Aztec Temple of Blood

I caught the end of a repeat broadcast of the Aztec Temple episode from the Unsolved History series cable's Military Channel last night. It originally aired on TLC or Discovery a few years ago.

Unsolved History
Aztec Temple
TV-PG, CC

In 1519, the Aztecs were the most powerful and fearsome civilization in the Americas. The center of Aztec life was Templo Mayor, located in the middle of their capital city, Tenochtitlan, now modern Mexico City. The 12-story pyramid was used for worship.

The blurb above doesn't begin to do the show justice as it features not only recreations of Aztec and Spanish weapons, their use and a comparison of effects, but human sacrifice experimental archaeology!

Warriors: Cortés

I caught a rebroadcast of Warriors: Cortés on the Military Channel a few days ago. It seems to be a retitling of the 2007 BBC series entitled "Heroes and Villains" and one the episodes is of Hernan Cortes conqueror of Mexico. It's been posted on You Tube.

1/6 http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=_YzZaLPxsig
2/6 http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=opqP8o_ uGR0
3/6 http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=5ghWuFdgkHI
4/6 http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=cQpWUnVCv18
5/6 http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=2r1RbCS5jpg
6/6 http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=DhGRS4oWoWw

I've got my quibbles with some of the details, but the armor, weapons
and costuming are far above average. For example, although some of the
foot soldiers wear combed morions; for a change - none of the principles
are so equipped. This is the best example of Conquistadors vs. Indios
combat that I've seen, with pretty good CGI to fill out numbers in long
shots.

Video quality on You Tube isn't the best, but with real actors, its far better that past examples that use head nodding reenactors while the serious 'voice' narrates the action. heaven knows, I've been a part of a number of those productions, and probably will be again.