Doctor Who Marathon - The Roof of the World/The Singing Sands

In my attempts to track down an audio of this story, I found a reconstruction on YouTube. This has the audio over colour pictures from the episode. My initial fears over this episode have subsided; having images of the characters has allowed me to get into the story much more easily. I find this quite telling of the society we live in, in that I feel more comfortable with pictures in front of me rather than just the sound. I briefly considered seeking out the Target novelisation of this story, but the time constraints I've put on this challenge means it is not viable. 

Back to the episodes, the TARDIS has landed on a snowy mountain and the team discover a passing caravan which is revealed to belong to Marco Polo. We find out that Marco is working for Khan, and is hoping that the completion of this journey will allow him to return home. The villain of this episode is Tegana, one of Marco's highest ranking chiefs. The asides we are shown with Tegana reveal his plan to kill Marco and his Caravan, through abandoning them in the desert with no water. He is hoping that this will curry favour with Khan and will get rid of his rival Marco. Tegana is portrayed almost as a panto villain with the reveal of this plan, I could almost imagine him twirling his moustache. He may have been, without the the video we will never know. Also, it is almost as if Tegana is so proud of his plan that he can't wait to tell everyone. He keeps making mention of killing the king while Marco and Ian are playing chess. I mean there's foreshadowing and then there's shouting that you plan to kill the leader. I have written a short script excerpt from the chess game below: 

Marco Polo: Hey Ian, wanna play chess?
Ian: Sure Marco.
Marco Polo: Remember the aim of the game is to capture the King.
Tegana: Or kill the King
Marco Polo: Yes Tegana, or kill the King.
Tegana: Kill the King, kill the King!
Marco Polo: Are you all right Tegana?
Tegana: Yes, yes. *whispers* kill the King.

There is also a moment where Tegana draws his sword as though to attack Marco. When Marco spots him, Tegana claims he is testing him to ensure he is ready should any attacks come. Let's just say Tegana is not being very subtle with regards his plan. Even with the above moments the characters do not suspect Tegana, to the extent that following his sabotage of the water supplies, they agree to let him continue towards to the oasis to bring water back. This is the cliffhanger to the episode and I can't believe it will be much further into the story that Tegana gets his comeuppance. 

Tegana being devious (any picture of him could have the same description)

Something I have been keeping my eye on in each episode is which character will say the name of the episode in their dialogue. Just something that makes me chuckle, but as it has happened in the last four episodes I thought it was worth mentioning. Anywho, until the next time... 

15 of 790 episodes watched