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(More customer reviews)BBC Video has released two further adventures from their long running TV series Doctor Who on DVD. The two stories come from the very early days of the programme, and one of its much later seasons, twenty two years later. Comparing the two stories now, 1964's The Aztecs and 1985's Vengeance on Varos, it's very hard to accept that they are even part of the same series.
When William Hartnell first stepped before the cameras as the original Doctor in 1963, so little was known to the viewers about this enigmatic character, and indeed much of what we know about the Doctor now was invented years after the series began. The initial brief for the producers was to inform as well as to entertain, and as such the Doctor and his travelling companions often found themselves going way back into Earth's history to encounter real events. The Aztecs is the second of these purely historial stories to be broadcast. I for one was never very fond of these stories as a child. Ironically, the things that bored me then are what really makes this story stand up so well nearly forty years later. As with all early TV drama in the UK, the show had a tiny budget, miniscule TV studios, a limited cast and was recorded "as live" with no room for editing. Despite these handicaps, the story is still remarkably enthralling to watch.
The DVD is packed with extras, many of which go a long way to perhaps explaining why this four part story has aged so well. Producer Verity Lambert, and the two surviving members of the original Tardis crew, Carole-Ann Ford (Susan) and William Russell (Ian) provide a genuinely interesting commentary, where they recall many of the production issues they faced at the time, with on-screen captions filling in the gaps from their memories. Also here, other members of the cast have been interviewed for a separate 25 minute extra "Remembering the Aztecs" and set designer Barry Newbery appears in another 25 minute special "Designing the Aztecs." You'll also find an animated feature describing how to make Cocoa (in a very "South Park" style) and a clip from another BBC classic show "Blue Peter" telling the story of Cortez and Montezuma. And that's not all! There's an Arabic dub of episode 4, subtitles, a look at the restoration process, an easter egg and some standard photo galleries and character backgrounds.
The story is very reliant on characterisation and performance, and played dead straight by all the actors involved. Sadly, this cannot be said of the tongue in cheek camp playing of the sister release, Vengeance on Varos.
The quality of the images are astounding. The original master tapes were destroyed back in 1967, and only a washed out film print exists in the BBC archives. However, it has been painstakingly restored, cleaned and improved, and finally the restored print being "Vid-Fired" to recreate almost exactly the original quality of the video tapes. It's an amazing technical feat, and the results are very, very impressive. I just wish they had applied the technology to the earlier released "Tomb of the Cybermen."
It's a terrific piece of TV drama, but I admit it may not be to the liking of fans of the sci-fi based Doctor Who. If you like Vengeance on Varos, you almost certainly won't like The Aztecs. I however give it the full five stars!
Click Here to see more reviews about: Doctor Who - The Aztecs (Story 6) (1975)
`You can't rewrite history, not one line.' When the TARDIS materializes in an ancient Aztec temple, Barbara is mistaken for the reincarnation of the Aztecs' High Priest, Yetaxa. The time travelers soon find themselves caught up in a vicious power struggle that could cost them their lives, especially if Barbara continues to wield her influence in an effort to divert the course of history. DVD Features:Audio Commentary:Original Doctor Who producer Verity Lambert and actors William Russell and Carole Ann Ford Featurette:Remembering the Aztecs, Designing the Aztecs, Restoring the Aztecs, The Story of Cotez and Montezuma, animated featurette on Making Cocoa the Aztec Way
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