Oh Mummy! (Doctor Who - Pyramids Of Mars (DVD))

Member Name: Mauri

Product:	Doctor Who - Pyramids Of Mars (DVD)
Date:	13/07/05 (180 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A good story and reasonable DVD features.

Disadvantages: At full price it is expensive.

Ever since Egyptology became popular in the nineteenth century people have used its sinister mysticism and death cult as a tool in horror stories, the famous universal film ‘The Mummy’ in the 1930 is a good example, the connection between ancient Egypt and Science fiction is more recent but fans of Stargate take note Doctor Who got there first!

‘The Pyramids of Mars’ is a Doctor Who story originally aired in 1975, starring Tom Baker (the fourth Doctor) and Elizabeth Sladen as his assistant the plucky journalist Sarah Jane Smith. The Tom Baker period of the Doctor Who series was the longest of any actor and his character complete with floppy hat, long coat and multicoloured scarf is still recognisable by many as ‘the’ Doctor. The success of the series with Tom Baker was partly down to his interpretation of the character but also to the quality of the stories at the time and this DVD shows off one of the best from this series.

THE STORY

On the way back to UNIT headquarters on 1980’s Earth the Tardis gets intercepted by a mysterious force that causes it to reach the right location but in the wrong time 80 years 70 years further back in time to be precise. When they arrive they find themselves in an old country Priory belonging to an Egyptologist Prof. Marcus Scarman, however Scarman is absent and a sinister Egyptian seems to be in charge and engaged in some secret activities involving Egyptian relics. Soon a murder occurs and it becomes obvious to the Doctor and Sarah Jane that powerful alien forces from ancient Egypt are about to be released and could spell the end of mankind. Can the doctor safe the world from the threat of Sutekh the powerful Egyptian god bringer of 'the gift of death to all mankind'.

THE OPINION

This is a hugely enjoyable adventure for the doctor, lots of running around woods with murderous Egyptian mummies on the loose, the body count is exceptionally high and there are some really scary moments in the story that might not be suitable for the very youngest viewers unless of course they have an adult close at hand for a little reassuring cuddle.

Tom Baker is at his very best playing the eccentric time lord and fits perfectly in the Edwardian time frame populated by amateur scientists and explorers. The costumes and props recreate the time period faithfully and the obligatory cliffhangers are well devised at the end of each of the first three episodes of this four-part story.

Another asset to this story is the presence of Sarah Jane one of the best of the Doctor’s assistants. This was a period when the show writer made an effort to create stronger more independent female companions for the doctor. Sarah is opinionated often argues with the doctor and is not afraid to get her hand dirty, she also in this story shows of her marksmanship! By creating stronger female roles the series tried to appeal more to young girls and gave more scope to the writers to get a deeper characterisation of the Doctor through his interactions with his assistants...unfortunately it all went wrong a few year later when Bonnie Langford joined the show!

I think so much of the show budget was spent on the set design and costumes that they had to make do with a limited number of locations so the story does require the characters to keep revisiting locations and an alien force filed around the Priory grounds trapping all the characters is also a great device to keep costs down.

The story I also interesting in that we find out a little more about the Doctor time travel and its repercussions the writer made a concerted effort to flesh out the doctors background and the Timelords in this and later series.

THE DVD

Like most DVD’s of older programmes I’m always a bit miffed at the high price charged so a good selection of extras is essential to make this purchase worthwhile, unfortunately these are not always included.

The first thing to say about the DVD is that then picture quality and sound is excellent due to some re-mastering work. The presentation and menu are also great and easy to navigate and include scene and episode access.

The extras include the obligatory commentary this time provided by Elizabeth Sladen, Michael Sheard (who plays Laurence Scarman), Philip Hinchcliffe (the producer) and Paddy Russell (the director). Commentaries are usually only for the dedicated fans and you need to know the story well already in order to get any more out of it from the commentary. Having said this there were some nice anecdotes and insights included.

Also included on the discs are some deleted scenes and a photo gallery again both of some interest to the real fans. A short featurette 'Osirian Gothic' on the making of the show is included with comments and thoughts from the actors and crew on the filming of the episodes. A longer documentary 'Serial Thrillers' has also been included specifically about the work of the producer Philip Hinchcliffe. Hinchcliffe was responsible for some of the best shows in this period and the short film explores what lay behind his success. Once again there is lots of comment and insight.

Two of the more interesting special features are a short comedy sketch 'Oh Mummy' featuring the baddie Sutekh, exploring what a defeated all-powerful alien entity hell-bent of the destruction of humanity can do after the show is over!

Another feature called ‘Now and Then’ presented by Michael Sheard looks at how some of the locations for the show have changed over the past thirty years since the show was made.

Possibly the most worthwhile additional feature is the infotext, which allows informative subtitles relating to all aspects of the show to be shown at the bottom of the screen, again this is a feature that might be best explored on a second viewing.

And finally there is the ‘Easter Egg’ a hidden feature that…you’ll have to discover for yourselves!

OVERALL

This DVD scores highly on both the quality of the story and the inclusion of bonus features. This DVD would certainly be essential for any serious Doctor Who fan and would be great to show younger viewers coming to the programme from the new series, Tom Baker laid back quirky portrayal of the doctor would suit new fans and Sarah Jane was a great assistant.

I noticed that this DVD carried a PG certificate and I find this a wise precaution, I watched this with my 6 years old daughter by now a hardened Doctor Who fan (get them young I say!) and for the first time even after having seen Daleks and Cybermen etc. she admitted at one point that she was scared! So I think some care has to be taken with young children and the PG rating is justified.

‘Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars’ (duration 100mins) can be bought from Play.com for £12.99 delivered and is fair value for money even for a stingy git like me!

Highly recommended.

Thanks for reading and rating this review.

© Mauri 2005

Summary: One of the best of the early Tom Baker outings as the time travelling Doctor Who