The acting is top notch; Walter Randall's Tonila is much more believable in this episode. The Imperialist attitude of the regulars is less intrusive (or maybe I've got more used to it). The pace is more intense, with a sense of urgency even in the scenes between the Doctor and Cameca; 25 minutes flew by. And the camerawork was less shaky again, despite being back in the confines of Studio D.
So, what specific things did I like about it? One is Ian's ingenuity in rigging up the rope, and then finding out that the angle was wrong so they hadn't got the leverage to open the door anyway without more fiddling. I loved the fact that the resolution to the plot was largely the result of the relationships the regulars had built with (some of) the locals. The discussion at the end, about what's been achieved and what couldn't be changed, is deftly done. And the Doctor turning back to get the symbol of Yetaxa given to him by Cameca is touching.
On the other hand, everyone running off to clear the decks for Ian and Ixta's prefilmed fights was unsubtle, and the fight itself was nothing much. The bit with the pulley wheel also seemed shoehorned in, as if it was important to highlight the fact that the Aztecs didn't have the wheel. And I still think the only decent thing for the Doctor to do, the thing that would take the sting out of his manipulations, was to invite Cameca to come with them. But these are all outweighed by the good.
So much for the "shopping list" review. I only want to add that it's amazing that this episode looks as good as it does, because due to an administrative error the scenery had been marked as no longer needed after the previous episode. Designer Barry Newbery and his team rescued what they could - including a backdrop covered in footprints - and, with director John Crockett, worked out new movements for the actors to avoid showing the missing parts.
A Confused Chronology, part 1: Dating The Aztecs
There are different ways to arrange any series, the obvious ones being production / publication / transmission order and chronological order. Because of the time travel element in Doctor Who, though, "chronological" is ambiguous - whose chronology are we going to choose? Generally people pick the Doctor's personal timeline, because it matches up well with the TV series, and this is what I have chosen here. Even that can be thorny, as evidenced by the problems fitting in the flashback sequence from part 1 of The Forgotten. A trickier choice is to go with a historical perspective, and order the stories from the point of view of a non-time-traveller. Whole books have been written about this; I've only read one - AHistory, by Lance Parkin - and it was good enough that I haven't sought out any others.
You can't get a date for this story just from what is stated on screen. The novelisation (also by John Lucarotti) dates it to 1507, so anyone who is happy to accept this as a source - and it certainly doesn't contradict what we see - can leave it at that; but it's not the only possibility. The Seventh Doctor novel The Left-Handed Hummingbird sets it in 1454, and various other years have been suggested with less in-universe justification. This might seem confused, but later stories will certainly cause far more trouble!
There's another important date that is relevant to this story, to the show, and to everyone alive: 22nd December, 2012. According to the Aztecs (and originally the Maya, from whom they took their astronomical and calendrical calculations) we are currently in the Fifth Age of Humanity, and have been for more than five millennia. Unfortunately, this age is due to end with the destruction of the world next year. Another age will follow, but that won't be much comfort for those around today. Particularly Doctor Who fans, because it means the show will miss its 50th anniversary celebrations.
Still, as Terry Deary points out in Angry Aztecs, it's not all bleak: at least we won't have to buy any Christmas presents next year!
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 13th June 1964
Viewers: 7.4 million
Chart Position: 34
Appreciation Index: 58
Rating:
8/10.
Next Time:
Serial F as a whole.
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