential to future producer of the show Graham Williams, whose crowning glory was the season long ‘Key to Time’ arc during Tom Baker’s run....this set up is very similar.
There is a lot to like here, even with the sloppy writing that nags at me. As this is the first serial I’ve never seen before, I am hella intrigued to see where it goes.
*--If you have the box set that covers the first three serials that the BBC put out some years back, there is a short summary of ‘Marco Polo’ accompanied by many of these photos.
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