Just watched this story on dvd. Great fun!

OK, at first glance, it's dated. It looks very 1960's, it's camp and the acting varies from extreme wooden-ness to completely hammy (I loved Tloxotl... he was hilarious!) But even so, it stands up pretty well. It shows the Aztecs pretty much as they were... on the one hand cruel and bloodthirsty, and on the other highly civilised.

I haven't seen all that much of William Hartnell's Doctor, (nice to realise I'm too young for some things!) but I'm growing to like him a great deal. Hoping to see more of him on dvd in the future!

Andrew (HM) :yahoo:

On first viewing, I thought this story was utter cr*p.

With repeated viewings on dvd, I've grown to like it. It has all of the flaws that you mention Andrew (and one or two more) but it is a great example of what Dr Who was originally intended to be, a kids educational drama.

Considering that the educational drama's I had to put up with at school were dire beyond belief, this stands as a pretty good example of how it should be done.

From what I can remember, 'dire beyond belief' is quite a compliment Jamie!

I can understand what you mean when you said you originally thought it was utter crap. It isn't brilliant, and yes, full of flaws. When you sit back and realise that a few short years later, British tv was making shows like 'The Avengers' and 'The Prisoner', (and what 'Doctor Who' became) for example, the cheapness and the poor production values are staggering!

It's easy to forget the original purpose of the show when you think about what it turned into, and yes, when you bear that in mind, it does make this story seem better. Even without that though, it's still good fun... love the Doctor becoming unintentionally betrothed by making the chocolate drink! Obvious, but still funny.

The fight scenes too were, funny, but I'm sure they weren't meant to be! Even so, enjoyable in its own way, and interesting for someone who is discovering things I've never seen before.

Andrew (HM) :yahoo: