Doctor Who: The Aztecs

DOCTOR WHO, SEASON 1! Watched from March 11th, 2020 to April 8th, 2020.

I, Gargus, being the greatest proponent of Classic Doctor Who not deserving a space on letterboxd for myriad reasons pertaining to classification and inconsistency with the revival series, do hereby begin a season-by-season review of Classic Doctor Who on letterboxd because I've started watching the episodes in the background at work with Jackie and have nowhere else to put my thoughts. Crown me the King Hypocrite at your leisure so we can get on with the writing. These reviews are just gonna be rankings of each serial from each season, with some brief thoughts on their merits and anything I found interesting, logged only on the serial I consider the best to avoid cluttering my diary too much. Conditions established, let's head all the way back to 1963-1964, back when all we had was a police box, an enigmatic old man, two schoolteachers, and an unearthly child...

1 - The Aztecs: I greatly look forward to when four-episode stories become the norm on Doctor Who, because the series more readily fills the time with satisfactory material than it does during longer journeys. This early historical centers its main conflict around Barbara positioning herself as a reincarnated goddess in vain hope of halting the Aztecs' practice of human sacrifice and "saving" them from Cortez's arrival, with smart emphasis on just why such a plan wouldn't work. There's clearly defined conflict with guest characters whose eeeeeevil ways are really just the culture as it was at the time, sympathetic characters whose help often digs the TARDIS crew into a deeper hole, and proper emphasis on how those who seem most on the companions' side are the outliers in this period of history. The whole story makes a good chance for Jacqueline Hill to take the spotlight and play her character in a position of power and necessary humbling, while William Russell gets some rar...

This four-parter allows "Barbara" (Jacqueline Hill) a little more of the plot as the time travellers arrive at the height of the Aztec empire. Despite firm instructions from the "Doctor" (William Hartnell) not to wander, she goes for a stroll and is soon apprehended on the wrong side of a stone door by "Autloc" (Keith Pyott) who takes her somewhat miraculous arrival as a sign from their god "Yetaxa". Next thing, she's the High Priestess and she and her colleagues are all having to walk a fine line between the powers that be in the city and those more sceptical of her appointment and who turn things distinctly perilous for poor old "Ian" (William Russell) who ends up at the mercy of the malevolent "Tlotoxl" (John Ringham). He also has it in for "Susan" (Carole Ann Ford) too! This story works quite well mixing a solid base of interesting mythology with some decent writing and plenty of intrigue as the wooden axes become increasingly sharpened! There are no special effects to speak of, so no latex and polystyrene distractions from quite an entertaining and well-paced adventure.