The Aztecs (Doctor Who)

006 – The Aztecs
Doctor Who serial
Ian and the warrior Ixta fight to the death atop a pyramid.
Cast
Doctor William Hartnell (First Doctor)
Companions Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman) Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright) William Russell (Ian Chesterton)
Others Keith Pyott — Autloc John Ringham — Tlotoxl Ian Cullen — Ixta Margot Van der Burgh — Cameca Tom Booth — First Victim David Anderson — Aztec Captain Walter Randall — Tonila André Boulay — Perfect Victim
Production
Directed by	John Crockett
Written by	John Lucarotti
Script editor	David Whitaker
Produced by	Verity Lambert Mervyn Pinfield (associate producer)
Executive producer(s)	None
Incidental music composer	Richard Rodney Bennett
Production code	F
Series	Season 1
Length	4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Date started	23 May 1964
Date ended	13 June 1964
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → The Keys of Marinus The Sensorites
List of Doctor Who serials

The Aztecs

Author	John Lucarotti
Cover artist	Nick Spender
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	88
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	20 September 1984
ISBN

The Aztecs is the sixth serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 23 May to 13 June 1964. It was written by John Lucarotti and directed by John Crockett.

The serial sees the mysterious time traveller the Doctor (William Hartnell), his granddaughter Susan (Carole Ann Ford), and teachers Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) arrive in Mexico during the Aztec empire. Barbara becomes mistaken for the goddess Yetaxa, and accepts the identity in hope of persuading the Aztecs to give up human sacrifice. The Doctor warns her about changing history.

The TARDIS crew arrive in Mexico in the 15th Century. With the TARDIS trapped in a tomb, Barbara is mistaken for a female reincarnation of the ancient high priest Yetaxa, and assumes her guise and identity. From 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', the High Priest of Sacrifice, Tlotoxl. As something 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 urgent warnings that Barbara cannot change history fall on deaf ears, much to his fury.