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| PLANET
SF HOME | DOCTOR
WHO HOME | BIG FINISH AUDIOS
| 8TH DOCTOR NOVELS | EPISODES
| MISC REVIEWS |
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It's sad to think that THE AZTECS is the only one of John Lucarotti's three DOCTOR WHO stories to have survived. However, I guess the recovery of DAY OF ARMAGEDDON that we can always live in hope that some parts of MARCO POLO or THE MASSACRE have survived. But enough of that, onto the DVD... There's little point in discussing the plot here, as it's been done to death, and the episode guide on this site gives a good indication of how I rate each episode. Suffice to say, it's great, although perhaps not quite as good as THE MASSACRE. The episodes themselves look great. The restoration work really is first rate, with a thorough clean-up and VidFIRE processing in order to replicate the video look. There's no doubt that they haven't looked this good since 1964. DOCTOR WHO DVDs have always had many more extras than the "chapter selection" and "animated menus" that some companies insist on listing as special features. Commentary and production subtitles: These are standard on all WHO DVDs these days. The latter adds the occasional fact about the story, the recording (such as Hartnell missing his mark), or an actor's other credits. Not as packed as later releases, but still interesting. The commentary from Verity Lambert, William Russell and Carole Ann Ford is a little disappointing. Since the story is nearly 40 years old, it's possibly being a little unfair to criticse them too much, but there are rather too many occasions when they're just sitting there watching the story rather than talking about. It's a good job that WHO DVDs fade the soundtrack back up when there's nothing coming out of the commentary team. Remembering THE AZTECS: Interviews with Ian Cullen (Ixta), John Ringham (Tlotoxl) and Walter Randall (Tonila). Cullen - who is interviewed alone - is great, coming across as likeable and with a good memory of the production. It's definitely a shame that he wasn't part of the commentary team as he would definitely have improved it. Ringham comes across as very opinionated, while Randall mostly just sits there listening to him. Overall though, a good documentary, with some great colour photos of the production, but someone really should have told Randall to readjust his shirt... Cortez and Montezuma: A clip of Valerie Singleton from a 1970 episode of BLUE PETER. Nothing to do with the story directly, but an interesting six minutes. Designing THE AZTECS: Barry Newbery discusses his work on the story. Perhaps a little bit too long, but quite interesting. Restoring THE AZTECS: Highlighting the Restoration Team's work on the story. A neat showcase for their work, and a good comparison of how good it now looks with what the unrestored prints looked like. TARDIS-Cam No. 3: As ever, largely pointless. Making Cocoa: A SOUTH PARK-style animated feature with Ringham and Randall reprising their roles. Not particularly funny, although it isn't helped by Randall's delivery. Photo Gallery: Nice photos, but I had to mute the due to the annoying sound effects that accompany them. There are also six different introductions from Cullen, Randall and Ringham, which play at random if the "play all" option is selected, as well as an Easter Egg (for presentation fans only really) and an Arabic soundtrack to episode 4. Overall this is a highly impressive release. A great story, which looks equally good thanks to the restoration work. Ian Cullen's interview is the highlight of the extras, and even those extras that aren't that good are still worth at least one look. BACK TO THE TOP |
THE AZTECS |
