I’ve been away for a minute, but it only just occurred to me that my years old review *might* have a little more traffic after the latest episode haha. Thanks for checking it out, I absolutely adore this story!!
Thank you! Watching your review helped me make a connection about the current season (Why was the Doctor inexplicably afraid at several points throughout the season? Sutekh's presence in the TARDIS and his ability to dominate the Doctor's mind)
I wanna know more about the character who says that line. Are they meant to be a fragment of Sutekh himself? The servant of Sutekh doesn't even have a wiki page, insofar as I can tell.
That poor b*stard (Namin) whose family spent centuries worshipping and serving Sutekh ends up getting fried alive for his trouble. I really felt sorry for the guy.
Stories about Gods and all-powerful beings can be risky to pull off as there is a danger of raising the stakes so high that nothing has any real dramatic weight any more. Pyramids of Mars handles the balancing act well, I think the fact Sutekh is used minimally and is restrained in his chair for most of the story has a lot to do with that. The stakes are all about what COULD happen if he is released
What was especially pleasing about this story was that it used the powers of its characters intelligently and appropriately. Sutekh is a god, so it makes perfect sense that his powers will be more than a match for the Doctor, and the Doctor - as a Timelord - appropriate defeats Sutekh using his ability to control time.
Which is interesting also because the way the Osirans jailed Sutekh, and the way he had to sit there and bear it, suggests despite being gods they can't control time. A nice contrast between science, industry, hard work and innate abilities. Wonder if this distinction will be part of the resolution in Sutekh's latest appearance (I'm writing this after The Legend Of Ruby Sunday and before Empire Of Death). With a heavy heart I doubt it.
I think the Pyramids of Mars is an underrated great of Doctor Who. When People look at the Fourth Doctor Era, many go for the City of Death, Genesis of the Daleks, or The Deadly Assassin as a favorite but I think Pyramids of Mars is one of the best.
10 out of 10. Absolute perfection. I don't care what anyone says. I was once asked if I had to pick my favorite Doctor Who episode ever and, well, this is it. They asked why and I said the premise. The Doctor and everyone is running around frantically for four episodes trying their damedest to stop someone who is completely immobile. Because if he becomes mobile, he will be absolutely unstoppable. No one will be able to defeat him. Not the Time Lords. Nor Daleks. Nor Cybermen. Nor Sontarans, Judoon, Weeping Angels. No one. All of reality will be destroyed. That's why the Doctor showed Sarah the alternative 1980. To drive the point home. Pretty much the only companion he's ever done that to. Anyway, I've rambled. Absolutely love this story.
I was 6 when this first aired in 1976. I'd seen the occasional episode of Dr Who before but had never really been that interested, but I caught the first episode of The Pyramids of Mars and was blown away. It's the first time in my life that I would purposely watch the next episode (of anything) the following week so I could follow the story. The atmosphere and especially that scary ending to episode one was just awesome to my 6 year old brain. I was a huge Doctor Who fan for the next 5 or 6 years, watching the TV episodes but mostly reading the books because there was no way to rewatch things back then. Great TV
I was a victim of overhype the first time I watched this story, so it I didn’t absolutely love it. But when I watched it again, with lower expectations, I thought it was a masterpiece
Always the way with "overrated" stories! But us oldschool viewers went in without preconceptions and took each story as it came, judged for ourselves. Same when people cry "underrated," go in expecting the worst, then finding it's just average classic Who... it must take a few watches to form a genuine opinion that's not a reaction to others. Anyway, this ones pretty good, it's not my go to 4th Doctor and Sarah Jane story... having said that, just talking about it, I can feel a rewatch coming on! Are you my mummies?
Many of the locations in this serial were filmed on Mick Jagger's property. Stargroves was a large manor house in Hampshire owned by the Rolling Stones' rock star. Source: "Doctor Who: The Complete History," volume 24, page 51. My favorite incarnation of the Doctor. One of my favorite stories. I just ordered the Doctor's coat like the one found in "Pyramids of Mars" to be worn for this Halloween.
Im old enough to remember watching this in 1979/80 Indelibly 45 years has not diminished what I thought of Sutekh The BBC managed to give the world a Tv villan the could stand toe to toe with the benchmark movie villan at the time Darth Vader
The first time I saw Doctor Who was in 1980 on a PBS station out of Chicago on Sunday nights from 6:30 to 7 PM! I was into sports and a lot of other things at the time but once I discovered Doctor Who it was all over and it was painful to wait an entire week to see another 28 minute episode but totally worth it! At 57 I have every episode of Doctor Who available from iTunes Amazon you name it and am in my glory! Enjoy!
The DVD special has a great episode about Sutekh living in our modern world and talking about the episode. "This is my pet bunny Neil. Neil! Kneel before the power of Sutekh!" or "Sutekh brings mankind the gift of fresh milk."
There's a scene in this story where Sutekh is torturing the Doctor and Tom is screaming. It gives a feeling of danger and the Doctor was in genuine danger for a change. He is one of the few enemies the Doctor has faced that actually has the upper hand and so sadistic! Easily my favorite Doctor Who villain. I've always wanted a rematch. Glad we finally got one. I should've known RTD was bringing him back because in The Devil's Chord that scene where the Doctor brings Sarah Jane back to her time and the Earth is a wasteland is duplicated beat by beat with Ruby Sunday.
Eh, it's not much of a mystery. He was trapped in a time tunnel and latched onto the TARDIS to save himself. Surprisingly logical and sensible way to bring him back, really.
@@kdkseven a lot of people including myself would strongly disagree, so I’m sorry you’re not enjoying the new series, unless you just like hating on Doctor Who anyway.
The Pyramids of Mars is one favorite Dr Who episodes. I like premise that Sutek was So powerful that took over Horus along with 700 other Egyptian Gods to imprison him. Doctor also mentioned his other names, Saudas and Satan.
@4:16 The dress Sarah Jane wears never appeared on Victoria or Vicki either for that matter. It’s odd because when she first comes into the Console Room wearing it, the Doctor calls her “Vicki:. He then says the dress was Victoria’s. Its almost as if the writer browsed casually through the programmers history and thought Vicki was Victoria’s nickname rather than 2 distinct companions of the 1st and 2nd Doctor respectively. So is the Doctor having a senior moment in his TimeLord middle aged-ness? Or is it just one of the many instances of a writing flub and no satisfactory in-universe explanation exists? The easiest explanation would be it’s a dress from the TARDIS wardrobe that perhaps both Vicki and Victoria (and perhaps even Albert for that matter) wore on previous adventures, perhaps Victoria liked it so much, resembling dresses from her own time, she asked if she could have it and the Doctor said yes, but didnt take it when she stayed behind with the Harris family on the refinery. The real world explanation, of course, is probably closer to my first guess about casual reading up by the author (whoever actually wrote this part given the ambiguous nature of the authorship) in the days before the internet and google could deliver detailed life histories and every televised outfit (I shudder to recall our primitive past!). :-) I don’t recall it ever being officially addressed but always bugged me slightly being one of my favorite stories and thus one ive seen probably a dozen times. It is interesting to note if Robert Holmes had any part in this passage, he similarly messed up Victoria’s TARDIS timeline in the later “The Two Doctors” as he states Victoria left the TARDIS (presumably temporarily) to study graphology, sparking all sorts of explanations from fans including the Season 6B theory, when it would have been so much simpler to have simply placed the time glitchy story between Victoria’s last episode in ‘Fury of the Deep” and before the Doctor and Jamie met Zoe in “The Wheel in Space”, but again, it appears he simply didnt know her history very well. But just my thoughts which I probably devoted wayyyy too much time to. Great review!!! :-)
6:23 It's more than just being corpse-like, he _is_ a corpse. Sutekh killed Scarman and used his sheer force of will to reanimate his dead body as his puppet.
Can I just say how appreciative I am of your reviews. Whether it’s the classic run or the revival, you give such insightful thoughts to every episode and how open you are to so many ideas. This video especially is a breath of fresh air as there was another doctor who reviewer that I’ve been also listening for months going through his serial by serial reviews, until I learned how utterly sexist he is. Wanting to listen to his thoughts over chibnall and Jodie leaving, I learned of his disgust for the very thought of a female doctor the second she was announced and thinking chibnall was the only person who thought of having a woman in the role. Constantly saying he likes women, but never saying he respects them. This helped me get that awful taste out of my mouth. Thank you.
Thank you for your kind words, I’m glad to hear that these reviews can do that for you. I agree that it can be disheartening to learn that some fans are so sexist and bigoted, as I’ve had similar experiences to yourself. Your comment is particularly appreciated on this video, as it took me ages to edit, so I’m glad that it is doing some small good. :)
We never actually see Sutekh die, and that was intentional. He could still be out there, old and shrivelled, reduced in power, but obsessed with revenge.
Remember, the main effect of the villain was reflected in the superb acting skills of the others. The villain didn't exactly _do_ much in terms of the actor, except speak. So when you speak of how menacing he was, you're speaking of Tom and Elisabeth mainly, because it's their acting which brought him to life.
I love how they could make one of the most intimidating villian of all time with a budget of pur foam and a paint bucket. While the best the new team got with disney money, 40 years later is Scooby doo Monster unlished for 3 minutes
So much to love in this, my favourite ever story. You've mentioned most of them in your excellent review. The visual setting. The story. Sutekh being a bit part player till the end. The phenomenal performances of Tom and Lis (both together and separate). The performances (and characterisations) of the other actors are really good too. One thing you miss that I thought deserved praise was Dudley Simpson's incidental music. Brilliant, especially the organ in the first episode. The whole thing is glorious. One of my very earliest memories is of the mummies. Just what they looked like, nothing more (I was 3 at the time). This was also the first VHS story I got. I absolutely love love love it.
I'd hazard a guess as to why you didn't recognize Victoria's dress (which I believe to be from Evil of The Daleks) is that Lis wasn't wearing all of the hoops that Deborah Watling wore.
The first DOCTOR WHO story I ever saw, and it made me a fan for life. Of course, great as the villain is, he's a one-note character and need not ever make a return. The Doctor has never been more alien than that moment when he takes Sarah Jane back to her time. "1980, Sarah, if you want to get off." Chilling. Sutekh, Marcus Scarman, and the mummy robots very much reflect the Second Doctor's foe The Great Intelligence, who also possessed a human being to get his work done, and had Yeti robots for his muscle.
Thanks for this. I remember watching this when I was 7 and being terrified and fascinated in equal measure. When I became a father myself, I rewatched with my two boys at around the same ages, and they had the same reaction. My oldest still recalls being traumatized by what he called the “donkey head” that appears in the TARDIS…
this was the first 4th doctor story i ever saw, it was amazing, i watched it when twitch did a "marathon" of the entire classic series, saddly missed first 3 doctors (and the first "block" of 4th doctor) but was able to catch it at Pyramids of Mars, stayed up to see the repeat of revenge of the Cybermen -and from then on, i stayed up every day untill like 2 in the morning every da-. and then i fell down the stairs the next day because i was so hyped for doctor who.... not kidding. i got to see the majority of the 4th doctor, and the 5th... or?, idk i think they got to 6 before i had to leave the internet and do stupid shit like being social with my family, i had the fortune of catching Survival on the last fookin scene. it was such an amazing run, and the second marathon i caught, they ran every dalek episode, so i got to catch Genesis of the Daleks, which i missed, and it was ok, I hardly remember anything from it other than the basic plot beats and one of the cliffhangers, in this case the literall cliffhanger, i guess the fact that i hardly remember anything from it might be why i thought it was just ok. the Highlights of that event for me were; and the series as a whole after the 4th doctor Revenge of the Cybermen (i like this story, i just find it fun) Terror of the Zygons Pyramids of Mars the seeds of doom, because i'm 99% sure it gave me nightmares somehow The Talons of Weng-Chiang, this story was like 99% of the reason i actually watched it every day when it was on twitch, Horror of Fangrock decently spooky, although i don't remember struggling to sleep so City of Death, i mean, cmon, you don't need to say anything. Horns of the Nimon, again, you don't need to say anything and then it just goes all over the place Logopolis was amazing kinda the visitation Earthshock is kinda meh i remember snakedance being OK Mawdrvyn Undead mainly because of the music Enlightenment, the special effects and of course, one of if not the best story of the entire classic series twin dilemma- ok but for real caves of androzani and hear it gets meeeeeega spotty to the point where i only have 1 i actually remember watching lol Rememberance of the Daleks, aka, the best dalek story of all time i don't really remember why i made this list, ADHD i guess
"What would the other one tell me is the right button?" It's a classic logic puzzle. There's a variant with 3 sentinals, and the third one sometimes tells the truth and sometimes lies.
I saw the scene of "the riddle" at the beggining of the 80's in Chile at 15 years old. 40 años after I saw again, I have to recognize that I remember sligh differente
I don't recall seeing the dress Doctor Who refers to as Victoria's. It's possible it's part of the unfortunate lost footage. I suspect it was new and never worn by Victoria but they used it to refer to the style Victoria wore during that time. The Pyramids of Mars is right at the top of my favorites list. Tom Baker was my era. I remember seeing this story on tv back in the 70's as a very young kid. Gabriel Woolf as Sutekh was as spellbinding as he was pure evil. The whole story was captivating from start to finish. As for my favorite villain of all, I still have to give that to The Master, Roger Delgado, Doctor Who's fellow gentleman and arch nemesis. He and the very dapper Jon Pertwee were a little before my time, but wow what an awesome time that was too as I came to know later. Sarah Jane Smith is my absolute top favorite companion and always will be. Tegan is still the absolute worst with her incessant hysterical whinging. lol
Because the Doctor said: “Victoria wore this”? Not exactly. What Victoria wore in Evil of the Daleks, you can also see in the first episode of Tomb of the Cybermen.
I just got the prymids of mars on dvd and on the same day I got the robots of death and the three doctor and the tomb of the cybermen because I got the revestashon 3 box set UK release
FYI, Marcus by the time he gets to the manor & is the servant of Sutekh, he's pale like a walking corpse because he is a walking corpse. Well, the Doctor trapped Sutekh in a time tunnel, he didn't kill him.
Victoria's actual Victorian outfit was a lot more flouncy and lacey then that. After The Evil of the Daleks Victoria only wore contemporary or futuristic outfits
This is just a guess, but I think the dress Sara Jane Smith was wearing that belonged to Victoria might be based on the one Victoria wore during Evil of the Daleks, though it probably wasn't the actual dress from that story, but an attempt at something close to it, maybe?
Has there ever been any explanation as to his Pyrimd prison being on Mars and the Ice Warriors as in were they aware of kt? What did they think if it? Did they explore it? What?
A villain/monster who spends most of the story sitting in a chair occasionally flashing it's eyes and just oozing menace with his voice? What's not to love? I seem to remember the Doctor describing Osirisons as having cerebellums like spiral stair cases which I loved and the occasional glimpse of the jackal heads on his slaves were effective even though they didnt look very real.
The "Victoria" that travelled with the Dr. travelled with the 2nd Dr. Not many of his adventures have survived so it could be that it was part of one of the adventures that we only have pieces of.
The old dress wasn't worn in one of Victoria's episode. Apparently, the actresses weren't even the same size. (I've no idea where I read/heard this. 😂)
Sutek should have ended up being the big baddy in Capaldi's Truth Monks trilogy. They could have even set it up to where Sarah Jane initially assumed it was him, and vanished in the process of investigating.
Nice job! I wholeheartedly agree with your review. I saw this episode as a child and it has always stuck in my head. Definitely in my top 3 classic episodes. I also love Sarah Jane and the 4th Doctor together. Brilliant stuff and I am thrilled Sutekh is back 😁 Gabriel Wolfe is outstanding and he is back voicing Sutekh in The Legend of Rudy Sunday!
It's one of my all time favorites for every reason you identified, but you did miss out on the famous "hand of Sutekh - a stagehand's arm holding down the cushion Sutekh was sitting on! It's a cack!
Sutekh is the only remaining villain from the classic series that I wish would make an epic return on the current show. C'mon, RTD/Chibnall! Gabriel Woolf is 89 years old, and he ain't getting any younger!
Huge fan. Best Dr Who's reviewer in my opinion. I saw this in real time as a child and it scared the living s...t out of me Thanks Ant p uk teacher retired