Doctor Who: The Aztecs - Special Edition (Story 006)

Over-the-Top Villain Makes This Serial For Me! - "Galaxy 4" Serial is an Extra!
Barbara and Susan exit the TARDIS to find themselves inside a stone room. Lying on a slab is a man's body, bedecked in jewelry and an ancient American mask. Barbara knows immediately that they're in the tomb of a very important Aztec priest, because Aztec history was one of her specialties. Susan shivers at the one thing she remembers about the Aztecs, that they performed human sacrifices. Then Barbara gives her some more background on the Aztecs, leading into one of the main plot points: "[Human sacrifice is] only one side to their nature. The other side was highly civilized.... [The Spanish] only saw the acts of sacrifice. That was the tragedy of the Aztecs. The whole civilization was completely destroyed, the good as well as the evil."

Susan finds a hidden door into another room, and goes back to the TARDIS to get Ian and the Doctor. Barbara, in the meanwhile goes through the door, which closes behind her, and is accosted by an angry Autloc, High Priest of Knowledge:...

Already was worth 5 stars, but worth it again? Tell you why!
I already owned "The Aztecs" Doctor Who adventure and have seen it more times than I can remember, but what led me to re-purchase this DVD for a 2nd time (and I must say I am VERY glad I did) was getting the ENTIRE "Galaxy 4" story with it.

Just so you know, a little more then half of this story is done with, "Telesnaps." Basically, Telesnaps are still photos of the picture as it was being filmed during TV production. The BBC produced an entirely remade version of Doctor Who's, "Marco Polo" using entirely just Telesnaps. What makes this so awesome is how the BBC recently obtained footage of long lost segments of the original "Galaxy 4" story and combined them with previously owned Telesnaps to pull together the scenes still lost to time. They also included some CGI and animations to complete the story and make it flow even better. Basically, you end up with a pretty good interpretation of the WHOLE STORY!

The audio of Doctor Who's "Galaxy 4" already existed...

Great story, worthwhile special edition
I love Doctor Who's first season, and "The Aztecs" is arguably its high point. Certainly, compared to later Doctor Who serials, this one feels confined and stagey - more like a theatrical production than a TV show. But for me, that style comes with more positives than negatives.

John Lucarotti's intelligent script concerns the clash between 20th century British values and 15th century Aztec culture. The Doctor's companion, history teacher Barbara Wright, is mistaken for an Aztec goddess, and she tries to use her divine authority to destroy the Aztec tradition of human sacrifice. The Doctor, meanwhile, argues that Barbara cannot change the established pattern of history and is destined to fail. The various moral dilemmas raised by this situation are explored in an unusually thoughtful way (unusual not just for Doctor Who, but for TV in general).

"The Aztecs" does have some production shortcomings, due to the fact that it was shot quickly, with really cumbersome...

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