A new serial begins with a repeat of the model shot featuring the TARDIS dematerialising from Arbitan's isle on Marinus, and then fades; and we find ourselves in an Aztec tomb. Straight away two things strike me, and become more apparent as time goes on. First is that the sets are wonderful, similar in quality and style to those of Marco Polo and a reminder of how well the BBC can bring about the look of history. The temple, the garden, and even the backdrops work really well, and are matched by the costumes. Doesn't Jacqueline Hill look fantastic as Yetaxa? And Ian gets to wear something very silly (to our eyes) and look embarrassed about it when talking to the Doctor.
There's a variety of moods in this episode, from quiet contemplation to high drama; and this is well-supported by the accompanying music. Particularly noteworthy is the flute music in the garden, accompanied by birdsong. All the regulars (except Carole Ann Ford, who is once again sidelined) get a chance to show their mettle in different situations.
William Hartnell continues to be magnificent, both in his scenes with Cameca and when standing up for non-interference. "You can't rewrite history - not one line!" he proclaims, setting up a position which will cause much debate and thought in the future. I'll be coming back to this several times, including an entry thirty or forty posts away when I consider Simon Guerrier's take on the subject.
As I mentioned recently, William Russell shines in the quiet moments, with his understated acting; and he gets plenty of opportunities to show this off here. A fine example is his worrying over his role in the sacrifice. The way he does this at the same time as showing embarrassment over his costume is spot on. Less effective is the scene where he is introduced to Ixta. This is not helped by the latter's slow, stagey fight with a colleague, which is not very exciting, because of they way they were shooting them back then and the fact that the props were delicate. Still, Russell at least keeps a straight face.
And so we come to Hill, who is - let's face it - the primary focus of the story. She may not get the most screen time, but everything revolves around her. Not since serial C has this been true, and again it's driven by the conflict between her and the Doctor; though the dynamic is different this time. From the moment in the tomb where she waxes lyrical about the beautiful aspects of Aztec culture that have been forgotten because of our concentration on the horrors, she is on an emotional journey that climaxes with her declaration that she is "not Barbara. Yetaxa". Her fascination and balanced viewpoint have become a crusade to save what is good about the society, and she has the hubris to think she can achieve that.
Speaking of Aztec culture, this is something that is well-presented. We have the two local mouthpieces, appropriately enough priests: Autloc represents the modern view and Tlotoxl the contemporary. I say "modern", but it's striking how much has changed since 1964. The comments about leaving the girls in safety while Ian and the Doctor go out and about may not be quite as jarring as the human sacrifices, but they still provoke a wry smile. Or a wince.
Keith Pyott's Autloc comes across as a bit of a wishy-washy liberal. These days he'd be the one standing up for gay marriages in C of E churches while desperately trying to avoid conflict with those who oppose them, and if I was any character in this story, it would be him. On the other hand, there's nothing wishy-washy about John Ringham's Tlotoxl. Ringham explained in interview that he was tasked with creating a villain that every child in the country would hate; and he does this by channelling Shakespeare's Richard III. Yes, he's deliberately OTT. This wouldn't matter if the other actors were approaching their parts in a compatible manner, but they're not, and so the performance jars. Still, he's certainly a marvellously capital-V Villain, and he gets a cliffhanger that really makes me go "whoah!" as he almost breaks the fourth wall, advancing on the audience while expounding his plans. Boo, Tlotoxl! Boo!
The keen-eyed amongst you will have spotted that I haven't mentioned the second thing to strike me when watching the episode, and this is something that is worthy of a separate section:
Missing from the Archives, Part 4: Wiping the Video
Technically, The Temple of Evil doesn't look as good as the episodes of the previous serial. Some of this is that the camerawork is less polished than last time, and that's what I put it all down to originally; but some of it is that the quality of the surviving recording is somewhat lacking. In the early days most of the recording for the show was done on videotape, with some film inserts. The whole thing was then transferred onto film for foreign sales. Since videotape was extremely expensive the tapes were later wiped and reused.
The problem with this is that film has around 40 fewer lines and 25 frames per second instead of 50. In addition, the film can deterioriate. A variety of techniques can be used to lessen the effect of the damage, and a process called VidFIRE can restore some of the lost detail by calculating interleaved frames; but the quality of the result really does depend on the quality of the surviving film. This, combined with the fact that The Aztecs was an early (2002) DVD release and the first to use VidFIRE throughout - before the process had matured - means that the results leave something to be desired.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 23rd May 1964
Viewers: 7.4 million
Chart Position: 25
Appreciation Index: 62
Rating:
8/10.
Next Time:
The Warriors of Death.
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