First Transmitted:
CAST
Plot Outline from Wikipedia The TARDIS crew arrive in Mexico in the Fifteenth Century. With the TARDIS trapped in a tomb, Barbara is mistaken for a reincarnation of the ancient high priest Yetaxa, and assumes her guise and identity. In her new position of power Barbara sees her chance to bring an end to human sacrifice. She sees the good side of Aztec culture manifested in Autloc, the High priest of knowledge, and the gruesome side embodied in 'the local butcher' High Priest Tlotoxl. As somewhat of an expert on this period, she sees how advanced their culture really is and believes that if sacrifice were abolished, they would be spared destruction at the hands of the Spanish. The Doctor's warnings that she cannot change history fall on deaf ears. The bloodthirsty Tlotoxl begins to suspect Yetaxa is not what she seems, especially because she is trying to ban human sacrifice. He sets a series of elaborate traps for her and her companions. For example, Ian has been compelled the military and fight the strongest warrior, Ixta, to prove his ability to command the Aztec forces. Thus Ixta develops a grudge against Ian and is used by Tlotoxl to try and prove Barbara is not Yetaxa. The Doctor unwittingly tells Ixta how to defeat Ian in combat using a drugging agent, and this battle nearly ends in the Doctor witnessing his friend's death. When this fails to be conclusive, Tlotoxl convinces the priest Tonila to make a poison for Barbara; the death of Barbara following consumption of the poison would prove she is not immortal and therefore not a god. Barbara refuses to drink the poison and tells Tlotoxl that she is not Yetaxa but warns him not to tell the people. He now knows the truth - but must find a way to unmask the false goddess. Susan and the Doctor have meanwhile both become involved in marriage-making scenarios. She has transgressed Aztec law and has been promised to the Perfect Victim, who has been scheduled for sacrifice by Tlotoxl on the day of the next eclipse; while the Doctor, who knows little of Aztec customs, has become enagaged to an Aztec woman named Cameca after they shared a cup of cocoa. Cameca is a kind lady and helps the Doctor and Ian find a way to re-enter the tomb by a secret entrance, despite realising this will help her beloved leave her. Ian braves a treacherous tunnel to re-enter the tomb by a secret door and soon tells his friends that they can flee. Despite her efforts Barbara realises she cannot change an entire culture, although she does succeed in changing the views of one man, Autloc. He helps her become reunited with her friends before departing to meditate in the desert on what remains of his faith. In a pitched battle to gain access to the tomb door, Ian kills Ixta in a fight to the death to protect the TARDIS crew. The Doctor and his companions leave knowing that despite their intervention history will take its pre-destined course. As they depart Tlotoxl is very much in control and sacrifices the Perfect Victim to end the naturally occurring eclipse.
Analysis by Cuisle Yet again the companions escape in the nick of time due to the Doctor suddenly discovering a means to open the tomb - the Aztecs had not yet discovered the principles of wheel and pulley motion, and this "future" technology gave the time travellers the advantage. It is not QUITE as implausible as the Deus ex machina denouements of The Mutants and Keys of Marinus, but it is not far off. That apart, this third 'history' episode - after cavemen and the Court of Kublai Khan, has quite a lot to commend it. The sets and costumes were, for the time, at least, worthy of one of BBC's bigger budget Shakespearian productions, although it has been said that the Aztec costumes covered far more flesh than is strictly historically accurate! The episode won praise for its handling of the complex moral issue of human sacrifice in Aztec culture, which it did in a surprisingly adult way for a 'family' show broadcast and 5.15 on a Saturday night. The Human members of the TARDIS crew are, of course, horrified at the practice, Barbara, especially, since she is so closely involved with the rituals, and their first instinct is to try to prevent not only the sacrifices being proposed at the time, but to change the sacrifice culture altogether. The Doctor, since he is not Human takes an objective and logical view. In the course of the five episodes he tries to convince his companions - and the viewers - that although human sacrifice is a repugnant idea to them, there is little they can do to change the culture of the historical time and place. In any case, this way of life was doomed to annihilation in a few years when Cortez's Spanish conquistadors change the face of Mexico forever. After the time travellers escape the sacrifice of the 'Perfect Victim' is performed anyway, and Tlotoxl's rule goes on, showing not only that neat happy endings don't always happen on this show, but that the Doctor was right in his assessment of the situation. The Doctor’s cool detachment from the moral issues is softened by his quite tender romance with Cameca, with whom he becomes accidentally engaged. The Doctor is rarely seen as a romantic figure - unlike Captain Kirk in the Star Trek series which was to be its biggest rival for science fiction viewers in a few years; he was not a young, handsome, dashing figure with blue-skinned alien women falling at his feet. This brief and purely innocent affair represented and the sum total of his romantic interludes until the 8th Doctor had his little fling with Dr Grace Holloway in the TV movie of 1996. Of course, the first three incarnations of the Doctor
were older men who would not be expected to be romantically involved,
and by the time the younger Tom Baker came to the role the character
had been established as something of an emotional hermit, always surrounding
himself with companions and helpers, many of them attractive women,
but never forming any deeply personal bond with them. The revived
series, of course, saw even younger and more active incarnations of
The Doctor who came out of that hermitage and engaged romantically
with companions, but at an emotional price that was almost too great.
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