LEGION OF IMPOSSIBILITIES

Saturday 28th March 1964 - Doctor Who - Mighty Kublai Khan

"You are asking me to believe that your caravan can defy the passage of the sun? Move not merely from one place to another, but from today into tomorrow, today into yesterday? No, Ian. That I cannot accept."

More travelling, more female characters wandering off into danger alone, more of Tegana's treachery.

An attempted escape by the Doctor and his companions is foiled once again and the episode considers how a desire to get home is a motivator for most of the characters: for the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara the TARDIS is their home (or way home), for Marco Polo the gift of the TARDIS is a means of escaping his service to the Khan and returning home to Venice and, now, Ping-Chu's attempted escape from an arranged marriage by journey home to Samarkand.

Ian returns to Cheng-Ting to retrieve Ping-Chu. She implores him not to take her back and I found myself wondering whether Ian would actually do so (fortunately he's beset by the issue of the stolen TARDIS).  Has Ian's idealism been tempered by the months of travelling across Cathay and failed attempts at escape? Would he actually hand Ping-Chu over to be forced into an arranged marriage. Elsewhere in the episode, Barbara talks about trusting Ian - but I'm not so sure. We see a lot of scenes in which Marco Polo and Ian show a similarity in situation and outlook. One difference is clearly noted by Polo when he says "What is important is the fact that you are capable of lying".

After so many episodes, the travellers FINALLY arrive at their destination: the summer palace of the Khan. All the pomp and ceremony of the audience with the Khan becomes bathos when the Doctor is unable to kowtow because of his painful back (from riding a horse) and the small, hobbling Khan who suffers from gout. The Khan takes a liking to the Doctor - a fellow elderly man suffering with pain - and we have the start of a comic double-act which is emphasised by the off-camera groans that Hartnell and Martin Miller (Kublai Khan) make. Helpfully, Susan laughs to ensure that the viewers at home know this is intentionally funny.

Ian's and Ping-Chu's side-quest to retrieve the TARDIS is quickly resolved when they discovers the eye-patched, Kuiji at campfire on the Karakorum Road and come face-to-face with a sword-wielding Tegana. Having the companions on their own, joining other characters in adventures away from the Doctor is something I'd like to see more.

The climax of this episode is great: Tegana's FINALLY been definitively exposed as a villain and we're going to FINALLY see a fight between him and Ian.

Next episode: Assassin at Peking