Written by John Lucarotti | Directed by John Crockett | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 05/30/64
*A quick note on the format of this blog. Past entries have been too summary-heavy, which has already proven tedious to write (particularly the note taking phase). Since episode summaries abound online, I'm going to try to limit posts to my own thoughts, starting with this post. As a result, post lengths may vary wildly, especially as I get used to the new format. I think it will prove more interesting as a result, though, hopefully! Thanks for reading!*
I love the opening scene of the episode, with the Doctor absolutely furious with Barbara for attempting to stop the human sacrifice from last episode. William Hartnell can play righteous fury with the best of them, and since Barbara is the best actor of all his companions, their scenes together always work so well. Barbara is on the defensive, here, which is unusual, since she's often the one furious with the Doctor in similar scenes. Jacqueline Hill is a good enough actress to play it both ways, though, and Hartnell matches her.
Tlotoxl is an interesting character. He is a master manipulator - he plays everyone off each other very well, be they the TARDIS crew or his fellow Aztecs. I'm largely unfamiliar with Aztec culture besides the broad strokes, but it seems odd to me that he's allowed to publicly declare Yetaxa to be a false goddess and not face any consequence. Lucarotti sets this up by making it appear to be a debate between Tlotoxl and Autloc - though Autloc is the senior priest, he doesn't seem to have absolute authority to completely shut Tlotoxl down. Which is probably a good thing, as it provides tension that lasts throughout the serial - and unlike his past effort, Lucarotti is able to keep things interesting throughout.
I can't blame the fight scenes on Lucarotti, though, of course. The first one in this episode seems to be a hug battle between Ian and Ixta. I'd imagine it's a directing problem - Waris Hussein was able to get a good fight scene out of cavemen in "The Firemaker," but Crockett seems satisfied with a fight between two men who appear to never have fought before (which is understandable on Ian's part as he's a schoolteacher, but Ixta is supposed to be a decorated warrior by this point in his life). Ian's Vulcan neck pinch is weird - it's something that would be painful, but shouldn't knock anybody out, much less an Aztec warrior.
I can't believe I'm saying it, but the First Doctor flirting with Cameca actually works. He seems genuinely affectionate with her, and while her actress's performance falls a little flat for me, Hartnell is able to carry the scene.
It occurred to me while watching this episode that it's possible Tlotoxl doesn't believe in any of the gods at all, and just enjoys being a bloodthirsty manipulative bastard. I don't remember how the last episode of this serial actually ends, but at the end of the last episode, Tlotoxl is obsessed with proving Barbara to be a false goddess. He's convinced she's fake as soon as she suggests the sacrifices should stop - and is never once afraid of being punished in case he's wrong (he says he is, but he's so confident he's right, he could easily be lying). When he tells Ixta to kill Ian despite Autloc's wishes, he's clearly so happy with the idea that he probably just wants to see people die. Perhaps this is a comment on human sacrifice on Lucarotti's part - that only someone as evil and bloodthirsty as Tlotoxl could perform the task. The Doctor, though, has more ambiguous feelings on it - he's mad at Barbara at the beginning of the episode not only because he thinks her attempt to stop human sacrifice will fail, but also because he feels like it's disrespecting Aztec religion and culture.
Susan's subplot is uninteresting. She's being taught how to be a proper, demure Aztec woman, and she protests that she'll pick her husband, not be assigned one, which is nice enough and agreeable to me, but playing it as a definite backwards cultural artifact doesn't work, considering there are cultures today that still do arranged marriages and I happen to know a couple who are very happy together in that situation (a Muslim friend of mine's parents were arranged, and they're a great couple).
The Doctor is arrested when he goes to talk to Barbara near the end of the episode, because her servants aren't supposed to go talk to her, according to Tlotoxl. I bring it up because Hartnell goes nuts in this scene, spitting and complaining about his treatment, and I love it. I always love an indignant Doctor, and Hartnell plays indignant very well.
This is another serial that I wish was in color. The costumes look gorgeous and I bet the sets would look better with some color in them - particularly the scenes at the top of the pyramid (though the painted background might not pop so well). I felt the same way about Marco Polo, so it appears Lucarotti gets lucky with his set designers.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Bride of Sacrifice"
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