Last year, Netflix released all ten episodes of its epic mini-series, Marco Polo, on December 12. The first season was heavy on martial arts, undoubtedly due to the influence of screenwriter John Fusco. Fusco is a martial artist practitioner who also wrote the essential Jackie Chan and Jet Li film, The Forbidden Kingdom (2008), as well as the upcoming film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2: Sword of Destiny, set to premiere on Netflix on February 26, 2016. On December 15, 2015, Marco Polo will be available on Blu-ray™ and DVD from Anchor Bay and Digital HD from Starz Digital. Anchor Bay Entertainment has shared an exclusive sneak peek with KungFuMagazine.com – one of the special features that will be available on this home entertainment release.

The scale and scope of Marco Polo is unprecedented for a television series, especially a Netflix exclusive. The budget for season one was a whopping $90 million, which shows in the lavish production values. And it delivered when it came to the fight scenes, enlisting Brett Chan’s fight team to bring some top-notch choreography to the small screen. Sensing its potential impact, Kung Fu Tai Chi ran a cover story on Marco Polo in our January+February 2015 issue.

We caught up with John Fusco as he was just returning home from 10 months abroad, working on Season 2 of Marco Polo. Despite some jet lag, he was eager to share what’s in store for the world of Marco Polo.

“The special DVD box set has a good many bonus features, including two dedicated to the martial arts in the show,” says Fusco. As an avid martial artist, Fusco was very active in the martial arts portion of Marco Polo and never hesitated to jump in to the fight team’s practice sessions to keep his Kung Fu skills sharp. “One gets into the history and philosophy behind the various martial styles I have written into the series, and the other is the actual pre-viz presentations of the fights, detailing how we break them down as we design them.”

And right on the heels of the Blu-ray™ and DVD release (and Christmas), Netflix is streaming a special episode – Marco Polo: One Hundred Eyes. “On December 26th we will be streaming a half-hour special that tracks Hundred Eyes' backstory,” reveals Fusco. Hundred Eyes is based on Bayan of the Baarin, a historical Mongol general under the Great Khan who is actually mentioned in Marco Polo’s book, The Travels of Marco Polo. The Travels is a uniquely rich historical read, almost akin to a 13th century Lonely Planet guidebook. Each chapter discusses various cities that Polo visits in a somewhat formulaic report: what they trade (salt, silk, various produce and textiles), what they worship (Christian, Mahomet, or idolaters – the idolaters are Buddhists and Polo recounts the tale of Buddha but totally messes up the enlightenment part), whether they tithe to the Great Khan (Polo's discussions of Kublai take fawning to a whole new level, but you got to do that with tyrants), what kind of money they use, and some other odd details. It's those odd details that are most amusing as many of them are the sexual habits of the rulers, many of whom have amassed massive harems, like 300+ wives and consorts. But there are also detailed discussions of wife-sharing and all sorts of female subjugation. There are also some encounters with mythic beasts – Polo's description of a real unicorn is surprising. When Netflix’s Marco Polo included some extremely sexy scenes (including an erogenous naked Kung Fu fight), some viewers balked. But anyone who has actually read The Travels knew that there already was a lot of sex between those pages.

Bayan in Chinese means “hundred eyes” and is translated so in that book; however, it means “rich” in Mongol. Nevertheless, in Netflix’s adaptation, Hundred Eyes is another blind Kung Fu master. Played by Tom Wu, a genuine practitioner of Hung Gar, Wing Chun, and Karate as well as a former Modern Wushu champion, Hundred Eyes is Marco Polo’s Kung Fu teacher. Fusco elaborates, “I have long wanted to do a stand-alone episode dedicated to the warrior monk, and because he is the most popular character on the show, Netflix gave us the opportunity to do it as a 'bridge episode', something for the fans while waiting for Season 2 to come out. Tom Wu unleashes.”

Unfortunately, Fusco couldn’t reveal when Season 2 might be available. Maybe spring or summer of 2016? What he could say about Season 2 was this: “We have raised the bar on every component of the show, including the martial arts and epic battle action. There are going to be some Kung Fu-related surprises this season. I could not be more excited to launch this new season.”

Watch for your chance to win Marco Polo on DVD at KungFuMagazine.com! This sweepstakes contest runs from December 14 to 28, 2015. Five winners will be selected at random.