Audience Member
average feature length dr who fare
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/14/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Possibly the best William Hartnell story from Doctor Who.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/12/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This is a "movie" starring the 1st Doctor. It is a series of episodes focusing on a trip to the ancient Aztecs. Some endearing qualities which were there from the beginning are the ever present Tardis, the balance of humor/drama in the writing, and a mysterious but benevolent Doctor. For a kids show from 1963, expectations were low. The acting and the effects are laughable by today's standards. Whovians will enjoy the novelty of it. Anybody else had just as well stay away.
The Doctor is elderly here, and not really the focus of the action. He is joined by 3 companions. A romantically involved pair of school teachers and wait for it...his granddaughter! Barbara is an expert in History which is conveniently mistaken as the appearance of an Aztec God. Ian is a science teacher who becomes locked in a battle to be the head warrior. The doctors granddaughter, Susan, may as well have been named Daphne from Scooby Doo. She is only there to be caught, threatened and rescued. The costuming department did a great job with the Aztec look, but the casting department must have been short on Native Americans. Thankfully, the over acting easily identifies the good guys and the bad guys.
This Doctor had a cane and it looks like he needed it. He may have been the nicest Doctor, but time traveling must have been too much for the grandfatherly actor. His retirement enabled the reincarnation process audiences have grown to love.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This one is far more interesting than both "An Unearthly Child" and "Marco Polo", and the shorter length works to its advantage. It finally starts to address the whole time travel angle.
The other historical serials were concerned with the crew getting to the TARDIS alive. This has that element too, but Barbara doesn't want to leave without trying to change the Aztec civilization. Posing as a God, she thinks that if she can bring out the best in the Aztecs, and make them stop their custom of human sacrifice she will strengthen them so they won't be destroyed.
She soon finds out she can't meddle with history. This is easily the best part of the story, but it's also nice to see William Hartnell's Doctor start to become far more comfortable. Here he is given a genuinely interesting subplot as he accidentally becomes engaged to an Aztec woman. It's nice to see Hartnell's Doctor dealing with a romantic storyline as it helps to soften up his angry old guy persona.
Susan gets the "away on vacation" storyline as her character gets shipped off to some religious school early on.
Ian's story is a little dull (he gets in lots of fights), but the final fight on top of the pyramid is fun and shows that the technical crew is at least trying to do more than film stage play style television. It is strange that they try to have a similar ending to "Keys of Marinus". Ian once again gets framed for a crime he didn't commit and must avoid execution. In back to back serials that's a little much.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/24/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Whilst I'm not a big fan of the 'history' serials of Doctor Who, this would be one of my favourites of the early 'back-in-time' stories.
The sets and costumes are beautiful, and it's nice to see Barbara (along with Ian definitely two of my favourite of the companions) take more of a leading role.
Not the best of the early stories, but good kid's drama that is worth a watch from any fan interested in the Hartnell era.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/31/23
Full Review
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