Day 14: The Roof Of The World

Doctor Who's original aim was to both educate and entertain it's audience, in both the fields of science and history, hence why Barbara and Ian are both teachers of these subjects. They can teach Susan, and by extension, the audience about what things they are witnessing. This has largely been ignored so far in the series, save for a demonstration of how to make fire in the first serial and some lectures on both the creation of the universe and how switches work in the last episode. It's in this episode that things begin to ramp up with the educational element, as we are thrust straight in to meeting Marco Polo and discovering about his life and learning about the Asian history of the time. It's an approach that will be abandoned in a couple of years, preferring instead to go with the more exciting science fiction stories, instead of having a history lesson, but that's a shame, because sometimes learning can be fun, and Mark Eden's performance as Marco Polo is a compelling one. He is a man who is willing to trade the TARDIS so that he can return home, a place he has not seen for 18 years. As an audience, we sympathize with him and we wish to follow his journey to see where he will go next time, as we learn more about his life and times.