Doctor Who - Pyramids Of Mars (1976)
After making, yet, another wrong turn in his TARDIS, The Doctor & Sarah find themselves in Edwardian England circa 1911. But this wrong turn in time & space seems to be the least of their worries, assuming it was a wrong turn, looking at you, Timelords! An ancient evil, & all-powerful alien entity wants to start where he left off, & destroy all life in the Universe, starting with Earth! The Doctor appears to be out of his league & is very serious than his usual self. Is Sutekh that great a threat to all life, & can the Doctor dare to even contemplate defeating such a mighty enemy?!
The spinning TARDIS intro followed by The Doctors appearance within, really adds a sense of atmosphere. One in which tells us that we're in for something special here! While Sarah poses in a Victorian dress worn by the Second Doctors era assistant, erm....Victoria. Our hero ponders his reason in life in the grand scheme of things. Indeed, you cannot spend the rest of eternity running around for the Brigadier anymore.
Sarah goes Freudian in the only way we mere Earthlings can, & puts it down to middle-age. The Doctor walks in eternity! Yep, classic case of mid-life crisis. You're merely.. I'll get back to that, LOL! A mental projection so powerful that Sarah briefly sees it within the TARDIS confines, a projection so malevolent that Sarah senses the fact, grabs The Doctors inquisitive nature!
Whilst we've landed in a mansion that will one day be the headquarters for a paramilitary force designed to defend Earth against such alien threats. We may as well set a soap opera akin to that of Upstairs Downstairs! Dr Warlock (nice name!) has done some checking via the hotel in Cairo. Professor Scarman's luggage remains unclaimed. & yet, Ibrahim Namin, (a foreigner? Oh, the Humanity!) with the temper of the Devil himself, (interesting comparison!), now resides in the Scarmans estate complete with "not so forged proof" in handwriting! The imperial view of Edwardian England may have shown it's mask in the intro, when Scarman opened the ancient Egyptian temple & his helpers so wisely fled.
Namins loyalty to his destructive god is evident. He has an ancient ring (the pretty precious!) that can command mummy's that are actually robot servants. In fact, Ibrahim Namin is no more than a superior slave of pure evil himself. But geez, gotta "love" how his loyalty of service is rewarded in the end! Our heroes are helped by Laurence Scarman. A genius some forty years ahead of his time according to The Doctor. He invented SETI for crying out loud! Which makes his death all the more tragic. Up there with Nicolas Tesla, right, 13th lucky Doctor?!
We get treated to how powerful Sutekh is. Upon Sarah's fairly logical argument, The Doctor shows her what 1980 will be like if Sutekh gets his will, a wasteland. I know, 1980! This'll add to the controversial UNIT dating period! Still, if Sutekh is that powerful, maybe he can control UNIT dating time & confuse us viewers(?) Horus & the other Osirians have imprisoned Sutekh inside a Pyramid on Mars. Impotent on a not so groovy privy throne (complete with a hand up his butt?). Seriously, we hear via our hero, how the Osirians can be cruel, yet, still? Oh, BBC, LOL!
Our hero is not his usual jovial self. This threat is more powerful than the Timelords! Like the future Horror Of Fang Rock (1977), set in the same era, no one trapped in Sutekhs invisible, force-field barrier is saved except The Doctor & Sarah! A brief mention of 1666's things to come, or have already happened? Obviously the 4th has already met his 5th self! Of course, as is traditional in Classic Who set in this period, the legend H.G. Wells gets another mention. I can't help imagine if he were around now, what he could have contributed to late 20th & 21st century Science Fiction or Horror? With such legends as Edgar Allen Poe, Jules Verne's, Conan Doyle, etc, contributing to such legends as this or Hollywood!
Professor Scarman notes that the temple that he has just desecrated is of the first Dynasty of the Pharaohs. I adore the sarcophagus "stargate" that Sutekh uses to send a projection, if you will, of himself in Osirian servant form. Of course Sutekh needs no other "loyal" servant & disposes of Namin in a cliffhanger scene I still find disturbing. That shrill scream complete with burning by mere touch effects! Kudos to both the effects guys & Peter Mayock.
A quick trip to the Pyramids of Mars to defeat Sutekh is in order. The Osirians obviously don't want their worst war criminal to escape. So they set a bunch of fab traps typical of their race, which challenges The Doctors knowledge & almost Sarahs life at one point. The Eye of Horus holds Sutekh in paralysis. Yes, sarah is reminded of the city of the Exxilons from Dr Who-Death To The Daleks (1974), even though she wasn't there personally with Doctor 3 & Bellal. Can I please skip that part?! The genius way The Doctor uses to defeat Sutekh though. Compliments to the writers, Robert Holmes, Lewis griever & the mysterious "Stephen Harris!". Sutekh is given the worse case of jet lag by The Doctor! How long do Osirians live, Sutekh? Go on in your sarcophagus "stargate" into infinity! Aw, the time difference between Earth & Mars caught you out, LOL!!
Sutekh has no interest in The Doctors home planet name, which speaks volumes about his Mr Burns-like attitude towards other lifeforms. Apparently, Galifreys location is 0-11-00 by 02 binary from galactic 0, (phew!). No directions for Daleks or Sontarans scrawled on my hitchhikers galaxy map, scouts honour! After poor Professor Scarman, or the husk, serves his purpose, he cries out in ecstasy about his freedom shortly before his sudden disintegration! Was it the Professor himself crying with short-lived joy & embracing death rather than enslavement for eternity? One thing I'm happy to bring up, I found all of the Human characters deaths disturbing.
Sutekh gets arguably some of the best lines of any villain in Doctor who history alongside Morbius & his servant, Dr Solon in the Brain Of Morbius (1975), not to mention Lord Irongon & Lynx in The Time Warrior (1973). Part of this is when The Doctor is tortured by Sutekh for deliberately distracting him during the launch of his pyramid rocket that would have freed him from his shackles..
"You place your puny will against mine, Timelord?!". - mockingly.
"Plaything of Sutekh!". - kinky!
"All life is my enemy!" - Seriously needs to chill!
"Your evil is my good. I am Sutekh The Destroyer. Where I tread, I leave nothing but dust and darkness, I find that good!" (my personal favourite!) - Sutekh The Destroyer, a plaque perhaps?
" You groveling insect!", seriously, all the best lines, an Oscar perhaps?
"I'll spare the Earth! I'll give it to you as a plaything!" - Very funny when our hero has him by, erm...his mercy. The last one still cracks me up, years later! Kudos to Gabriel Woolfe!
My first viewing of this came somewhat of a surprise, before PBS in America. Every Friday night my parents would hire VHS movies for the weekends. Mainly Horror movies, yes, I know, explains a lot. One Friday night my Mother surprised us, or at least me.. Until then, I had no idea of this story & Sarah-Jane's 1980 date seemed reasonable, if a bit confusing to this brat. I mean, where was K9?! I probably would have preferred 1967's Tomb Of The Cybermen. I had no idea of it's lack of existence beyond it's mysterious, Hong Kong monastery tape reels that were yet to be discovered! The evil of the BBC purge I do not find that good!
I found the deaths of all the Edwardian characters upsetting. Yes, despite all those Horror video nasties I was that much a sissy brat! Laurence Scarman with his brilliant invention reminded me of Dr Watson. So his death by the hands of his "possessed" brother seemed all the more frightening. His brief appearance in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) before being strangled by Darth Vader from beyond a Skype-type view screen is like that of his Sutekh possessed brother, here. I've since had the honour of meeting not just the messiah himself,. Tom Baker, but the late demi-goddess Elizabeth Sladen & Micheal Sheard too.
Something else is of note to myself & Ancient Alien theorists of the Erich Von Daniken type & of course Georgio Tskalouso. I know, but so much Science-Fiction goes down that route to amazing effect! The NASA Viking probe allegedly captured what looks like a face on Cydonia & yes, the remains of ancient pyramids on Mars. Did this capture the imagination of Holmes & Hinchcliffe (& Grief?) back in 1976 or is this masterpiece a well-timed coincidence?
One thing is certain there's no brotherly love lost between Horus & Sutekh!
Stay safe!
Borgduck alias Stewart,