Opinion: Celebrating Marco’s Golden Jubilee

Last night I had a dream. I was sitting at a picnic table eating when Matt Smith and Arthur Darvill sat down next to me. Before I had a chance to react, Matt leaned in and whispered “have you ever heard of…” He paused, looking around suspiciously. Content that no one was eavesdropping, he finished. “Marco Polo?”

And just like that we were off on an adventure. I can’t remember whether they were supposed to be their characters or the actors, but together the three of us finally found the prints for Marco in a secret compartment on a rooftop. In the end it didn’t matter. We were forced to turn our discovery over to faceless bad guys who had been chasing us the entire time.

When I woke from my dream it didn’t seem that far from reality.

For months we have been subjected to rumours of Marco Polo’s imminent return and they have all come to naught. We’ve heard it would be here for the 50^th Anniversary in November, then sometime before the Christmas special and now they’re saying it will be Easter at the earliest. And let’s not forget about the ‘great YouTube hoax’ last week. Yes, even the most optimistic among us knew how it would turn out, but it didn’t stop us from hoping.

In my #SaveTheDay022214 article I talk about my desire to be watching Marco Polo on its 50^th anniversary February 22, 2014. If there really is an itunes version ready, why not just release it? Speculation is that they have found more copies and are working on something that’s better quality. But I would take that original, even if the picture’s grainier, the sound isn’t awesome and there are some edits missing. That’s okay by me because I think the significance of the anniversary is nearly as important as the quality of the release.

A prime example is Day of the Doctor. I have a friend who told me he would watch it early if it leaked online. We had quite an argument over the idea. Eventually I convinced him not to. In my opinion watching that particular episode before its world wide release would have been a betrayal. This wasn’t just any random story. It’s the Anniversary Episode. Yes, capitals on both of those words to mark their significance. To me it was incredibly important to watch this story on November 23^rd, 2013. Any earlier would be like opening your Christmas presents the first day of December.

That’s why I’ll gladly watch an inferior version of Marco Polo on February 22, 2014. Any version will be better than none, right? We still have nearly three weeks before Marco’s Golden Jubilee, plenty of time for an announcement. Between now and then you will find me on twitter sharing the hashtag #SaveTheDay022214 and hoping that the BBC and Phil Morris will give me something better than the missing episode audio to enjoy on 02/22/14.