Was a time when I would review books from Obverse's The Black Archive: a series of critical monographs focusing on individual Doctor Who stories. I've written one myself, am working on another, and already have a pitch in the works for a third. Having written in the line doesn't preclude reviewing them... but being one of the editors does. (Because yes, that's a thing now.) My love for this line and what it does is genuine, which is why I said yes to the editing gig. But I am aware that "This book is really good, trust me" doesn't come across as an especially objective review when you're part of the team helping to get it out there.

So call this one a book preview with my genuine feelings on it, irrespective of the fact that I am on the editing team and worked as a proofreader. Behold: Black Archive #71, written by Doris V. Sutherland and covering the 1964 serial The Aztecs.

If you've never read a Black Archive before... well, they're delightful. Each volume is written by a different author (although there are some recurring favorites), and encompass deep dives into the episode in question. This could be from literary, sociopolitical, psychological, historical, or industry angles... or a combination of several or all of these. At their best, these books don't seek to rate the episodes, but rather to understand them. Every Doctor Who story across its entire run will have some good and some bad, some earnest and some misguided—The Aztecs included.

This book is, in a word, thorough. It looks at a beloved pure historical (beloved of many of us at Obverse especially!) from every angle, including a few you likely haven't thought of. There's an examination of the tone of pure historicals in the Hartnell era, the changing role of Barbara (and Jacqueline Hill's portrayal of her), and discussions of how the mechanics of time travel have evolved across the series as a whole.

The bulk of the book, though, is taken up (as one might expect) with an examination of the serial's historical influences. It's not just a matter of how accurate the serial was, but how accurate the serial had the capacity to be—and the truth me surprised me. Sutherland goes deep into the history surrounding the story as compared to academic writings available at the time.

There's also an extended look at the veracity of Barbara's claims that are central to the action of the story. If you haven't seen The Aztecs, the main theme is that the history teacher, with her knowledge of how the Aztec Empire fell, wants to intervene to make changes to avoid that fall. The questions this raises are many, and Sutherland interrogates every last one of them... including, again, a few important questions none of us may have thought to ask.

To address all these points while still having an obvious love for the story is a wonderful thing. The ability to interrogate something this deeply without casting it aside is a talent we're losing in modern media literacy, and knowing The Black Archive is keeping it alive makes me very happy.

Pick up your copy of The Black Archive #71 - The Aztecs from Obverse Books