Marco Polo (TV story)

For the following categories, please give me a score out of 10 for Marco Polo.

Categories:

1. Plot (e.g: Is the story idea good? Does the episode do it justice? Does the plot run smoothly or drag on? etc)

2. Characters (e.g: Are the characters believable? Is there enough focus on characterization overall? Do the recurring characters still feel like themselves?)

3. Entertainment value (How enjoyable you personally found the story)

4. Legacy/Importance (e.g: Does the episode contribute to the lore? Do any milestones occur? Is the story referenced in future episodes?)

5. Fan popularity (In your experience, how do you think the fandom at large rates this story?)

EDIT: If you don't want to give me a rating for every category, you don't have to.

Comment down your problems with the fourth serial of the first season.

I do quite like this one, if you ignore the fact that everybody in it is playing an ethnicity that isn't theirs and sometimes stereotyping the ethnicity that they're playing very badly (looking at you, whoever played Tegana (although Waris Hussein has said that he was supposed to be gay and closeted, thus why he's so camp, so I suppose it's swings and roundabouts a bit)).

I like the decision of framing it with Marco's diary entries, that was very clever, and everybody involved acted very well.

I especially like Kublai Khan, who's presented as mighty but just wants to play board games, and then is revealed to know that Tegana is evil really. I suppose it also does an interesting job presenting different cultures and moralities, and you've really got to admire the fact that when presented with the educational remit "produce an educational historical drama" they went to China, as opposed to Europe.

Although Kublai Khan is definitely my favourite bit.

I heard there aren't even any telerecordings of Marco Polo whatsoever. If that's true, why did I see a surviving clip at the start of Susan staring at some footprints in the ground saying they were made by a giant?

I note One can create keys with seemingly no resources to hand (including TARDIS keys). He refers to this in The Daleks and makes a fake TARDIS key in Marco Polo.

Does this continue in other One stories and do any of the other Doctors use this ability?