DOCTOR WHO THE AZTECS

Doctor Who Target Books (Numerical Order) #88

by John Lucarotti

The TARDIS materialises in Mexico during the Aztec civilisation. The Doctor and his companions step outside to discover they are inside a tomb — the tomb, it turns out, of Yetaxa, once High Priest of the Aztecs.

Barbara is hailed as Yetaxa's reincarnation by Autloc, High Priest of Knowledge, and Tlotoxl, High Priest of Sacrifice, when they find her in the precincts of the tomb wearing the bracelet of the deceased Priest, now revered as a god.

And she takes advantage of her position of unaccustomed power to try and dissuade the Aztecs from practising human sacrifice...

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Media Tie In

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good story!


WHO

The Doctor:

The First Doctor

The Companions:

Barbara Wright, Ian Chesterton & Susan Foreman


WHERE & WHEN

Mexico, 1507


WHAT

The TARDIS landed inside of the tomb of a deceased male High Priest of the Aztecs, just when the Aztec civilization was in its peak. Barbara took a bracelet from the High Priest, and when the group got out of the tomb, she is mistaken as the reincarnation of the High Priest and therefore a living deity and her companions, seen as her special servants.

You can’t fight a whole way of life.

Barbara is a History teacher, and she is specially enthralled by the Aztec culture, and she is quite versed on the subject, however she always thought about the human sacrifices as a barbaric custom (who wouldn’t?) and now with her unexpected “divine” status, as the reincarnation of the High Priest Yetaxa, she wants to change the bloody practice.

While The First Doctor and his first original companions have been together for a while (The Aztecs is the sixth serial of the first season), this is first time that one member of the group wants to make a critical huge change in history and therefore risking to alter the Earth’s timeline.

You believe Sacrifice won’t dare defy Knowledge.

Barbara’s efforts as “Yetaxa” creates a power struggle between the evil Tlotoxl, High Priest of Sacrifice, and the wise Autloc, High Priest of Knowledge.

You may think about all those adventures when any Doctor and his companions “changed” history battling alien villains, but in many of those occasions, the threat was already about time travellers too, so technically they were fighting to keep the original course of history, not changing it.

Then what’s the point of us wandering through time and space? ... We can’t change anything. We’re observers. Nothing more.

Definitely if changing history from the point of view of Doctor Who’s franchise is a very VERY gray area. However, it seems that the accepted consensus is that changing history is impossible, but it’s likely to do some tiny “surgical” changes in time, but never a big change.

So, you wouldn’t be wrong to think that Barbara’s quest is doomed to fail, but definitely it’s a worthy tale to read, just like those doomed adventures like The 300 Spartans or The 47 Ronin, just maybe less bloody. Many stories aren't about the ending but the journey.

And that’s another great examples of the limitless potential of storytelling in Doctor Who where even an adventure destined to fail can be done and being enjoyed the same as any other successful mission.

The Doctor has been able to defeat (several times) the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Master, even the Weeping Angels, but a simple High Priest in the Aztec Empire was able to defeat him.

Of course, this is something not totally accurate since it was Barbara who wanting to change history and the Doctor didn’t do any real effort to try to look a way to stop the custom of sacrifices, but still it’s a wonderful ironic moment in Doctor Who how an Earth’s ancient primitive culture was able to accomplish what several advanced alien menaces weren’t able to do.

John Lucarotti was the screenwriter of the original script of the TV serial, and he was hired to make the novelization of his own original screenplay, where he did a superb job making a more detailed narration of the adventure, making the readers to find themselves in the middle of the Aztec Empire along with The Doctor and his companions.

Definitely a good option to read for fans of the companion, Barbara Wright, and/or any interested in Doctor Who’s tales involving time travel in a past era of Earth’s history.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novelization of the sixth-ever Doctor Who serial, which was broadcast in May and June of 1964. The original Doctor is accompanied by his original crew, teen-aged granddaughter (?) Susan Foreman and her two kidnapped teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. John Lucarotti adapted the teleplay he wrote almost two decades earlier. The Aztecs is one of the better early historical adventures, set in fifteenth century Mexico. It has some really amusing scenes, especially the ones featuring Barbara, who has been identified as a reincarnation of the goddess Yetaxa. There are some thoughtful passages in the book that didn't come through as strongly in the filmed version about the inability of the time travelers to change history, no matter how much they'd like to.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

The really interesting thing about time travel, other than the tension that comes from a clash of cultures - is the ability of time travellers to change the culture in which they find themselves. Or, more to the point, their inability to change it, which is what this particular book/set of episodes explores. It in no way reaches the heights of the modern Rosa Parks episode, which is themed around that same inability, but it's still an entertaining story. Because really, who can fault Barbara's desires here? As a historian, she's keenly aware of both the horrors (and heights) of Aztec culture, and the destruction of that culture by the future arrival of the Europeans. One does not excuse the other, and if she can find a way to extirpate the idea of human sacrifice from the Aztecs, then maybe there will be something left of them to survive Cortés. I doubt it - he was clearly pretty damn bloodthirsty himself - but the slowly-dawning realisation that she can neither stop human sacrifice nor ameliorate the coming invasion is immensely sympathetic.

[Jacob Licklider · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems that all three of John Lucarotti’s novelizations were intent on the chance to enhance things that 1960s television wouldn’t allow. In the televised version of The Aztecs, Lucarotti’s scripts were written specifically to reflect the research Lucarotti had done into Aztec culture but simplified for a 1960s white, British audience. The Aztecs in print is a novelization that, at least partially due to being published in 1984 as the VHS range was beginning and reruns were beginning to occur, there is a sense that Lucarotti isn’t just attempting to recreate the story but add some depth for the reader. It is interesting to note that the original televised story does not mention Aztec gods outside of Tlaloc, the god responsible for rain, but the novelization sees Lucarotti delighting in taking moments to explore the Aztec religions and gods. There is also this added sense that Lucarotti’s understanding of the conquest and destruction of Aztec civilization to be more accurate to the television story fully scapegoating the human sacrifice element as the reason for this aspect of history. The prose itself is also quite interesting, as it feels quite different from the television scripts despite hitting all of the same beats and containing much of the same dialogue.

Lucarotti is writing with the knowledge that by this point people reading these novelizations are most likely people who are actively watching Doctor Who on television, and there are decisions in the prose that reflect this. What stood out to me was that despite doing an excellent job of characterizing the TARDIS team, the main characters don’t actually get much physical description when they are introduced. The Aztec characters are afforded more description, especially since it is clear Lucarotti is working off his scripts and not the televised story, adding descriptors to the supporting cast as a way for the reader to realize just who they are. Each supporting character is given at least some expansion to their backstory: the relationship between Ixta and his father is greatly expanded upon while the manipulations of Tlotoxl are made more insidious. Cameca and the Doctor’s relationship is also expanded upon with the Doctor sharing in the reflections of falling in love, something made somehow slightly more explicit. Ian is also quite well served by the novelization, being given his own reflections on Barbara’s decisions without taking away from Barbara being the center of the book. This is still Barbara’s story after all, and the translation of what is one of her finest outings works quite well in novel form. Lucarotti is also just a different voice from the usual Terrance Dicks fare and clearly has talent for writing these novels.

Overall, The Aztecs is an early example of a 1980s novelization for Doctor Who that while not actively changing much about the televised story adds interesting character depth and comes from an author who has the potential to be a novelist in his own right. 9/10.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘You can’t change history, Barbara. Not one line of it.’

The TARDIS materialises in Mexico 1507. Trapped inside the tomb of Yetaxa, High Priest of the Aztecs.
Barbara is mistaken for a female reincarnation of Yetaka and assumes her identity, she feels that with her new found status that she’d be able to bring about an end to the traditional human sacrifices.
Will she be successful or cause even more trouble for the time travellers as they seek to regain access to the TARDIS.

I’ve always been a fan of the pure historicals and this serial is amongst my favourites. I couldn’t help but feel that the narrative felt a little flat, it didn’t quite have the charm of the televised story.

The first chapter focuses on school teacher Barbara explaining to Susan all aspects of the Aztec civilisation inside the TARDIS prior to the adventure, it’s a nice way for young readers to learn more about a period in history.

A functionary novelisations of a memorable part of early Doctor Who.

[Ian Banks · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent novelisation but only a “not bad” novel. Mr Lucarotti has done a superb job of expanding his screenplay but doesn’t appear to go any further than he did on the screen and creates a rather gripping but fairly pedestrian tale of people realising that they can do nothing to defect the flow of history. There’s a lot going on but it really does need more than what Target were prepared to offer in order to make an exemplary tale.

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Aztecs, being only the sixth ever broadcast Doctor Who TV story, has come to be regarded as something of a classic from the First Doctor era. Partly because it's a prime example of the "pure historicals" of that era but also because of how good it turned it to be as a production. So, one might be forgiven for thinking that its novelization, published twenty years later and written by the serial's original author, would make for a good read.

In reading this novelization in the opening days of 2023 (nearly forty years after its original publication), three things occurred to me. The first was that I had managed to read John Lucarotti's trio of Target books in reverse order over several years. The second was that having done that, I had never been impressed by his novelization of The Massacre in 2010 or Marco Polo in 2017. Third, and lastly, I was experiencing the book after having seen (and grown a fondness for) the original TV version, something that wouldn't have been unlikely when it was written and published.

With all that in mind, Doctor Who - The Aztecs was a mixed bag. Like his later two novelizations, Lucarotti found places to expand upon the original TV story two decades before. The Target version has an extra scene in the TARDIS before the TV serial's opening, leading into it. The sequence with Ian Chesterton making his way through a tunnel to get back into the tomb where the TARDIS landed, which becomes the basis for the part three cliffhanger on-screen, is also expanded upon here significantly. Freed from the confines of BBC TV Centre or what could be done quickly at Ealing on film, Lucarotti crafts a compelling version of the sequence as Ian struggles to crawl, swim, and climb to reach his destination. It, like the grander sense of scale and peopling of the Aztec city, represents the novelization at its best.

Beyond that, the novelization suffers from many of the same issues that Lucarottis later Target books would face. Namely, while Lucarotti could write solid dialogue, his descriptive details could border on the functional at best and paradoxically non-descript at worst. The bits of physical activity, the fight sequences between Ian and Ixta especially, are a prime example of that lack of detail. Indeed, the climactic confrontation isn't a fight but is reduced to an anti-climax. The expansions, as strong as the one with Ian in the pyramid tunnel, can be as troublesome as they are helpful. Take the one toward the end of chapter thirteen, which greatly expands on a scene from the TV serial's final episode where Barbara and Atloc, the High Priest of Knowledge. A scene that in prose features this bit from Atloc to Barbara:

"There is a legend I have heard, told to me by a wanderer from the desert, of another God far across the oceans, who spoke as you have spoken of gentleness and love, who was taken by those who opposed him and crucified as we crucify common thieves."

Which has to be one of the oddest and most out of places pieces of prose I've come across in any work of literary Doctor Who to date.

The Aztecs then, on the page, isn't the gem its screen version was. While it has items of interest and expansions for fans of the serial, it reads oddly in places after nearly forty years. Then again, it's an artifact from another time and perhaps best read as such, even if it's a slight disappointment as a result.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Target novelisation

"You can't rewrite history - not one line!" 

This was an interesting one, i went into this cold not having seen this story. Theres a lot in here action, romance (was this the first time the Doctor got entangled with someone?), a sense of peril and some interesting if misguided attempts to rewrite history.

There is a perhaps too much for the short page length, description is minimal and some events appear rushed and as a result loose thier impact. Im assuming this story is from the first series and im a bit disappointed that they really haven't done much with Susan, maybe in other stories they did.

All in all a good story and its a short read so worth the time

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nhw.livejournal.com/871029.html[return][return]I was disappointed by Lucarotti's novelisation of The Massacre, which stuck much more closely to his original script than the show as broadcast. Here again he has added bits and pieces which presumably were in his original concept, and I was again disappointed, but for a different reason: the narration is strangely flat, and you really miss the performances of the actors breathing life into Lucarotti's lines back in 1964. One cannot help but feel that the production team on the whole did Lucarotti a favour by editing his material. Also he has a really annoying habit of mixing indirect speech with direct speech, which reads like a desperate attempt to make a novel out of a TV script.

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another immersive story, but unlike Marco Polo in this one there is a real sense of threat, that any of the characters might be killed any moment. Barbara is the focus, arguably one of the best characters in the history of DW but everyone gets something interesting to do - except Susan but that's possibly a blessing.

[David Sarkies · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the God Tries to Intervene
2 February 2025

The interesting thing about this one is that it seems to be a subtle dig a religion. Well, they even mention how Christ appeared to the Jews and they proceeded to kill him, which sort of suggests that if somebody appears who, well, in all intents and purposes, appears to be the god that they worship, but they start saying things that the religious leaders don’t like, then the religious leaders will pretty much turn around and arrange to kill this person (or god).

So, the idea came about because John Lucarotti had written Marco Polo, and while that was being made he decided that he wanted to do one on the Aztecs. He actually happened to have a thing for the Aztecs. We need to remember that these early Doctor Whos, when they were dealing with an historic period, wanted to simply explore the period without having any aliens beyond the Doctor.

Anyway, the Tardis appears in an Aztec tomb and while exploring Barbara finds a broch that she likes and puts it on. They then open the door and step out and all of the Aztecs who see this think that it is the person in the tomb coming back as a God. Mind you, Barbara is pretty horrified at the sacrifices that the perform so tries to put and end to it, which results in the religious leaders deciding that they must get rid of them (sound familiar?).

The interesting thing is that the sacrifices were actually conditioned to believe that they were doing something important. Basically the reason that somebody was sacrificed was to deliver a message to the gods. Of course, they need a sacrifice that the Gods would accept – not any person could be sent up to the gods as a messenger because they might not listen to them. In fact, one of the characters doesn’t have a name other than ‘The Perfect Sacrifice’.

It was interesting, and of course it reminds me a lot of what happened to Jesus in the Bible. In fact the part that I’m currently reading has Jesus teaching the Jews, but the Jews are rejecting his teaching because, well, it runs counter to what they are teaching. I could talk a lot more about this, and I could even relate that with how the church runs today (and in fact a lot of people actually suggest that if Jesus were to appear to the modern church they would probably want to kill him again).

Yeah, I liked it, and it certainly does make you think about how organised religion really does run counter to many of the original teachings.

[Scott Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Aztecs is one of the best First Doctor serials, in part because of the excellent sets and costumes, despite the latter not being authentic. The novelisation cannot, of course, create atmosphere with visuals, but Lucarotti's writing is good enough to convey something of the original. However, reading this, I feel that an opportunity has been missed to explore Aztec culture a little more deeply. Lucarotti does make an attempt to create a balanced portrayal of the Aztecs, but he can't get away from his European Christian perspective. And this straight adaptation of the TV script shows up some of the flaws in the characterisation. Tlotoxl is presented as a cookie-cutter baddie; in the TV serial, John Ringham's acting makes the character seem more interesting than he actually is. Susan is infantilised here even more than in other stories. Barbara is, of course, the main focus of the story, but from a modern perspective she comes across as a naive white saviour type, trying to correct perceived deficiencies in Aztec culture in order to save them when the European colonists turn up to judge them. Not a chance - the prejudices of the Spanish 'conquistadores' (not to mention later Portuguese, British and French invaders) doomed all of the indigenous cultures simply for not being Christian and European. On a more positive note, there is the amusing portrayal of a relationship between the Doctor and the Aztec woman Cameca, while the High Priest of Knowledge, Autloc, is also presented sympathetically.

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably because it's one of my favorite First Doctor serials, Doctor Who (and) the Aztecs was a less involving read than I'd hoped. I know all the beats, even pieces of dialog, and that just made John Lucarotti's retread of his own episodes familiar and even a little tedious. Until the last episode's worth of prose, anyway, because there he makes several interesting changes. Ian climbs up to the tomb in an added sequence, for example, and the last battle between him and Ixta is completely different. While each fight between the two "chosen warriors" is different (and usually limited) on screen, Lucarotti correctly intuits, I think, that it's all kind of the same on the page. Now, if you're NOT that familiar with The Aztecs, this is as good a read as Marco Polo, but with a tighter plot. It's a bona fide Doctor Who classic (in any medium), with a well-rendered historical culture and an important lesson for time travellers. Plus, the Doctor's first romantic entanglement! Yeah, that didn't just happen in the new era!

[Gareth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the epitome of Doctor Who historical stories this one - a strong story as the characters deal with a famous civilization in the Earth's history, and where we also see the constraints that Time Travel can impose (even if later stories can be a bit more loose in this regard), with the Doctor's famous line of 'But you can't rewrite history! Not one line!'.
A lot of tension in this one, with some amusement and bittersweetness with some of the difficulties the Doctor gets into, with just plain sadness for Barbara's arc, but Ian and Susan also get into and out of trouble of their own as well.
All round, a very strong historical story, where they looked to strive for historical accuracy.

[Keith Tooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Doctor Who: The Aztecs’ by John Lucarotti is the Target book of the classic Doctor Who television serial featuring the first Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan from the first series of Doctor Who. ‘The Aztecs’ was the sixth television serial from the first ever series of Doctor Who. The story follows The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan as they find themselves in 1430 in Mexico with the Aztecs with Barbara believed to be the god Yetaxa.

The book was originally written in 1984 and sticks to the television serial really well as John Lucarotti was one of the writers of the television serial. The book is full of historical content as well as action and excitement. A really enjoyable read that I would recommend to any Doctor Who fans.

[Hasselhh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite Classic Who adventures, and the book only added to the story. True, the plot still has a taste of Shakespeare, even though the setting is historically quite a bit different from those plays, something which is most evident in the speachpatterns of the Aztecs which seems quite theatrical, but all of those issues stem from the show. What the book brings is a number of well thought out way of filling out some of the holes in the original episodes as well as adding to the life of the Aztec village, something which was harder to do on the budget of the show.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doctor Who : The Aztecs (1984) by John Lucarotti is the novelisation of the sixth Doctor Who serial first broadcast in 1964. Ian, Barbara and Susan are the Doctors companions.

The story is one that echoes the Marco Polo and others, in The Aztecs the crew lose access to the TARDIS and have to work to get it back. Barbara is mistaken for a god. The story also brings up the issues with whether time travellers can change history and how that works. A first for Doctor Who.

The Aztecs is quite a good story and it’s quite a good read.

[Calvin Saxby · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was teaching year 5 about the Aztec civilisation, I decided to read this civilisation to them (the first time was just before Doctor Who returned to our screens in 2005) and they loved it! It has slight differences to the television version but nothing major. The story itself is magnificent and the characters are wonderful. Tlotoxl, Ixta, Autloc and Cameca, alongside the regulars, were easy to bring to life, they were so well written. Thoroughly recommended if you like Doctor Who and/or The Aztec civilisation.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of all the Doctors I know the least about the first one. I have only seen a few of his episodes and so it is always interesting when I read one of his stories. Plus historical Doctor Who episodes are always a bit of a mixed bag, especially the older ones. This one seemed well written although I am not sure how historically accurate it was as I do not know a lot about the Aztec culture but considering when it was produced probably not very.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

60th anniversary re-read. This is a fantastic doctor who story. It is a classic in every sense of the word. It is one of the more original stories and doesn’t feel formulaic. You also get a sense of being in a different culture. Don’t get me wrong, I do not think I get a real understanding of the Aztecs. But they did a good job of making me feel in a place that operates by different rules and ethics. I also loved the subtle reference to Christianity near the end. Next up The Sensorites.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5
I really appreciated the extra detail about Aztec culture, and I think it benefits from being 3 episodes shorter than the last story John Lucarotti had to fit to roughly the same length, but there were a few bits that I felt were slightly awkward, and I wasn't really sure what to make of Christianity being brought up in that context.

[Nicholas Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The aztecs is probably the best of the 'pure historical adventures and the detail added from the period adds to the story in an effective way. The book expands slightly upon the tv scripts as filmed but is pretty loyal to what was there. An enjoyable read from the early days of the series.

[Sean Fishlock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a long time ago that I read this, but fond of this one, it was one of the better novelisations from the TV show. Not a big Hartnell fan, and can't actually recall the episode, but the book was well written and memorable.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

An engaging audiobook of the novelisation by John Lucarotti. William Russell reads this excellently and I found myself captivated. My only criticism is that the music and sound effects at some points were rather intrusive which took me out of the story slightly.

[Felicia Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Aztecs believe that Barbara is High Priest Yetaxa. Ian and Susan get into some trouble and the Doctor saves the day. This is another action packed, keep you on the edge of your seat adventure.

[Ivana Richards · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rather dull version of a Hartnell classic story.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best written stories of the Hartnell era.

[Nobi Nobes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very exiting! I learnt lots about the aztecs!

[Savannah Streger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good book would not mind reading it again.

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this was another great Target novel! I could see the show so clearly, in every word I read. Well done.