The Feathered Serpent

 I have quite clear memories of watching The Feathered Serpent when it was first on TV in 1976.  Diane Keene, who played the Princess Chimalma, also starred in The Cuckoo Waltz, a sit com in which Bodie from the Professionals was the lodger with a young couple, and the mother-in-law (I think it was the mother-in-law) "knew how many blue beans made five".

What I hadn't realised when I first watched the series was that the evil priest was played by Patrick Troughton, so I thought it would be interesting to re-visit it with this knowledge in mind.

I had imagined, when I first saw the series, that I was learning something about the Aztecs and Toltecs, but it quickly became apparent that this was not the case.  All the Aztec and Toltec stuff was really window-dressing for a very basic plot where the good king wants to marry his daughter to the Prince of the neighbouring kingdom to bring peace and the evil priest wants to thwart this and increase his own power.  There's also a lot of sneaking around in secret passages.  I also remembered the Princess being paralysed by poison and having to lie still without blinking for long periods.

Patrick Troughton is wonderful, of course, in a dark, glittery robe and occasionally a head-dress with a black skull.  He also seems to be the only member of the cast who wears anything on his feet - everyone else is barefoot, even the Emperor.  He does a wonderful job of manipulating the other characters, quickly changing his story when it seems they don't want to go in the direction he's leading them. 

"You know the Toltecs are famous for sorcery, don't you?  That's what must have happened, or why could the Prince defeat you so easily?" he murmurs in the ear of the the General who is the rival for the hand of the Princess, when his honour will not allow him to launch a surprise attack on the Toltec camp - for which they clearly had no budget whatsoever, so it all had to be done by suggestion and off screen.

There's also an incredibly convenient eclipse of the sun at the climax of the story.

Poor Princess Chimalma is the only woman in the cast with a speaking part - a serving girl is glimpsed in two scenes, and that's about it.

Still, it's all great fun, and the plucky boy hero, Tozo, is very good - it's the sort of part that could have been annoying, but he was very convincing, despite having to wear a pale blue mini skirt and bikini top.

Thinking of costumes, the big gold head dresses do have a certain Time Lordly look to them.  And, my goodness, the eye makeup!

I was also surprised to recognise the name of the composer of the music for the series, David Fanshawe.  He's most famous for his album African Sanctus, which he did a couple of years before The Feathered Serpent - and when I looked him up, I saw that he had also composed the music for Flambards, with it's distinctive whistling theme.