"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Doctor Who: Series 1, Episodes 27-30 – “The Aztecs” (1964)

*Disclaimer: While my review gets into some of the race/imperialist issues going on here, I wasn’t as forceful with it as I should’ve been. I think a lot of us have a tendency to go easy on our problematic faves, but it’s okay to love something and recognize where it can be better. “The Aztecs” has definite issues with racism and imperialist attitudes. Also? Brownface. “It was the ‘60s” can be an explanation, but that doesn’t make it an excuse.*

 
I’m going to (very gradually) be reviewing the backlogs of Who, popping in every so often to write about stories from Doctors One-Eleven.  In different posts about classic Who, I’ve mentioned how much I tend to enjoy the pure historicals, and this is a fine to kick-start a more literal interpretation of the Sunday Who Review.

The First Doctor, Susan, Ian, and Barbara, materialize inside an Aztec tomb.  Because Barbara enjoys a little cosplay with her history, she immediately puts on an armband she finds in the tomb, and when the locals discover her, they see it and assume she’s a reincarnation of the god buried there.  The comfort this affords her and her friends (posing as the goddess’s servants) is short-lived, as one of the high priests starts to suspect Barbara isn’t the real deal.

A big theme of this serial is the ethics of changing history; Barbara, in her somewhat imperialistic way, believes she can keep all the merits of Aztec culture – their science, engineering, art, etc. – while doing away with their less cuddly traits.  Specifically, their religious practice of sacrifice.  The Doctor insists that she has to let the Aztecs’ story play out as it always has; on the subject of rewriting history, he gives his famous decree:  “Not one line!”  (He’d keel over if he knew about some of the stuff Eleven gets up to.)

Now, I’m no fan of human sacrifice, and I completely understand why Barbara wants to prevent it, but it does mean the story brushes up against paternalistic The White British Folks Know Best attitudes.  Tlotoxl, the high priest of sacrifice and Barbara’s chief skeptic, is a bloodthirsty schemer derisively referred to as “the local butcher,” and there are a few scenes of Aztecs gaping at the astonishing “magic” of the Doctor and co. (really, modern knowledge of science and so forth.)  To be fair, this kind of plot isn’t quite as problematic when the outsiders are time travelers with an obvious advantage, but it’s still uncomfortable.  Truth be told, though, considering when it was made, it’s not as bad as it could have been; the story also emphasizes the Aztecs’ wonderful accomplishments (and pays loving attention to the sets and costumes,) and characters like Autloc and Cameca are given far more depth and shading than Tlotoxl.  It strikes me that, in a way, “The Fires of Pompeii” is similar:  the “primitive” Pompeiians’ beliefs are sometimes gently mocked, sometimes put them in danger, and sometimes lead them to be wrongfully suspicious of the Doctor and Donna.  Yet, none of that bothers me.  Is it more sensitively written, is it different because “Pompeii” doesn’t involve race, or is it something else?

As for the big highlights… Ian proves that he can hold his own in a fight to the death way better than any science teacher I ever had.  The Doctor develops a sweet relationship with Cameca, a warm, intelligent older woman from the community.  Barbara’s “goddess” acting is fabulous; totally regal, uses her historical knowledge to play the part, and the outfit they give us is amazing.  And, of course, because it’s Doctor Who in the ‘60s, Watch!  Our!  Heroes!  Struggle!  To!  Lift!  The!  Huge!  Slab!  Of!  Styrofo- I mean, Stone!  Oh, Who

Warnings

Some violence and scary stuff (expect those two as a given on Whoniverse reviews from here on out,) and shades of Mighty Whitey-ness.

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