The Adventures of Marco Polo

Some random young boy named Marco in the 1400s experiences a 24-year journey to ancient China. What does he find?

Scene 1

Marco snores in bed while Rustichello reads his Bible.

RUSTICHELLO: So, Marco, while we’re both in this prison, why not tell me about your journey to the Mongol Empire? I already almost finished my smuggled-in Bible copy.

MARCO: (Half sleeping) Huh? Wh- Oh. Well, if you insist Rusty, sure. It begins like this... wait, if you have a Bible, can I read it after? Anyways, my story begins this way...

Scene 2

Scene opens at a desert with Polos walking right. Scene changes to snowy mountain after a few seconds, then to another desert.

MARCO: (Wearily) Dad?

NICCOLO: Don’t fret, son. We’re at Hormuz, and now we can take a ship to King Kublai’s palace!

MARCO: But, look at those ships!

(Family gasps in horror at the wretched boats.)

UNCLE: I’m not riding on that.

Scene 3

Scene opens with Polos taking a Caravan with precious things on them that they got from Venice and Islam ports. They reach Kashgar. Marco walks through Kashgar seeing people praying and ordinary life around.

NICCOLO: (Trading with a merchant) So let me get this straight. You’ll trade these gems for a few pounds of meat?

Scene 4

Scene opens in desert area.

MARCO: Uncle Matteo? Aren’t these sands haunted to lure travelers away?

MATTEO: Pssh, such junk.

NICCOLO: (Gazing to the left) Take a right, Marco. I see a group of bandits over there.

MARCO: Yes, Dad.

NICCOLO: Our water is out, Matteo. What do we do? How far away is the next city?

CAMELS: (Stopping)

MATTEO: I think there’s a simoom coming Niccolo. And I think Dunhuang is close.

NICCOLO: Thank God, our meat is almost out too.

Scene 5

Scene opens with Polos traveling towards King Khan’s summer palace. Doors open, great music plays.

KING KUBLAI: (Stands) Dear friends, it was so long since I saw you. I see you also brought along a child of yours.

NICCOLO: (Bowing) Hello, King Khan.

(Marco sees Dad and also bows sheepishly. King Khan chuckles).

MATTEO: We have brought holy oil from Jerusalem and papal letters. Sadly, we could not round up any scholars, as almost all were too frightened.

KING KUBLAI: Very well, friends. Marco, come along. I would like to meet you.

(King Kublai and Marco cross a banquet hall. Marco sees knights jousting out on a field outside. A knight walks into a hall.)

MARCO: Excuse me sir, what is life in -- (looks at notebook) -- Dunhuang?

SOLDIER: For me? I do battle training all day with my joust buddies. I fought ina war once, back in -- ah, nevermind. That story’s too long. Sometimes I work with my family on the merchants’ place.

MARCO: (Writing)

KING KUBLAI: (Chuckles) I see Marco is a writer, gathering information about us.

MARCO: Is it true you have things  known for automatically opening doors?

KING KUBLAI: Er, no.

SOLDIER: Well, gotta go.

KING KUBLAI: Come on, Marco.

(Enter decorated room.)

KING KUBLAI: Set for our guest, Haromir.

HAROMIR: Yes, sir. Right away.

KING KUBLAI: He’s a servant in the palace; my top one in fact.

(They sit at a beautiful table with flowers).

KING KUBLAI: Treat yourself here. I want to speak to your guardians.

(Exit room.)

MARCO: Ooh! Hairy Plotter! My favorite! (Looks at bookshelf) Aw man, the words are in Chinese, or Mongolian. Whatever.

(Three hours later. King Kublai enters while Marco is sleeping).

KING KUBLAI: Marco, I know I’ve just met you. I’ve talked to your parents, and I’ve come to ask you to journey around the neighboring countries and take notes? I’ve heard you are very adventurous and helpful.

MARCO: Wow! Really? Yes! (Jumping up and down). Thank you, King Kublai!! Er -- King Khan.

KING KUBLAI: Well then, why not? Let’s do it.

Scene 6

MARCO: So yeah. Good. Ok good night.

RUSTICHELLO: Marco, please tell me more. That can’t be the end!

MARCO: (Half sleeping) Please toast men moats?

RUSTICHELLO: Tell me more.

MARCO: Fine. Ok. So then King Khan sent me on the journey, and it begins like this.

MARCO: Y--

RUSTICHELLO: Wait, wait, wait. Continue from the “Let’s do it!”

MARCO: (Grumble)

Scene 7

KING KUBLAI: Marco, I’m fascinated by the west. What is it like? I’ve heard rumors of flying dragons and a secret land name Eporue!

MARCO: Well, no. In Venice, we use boats to move around, and it can get pretty busy on a canal called Grand Canal. Venice is like, a really popular trading area.

NICCOLO: Marco! Speak formally! Excuse moi, your royal highness.

MARCO: (Snicker)

KING KUBLAI: (Chuckles) Also, Marco, before I send you on journeys, would you be my envoy and administrator?

MARCO: Wow! Really!?

KING KUBLAI: Well, I think you’re fit for the job.

MARCO: Wow! You trust my intelligence and loyalty, King Khan?

NICCOLO: That’s the spirit, “King Khan”!

KING KUBLAI: I believe in you, partly since your father has told stories about your travels, I’ll pay you some chao, our money. Here, I’ll show you some (Shows).

MARCO: Wow! What -- is that? Thin metal? It’s bending!?

KING KUBLAI: Oh, this is paper money, made from Mulberry bark.

MARCO: (Writing) Mul...ber...ry b...ark

Scene 8

RUSTICHELLO: Ohhh! That’s where you got it from!

MARCO: Yup.

Scene 9

Scene opens in a room with papers.

MARCO: 512 chao, 34992

HRATI: You sure?
MARCO: Yes.

HRATI: Ok, then we’re good for today.

MARCO: First day is tuff.

HRATI: “Tough”.

MARCO: Right, still learning Chinese.

HRATI: (Sigh) Well, do you get how to do this?

MARCO: Yes.

Scene 10

Scene opens in busy market of Khanbaliq.

MARCO: (Sees crafter making stuff) Excuse me, Sir, what is life like in King Khan’s palace city?

POTTERY GUY: (Moves to wall)

MARCO: I’ll buy a pot!!! (Shouting)
POTTERY GUY: Alright, kiddo, you must be from one of those Europe countries, based on the accent. Well, a curious young man needs info. 

POTTERY GUY: Allow me to sing a song about it then. (Live bright music playing by instruments)

POTTERY GUY: (softly) And a one, two, three, four

CHORUS: Allow us to tell you ’bout this great land, ♪
treasures and beauties that you would demand! ♪
The great wall of China and chopsticks in your hand, ♪
the treasures of these bright sands! ♪

BEGGAR: (popping in) You see I live along these streets, playing along to these eloquent beats! ♪

POPE: (Church minister) We pray to Confucius who appeals to us all, ♪

OLD MAN: I feel affection to all those though small, ♪

CHORUS: No poverty will conquer us all! ♪

BEGGAR: (muttering) Maybe some of us, gals ♪

ALLl: One thing is clear to declare, ♪
Our beautiful country with no despair, ♪
it is conspicous among other airs! ♪
Our unpersecuting pedestal and statue deserving, should be exhibiting COUNTRY! ♪♪♪

(Drum sound)

MARCO: (Scribbling notes) Oooo-kay?

Scene 11

MARCO: So you see Rusty, I was an accountant and envoy to Mr. Khan while I was there. I traveled to nearby counties for inspecting and collecting data. I did that for about 17 years! That’s 2,600,000,000 days, right?

RUSTY: (And I thought I had an exciting life) Um, no.

MARCO: Well, whatever. I went to many cities and inspected many miscellaneous things there, according to the people there. Like paper money! Or coal as fuel.

RUSTY: Whoa!

Marco: Yeah, I got used to Mongolian culture, government etc. The daily life was really interesting. I got to send messages to nearby governors on horses! It was really fun! I just can’t describe it all! Here’s a few of my journeys.

(Scene opens on a grassy hill on sunset)
A faint figure appears and camera zooms toward it

Scene 12

MARCO: (Riding horse) Ya ready, ol boy? Ready to rock this lil’ hill and give that message to Commander Yao?

HORSE: (Neighing)

MARCO: Yee-Haw pardner! Leddus rock the country sands!

(Country music playing with camera showing Marco riding)

(Crash! Marco, in camp with people around him, spots Commander Yao.)

MARCO (trotting horse): Howdy folks! What a yall starin’ at?

Howdy Yao! Here’s a message from King Khan! It’s some politics things! Well, see ya later buckaroos, gotta give a message to General Chow! Howday and Yee-Haw!

MARCO: That’s one of the long talking  ones. I also visited Hangzhou, and boy, let me tell you, it was huge! Gigantic! The tea shop alone could have passed as the Venice St. Mark’s Basilica!

RUSTY: The size you mean.

MARCO: Yes. Think of my journey as a huge travel across China, in which I met the outstanding emperor and traveled across the land, singing jolly songs about tea!

RUSTY: Your journey wasa huge travel across China, in which you met the outstanding emperor and traveled across the land, singing jolly songs about tea.

MARCO: Um, yeah…

Scene 13

MARCO (singing): And I’d rather stay at Venice with the lovely tea…
than wander off to tennis at a jolly spree… ♪
or play golf… ♪
without a tee! ♪

RUSTY (Reading a book): So, Marco! Could you elaborate on your enormous journey?

MARCO (still singing): Okay, Rusty ♪
No need to get fusty ♪
On the story I just got a little rusty ♪

RUSTY: MARCO.

MARCO: Fine, fine. Other than being a trusted servant to King Khan and sent on diplomatic missions, I was also an explorer and even a governer!

RUSTY: You already said that

MARCO: Did I? Well I liked being a governer. Here’s what I did. I was the governer of Yangzhou for 2 years. I managed trade, oversighted trade, and reported to Khan. Yangzhou was very wealthy due to salt passage trades.

Scene 14

RUSTY (gazing in shock)

MARCO: Yeah. I remember one day…

(Scene opens in beautiful garden and building.)

MARCO (calculating tax): And that’s 203, 206, 205, 211, 213 chao!

HELPER: (Mumbling) Um, I think your about 6700 chao off...

(Marco zooms over to papers)

MARCO (mumbling): Hi Khan — How doing — me good — bye. OKAY! Got that.

(Zooms over to port)

MARCO: Steady guys! Get off the ship when it docks, okay? Pounding at the sea with gunpowder  is not going to help. How much money have we got today? Hey! You over there! Clonking other sailors to get off the ship faster is not permitted! No clonking!

SAILOR 1 (shouting from ship): 432!

(Marco zooms over to city)

MARCO: Bye! Hi! Hi! Hello! Bye! Sorry no autographs! Hi! Hi! Hello! Hi! Howdy! Hi! Hello!

(Back to room)

Scene 15

MARCO: So, like that for two years.

RUSTY: Cool! I always wanted to be king of Italy!

MARCO: And I’ll stay in the city ♪
As lonk as fou hik dee, ♪
Blif vy tebber lif leeeeee ♪♪

RUSTY: (snapping): Now your going crazy. Marco? Marco? Tell me MORE!

MARCO: Jeez, fine. You see, I saw lots of things other than clocks and books, paper? and… Hangzhou? Like my already explained salt and taxes! China was very interesting, but I soon got used to it. China was far more wealthy and organized than Europe for sure! Soon, I had to go home though. But before that, I met a princess.

RUSTY: WHOA!

MARCO: I’ll tell you that tomorrow.

Scene 16

MARCO: (Reading a book at 7 a.m.)
Come on, Romeo! If you’re gonna walk with Juliet over yonder how ‘bout you don’t fall into the witches’ pit? Great idea, right?

RUSTY: (Rubbing eyes) So Marco! What about that princess story from yesterday? You know, that one you said you would tell me today?

MARCO: Sure. I’m miffed about Romeo anyways. So there was this ruler who wanted to marry this Mongol princess named Kököchin. That was around the time when I had to say bye-bye to King Khan. He was sorrow, but understood I had to go.

RUSTY: Mm-hm.

MARCO: So then I—

(Joyous carnival music playing)

Sailed on a voyage over China Sea ♪
I sailed for some two years without spotin’ a tree. ♪

And when I arrived, I had a lot of glee! ♪

(Mice in bookshelf: Squeak squeak!)

MARCO: Although I was sad to go,
I knew that it would snow… ♪

So—

RUSTY: MARCO! I’m serious. What happened?

MARCO: You see, the princess wanted us to escort her to Persia. We sailed across the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. We also made pitstops in Vietnam, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and India. The journey took an overwhelming two years! Many of the sailors died due to storms, disease, falling off, perhaps one day stepping on a rope, crashing into me, and toppling into an empty fish bucket, then wandered their way over yonder to the insides of the Indian Ocean.

RUSTY: Whoa!

MARCO: Yeah, I sometimes spent dreamy afternoons with Kököchin. Ah, the days…

Scene 17

(Scene opens on huge ship on beautiful sunset)

MARCO: (Standing on the edge of the boat and looking at dinner menu)
Hmm. Lobster rolls or fish frenzy?
I’ll go with lobster then.

KOKOCHIN: (Noticing Marco) Good evening, Marco. How are you?

MARCO: (Surprised) Ahh! (Drops menu into sea)
Oh uh, I’m fabulous! Extra—

KOKOCHIN: Look Marco, I know this journey is hard. To be honest, I’ve never really been on a large ship before. I think it’s only a few weeks to Persia. Hang in there, friend!

MARCO: (Blushing) Err, okay! Time for my… um, ah! Cooking class! Never made a haddock pyramid before!

(Rats play mini guitar romance music)

MARCO (Knocking rats into fish barrel) Okay. Bye Kokochin.

Scene 18

RUSTY: Ooh! Cool! KitKry, Sorreos, Dismoritos, Gloombears, Ennui Bars, Crybury, Sniffers… Want one Marco?

MARCO: Anyway, when the voyage ended, the guy Princess Kököchin was supposed to marry died, so she married his son. She was melancholy to leave me, and said,
“So long, brosky.”

RUSTY: Wait, what?

MARCO: OK maybe not. After that, I returned to Venice! Then I became a merchant, married, and got here.

RUSTY: (Pondering) Hey, mm-no. But, mm Marco?

MARCO: Yeah?

RUSTY: Want to… make a book about your journeys?

CREDITS

Writer: Jayson

Creator: Jayson

Arts: Jayson

Special effects: Jayson

Inspired by: Jayson

Copyright of Jayson

Made completely by: Jayson

This script and movie is under full order of: Jayson

By: Jayson

Why am I repeating Jayson a 100 times is by: Jayson

Writer: Jayson

Creator: Jayson

Arts: Jayson

Special effects: Jayson

Inspired by: Jayson

Copyright of Jayson

Made completely by: Jayson

This script and movie is under full order of: Jayson

By: Jayson

Why am I repeating Jayson a 100 times is by: Jayson

Writer: Jayson

Creator: Jayson

Arts: Jayson

Special effects: Jayson

Inspired by: Jayson

Copyright of Jayson

Made completely by: Jayson

This script and movie is under full order of: Jayson

By: Jayson

Why am I repeating Jayson a 100 times is by: Jayson

Writer: Jayson

Creator: Jayson

Arts: Jayson

Special effects: Jayson

Inspired by: Jayson

Copyright of Jayson

Made completely by: Jayson

This script and movie is under full order of: Jayson

By: Jayson

Why am I repeating Jayson a 100 times is by: Jayson