Doctor Who: The Aztecs
One of the hands-down best stories of William Hartnell’s era, The Aztecs is also one of the best time-travel-ethics tales in the show’s entire history. No chronic hysteresis, no parallel universes, no Time Lords, no time loops, none of that technobabble. It’s about someone who wants to change the established history of one of the Earth’s most prolific lost civilizations, allowing it to continue thriving beyond when history recorded that it ceased to exist. And the Doctor must stop that person and keep things on track, without interfering in history even further in the process. That the person wanting to make the changes is a fellow TARDIS traveler adds a great deal of drama and depth to what was still considered, at the time, tea-time entertainment for kids.
The first thing you’ll note about The Aztecs is that it looks a lot sharper than the VHS release that emerged in the mid 1990s. The complete story has been available to view for years, but not like this; as with many of the Doctor’s B&W adventures, The Aztecs was originally shot on video, almost in a “live-to-tape” fashion, but retained only as a film print of its original transmission, losing a lot of the B&W video sharpness. That “live” look has been restored magnificently here with a technique called VidFIRE (which, quite deservedly, is the subject of its own bonus featurette on the restoration of this show). It’s hard to overstate how good it looks now - it looks like live television from the sixties, with only filmed model inserts retaining their grainy film look. The sound has, as usual, been brought up to digital standard, but with this release it’s the video quality that just floors me.
For bonus material, we’re treated to the insightful reminiscences of series regular William Russell (who, as Ian Chesterson, was one of the very first Doctor Who companions), Carole Ann Ford (who likewise starred as the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan), and original series producer Verity Lambert. There’s also a production notes subtitle track which, when viewed with the audio commentary, adds up to a mountain of information about a four-parter that was shot and broadcast nearly forty years ago. A lot has been said and written about this adventure, and yet I’m amazed at how much information we do get.
Other bonuses include a featurette on the making of The Aztecs, some contemporary BBC TV clips from educational shows discussing the Aztec civilization, and yet another TARDIScam segment (nice to see that the BBC’s gotten some kind of use out of these made-for-the-web curiosities). As the original four 
episodes each had their own titles (it wouldn’t be until shortly before Hartnell’s departure that a four, six or seven part story would be given a collective title and episode number), each one opens with a shot of one of the original tapestries from the set, a simple text legend, and a newly-recorded introduction from one of The Aztecs‘ guest characters, a very nice touch.
Overall, a stunning comeback for one of the better first Doctor outings. If the restoration effort is equal to the work done on The Aztecs, I eagerly look forward to more 60s Doctor Who on DVD.