Thanks for the kind words, folks.
Here are the sources for the “Marco Polo” miniatures set.
No episodes of this story survive on film or video tape. The soundtrack is available on CD, thanks to a fan who stuck the microphone of his reel-to-reel next to the TV loudspeaker when it was broadcast.
Fortunately, lots of publicity stills were taken for this story, many of them in colour. Unless otherwise noted, I have relied on those photos when putting these figures together. The other visual source is a set of “telesnaps” – photographs taken from a 425-line video monitor for the director’s reference. Not all directors had these taken, but 6 of these 7 episodes were telesnapped, and the resulting pictures have been published by
Doctor Who Magazine.
First picture.Tegana is converted from a Mongol sub-general made by The Assault Group (TAG). The original model is in a floor-length hauberk – only the head and hands of the original are still visible.
Marco Polo is derived from a Front Rank War of the Roses artilleryman, with a Hasslefree spare head. Most of his clothes and his hair are putty. The sword, like most of those for this set, is from TAG.
Ping-Cho is a Eureka “Pax Limpopo” Chinese accomplice with hair and gown built up with putty.
Second pictureThe
bearers are Foundry Canton Coolie Corps; the
donkeys are Foundry Darkest Africa.
Third and fourth picturesAcomat is a TAG Mongol standard bearer from the same pack as the sub-general.
The other
Mongols are by TAG, with some weapon swaps and home-made shields.
Fifth picture
Chenchu is a Foundry Chinese artilleryman, minus hat but plus big moustache.
Malik can only be seen in some telesnaps of scenes set in a dark cave, so apart from his (puttied) white hair, the rest of his appearance is a guess. The base figure was another Foundry Chinese artilleryman.
Sixth pictureLing-Tau also appears only in telesnaps, but Ian Chesterton wears the same jacket throughout the next story, “The Keys of Marinus”, so only the trousers are guesswork! The base figure is a Foundry Taiping rebel with reworked hair and jacket.
Wang Lo is a Foundry imperial mandarin. The only conversion was cutting away a tassel from his hat and filing away a beard.
Kuiju is a Foundry Zanzibari, with his beard cut back, his hair built up, and his robes adjusted a bit. The original figure has both the eyepatch and the monkey I needed.
Seventh pictureIt seems that I am destined to botch at least one mini in each set, and the
vizier is the unlucky one this time. His face and a bit of robe are all that is left of the original Black Hat “Tales of the Dragon Kings” necromancer. The monstrous remainder is mine.
The
guards are Foundry imperial Chinese guards, unmodified in any way.
Eighth picture
Kublai Khan is a Foundry Taiping Wang, with resculpted robes, a slightly built-up hat, and a walking stick instead of a sword. The Doctor somehow acquires this stick for use in later stories.
The
dwarf started out as a Eureka Victorian Urchin Girl. In most of the surviving photos, he is carrying a spitoon, but I wanted to get the backgammon board in there, as it is important to the plot. (In case you were wondering, the spitoon does not affect the story at all.)
The
Empress is Black Hat’s Chaos Queen with a Hasslefree spare head.
Now here’s the lot altogether.
16 February 2010, 06:47:58 AM