The Aztecs

Well it seems this Doctor and his friends keep alternating from future to the past. This time they head back to the Aztec civilisation in Mexico and get up to all sorts of larks. Written by Mr John Lucarotti, who wrote 'Marco Polo'.
So I sat back and watched. Very quickly the Doctor and Barbara etc are separated from the TARDIS. In fact, they spend the whole story trying to get back to it. It seems to be the entire plotline of the adventure. Interesting idea - wait, wasn't that the idea behind 'Marco Polo' as well?

Anyways, onto the story. Once I'd got past Susan and her emotions, she was shifted away and hardly appeared in episodes two and three. What a mercy. Interesting character thread for her and Barbara in this one. She defiantly says she won't marry the 'perfect sacrifice'. This is akin to her outrage at Ping Cho's betrothal in 'Marco Polo'. I find it interesting as the Doctor at this time is accepting of other culture's practices and the like, but he clearly has not instilled that in Susan.
Surely she would know this sort of defiance gets her nowhere?
Oh well.

The evil Tloxocl and Barbara.

Barbara on the other hand takes the lead in the story pretending to be Ytaxca. Jaqueline Hill is a tower of strength in this, a wonderful performance. She is pitted against Tlotoxcl who is very evilly played by John Ringham. She wants to change the course of history. The Doctor tells her she can't rewrite history, 'not one line'. He's right there, tried it myself and failed too often I must say.
To balance Tlotoxcl, we have Autloc, played by Keith Pyott. I enjoyed this performance, a wonderful, humble character well portrayed indeed. And as Cameca, Margaret Van Der Burgh, another wonderfully honest performance. I think the acting is to be highly commended all round.

Cameca is the Doctor's love interest in this story, but it's not to be. I'm sure though that most stories the Doctor will have a dalience or two. I had one once, two in fact. Twice this ol Professor here has fallen in love, both times it ended in tragedy and death :( At least Cameca was spared that fate.

Ian is busy with his own personal feud with Ixta, a might warrior played by Ian Cullen. This is a secondary struggle to Barbara and Tlotoxcl, but interesting and rather testosterone pumped! I think all the main characters had a lot to do in this one, and all had personal journies to fulfill. This made it quite an interesting story to watch. Even if the costumes were not accurate at all. I know, I visited Mexico at a similar time myself but managed to stay more in cognito than these guys!
All round for the four regulars - well done!

I expect next I will be taken to a story set in the future or at least on an alien planet. I wonder if it will be anywhere I know....

7.5/10