First watched : 21 June 1976
This is another one that fell through the cracks.I was looking out for it but thought it might have been a year or two later. I think this could well be the first series I watched entirely on my own; I don't recall anyone else being in the room with me when this was shown on a Monday teatime.
The six-part serial, based very loosely on Aztec culture was the creation of actor/writer John Kane who'd previously contributed to The Adventures of Black Beauty and The Kids From 47A. He'd also been in Dr Who in the final Jon Pertwee story Planet of the Spiders as the simple-minded Tommy and The Feathered Serpent does have a strong Who- feel to it , heightened by the presence of Patrick Troughton as the main character Nasca.
Nasca is the fanatical high priest serving the bloodthirsty god Teshcarta who becomes enraged when the vacillating emperor Kukulman ( Tony Steedman ) proposes a marriage for his daughter Chimalma ( Diane Keen ) with Prince Heumac ( Brian Deacon ) from a neighbouring tribe, which threatens to re-establish the worship of a more pacific god Kwala. This sets the stage for a surprisingly bloodthirsty drama which pushes the envelope with murder, torture, human sacrifice and semi-nudity though it's almost entirely male. Richard Willis as Tozo, the rather annoying teenage hero of the tale, is particularly skimpily attired. Keen the only female in the cast boasts a rather rounded navel in her costume.
I should say that the above is based only on the original six part series. With the principal villains both apparently killed in the final episode I assumed that was that and was quite surprised when it returned for a second series in 1978. I toyed with the idea of watching it but then decided against. I can't remember why since I really enjoyed the first, series, perhaps just because I was consciously pulling away from kids TV by then and didn't want to revisit it . As it seems to be on YouTube I will perhaps remedy that in the next few weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment