Doctor Who: The Aztecs & Vengeance on Varos

Buy The Aztecs and Vengeance on Varos together for one low price.

The Aztecs - When the TARDIS materializes inside an ancient Aztec tomb, worshipers mistake the Doctor's companion Barbara for the reincarnation of high pirest Yetaxa.  Barbara's efforts to change the course of history could cost the time travelers their lives.

Vengeance on Varos - In a desperate attempt to locate rare and essential fuel for his ailing TARDIS, the Doctor lands on sinister planet Varos, where torture is broadcast as mass entertainment.  Impriooned in the Punishment Dome, the Doctor becomes the subject of the latest media adventure.

The Aztecs
The TARDIS arrives in fifteenth century Mexico inside the tomb of one-time Aztec High Priest Yetaxa. The travellers become cut off from the ship when they explore the temple outside and the tomb door closes behind them. Barbara is proclaimed by the High Priest of Knowledge, Autloc, as Yetaxa's divine reincarnation. However, she incurs the enmity of the High Priest of Sacrifice, Tlotoxl, when - against the Doctor's advice - she attempts to use her new-found authority to put an end to the Aztec practice of human sacrifice.

Events reach a climax on the Day of Darkness - the time of a solar eclipse. Ian's unwilling conflict with the Aztecs' 'chosen warrior', Ixta, ends in a fight in which the latter falls to his death from the temple roof. The Doctor manages to reopen the tomb door using a wheel-and-pulley that he has carved (the Aztecs not having mastered the use of the wheel) and the travellers make good their escape.

Vengeance on Varos
The Doctor visits the planet Varos to obtain supplies of a rare ore called zeiton 7, vital to the functioning of the TARDIS. Varos was once a colony for the criminally insane and the descendants of the original guards still rule, while the poverty-stricken people are kept entertained by screenings of public torture from the Punishment Dome.

Their Governor has been trying to negotiate a better export price for zeiton ore from Sil, an envoy of the Galatron Mining Corporation, whose reptilian body is supported and kept cool by a mobile water tank.

The Doctor and Peri meet two rebels, Jondar and Areta. Peri and Areta are captured and almost reshaped into beast-like creatures by Quillam, the Dome's sadistic commandant, but the Doctor saves them and tells the Governor the true value of zeiton 7.

Quillam and Varos's Chief Officer, who are in the pay of the Corporation, try to kill the Doctor and the Governor but are themselves despatched. Sil plans an invasion of Varos by a force from his home world, Thoros-Beta, but the Corporation veto this and instruct him to buy the zeiton ore at any price.

The Aztecs

The Doctor	---	William Hartnell
Barbara Wright	---	Jacqueline Hill
Ian Chesterton	---	William Russell
Susan Foreman	---	Carole Ann Ford
Autloc	---	Keith Pyott
Aztec Captain	---	David Anderson
Cameca	---	Margot van der Burgh
First Victim	---	Tim Booth
Ixta	---	Ian Cullen
Perfect Victim	---	Andre Boulay
Tlotoxl	---	John Ringham
Tonila	---	Walter Randall

Directed by John Crockett
Written by John Lucarotti
Produced by Verity Lambert
Incidental Music by Richard Rodney Bennett
Story Editing by David Whitaker
Title Music by Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, arranged by Delia Derbyshire
Costumes by Daphne Dare, Tony Pearce

Vengeance on Varos

The Doctor	---	Colin Baker
Peri	---	Nicola Bryant
Arak	---	Stephen Yardley
Areta	---	Geraldine Alexander
Bax	---	Graham Cull
Chief Officer	---	Forbes Collins
Etta	---	Sheila Reid
Governor	---	Martin Jarvis
Jondar	---	Jason Connery
Maldak	---	Owen Teale
Priest	---	Hugh Martin
Quillam	---	Nicolas Chagrin
Rondel	---	Keith Skinner
Sil	---	Nabil Shaban

Directed by Ron Jones
Written by Philip Martin
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Script Editing by Eric Saward
Visual Effects by Charles Jeanes
Incidental Music by Jonathan Gibbs
Title Music by Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, arranged by Peter Howell
Costumes by Anne Hardinge

Jason Connery, son of James Bond star Sean Connery and the lead in the HTV/Goldcrest series Robin of Sherwood, appears here as Jondar.