The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: The Wall Of Lies - Assassin At Peking

Doctor Who - The Wall Of Lies (14/03/04)

A very intriguing episode this week! Having rescued Barbara, Marco's caravan travelled further toward Shang-Tu, but there's friction between the travellers. Barbara claims she followed Tegana to the Cave of Five Hundred Eyes but Tegana says he was only there the one time, after everybody else arrived. Marco obviously believes 'important emissary of Peace' Tegana over the four strangers, but Ping Cho has realised that Tegana mentioned a passage way he couldn't have known about and so must be lying. Tegana has already sewn seeds of doubt about Susan's influence over Ping Cho so they've been separated and, after Tegana saw the Doctor entering the TARDIS and alerted Marco, the four travellers (upon the Doctor leaving the ship, the repairs having been completed) have been held prisoner in their own tent, the original and the new key in Marco's possession. Not only that, but Tegana had arranged for his warlord allies to attack the caravan and slaughter everyone when they reach the bamboo forest.

The night they get there, the Doctor plans to take Marco hostage and force him to let them have the keys back so they can escape. Ian cuts his way out the tent and goes to KO the guard, but he's already dead with a knife in his chest!

It's all picking up and very well reasoned. The friendship between Susan and Ping Cho is well written, and Marco's narration is both great as a way of carrying the plot whilst giving him a sympathetic angle whilst we still support the Doctor and co. This story seems very much a slow burner, gradually gaining momentum, but I think that works really well as it's allowing a lot of character development for both the regulars and the guest cast. It's (thus far) the best story yet, much better written than the others. Looking forward to seeing where it goes!

Doctor Who - Rider From Shang-Tu (21/03/04)

More gorgeous sets this week and an hilarious scene with Susan and Ping Cho comparing Koi to various characters, including an innkeeper called Wang-Ho (seriously, and he's camper than a row of tents!). Ian warned Marco of the impending attack and they got to Tegana before he could signal to his assassins. They attacked anyway, and Tegana (still unsuspected by Marco) killed his ally (the leader) and the rest were scared off by exploding bamboo on a fire - note to self for next Guy Fawkes night!

A courier arrived to tell Marco Kublai Khan wanted him post haste and Ping Cho saw he was hiding the two TARDIS keys inside his journal; he swore her to secrecy. Arriving in Cheng-Ting, Susan told Ping Cho that without the TARDIS she'd never see her home again, so, bound to secrecy, Ping Cho stole the keys instead (clever girl) and gave them to Susan. Meanwhile, Tegana has been plotting again, this time with a dodgy guy with an eye patch and an evil monkey, to steal the TARDIS. Since they'd have to leave the TARDIS behind for transport to Shang-Tu while they hay-tailed it by horse, tonight's the night they leave (hence Ping Cho's theft). The Doctor, Ian and Barbara made it to the ship, but Susan went off to say goodbye to Ping Cho because she promised to (but clearly forgot; idiot!) and returned as Tegana arrived, getting grabbed by him.

It's still really good, but starting to get a little repetitive as regards the plot. I'm starting to wish that Tegana and the Doctor's lot would get their act together as they've started to look a bit shit at achieving their goals. Nevertheless, it's still a great story!

Doctor Who Who - Mighty Kublai Khan (28/03/04)

It's interesting that, aside from Ping Cho, the majority of the actors playing Oriental characters with speaking parts are White done up with 'Chinese' makeup, yet this week we had a Chinese actor with a small part who spoke with a more British accent than anyone else in the cast. Good on him!

Er. Stuff happened. The Doctor et al. weren't able to leave, Ping Cho ran away, Ian went after her, Tegana went after Ian, the others met Kublai Khan without Ping Cho or Tegana so he wasn't particularly impressed but ended up getting on with the Doctor because they're both old men with ailments. Meanwhile, Dodgy-Eye-Patch-Bloke and his evil monkey stole the TARDIS, conning Ping Cho along the way but she and Ian worked out where he was headed and tracked him down, got Ping Cho's money back and got him to confess Tegana had paid him to steal the TARDIS! Just as Tegana arrived!

Everyone's heading to Peking next week, but in the meantime we're at the Khan's palace which is populated with Chinese extras - shame they didn't think to cast any of them with major speaking parts, but I guess that's an unfortunate sign of the times. Still, the plot is coming to a head, so next week should be pretty good!

Doctor Who - Assassin At Peking (04/04/04)

That was a really entertaining tale with some beautiful sets and costumes and an intelligent and informative script. The Khan's courier turned up and stopped any fight taking place between Ian and Tegana, but the Eye Patch Guy was killed meaning it was Ian's word against Tegana's. Over in Peking, the Doctor had played for the return of the TARDIS and lost at Backgammon, Ping Cho's fiancé took a love potion which killed him and, finally, Tegana was revealed to be an assassin working to destabilise the Khan's army by killing him as Noghai's armies advanced on the city. The Khan learnt that Marco had hoped to use the TARDIS to barter his return to Venice and banished him, but then he fought Tegana and won, Tegana killing himself to avoid execution.

Then, at the last minute, Marco gave the Doctor his keys back and the travellers piled into the TARDIS and left. It was a bit long-winded, I guess, but didn't drag nearly as much as the Dalek story and was so much better scripted and designed. I imagine the crew are now headed off on a Science Fiction adventure again, but this extended (real time) journey seems to have seen them bond even further after the events inside the spaceship. As a series, so far it's been pretty brilliant!