@DenValdron

Oh, that was a hoot!! Why had we not heard about this before? OK, it’s short but having an opportunity to catch up with the Brigadier’s mellifluous voice and Zoe’s typical contagious curiosity was not something I’d give up -as you say, it’s what? 18 minutes, all up.

It’s also worth watching the Confidential, How it Was Made video. Great to listen, again, to the cast and to see Dan Murphy who unlike the Brig, is wearing a leather jacket and a hat and has a worryingly red face when he’s climbed to the top of the Aztec ruin!

The Brig is refreshing in white polo shirt and shorts (this feels like a review in OK magazine!) but there’s the hint of the formal Brig with grey socks and polished black shoes.

The Baddie does a good job of ‘breaking’ the ‘warrior’s’ neck but the latter sits on the ground -too nervous, as an actor, to fall ‘dead’ at the villain’s feet on that hard, hot concrete, I expect. And then the Brig swings one boot clad foot and without making any contact whatsoever, knocks the villain down unconscious. Ooops. But who cares! The lines before that are fabulous and delivered in that typical wry tone we’ve come to love (and now miss -at least with Capaldi, there’s a sense of it returning):

“we have to spill the wine and then the blood of a warrior”.

Brig: “do I have to sacrifice a parrot?”

Zoe: “Oh, no, just a warrior’s blood!”

Brig: “things I do for Queen and country”. Indeed. And having much fun doing it. I think he’s just as good in this -with age, he mellows, the anger has dissipated and he’s less ‘actorr’ than he was during the days of Doctors 3-6.

You’re right about the opening theme and the glorious setting: bright blue sky with everything in perfect HD. No fluffed lines, no silly rambling and muttering; no post modern excesses or dream sequences: just a good old fashioned yarn. But the score during the middle part was unnecessary and just a little too eventful: the heavy brass honking along as the villain shadows the Brig and Zoe could have been left out with just the sound of tourist voices providing that eerie feel and some delicately placed footsteps added later for momentum and fear. Hearing the lad’s neck crack would have been a bit too much? Or not. It certainly was a shock actually and I expected Zoe to start shrieking as she usually did.

And it was again a surprise to hear it had Terrence Dicks and B. Letts involvement. Of course the intro cameos were terrific too. Almost shed a tear there -though I wasn’t a huge fan of C. Baker it wasn’t the acting, but the overladen scripts which did me in -and possibly an era where I was fast losing interest (and would have anyway).

As for putting this in to replace Saville’s inclusion, absolutely! How does one go about this? A deputation of sorts, I suppose?

It’s a great idea.

Thankyou @DenValdron for popping this one on: I really liked it.