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Story Six
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Story Code
F
Title
The
Aztecs
“Friends” Title
The
One With The Human Sacrifice
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Episode Titles
The
Temple Of Evil
The
Warriors Of Death
The
Bride Of Sacrifice
The
Day Of Darkness
Current availability
All
four episodes exist.
Source
BBC
Video release.
Apparently intact apart
from the “Next Episode” caption at the end of “The Day Of Darkness”, which has
been deleted. This seems a minor
quibble, and I shan’t bother complaining about it again.
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Date
1435.
The
priest in the tomb died, according to Barbara, circa 1430, as his belongings
are from the “early period.” He has
presumably not been dead too long - at any rate, this is certainly before 1520,
when Cortez landed and killed everybody.
Genre
Historical.
Plot synopsis
1. The TARDIS lands in an Aztec tomb. The travellers accidentally discover a hidden
door, which closes behind them, cutting them off from the Ship. Barbara has donned a bracelet from within the
tomb, and is mistaken for the Goddess Yetaxa by Autloc, High Priest Of
Knowledge. The others are taken for her
servants. The Doctor is taken to the
Garden of Peace, and forms a friendship with a lady named Cameca. Ian is chosen to command the army, and must
prove his worth against Ixta. He learns
he is to aid in the upcoming sacrifice ordered by Tlotoxl, High Priest Of
Sacrifice, to appease the Gods and bring rain to the land. Despite the Doctor’s objections, Barbara
interferes with the sacrifice, hoping to change the Aztec civilisation for the
better and thus save them from Cortez.
The intended victim is appalled that she has denied him honour, and
leaps to his death. Rain comes. Tlotoxl accuses Barbara of being a false
goddess and says he will destroy her.
2. The Doctor tears a strip off Barbara
for her interference. Susan is sent to a
seminary to learn respect for the Aztec customs - her modern attitudes soon
cause difficulties. Barbara warns Autloc
that continuing the tradition of human sacrifice will bring doom upon his
people. Ian shows his mettle by felling
Ixta with his thumb, and the Perfect Victim - who will be sacrificed in a few
days when the sun goes into eclipse - orders an unarmed match between the
two. Ixta gets aid from the Doctor, who
does not realise his opponent will be Ian - he hopes to exchange his help for
drawings Ixta’s architect father made of the tomb he built. Ixta uses a poisoned thorn to win the fight,
but Barbara commands him to stop before he can kill Ian. Tlotoxl challenges her to make him stop.
3. Barbara prevents Ian’s death by
threatening Tlotoxl’s life. No victory
is declared in the contest. She
persuades Autloc to side with her, despite his misgivings for his future should
she prove false. Ixta reveals there are
no blueprints of the tomb. Ian manages
to convince Barbara that she cannot change the Aztecs, that civilised Autloc is
the odd man out rather than barbaric Tlotoxl.
Barbara is offered a poisoned draught by Tlotoxl and Tonila, but rumbles
them. She admits her falseness to
Tlotoxl, but threatens to destroy him if he speaks against her. Through his machinations, the Perfect Victim
proposes marriage to Susan, who refuses, this breaking the law - she is to be
mutilated on the day of darkness.
Meanwhile the Doctor makes cocoa for Cameca and accidentally becomes
engaged. He and Ian find an entrance to
the tomb - Ian enters the tunnel, but Ixta replaces the stone, trapping Ian as
the tunnel fills with water.
4. Ian finds another way out, which leads
to the room where the Ship still waits.
He is reunited with Barbara and the Doctor, and rescues Susan from under
Ixta’s guard. The companions try to
access the tomb by pulling on a fabric lever Ian has created - it breaks. Meanwhile, Tlotoxl orders Ixta to attack
Autloc with Ian’s weapon - Ian and Susan find his body just in time to be arrested,
and Autloc proclaims Barbara as false.
Tlotoxl plans to dispose of her on the day of darkness. On said day, the Doctor creates a pulley
wheel (being an invention the Aztecs never mastered) and admits to his fiancée
that he is leaving. Autloc and Barbara
are reconciled: the High Priest goes
into the wilderness to seek truth, leaving the badge of his position for Cameca
to bribe the man guarding Ian and Susan.
Tlotoxl discovers their disappearance and tries to kill Barbara before
the ceremony: Ian blocks him and
confronts Ixta - in the ensuing fight, Ixta is thrown off the temple to his
death. The four companions make their
escape using the pulley wheel, and Tlotoxl makes the sacrifice at the hour of
the eclipse. When the TARDIS lands once
more, the instruments register movement.
Are they on top of something or inside it?
Pitch
Doctor Who teaches little-known pieces of history.
The Money Shot
Barbara
turns round to the Doctor wearing the head-dress of Yetaxa. (Episode 1)
The Doctor and his kind
•
“You are a healer?” asks Cameca. “No,
no, “ replies the Doctor, “they call me the Doctor. I am a scientist and engineer, I am a builder
of things.” Is this how the Doctor sees
himself, or just a ruse to gain knowledge about the temple?
•
It is nice to see in this story that the Doctor is as capable of tender
emotions as any of us - it is perhaps most obvious that it is not all just
play-acting in the final episode. He
looks close to tears when he and Cameca finally part.
•
The Doctor keeps the brooch with Yetaxa’s symbol on it given to him by Cameca -
after a moment’s hesitation.
The history of Earth
•
Mexico in the fifteenth century was populated by the Aztec civilisation, who
were a people with a great love of beauty and learning, who also happened to
believe in human sacrifice. When Cortez
and his Spanish fleet invaded in 1520, they took one look at the apparently
barbaric people slaughtering each other on rocks and wiped them out. The good and bad aspects of the Aztecs were
lost forever.
Script Heaven
•
The Doctor “You can’t rewrite history!
Not one line!”
•
Ian “Where did you get this?” The Doctor
“My fiancée.” Ian “I see...your what?”
The Doctor “Yes, I made cocoa and got engaged.”
•
The Doctor “There you are, my dear, it’s nearly finished.” Cameca “As is our time together. I do not know what its purpose is, but I’ve
always known it would take you away from me.”
The Doctor “Yes, I’m sorry, my dear.”
Cameca “Tomorrow will truly be a day of darkness.” The Doctor “For both of us.” Cameca “Tlotoxl is determined to destroy
Yetaxa.” The Doctor “He must do, to
safeguard his own beliefs.” Cameca “We
are a doomed people, my dear. There’s no
turning back for us.” The Doctor “You
are a very fine woman, Cameca, and you’ll always be very very dear to me.”
The Doctor’s Achievement
•
Not one jot. In fact, they discuss this
at the end of the story. “What’s the
point of travelling through time and space, we can’t change anything,” says
Barbara. The Doctor argues that they
have effect in little ways - “He [Autloc] found another faith, a better, and
that’s the good you’ve done. You failed
to save a civilisation, but you helped one man.” Well, that’s one point of view. Another might be that Autloc was quite happy
before they turned up, and now he’s lost everything he held dear and is
wandering in the wilderness.
Metaphorically, the same can be said for Cameca.
Body Count
The
first victim, the guard in episode 4, Ixta and the Perfect Victim. The dead priest in the tomb doesn’t count!
4.
Screams / Twists Ankle
•
One of Barbara’s specialist subjects in History was the Aztec
civilisation. Handy, that. I wonder what her others were.
•
Ian knows self-defence - he can defeat Ixta with his thumb.
•
Actually, Ian shows a propensity for violence throughout this story. He abandons Cameca’s attempts at bribery in
favour of hitting the guard - and, in a joyous moment, actually nuts Ixta in
the face!
•
Susan’s apparent love of learning, which previously landed her at Coal Hill
School, rears its head here - she seems very dedicated at the seminary.
Checkov’s Plot Device
Checkov’s
Wheel...in a sense, anyway. Correct me
if I’m wrong, but the Doctor does mention in episode one that they never
invented the wheel, and then uses a pulley wheel to escape three episodes
later.
EffectsWatch
•
Note the painfully slowly choreographed fight sequence in episode 1.
Dudley!
•
Great music here, with two distinct types (one for dramatic sequences such as
the fight in episode 4, the other mainly used in the Garden of Peace
sequences). Sounds “authentically Aztec”
- or good, at any rate. Atmospheric.
Whoops
•
When Ian ties the fabric to the stone wall in episode 4, the set wobbles
noticeably.
Notes
•
All right, episode titles are getting a bit silly now, aren’t they? First take “The”, then a feature of the
episode, then “of”, then finally a random adjective.
•
Tlotoxl speaks directly to camera at the end of episode 1, a first for the
show. Not necessarily a good first, but
a first nonetheless.
•
The scene at the start of episode 2 where the Doctor yells at Barbara is really
great, possibly the best piece of interplay between the leads yet shown.
•
It is also a joy to see the Doctor flirting shamelessly with Cameca. Note that he picks her out immediately for no
readily apparent reason - clearly he just fancies her!
•
Carole Ann Ford’s sparse appearances in the middle episodes are because it was
her turn to go on holiday.
Queries
•
Would the Doctor and Cameca actually have been sexually compatible?
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On-screen Credits
CAST
Dr.
Who - William Hartnell, Ian Chesterton - William Russell, Barbara Wright -
Jacqueline Hill, Susan Foreman - Carole Ann Ford, Autloc - Keith Pyott, Tlotoxl
- John Ringham, Ixta - Ian Cullen, Cameca - Margot Van Der Burgh, Tonila -
Walter Randall (2-4), Perfect Victim - André Boulay (2-4), First Victim - Tim
Booth (1), Aztec Captain - David Anderson.
CREW
Written
by John Lucarotti. Title Music by Ron
Grainer with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
Incidental Music by Richard Rodney Bennett. Conductor - Marcus Dods. Fights arranged by David Anderson (4). Costumes by Daphne Dare (4). Make-Up Supervisor - Jill Summers (4). Story Editor - David Whitaker. Designer - Barry Newbury. Associate Producer - Mervyn Pinfield. Producer - Verity Lambert. Directed by John Crockett.
Review
What
a change of pace. This is exactly what a
Doctor Who historical should be - realistically portrayed, well-researched,
beautifully-scripted and with a strong moral sting. It’s not perfect by any means - the casual
viewer might easily find their attention slipping, and not all the set pieces
work as they might. This story benefits
immensely from the four regulars at their strongest yet - Jacqueline Hill in
particular has far more to do here, and makes the most of her rôle as a
goddess. The four each get their own
slivers of plot to deal with, all of which dovetail impressively so that
nothing seems superfluous (with the possible exception of the Susan/Perfect
Victim sub-sub-subplot). Using a wheel
to enter the tomb, having mentioned in episode one that the Aztecs never
discovered the wheel, is an especially nice touch. John Ringham provides a worthy villain, but
the supporting honours are stolen by Keith Pyott’s troubled priest and Margot
Van Der Burgh’s ageing lady in need of affection. The subplot involving the Doctor’s engagement
is unexpectedly touching, and full marks for deviating enough from the expected
path to include it. Lest anyone think
that the moral ambiguity was disappearing from the series, this story should
dispel such fears. The Doctor and Ian
are here forced to set themselves against Barbara’s attempts to end human
sacrifice, while she tricks and deceives Autloc into helping her, much as the
Doctor manipulates his fiancée. A
well-crafted gentler tale, with subtle overtones of horror. Nice one.
Rating
8 / 10
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