Doesn't she look magnificent in this beautiful 'Sun God' costume? Absolutely fantastic.
This episode starts with the Doctor dressing down Barbara in a full scale row. He is harsh, annoyed that she has jeopardised them all. To him, Ian and Barbara must seem almost as primitive as the Aztecs. Only when she gets upset does he soften, and we see the real affection he has developed for her.
I forgot to say last time that our heroes are once again barred from leaving in the TARDIS by another physical barrier, a hallmark of the early days of the series. Here the Doctor tries gamely to get his hands on the plans of the Temple to discover the mechanism for opening the sealed tomb from the outside. I like that his machinations, and indeed his later intervention, both lead to poor Ian being drugged by Ixtar.
The direction is again complex and clever; there's a memorable ultra-close two shot of Tlotoxl and Barbara as they vie for power. The picture quality has improved with the new cameras which are also able to take longer shots than in Lime grove, making the Temple set look even more impressive. And a note about the engaging and atmospheric music, an early work by the film composer to be, Richard Rodney Bennett.
I'd like to touch on the quote at the top of this piece and the notion of the Doctor as an engineer and 'a builder of things'. This became a little lost as the series developed, and indeed I think the Doctor himself would describe himself nowadays more as an 'Adventurer'. But this line gives a hint to his origins, and his life on Gallifrey before he 'stole' the TARDIS. The line, and William Hartnell's delivery, suggest to me that he might just as easily have been called 'the Fixer.' It is touched upon again eventually in 'Remembrance of the Daleks', a great favourite of mine, as we see the Doctor perhaps as a former stellar engineer and manipulator of the 'Hand of Omega', the Time Lord equivalent of the hand of god. If he works on that scale, it is no wonder that he wants to explore the Universe, and treats the TARDIS, at which we marvel, as merely a form of transport.
Next episode: The Bride of Sacrifice
