Journeys through Cathay: Remediation and Televisuality in “Marco Polo”

This essay considers Doctor Who’s depiction of “Marco Polo,” the fourth serial in the show’s history and the first “lost” one, and explores the decision to present the story of the Doctor and his companions as observers in the company of, and through the narrative focus upon, the explorer Marco Polo in China, asking after the historical process of remediation in piecing together how audiences adapt and retell the story through different media. the essay asks how fan reconstructions use media as an immersive tool in re-experiencing television nostalgically or alternatively to wake viewers to how media shapes historical content and, indeed, memory of missing stories.