This is the first serial that I watched since I was, in typical fashion, not paying attention to order and simply starting with one of the first. However, I was impressed that they didn’t explain much about the TARDIS and simply travel through time. They established the premise in the show in the pilot, if you missed it, you can get the gist of traveling through time. No need for endless recaps.

This serial takes us back to Mexico in 15th century. The TARDIS lands in the middle of an enclosed tomb. They are able to leave the tomb, but not able to get back in and so they encounter the Aztecs. The Aztecs mistake Barbara for the reincarnation of high priest Yataxa, and she assumes the identity.

With her power, she naively hopes to end the, in her opinion, barbarity of human sacrifice. The Doctor strongly disagrees with her attempts to change the native ways. This story is more than just the modern value of human life verses human sacrifice. Barbara is given a godlike status, and the power goes to her head.

The Aztecs are intelligent characters, unlike the cavemen of An Unearthly Child serial. There are some, one in particular, Tlotoxl, who does not trust Barbara’s deity. The serial becomes a battle of wits, Tlotoxl trying to expose Barbara for the fraud she is, Barbara trying to use her power to save her friends and change the customs of the Aztecs.

I like the ideas about what it means to be a god. Barbara believes that as a god she must improve society, free the people, reject sacrifice. Tlotoxl is intelligent enough to question the gods, to step up traps, to not take things on faith. This is not a society that blindly follows. There are reasons behind actions, even ones as hard to understand as human sacrifice.

Next up – The Daleks!