A Journey Of A Thousand Eons...: 30. The Day of Darkness (The Aztecs, Episode Four)

John Lucarotti wraps everything up neatly here: Ian finds the passageway back to the tomb where the Tardis is, but is framed for attempted murder by Ixta and Tlotoxl, the Doctor carves out a pulley to open the entrance of said tomb, Cameca helps Ian and Susan escape, allowing everyone to leave as the eclipse happens, and Tloxotl....Tloxotl wins.

That’s something you don’t see in a lot of in later Who--the crew leaving a situation with their tails between their legs.  But as the Doctor points out, and Lucarotti makes the central theme of the story, history cannot be changed.  Sure, that rule goes out the window in later seasons, but right now (remember, half of the show’s original remit was to teach kids about history) it’s a good lesson.  And I like how the Doctor doesn’t rub Barbara’s nose in it, just acknowledges what she learned, points out the positive aspects of their experience and gets ready to move on.

In truth, Hartnell is really impressive here.  There are some moments where his facial expressions speak volumes.  There’s one moment when Cameca realizes there will be no wedding, and Hartnell’s face falters, his eyes briefly staring into space with what I can only interpret as regret, and it’s powerful. 

Oh, and Ian kicks all the ass, knocking out the guard holding him hostage when he hesitates to take Cameca’s bribe (quipping that someone had to speed up his decision) and then gets into a final battle with Ixta where he throws that Dude-Bro Asshole off a pyramid!  Even though Barbara is the spine of this serial, Ian owns this final half hour.

After the scattershot ‘Keys of Marinus,’ which admittedly was thrown together at the last minute according to what I’ve read, ‘The Aztecs’ was a joy.  It conveyed historical information well, it was character driven, it had surprising moments of humor in among the drama, and it didn’t have that stuttery start-and-stop momentum of the previous serials.  It really shows what the series can do with a pure historical, a style of the series that practically disappears after the Troughton era (save for the Davison serial ‘Black Orchid’ during the 80‘s) and one I really hope we can see again.  This may be my favorite serial in this rewatch so far!

If only they hadn't put those actors in brown face....