Abase Yourself, You Grovelling Insect (Doctor Who - Pyramids Of Mars (DVD))

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Doctor Who - Pyramids Of Mars (DVD)
Date:	24/08/07 (102 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: High adventure with robot mummies let loose in an English country manor.

Disadvantages: Slightly disappointing ending, and Sutekh's future potential lost.

Originally screened from October to November 1975, Robert Holmes’ ‘Pyramids of Mars,’ based on an earlier draft by Lewis Griefer, is often regarded as one of the finest episodes in the entire long-running series. Featuring just about everything that made Doctor Who so enjoyable, with the exception of the humour, which is necessarily absent in this dark tale, this four-parter is easily the most action-packed and finely plotted that I’ve seen, intelligently crafting a link between Egyptian mythology and ancient extraterrestrials years before shows such as Stargate popularised the wacky theory, and thus allowing for great sets, ancient riddles, unstoppable robot mummies and an ultimate villain (implicitly the real-life Satan) whose lust for evil and total destruction surpasses even that of Dalek creator Davros, introduced the previous year.

As always, the opening part has the task of setting up the situation and contriving a reason for the Doctor to become involved at all, and this episode acts as a perfect example of how to do that right. After an atmospheric introduction in an Egyptian tomb, which raises questions that will be answered over the next half hour, the Doctor (Tom Baker) and his companion Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) are seen flying through space-time towards a rendezvous with UNIT on Sarah’s present-day Earth that will inevitably be delayed by the upcoming events. The TARDIS experiences unexplained turbulence and Sarah screams at a ghastly demonic apparition that she feels is ‘totally malevolent,’ causing the Doctor to trace the disturbance to its source, which turns out to be an English country estate in 1911. Snooping around the premises, the pair soon discover an imminent plot to free an ancient evil from thousands of years of entombment, threatening both the present and the future of the universe with one of the greatest dangers the Doctor has ever encountered.

Doctor Who is well remembered for its ability to scare, receiving as much criticism as it did praise for scaring children and adults alike, and this episode is among the most successful. The animated mummies are terrifyingly efficient as they walk slowly but directly towards their intended victims in broad daylight, but the major concern comes with the Doctor, whose usual jovial and care-free demeanour is replaced with one of concern and cold practicality as soon as he realises the threat posed by Sutekh. It’s interesting and refreshing to see Tom Baker play the role with such seriousness after the clowning around he is more famous for, and the character is placed in serious danger as he becomes personally involved towards the end. His response to Sarah’s criticism that he should mourn the four men who have died is a simple and logical reasoning that he has to concentrate on the bigger picture of death on a planetary or galactic scale, making this one of the more thoughtful episodes also.

Elisabeth Sladen is also excellent here, now seeming completely at ease in the role and really looking the part in a white wedding dress, armed with a rifle. It’s a curious sight that I was happy to take away from the episode. The strong supporting cast adds further weight and believability to this tale, and whatever the viewer’s personal attitude towards Gabriel Woolf’s gloating and maniacal take on Sutekh, it’s great to see an enemy who could seriously beat the Doctor, provided he wasn’t so easily distracted. His justification for evil is chilling, simply claiming to ‘find it good,’ and although the Doctor’s ultimate triumph is a little disappointing for coming right out of left-field, the story at least makes logical sense from start to finish.

As well as terrifying children, ‘Pyramids of Mars’ similarly lives up to the tradition of dodgy special effects, though for the most part these are limited in scope. The main effect of the sarcophagus time portal is simply a tunnel of flashing multi-coloured lights, its main problem being that the on-screen journey lasts for far too long and the prop work is a little shaky. The manor house and the surrounding grounds look excellent, but the scenes inside the Martian pyramid are less convincing, as are the Styrofoam Egyptian artefacts that the actors try their best to bestow the illusion of weight upon. The robot mummies look good, and satisfyingly alien, and it’s amusing to watch each actor interpret the role differently, either wobbling from side to side or making stereotypical robotic arm movements, and their presence keeps the action quotient high in the early parts as well as the dramatic ending. The final part is the most exciting, as usual for these serials, and plays out like an episode of the Crystal Maze (although the Doctor would insist that it’s Ancient Egyptian logic puzzles), rounding off this excellent romp.

‘Pyramids of Mars’ is one of the better Doctor Who serials I’ve seen, well written to remain entertaining with hardly any of the slips in quality or excitement that usually afflict these four-parters. The Doctor and Sarah make a great partnership now that she’s fully integrated into his ways and mannerisms, even taking some on herself, and it finally allowed me to see why her character is so popular among fans. Add to that the memorable performances from Michael Sheard as the grief-stricken, ill-fated Laurence Scarman, Bernard Archard as his zombified brother and Gabriel Woolf as the riotous villain, and just about everything is as good as it could be in this serial, which is a bit of a shame as it’s always enjoyable to poke fun at the dodgy old series. The DVD still bears a surprising ‘U’ certificate despite the potential nightmare-inducing scenes, and features the usual high quality special features such as an audio commentary with several cast members, a behind-the-scenes retrospective entitled ‘Osirian Gothic,’ deleted scenes and a fan parody ‘Oh Mummy’ in which Woolf was somehow convinced to reprise his villainous role. Fans of the new series who are interested in checking out the older episodes would do well to start here, or alternatively with one of the more humorous Baker stories such as ‘City of Death.’

Summary: Starring Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen as the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith (1975).