“You can't rewrite history, not one line”
Oh yeah? Tell that to David Tennant…
Anyway, our travellers land in Aztec times (hence the title, I guess) and have another inconvenient “Oh crap, we can’t get back to the TARDIS, might as well have a wander around” moment. They soon wander into some Aztecs who mistake Barbara for a God and hilarity ensues.
The most notable thing about this story for me is the characters of the Aztec people we meet. The High Priest of Sacrifice is fantastic. He reminds me of the Witchfinder General in the first series of Blackadder but without being played for laughs. A more sinister Doctor Who baddie I simply cannot recall. He’s a right bastard and yet one can’t help but have some sympathy for him. After all, he keeps banging on about Barbara being a false Goddess, which, well, she rather is.
I know I keep on about the lack of proper historicals in modern day Who but this just proves you can have a delicious villain without a hint of other-worldliness. Some people love to trot out the “Well this just proves the biggest monsters the Doctor faces are mankind” line – this cliché annoys me. This story is not about monsters it’s about relative morality – what was believed to be right and Godly at one time and place but is no longer so now.
This is also a story with proper cliffhangers – Episode 2 and 3 both leave our characters in proper peril, as it should be. Up to this point this hasn’t always been the strongest part of some stories.
We get to see The Doctor accidentally almost getting married for the first time:
“Yes, I made some cocoa and got engaged”
A brilliant line and delivered to perfection by Hartnell. And we start getting banter, actual banter, between The Doctor and companions. Not sure I’ve laughed like that since starting this marathon than I did at that line and the scene with The Doctor and Ian is brilliant.
The side characters in this story are also nicely developed. Cameca falling in love with a man she knows will leave her and Autloc developing very human doubts about his religion. Even Ixta and The Perfect Victim are given a degree of depth.
A really enjoyable story this. Personal battles with religious conscience, a clash of cultural expectations and Ian gets a few punch ups. The man really is the British Bruce Willis. A great performance from Jacqueline Hill and William Hartnell really now starts to feel like The Doctor for me - Guardian of time and stopping the humans from pissing about in their own history too much. Nice.
Oh yeah? Tell that to David Tennant…
Anyway, our travellers land in Aztec times (hence the title, I guess) and have another inconvenient “Oh crap, we can’t get back to the TARDIS, might as well have a wander around” moment. They soon wander into some Aztecs who mistake Barbara for a God and hilarity ensues.
The most notable thing about this story for me is the characters of the Aztec people we meet. The High Priest of Sacrifice is fantastic. He reminds me of the Witchfinder General in the first series of Blackadder but without being played for laughs. A more sinister Doctor Who baddie I simply cannot recall. He’s a right bastard and yet one can’t help but have some sympathy for him. After all, he keeps banging on about Barbara being a false Goddess, which, well, she rather is.
I know I keep on about the lack of proper historicals in modern day Who but this just proves you can have a delicious villain without a hint of other-worldliness. Some people love to trot out the “Well this just proves the biggest monsters the Doctor faces are mankind” line – this cliché annoys me. This story is not about monsters it’s about relative morality – what was believed to be right and Godly at one time and place but is no longer so now.
This is also a story with proper cliffhangers – Episode 2 and 3 both leave our characters in proper peril, as it should be. Up to this point this hasn’t always been the strongest part of some stories.
We get to see The Doctor accidentally almost getting married for the first time:
“Yes, I made some cocoa and got engaged”
A brilliant line and delivered to perfection by Hartnell. And we start getting banter, actual banter, between The Doctor and companions. Not sure I’ve laughed like that since starting this marathon than I did at that line and the scene with The Doctor and Ian is brilliant.
The side characters in this story are also nicely developed. Cameca falling in love with a man she knows will leave her and Autloc developing very human doubts about his religion. Even Ixta and The Perfect Victim are given a degree of depth.
A really enjoyable story this. Personal battles with religious conscience, a clash of cultural expectations and Ian gets a few punch ups. The man really is the British Bruce Willis. A great performance from Jacqueline Hill and William Hartnell really now starts to feel like The Doctor for me - Guardian of time and stopping the humans from pissing about in their own history too much. Nice.