Holistic Review: A tense and ultimately melancholy story in which Barbara defies the Doctor in a one-woman crusade to stamp out the Aztec tradition of human sacrifice and save their culture from destruction. This strong plotline inspires numerous wonderful character moments, supported by an overall great guest cast, interesting direction, and a script full of twists that captures the interest.

In my opinion, The Aztecs is the benchmark against which all other historicals should be judged. It illustrates better than any of the other existing historicals how such an adventure ought to be structured. Part of its success lies in the nature of the setting; the duality between the Aztecs' dark and light natures is illustrated well, with their hospitality and technological achievements being contrasted with their casual treatment of human suffering and death, and that dark side of Aztec culture poses constant and varied threats to the safety of the TARDIS crew. The setup is great: Barbara is hailed as a god, with lots of power that she fully intends to flex, but if she makes one slip, they're all dead.

Best of all, this story utilizes Barbara in a completely unexpected way, by thrusting her into prominence in a plotline which foregrounds the crucial argument of why history cannot and should not be tampered with, no matter how good the intent. This issue is revisited later, with interesting revelations, in The Reign of Terror, Father's Day and The Fires of Pompeii, but (Father's Day aside) not as intensely as it is here, where altering the course of history becomes a very personal fight for Barbara, even when the culture itself and her own travelling companions fight to keep her from succeeding. This story unquestionably belongs to Barbara, who is much more crucial to the unfolding of events than even the Doctor, and Jacqueline Hill is a total star. But we'll come back to her momentarily.

The Aztecs does a nice job of balancing all the early remits of the series: the whole story is one big window into Aztec history and culture, with a lot of the basic information laid out for us in the very first scene, and we get some nice scientific lessons on (unnamed) poisonous plants and the use of a wheel and pulley for leverage.

Well, that's enough discussion of not-Barbara. Time for me to heap praise on Jacqueline Hill, who scores in The Aztecs one of the meatiest companion storylines prior to Sophie Aldred's era. Rarely is a companion allowed to take center stage like this, particularly with power and influence greater than the Doctor's, and like Barbara, Jackie fiercely rises to the challenge. It's a refreshing facet of the early years that all four regulars received relatively equal treatment, and the supporting players were allowed to take a star turn. That move pays off great, with Hill giving a powerhouse performance in which Barbara handles her newfound position with deliberated calm, punctuated with bouts of quiet fury when facing down Tlotoxl and his cronies, and having the backbone to stand up to the Doctor to do what she thinks is right. Not only does she demonstrate a lot of bravery in facing down Tlotoxl as well as the Doctor, she also shows a great deal of wisdom (particularly with her recommendation that Susan be educated rather than punished), clever thinking on her feet, and determination to do the right thing. I love the fact that, despite the terrifyingly thin line she has to walk, Barbara never lets the Aztecs see her fear, only letting her true emotions slip when she's alone with the Doctor or Ian. She gets completely swept away in her grandiose dream of saving the Aztecs, but it really is a worthwhile endeavour. The unfortunate thing is that as soon as she starts to use her influence in an attempt to change things for the better, every step she takes seems to erode her influence a little bit more, and what power she had slips away so very fast that, before long, she's destroyed her credibility too much for her to be able to make a difference.

Not only does Barbara's knowledge of history make her uniquely suited to adopt the role she's given here, but we find out early on that the Aztec period was one of her specialties, which is just a good thing given the drilling she gets by Tlotoxl (although apparently even her reading didn't extend to the names of the thirteen Aztec heavens). What's especially great is that because Barbara has studied their culture, she has a genuine appreciation for the positive influences of the Aztecs — appropriately, given her fair-minded nature — and so her desire to save them from Cortez is well-motivated from the start. There's a really cool moment in which she uses her knowledge of the Aztecs' fate to prophesy a dire warning to Autloc, no doubt the one person who would really take it to heart (although it's a shame that he isn't able to spread his convictions to the rest of Tenochtitlan). Hill's performance is just superb throughout, but I especially love the way Barbara keeps a straight face when her travelling companions see her Yetaxa getup for the first time, until the warriors leave them alone in the temple, and then she flashes them an astonished little grin.

As the character with the most knowledge of the perils of time travel, the Doctor has an interesting role in this story. Depending on your perspective, he's either Barbara's conscience (reminding her that some things just shouldn't be tampered with, no matter what the justification) or the millstone around her neck (vociferously trying to prevent her from saving thousands of lives). There's an interesting moment in which the Doctor lets his guard drop, and admits to Cameca that he agrees with Barbara's opinion against human sacrifice. Why he suddenly endorses her views in public is a mystery, given that he's been spending the entire story railing against her efforts, and he doesn't appear to feel the need to keep up the Yetaxa pretense around Cameca, so the only logical explanation is that he really does agree with what she's trying to do, but he accepts that there are highly valid reasons why it simply can't be done, and he's worried that if Barbara tries, she'll bring down a world of hurt upon them all. If that was Lucarotti's intent, then it's a very nice touch. Hartnell is charming in this story, now firmly entrenched in "kindly doddering grandfather" mode. His interplay with his co-stars is delightful, his scenes with Jacqueline Hill crackle with very honest emotions, and he has particularly good chemistry with Margot Van der Burgh's Cameca, an issue to which we will most certainly be returning, don't you know. Love the way he nods absent-mindedly when Cameca cooes "You have declared your love for me!", followed by his spluttering when he it dawns on him what exactly he's just done. We have a surprisingly low number of Billy-fluffs here, the notable exceptions being his accidental early delivery of "Charming!" (after Ian's "Is that who you think they are?"), one hilarious one that I will recount below, and possibly his tendency to tread on other people's lines (such as asking Ian "What are you supposed to do?" right as Ian is telling him), although it's hard to tell if those are flubs or actually good acting.

Barbara may be the companion with the mostest this week, but Ian is no slouch in the bravery department either. Forced into battles to the death to win a position he doesn't want, Ian demonstrates his quick thinking and an aversion to violence that even the Doctor would envy. (Doesn't last long, though; by episode 4, he's back to catapulting people off ziggurats again.) His declaration that he can beat Ixta using only his thumb is truly a cheer-out-loud moment, particularly when he actually does it just as Tlotoxl walks in, and leaves them all gawping in his wake. Way awesome! And when he is fighting with weapons, he's more than able to hold his own against Ixta (even after being poisoned, until it incapacitates him), who not only knows the weapons much better than Ian, but has been training as a warrior his whole life. ... Okay, so maybe Ian's skills are slightly improbable, but let's not rain on his parade, 'kay? It's also nice that Ian, as the one closest to Barbara, gets to have a heart-to-heart with her and is ultimately the one who brings her to her senses (although I feel slightly disloyal typing that, because I don't disagree with what Barbara was trying to do). He's absolutely right to point out that although Barbara might want to believe that Tlotoxl is the snake in the grass, in reality the rest of Aztec civilization agrees with him, and it's Autloc who's the odd man out. Love the moment in which everyone corrects Ian's pronunciation of 'Autloc'... it just helps make their interplay feel so naturalistic. And I love the way some of the Aztecs (notably Ixta) pronounce his name. Ee-ahn.

Carole Ann Ford gets slightly sidelined in this story thanks to her two-week holiday in the middle of it, but no matter: she'll get her turn for the next six weeks. It's not as if The Aztecs under-utilizes her, despite her absence; her two pre-filmed scenes actually do a very good job of showcasing Susan's outspokenness and independence of spirit, which of course gets her into loads of trouble with the propriety-minded Aztecs. Poor thing, between protesting at sacrifices and refusing to adore her arranged marriage, Mexico is much more Tijuana-drug-deal-gone-wrong than Cancun-at-spring-break for Susan. (Then again, it's not too much of a stretch to imagine circumstances under which Cancun-at-spring-break might overlap with cactus-thorns-piercing-tongues, is it?) But her training in the ways of Aztec life is pretty fascinating.

Of the guest stars, John Ringham turns in one of my top performances of the entire series. I know I probably ought to find him hammy, but I don't; I feel like he's giving 110% to make Tlotoxl captivating and conniving, and for me, it works. He's a natural with the dialogue, leaving it stilted enough to feel poetic but milking every last nuance out of his lines. The intensity in his delivery and in his face means that you just can't take your eyes off him. As much as Hill and Hartnell get dramatic scenes together, Ringham's scenes with Hill really sizzle, as the two of them repeatedly square off against one another and attempt to get the upper hand. This is particularly evident when Barbara finally confronts him over his testing of her, and has a bit of an emotional breakdown after Tlotoxl finally slinks away. Also check out Ringham's performance during his conversation with Tonila about poisoning Barbara. As a character, Tlotoxl is deliciously wicked. He keeps coming up with scheme after scheme to quietly off one member of the TARDIS crew or another, particularly once he shrewdly recognizes that the way to get to Barbara is by threatening her "servants". First he jockeys Ian into an inescapable position as a contender to lead their warriors (which is downplayed here, but would surely have been a terrifying situation, knowing how brutal Aztec warriors likely were), then he gets the Perfect Victim to arrange a combat to the death for Ian, tries to "test" Barbara with poison, manipulates Susan into publically speaking out against Aztec customs, almost successfully frames Ian for an attack on Autloc, and finally plans to entomb Barbara alive within the walls of the temple (while Susan is pierced with thorns and Ian is killed in a duel). Surely this must be one of the most violent Doctor Who stories ever, at least in words if not in deeds! Delightfully, Barbara proves to be more than his match. When Tlotoxl challenges her to save Ian from certain death, she does so by threatening Tlotoxl's life unless Ian is spared — unconventional, but certainly effective! And, thanks to Ian, she sees through Tlotoxl's poisoning scheme, and suggests that he drink first; his astonishment at her rage, and flustered behavior thereafter, is a pretty impressive result for Barbara, given how composed and calculating he usually is.

Ringham's performance is a wonderful contrast to Keith Pyott as Autloc, who — in keeping with the character — downplays his lines and makes Autloc reserved and thoughtful, as a balance to Tlotoxl's passionate and fiery nature. Autloc's doubts about his faith, notably the validity of human sacrifice, is contrasted with Tlotoxl's fervor wonderfully from the very start. As Ian points out, it's pretty remarkable that Autloc keeps such an open mind; given his position in the society, he's incredibly courageous to be so flexible and willing to stick out his neck. I really love his line "We send messengers to the gods, why should the gods not send a messenger to us?" to explain why he's willing to reconsider his beliefs. (You know, a lot of people nowadays could benefit from his example.) There's a very sad moment in which we think Tlotoxl has finally managed to turn Autloc against Barbara, but as always, his open-mindedness prevails and Barbara is able to convince him that they're still on the same side. Ultimately, Autloc turns out to be one of the most selfless people ever in Doctor Who, giving up his title and all his wealth in order to save Susan's life (although by that point, he appears not to want any of it anyway). My one regret is that Autloc doesn't get to say farewell to Barbara, who might have dealt better with his loss of faith if she had been able to discuss it with him.

Another gem in the cast is Margot Van der Burgh as Cameca, who is truly a great character. She facilitates lots of plot points, given that she's respected by both Autloc and Ixta, and is devoted to the Doctor's cause, so she alone can mingle with both sides of the field. And she's clearly a woman of high ethics, given that she makes sure the guard has Autloc's ornament, even after Ian has knocked him out and made his escape with Susan. Poor thing, though, Van der Burgh certainly doesn't look as old as Cameca is implied to be, and must have felt a little put out to be playing a character who has been retired to the garden of peace... although as lifespans probably weren't super-long in Aztec times, maybe that just meant she was over 45.

Ian Cullen is perhaps the serial's weak link; I'm just not sure he's the best actor. Ixta is, however, very sneaky in the way he plays the Doctor, getting him to betray Ian without even realizing it. Walter Randall is good as Tonila, although he doesn't get quite enough to do to really make an impression; likewise André Boulay as the Perfect Victim.

John Lucarotti's dialogue is great; the regulars sound very naturalistic, which is a nice contrast with the cod-Shakespearean of the Aztec characters (and Barbara, in Yetaxa-mode), and there are some real dialogue gems throughout. One of my favorite features of his script, aside from the strong role he gives Barbara and the meaty ethical questions that the story raises, is the fact that it doesn't have a happy ending. Sure, everyone escapes, but despite all her efforts tilting at the windmill of history, Barbara utterly fails to even nudge Aztec culture off its destructive path. She changes one man's mind, but has she really changed his life for the better? The script leaves this point vague. By the end, with neither Barbara nor Autloc around to stop it, the Perfect Victim's sacrifice continues unimpeded, and Tlotoxl seems to have all the power. Because of this refusal to tie everything up in a neat bow, The Aztecs becomes one of the meatier stories, with a lot of elements to chew over and discuss. Pleasantly deep, without being preachy or pretentious.

So, speaking of Lucarotti's script, that engagement thing? Really interesting stuff. The poor Doctor walks straight into Cameca's engagement web, totally oblivious to the fact that she's making triply sure he knows what he's getting himself into, when in fact he's just nodding and smiling along! But once he's gotten over the initial shock, the Doctor seems quite resigned to his engagement, even happy about it! Witness the way he blissfully makes plans with Cameca for gardens and everything. Once Cameca senses that the Doctor is planning to leave her, both she and the Doctor seem very sad. For some reason, the Doctor seems to think that the best way to break up is to give her the cold shoulder (as if she will somehow understand by that behavior how very broken up he is to have to say goodbye to her), and admittedly she does take it in exactly the spirit it was intended... but a little more gentle explanation on his part would have been very considerate. But then, at the very end, we see that the Doctor does still care, despite himself, and just can't bear to leave the brooch Cameca gave him in Yetaxa's tomb. The moment when he turns back and snatches it up is quite touching. So: was this a real romance? Is the Doctor breaking the cardinal "no Time Lord nookie" rule so early in the show's run? It would appear so — and this from the man who also claims (albeit not in so many words) to have been intimate enough to have produced a granddaughter. Clearly, and most definitely counter to expectations, the usual rules do not apply until after the Hartnell era, and the first Doctor is allowed to woo the ladies whereas the later incarnations are not. (Perhaps this is because, as a giggly older gentleman, his love life is less threatening to the audience? Form small groups and discuss.)

John Crockett's direction is really lush, with gorgeous shots liberally sprinkled throughout the entire story, such that I completely got used to them and didn't even think to write down all the ones that wowed me. Every once in a while, a particularly gorgeous composition would shake me out of my reverie, and those included Barbara approaching the edge of the parapet to be presented to the people, the pan around Barbara as Tlotoxl brings Autloc to question her, the zoom in to the nice effect of the cactus-thorn scratch on Ian's wrist, and the shot of Tlotoxl and Tonila conspiring in the garden. Aside from a couple of mild camera judders, and a few shadows cast on the painted backdrop outside the temple, there's not much to criticize... I just thought Crockett did a splendid job.

I also feel the need to mention the costumes. It's fairly well-known by now that although one would think "gosh, these Aztecs sure are overdressed for the Mexican heat", they were in fact well-researched and historically accurate. I quite like the intricate detail in them, with Tlotoxl's being my favorite, particularly his ornate feathered headdress and the cruel red stripe across his mouth.

Of the existing historicals, The Aztecs is absolutely my favorite, and I think it's the best one to show a new viewer what this subgenre is capable of. (Mind you, I can't claim that it's foolproof; I recently showed The Aztecs to my friend Jon, and part 1 didn't really convince him that he couldn't wait to see the rest, so perhaps it's one of those stories that needs to be worked up to.)

Minor points:

• How exactly is "Yetaxa" supposed to be pronounced? There are two warring variants, with no consistency between characters or episodes, sometimes not even within a single line. The breakdown is as follows: [ jə . 't^hæk . sə ]   versus   [ jə . 't^hak . sə ]

  Character	Episode 1		Episode 2		Episode 3		Episode 4		Total
  Doctor	0	3	1	1	0	0	2	0	3	4
  Susan	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
  Ian	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
  Barbara	1	2	0	1	1	1	0	0	2	4
  Autloc	9	0	5	0	2	3	1	0	17	3
  Tlotoxl	4	2	2	0	6	4	2	0	14	6
  Ixta	1	2	1	2	2	0	0	0	4	4
  Cameca	0	0	0	1	2	2	1	1	3	4
  Total	17	9	9	5	13	10	7	1	46	25

  So, as my instinct suggested, with a lead of almost 2 to 1, the preferred pronunciation is indeed [tæk] rather than [tak], although this is mainly thanks to Autloc and Tlotoxl; the Doctor, Barbara (oddly) and Cameca have a slight preference for the [tak] variant, and Ixta is evenly split between the two. Ian and Susan are the only ones who stick exclusively to the [tæk] variant, but they hardly ever use it anyway. (However, it's also worth mentioning that online sources seem to agree: Nahuatl as spoken by the Aztecs never had the [æ] vowel, only long and short [ i e a o ], so the [tak] variant is more likely to be correct... well, except that Nahuatl apparently never had the [ks] sound either, <x> being used to represent the [∫] sound, so the most likely pronunciation of Yetaxa — if indeed he had ever existed, which does not seem to be the case — would have been something like [je.'ta.∫a].)

• The tomb door is a great plot device: it's a convincing excuse to seal the TARDIS off, stranding the crew in the midst of a hostile Aztec temple, and it also serves to impress us with how effective Aztec technology was.

• Oddly, Susan's line "We can't, it only opens from the inside." gets cut off at "insi-". (Something like this happens again in part four, where the music cuts in by accident during the previous scene, then restarts at its proper time as the camera moves in to Barbara sitting on her throne.)

• "Here dwell only warriors chosen to command!" says Ixta. Well, given that Ixta is the only one left standing by this point, why were all the other warriors originally sent to the same place? Apparently there's only one commander; were they forced to duel to the death until only one remained? That seems like a brilliant waste of your most promising warriors.

• Okay, so, is Yetaxa a priest, a high priest, or a god? The lines between these categories seem to be blurred. Is that just because Yetaxa's dead? It would be helpful, perhaps, to understand Aztec beliefs about the afterlife. If one faithfully serves the gods during one's lifetime, does one become a god after death? You'd think you'd end up with a lot of different gods if that were the case (and a lot of different regional gods, unless Aztec culture has centralized obituary records so that everybody knows who's died throughout the empire).

• I must say, I do really like the idea of the garden of peace. What a nice thing to have a dedicated place where the elderly can go to relax and enjoy each another's company after paying their dues to society. I suppose people today think nursing homes serve the same function, but golly. I'd take a garden of peace over a nursing home any day. (Although, having said that, I don't think that whiling away my days meandering around some nice landscaping would really fill me with a sense of accomplishment. I'd rather have a garden of travelling-around-the-world.)

• Well, hello there, Doctor, nice to see you didn't leave your sensitivity in the TARDIS today:

  Cameca tries to gently hint at the architect's current whereabouts, but the Doctor seems to need it spelled out.
  Doctor: "Yes, I see. He's dead?"

• And, er, did you leave your logical reasoning in there too?

  Cameca: "His son lives."
  Doctor: "Ah, a builder?"
  Cameca: "A warrior."
  Doctor: "Yes, then I suppose he knows much of his father's work?"

• I like this quote by Susan, though. A good way to sum up what they've seen of Aztec culture thus far:

  Susan: "It's incredible, isn't it? Beauty and horror developing hand-in-hand."

• And, oh... one of the best scenes ever in Doctor Who is this one, in which the Doctor confronts a resolute Barbara about her opinions on human sacrifice:

  Doctor: "There's to be a human sacrifice today at the rain ceremony."
  Barbara: "Oh no."
  Doctor: "And you must not interfere, do you understand?"
  Barbara: "Well, I can't just sit by and watch."
  Doctor: "No, Barbara. Ian agrees with me. He's got to escort the victim to the altar."
  Barbara: "He has to what?!"
  Doctor: "Yes, they've made him a warrior, and he's promised me not to interfere with the sacrifice."
  Barbara: "Well, they've made me a goddess, and I forbid it."
  Doctor: "Barbara, no!"
  Barbara: "There'll be no sacrifice this afternoon, Doctor, or ever again. The reincarnation of Yetaxa will prove to the people that you don't need to sacrifice a human being in order to make it rain."
  Doctor: "Barbara, no."
  Barbara: "It's no good, Doctor, my mind's made up. This is the beginning of the end of the sun god."
  Doctor: "What are you talking about?!"
  Barbara: "Well, don't you see? If I could start the destruction of everything that's evil here, then everything that is good would survive when Cortez lands."
  Doctor: "But you can't rewrite history! Not one line!"
  Susan: "Grandfather, the high priest is coming."
  Doctor: "Barbara, one last appeal. What you are trying to do is utterly impossible. I know. Believe me, I know!"
  Barbara: "Not Barbara. Yetaxa."

• It's a good thing that Barbara's command to stop the sacrifice comes at roughly the same time as Susan's yells of protest; otherwise it might have looked as though a god were responding to her handmaiden's suggestion, or at the very least, that she were trying to spare her handmaiden from punishment. And this marks the beginning of the end for Barbara: not only did her handmaiden break Aztec law, her attempt to stop the sacrifice was in vain. At least she can claim the moderate victory that the rain came despite Tlotoxl's sacrifice-with-frills, but her power has still begun to erode.

• Barbara scores a minor victory!

  Tlotoxl: "With death came rain!"
  Barbara: "Without your sacrifice came rain."

• I love the way Barbara teases Tlotoxl here (and he's so not in the mood for it):

  Tlotoxl: "How many heavens are there?"
  Barbara: "Does Tlotoxl covet the mantle of the High Priest of Knowledge?"
  Tlotoxl: "How many heavens?"
  Barbara: "Thirteen."

• One wonders what on earth kind of plant this is that the Doctor gives Ixta, that a tiny amount of the sap on a thorn should be enough to knock Ian out within minutes.

• Now we briefly have to welcome Barbara, the Broken Record of the Aztec Empire. Shortly after defending Susan in exactly the same way, she protests the Doctor's transgression of the law with "He did not know it!" And then, when that fails to convince the Aztecs to forget all about their silly little punishment, she gives "I forbid it." a shot — like that's gonna work! Let's not lean on the whole "god" crutch too often, Babs sweetie.

• Why is Barbara so harsh with Autloc? ("Then see that it remains so.") I mean, I know she's irked at Tlotoxl, but that's no reason to take out her frustrations on the one man who's sympathetic to her cause.

• Barbara neatly side-steps the issue of why she's not manifesting her divine powers:

  Autloc: "Tlotoxl was humiliated. He will not forget, nor will he forgive."
  Barbara: "I did as he commanded."
  Autloc: "But not as he expected."
  Barbara: "What did he want, a miracle?"
  Autloc: "We all awaited it."
  Barbara: "Why should I use divine powers when human ability will suffice?"

• Way to take the wind out of his sails, Ian!

  Ian: "Whatever it was you scratched me with beat me. Not you, Ixta."

• I must admit, I'm a little surprised that the Doctor knows how to make Aztec cocoa! Surely that's not a skill that's taught on Gallifrey, or even Earth, for that matter. If someone passed me a handful of (unroasted?) cacao beans, I would not have the Doctor's confidence to scurry off and whip some up. Who wants to bet he passed them to the nearest old lady and said "Grind these at once, and brew them up quickly, child! Hmm!" then pretended that he'd done all the work. (Incidentally, there's a coffee shop near me that serves what they claim is essentially Aztec cocoa... strong, fairly bitter, with a bite of chili. Nice!)

• Good heavens, Barbara, why — when your power over Tlotoxl is at its most tenuous — do you undo it altogether by admitting to him that you're a fraud?! Is it because her discussion with Ian has dented her faith in her scheme so much that she's becoming self-destructive? I suppose she's counting on the fact that nobody would believe Tlotoxl if he told them, but now he's only going to be redoubling his efforts to discredit her and prove what he now knows to be the truth! Before, at least he had some fear of retribution by the gods; now he has none! Then again, it certainly is an effective way to up the tension for those of us in the audience, so, good job on that!

• Does anyone else find it odd that the Perfect Victim, who could literally have any woman he wants in the entire city and possibly beyond, would gravitate so strongly to a bizarre young foreign girl who must surely seem both surly and unappreciative of his culture? Maybe he just loves a challenge, but why not go for one of the lovely Aztec maidens who would surely be throwing themselves at him?

• There are a couple of moments during this story when Tlotoxl's name appears to get mangled into "Lotoxl". We must pay attention to our consonant clusters, people! Especially those of you playing Aztecs.

• It must be said that, as wonderful as this story is, it's unusually humorless for the Hartnell era (no doubt because of the seriousness of both the hideous Aztec punishments and Barbara's emotional involvement in the storyline), but thankfully we're not completely bereft of witty lines:

  Ian: (regarding the brooch) "Where did you get hold of this?"
  Doctor: "My fiancée..."
  Ian: "I see... Your what?!"
  Doctor: (offhandedly) "Yes, I made some cocoa and got engaged."

• One interesting feature of this story, mostly thanks to Tlotoxl, is the way that people are continually painted into corners and forced to do things that they would much rather avoid. A great example is the moment when Tlotoxl manipulates Barbara into agreeing that Susan should suffer a horrible punishment for her outspokenness, without her realizing that it's Susan that Tlotoxl is discussing. Later, when Barbara finds out how Tlotoxl played her, and plots out loud to Autloc to make Susan yet again untouchable by Aztec law, Autloc very reasonably points out to her the damage she is doing by pooh-poohing their rules, in one of the most biting lines of the entire story:

  Autloc: "Will you sacrifice us to save your handmaiden pain?"

• I think I missed something. How exactly does the Doctor figure out that there's a tunnel behind the stone with Yetaxa's seal? As far as I can tell, it's complete conjecture, and it's only blind luck that he happens to be right. But then maybe he knows the little tricks of Aztec architects better than I do. (I know it's difficult to believe that anyone could be more familiar with Aztec stonemasonry than I am, but there you have it.)

• There's only really one effect that needs mentioning in this review, and that is the incredibly heavy (har har) stone blocking the tunnel to Yetaxa's burial chamber. William Russell makes a valiant attempt to make the slab look heavy, and to his credit, he nearly succeeds. It's not until Ian Cullen comes along that the effect is totally ruined; Cullen even lifts the whole thing into the air several times, while simultaneously trying to make it look like he's struggling under its weight. The combined effect is rather hilarious.

• In one of those "TV timing" moments (akin to one character entering a room just as another character is leaving), here Ixta manages to replace the heavy, heavy slab juuuuuuust in time for the water to start flowing through the tomb. Apparently, if he had been another five seconds later in replacing it, the garden could have been well on the way to being flooded.

• The scenes of Ian exploring the tunnels had a lot of potential. It's a shame that they couldn't allocate more time to this plot thread, because it looks like the tunnels were a proper Aztec labyrinth with hidden passages and everything. As shown, Ian just seems to have a remarkable knack for intuitively knowing where the secret entrances are, as he breezes through it with no problems and somehow finds his way straight to Yetaxa's burial chamber.

• If Yetaxa died in 1430, and the only solar eclipses visible in Mexico were on 17 Jun 1452, 13 Feb 1477 or 8 Aug 1496 (thanks Wikipedia!), then those rags that Ian gathered up were somewhere between 22 and 66 years old (most likely the later, given that Lucarotti intended the story to be set in 1507). So it's just a good thing that 66-year-old rags were still sturdy enough to bear the weight of the temple door (although they do appear to snap at one point!). Also a nice touch that Ian does think to check their durability before he lashes them up in his door-opening scheme. (One can only imagine that if Yetaxa had been wearing a cardigan, Ian would much prefer to have used that instead.) But what would he have done if the rags hadn't been there? Stayed in the tomb himself and pushed open the door when the time was right?

• Aside from the few Billy-flubs, Ian Cullen is the only one to get to partake in the ritual during this story. (Oh, how things will change in one mere week...) It's also worth mentioning that, supporting my "not the greatest actor" comment above, this line is rather badly delivered. You would think the important thing would be that he had survived the challenges of seven warriors, but rather than stressing that word, Cullen plumps for "my" instead. As if they would have been challenging someone else's right to command...

  Ixta: "Now, seven warrai- warriors have challenged my right to command and only I survive."

• Not to be outdone, Hartnell insists on fitting in one more flub, which is not only well delivered but quite hilarious to boot:

  Doctor: "My dear Susan! Oh! I'm glad — I'll tell you how glad I am to see you later on. Come along, don't waste time."

• Good heavens, the revelation that Tlotoxl plans to frame Ian for Autloc's murder made my jaw drop. That's just not cricket! I mean, I knew he was desperate to discredit Barbara, but I didn't think he'd turn on Autloc. After all, they're far from enemies. And surely Tlotoxl doesn't think the gods will look kindly on him having a hand in injuring or killing their high priest of knowledge, no matter what the justification?

• Ian, who is ordinarily so smart about these things (...isn't he? Then again, The Keys of Marinus comes to mind... hasn't learned his lesson yet, has he?), immediately picks up the murder weapon, and then keeps clinging on to it as he and Susan prepare to flee the scene of the crime (without even bothering to try to help Autloc! At least the authorities couldn't have been too angry if they had stumbled across him trying to clean and bandage Autloc's wounds.)

• I was a bit confused at first about the status of this guard that gets Autloc's emblem. Does that make him the High Priest of Knowledge by default? Or does it only give him access to Autloc's belongings and wealth, not his title? The latter interpretation would seem to be the most accurate, if Tlotoxl is already promising Autloc's position to Tonila, although ultimately the point is rendered moot when Tlotoxl has the guard killed. So I guess someone else is getting Autloc's wealth after all.

• Ooooops, one more little effect to speak of: during his fight with Ixta atop the temple, Ian repeatedly stumbles into the heavy, heavy stone altar and shifts it across the floor as if it were polystyrene. Imagine that! Man, those Aztec warriors sure throw each other around hard.

• I am pleased to see that the attention to detail in this serial extends to Ian remembering that he must take the Doctor's wheel and pulley with him into the tomb, so as not to leave them lying around for Aztec priests to puzzle over and reverse-engineer the wheel. Way to not taint Aztec culture, honey.

• The ending is pleasantly... well, I don't want to say "downbeat", but perhaps "pragmatic". It's no wonder Barbara takes off Yetaxa's (undoubtedly priceless) bracelet and leaves it behind. It must hold nothing but bad memories for her.

  Barbara: "What's the point of travelling through time and space if you can't change anything? Nothing. Tlotoxl had to win."
  Doctor: "Yes."
  Barbara: "And the one man I had respect for, I deceived."

• And now that we've all enjoyed this lovely high-quality story, let the bad Sensorites dialogue begin! (Oops, am I showing my hand for the next review? Well... it's not like it was going to be a surprise anyway.)

So, the next time you want to remind yourself how good the "pure historical" sub-genre of Doctor Who can be, brew up some cocoa (as I did this time) and pop The Aztecs in your DVD player. It's one of the stories that I never tire of watching, if only because it's so much fun (or, should I say, empowering?) to watch Barbara stand up for her beliefs when almost no-one else supports her. Ten out of ten from me.