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Serial: F Episode Nos. 27,28,29, and 30. Title: The Aztecs Special Edition
When the TARDIS arrives within the tomb of an Aztec High Priest, Barbara is mistaken as
his reincarnation and hailed as a goddess by the Aztecs. She decides against the Doctor's
instructions to try to end the Aztecs' tradition of human sacrifice in hopes this will save
their civilization, but in doing so she places all their lives at risk when the High Priest of
Sacrifice turns against her.
starring William Hartnell as Dr. Who, William Russell as Ian Chesterton, Jacqueline Hill as
Barbara Wright, and Carole Ann Ford as Susan Foreman.
Written by John Lucarotti, Associate Produced by Mervyn Pinfield, Produced by Verity
Lambert, and Directed by John Crockett.
Originally
transmitted from
AND
Serial T Episode No. 84. Title:
Galaxy 4 (Episode 3: Air Lock)
This is an episode that was missing from the BBC archives until late 2011, when it was returned
from a private collector. It’s the third episode of a four-part story, and is topped and tailed
by a condensed reconstruction of the missing episodes using the surviving original soundtrack,
photo stills and CGI.
The TARDIS has landed on a planet that will destroy itself in two dawns’ time. Also nearby are
two crashed spaceships that shot each other down. One is crewed by four beautiful women
from the planet Drahva who say that the disgusting Rill creatures in the other ship fired first.
The Rills have a different story. In the surviving episode, the Doctor and Vicki begin to learn
the truth about the Rills via their droid-like robot servants, the Chumblies, while Steven is
held prisoner and under threat in the Drahvin ship’s airlock.
starring William Hartnell as Dr. Who, Maureen O’Brien as Vicki, and Peter Purves as Steven.
Written by William Emms, Produced by Verity Lambert, and Directed by Derek Martinus.
Originally transmitted from 11 September to 2 October 1965 on BBC1.
Features described below in italics are new to this edition and were not present on the original
release of
The Aztecs.
A 2-Disc Set.
On Disc 1:
- All 4 25-minute episodes of The Aztecs.
- Graphical menus, episode selection features, and scene selection features.
-
Fresh restoration
of all 4 25-minute episodes, including a better-refined version of the
VidFIRE video-look process. This story has been selected by BBC America
to represent
the First Doctor era in their “The Doctors
Revisited” series of repeats. The prints
they
used were NOT restored. The prints on this DVD look eye-poppingly better than what
BBC America’s
used.
- Commentary by actors William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Carole Ann Ford (Susan),
and Producer Verity Lambert.
- Production Notes subtitles option. Displays pop-up production information as the story
plays. These notes are newly-researched and
rewritten from the original edition.
- “Remembering the Aztecs” - 28 minutes of new interviews with three of the guest
cast from the story: Ian Cullen (Ixta), Walter Randall (Tonila), and John Ringham (Tlotoxl).
- “Cortez and Montezuma” – a 6 minute BBC educational feature from 1970 briefly
describing the real-life Aztec civilization.
- “Restoring the Aztecs” 8 minute compare-and-contrast featurette about the restoration and
clean-up given to these episodes, and the VidFIRE video-look process.
This feature has an optional production notes feature that displays if the general Production
Notes feature has been switched on. (highly recommended that you switch them on before
watching this one)
- TARDIS-Cam No. 3, from the BBC online website for Doctor Who.
- Intro sequences. There are six different introductions from the interviewed members
of the guest cast that randomly play at the beginning when you select the “Play All” feature
on the main menu.
- “Designing the Aztecs” 25 minute interview feature with Barry Newbery, the production
designer on the serial, featuring many photographs from his own collection.
-
“Making
the story, where they tell you how the Aztecs made cocoa.
- An Arabic-language alternate soundtrack on the fourth episode, salvaged from the 1960s
overseas syndication package, which also features different incidental music from the original.
-
Photo Gallery.
- 1 Easter Egg. To know how to
access it and what it is, highlight the following blank space:
-
Go to the “Special Features” menu. Highlight “Intro Sequences” and press the left
arrow.
-
A
Doctor Who logo will appear and be
highlighted. Click on this and you will
see the
-
“Distributed
by BBC TV Enterprises” closing trailer that was used on overseas syndicated
-
film
prints of BBC shows in the 1960s.1960s, like
this
-
one.
On Disc
2:
- Galaxy
4. A 65-minute
presentation of this 4-episode story.
This begins with a 28-minute
abdidged
reconstruction of the first two episodes, using the surviving soundtracks,
still
photos, CGI, and two surviving clips from the first
episode (the second of which is 6 minutes
long).
The recently-recovered third episode, Air Lock, is then shown in its
entirety. That is
then followed by another 13-minute
reconstruction of the concluding episode.
-
Chronicle – The Realms of Gold. A
50-minute BBC documentary made in the early 1970s
about the conquest of the Aztec civilization by
the Spanish conquistador Cortez.
-
Doctor Forever! Celestial Toyroom. A new 23-minute featurette
about the various toy ranges
of Doctor Who there have been through its history.
-
It’s A Square World. A 7-minute
BBC comedy sketch from the 1960s starring Clive Dunn
(of Dad’s Army fame) as a faux First Doctor,
explaining how a British space rocket will work.
Also features David Frost and
Patrick Moore.
-
A Whole Scene Going. A 5-minute
segment from an arts program that interviewed Gordon
Flemyng, the director of the Peter
Cushing-starring film Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD
that includes a visit to the set.
-
Coming Soon. A
1-minute trailer for the forthcoming DVD of The Ice Warriors.
-
PDF Files. Put this disc into a
computer and you can access a PDF file of the original
Radio Times billings for The Aztecs.
There is one
feature that was present on the original edition of this DVD that’s not present
on
this
one. This is the Who’s Who text files of
actors’ biographies.
