Since this is apparently the Doctor Who thread of the moment, let's talk about
The Aztecs
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW
I decided to start watching some classic Who, despite the terrible selection available on streaming services. This episode is the only Hartnell serial available on Amazon Prime, and I believe Hulu Plus as well.
The Tardis materializes in the past, inside an Aztec burial chamber, during a time when the Aztec empire was still alive, well, and engaging in human sacrifice. They find a stone door in the wall, and Barbara walks out (followed later by the others) to find herself surrounded by Aztec priests. There they mistake her for a reincarnated priest/goddess, since
the burial chamber door can only be opened from the inside. Whoops.
So now the team is stuck in ancient Aztec society, with Barbara impersonating Yetaxa and everyone else trying to figure out a way to get past the stone door and back to the Tardis while reporting back to "Yetaxa" as her "servants". The Doctor is sent to the gardens with the old people, where he has a sweet little friendship/romance with a nice Aztec woman named Cameca; Ian has a violent rivalry with Ixta, the chief warrior; Susan does basically nothing except learn in the seminary and become a damsel in distress.
The main meat of the story from a character perspective is Barbara's attempt to change history and the ultimate fate of the Aztec empire by abolishing human sacrifice, in direct opposition to the Doctor's advice not to muck up the timeline. This brings her into conflict with Tloxtl the High Priest of Sacrifice, the big bad of the story, and his ally Ixta. The story basically becomes Tloxtl's attempts to undermine/kill "Yetaxa" and her servants, while Barbara tries to use her connection with Autloc, the High Priest of Knowledge, to change Aztec society.
She fails. Spectacularly.
There are pretty good plot twists, a lot of plans being made by our heroes and the villains, and everyone (except Susan) gets their turn to look smart or badass. Barbara plays the part of the priest/goddess well, acting as though she is totally in command, even though she's frustrated at every turn by her inability to change things. The Doctor sweet talks Cameca into finding out more about how the temple is built, so he can figure out a way back into the burial chamber. At one point, he decides to have a cup of cocoa or something with her, not knowing it means "I want to marry you."
Ian and Ixta immediately dislike each other, and have smaller arguments and physical confrontations all through the serial, leading to a tense showdown moment at the end where Ian and Ixta square off and fight each other at the top of a pyramid. The leadup to the fight is particularly good, as Ian (now wearing a guard's uniform with an eagle-looking helmet) stands silently at the top waiting for Ixta (in Jaguar gear) to climb the steps; Ixta reaches the top and they just look at each other silently for a moment, staring each other down before they both remove their cloaks and bring weapon and shield to bear. I really appreciate that neither of them has anything left to say, and they both know it.
The fight ends when Ian fucking murders Ixta by throwing him off the pyramid. We even get a nice shot of his corpse on the ground.
Classic Who don't give a FUCK.
The episode ends with the good guys losing, basically. They manage to escape to the Tardis, but the Priest of Knowledge has exiled himself to the wilderness after a crisis of faith, leaving the Priest of Sacrifice in charge. The last we see him, he's shouting to the gods during an eclipse while performing yet another human sacrifice. Barbara is saddened by her inability to change the past, while the Doctor tells her it has to be that way.
Surprisingly good serial I wasn't expecting much from. It makes me kind of wish we had some more historical episodes in nuWho, where the problem wasn't some sci-fi wibbly wobbliness, but the Doctor and his companion going through some standard adventuring in history.
