Well this is a bit disappointing, but I should be used to it by now. Just as with (most of) The Cave of Skulls, The Screaming Jungle and The Rescue, the third episode by a particular director brings me down with a bump. The picture quality is poorer again, which is nobody's fault; but we also have shakier camera moves, particularly in the second scene when Autloc and Barbara are walking in discussion, and it doesn't feel as if they had the space of TC3 this time. While nothing is actively bad it generally seems to be a less smooth production.
The acting is okay, but from some it lacks a little of the spark of last time; and Walter Randall's Tonila now seems artificially stiff, whereas before he came across as reserved and nervous. We also get our first problem with the set, with a 'stone' panel that doesn't have the heft needed for William Russell and Ian Cullen to make a realistic stab at struggling to move it. Polystyrene just isn't the same.
This is the opposite of synergy. I don't know the word for that - dysergy, perhaps - but whereas last time everything came together and the whole became greater than the sum of its parts, here nothing is quite as good, and the end result is an OK episode that doesn't sparkle.
The single biggest factor to bring it down for me is the script, though to be fair this is less to do with the writing than a conflict between 'modern' 1964 and 'modern' 2011. It all starts with the conversation between Iananbarbara and their attitude of "we are civilised, they are evil." Barbara has been attempting to shoulder the White Man's Burden, to bring enlightenment to the poor, benighted natives, while Ian sides with the Doctor, though for different reasons. He just wants to get away from the savages with his neck intact, and thinks Barbara's goal is impossible; he doesn't care about preserving history. Susan, meanwhile, is convinced of the rightness of her own position and not willing to dissemble, or even be polite about it. And as for the Doctor...
I'm sure the Doctor didn't intend to hurt Cameca. He shows genuine affection for her, and is obviously shocked by what he has unwittingly promised; but he nevertheless continues using her in his plans for escape, and he is now deceiving her about his intentions. And Ian laughs! It is shockingly callous.
Don't get me wrong. There are plenty of good moments - the point at which we realise the Doctor is actively working against Barbara, for instance, or Ian being called away just as he's about to hear the details of Tlotoxl's plot. It has a good cliffhanger, and actually that Imperialist conversation between Iananbarbara is very effective. The charactisation (and logic) of the Aztec cast is spot on, and even the portrayal of the regulars makes sense. It's just that I'm not sure how much I'm on their side any more, and that leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.
Poor Cameca.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 6th June 1964
Viewers: 7.9 million
Chart Position: 19
Appreciation Index: 57
Rating:
4.5/10.
Next Time:
The Day of Darkness.
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