The Age of Sutekh

"Sutekh is not interested in creation, only destruction."

Writer: Guy Adams

Format: Audio

Released: May 2018

Series: FDA 7.08

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela

Synopsis

The world has changed. And the evil Osiran Sutekh is returning.

As blood sacrifices and worship boost the strength of the God of War, servicer robots walk the streets, killing those who have not converted.

Leela is working with the homeless population of the city, while the Doctor co-operates with the police.

A brutal battle is ready to begin. And if the Doctor and his friends fail, everyone in the galaxy will perish.

Verdict

The Age of Sutekh was another very good story to conclude the seventh series of the Fourth Doctor Adventures! This also served as the second part to the story already started in Kill the Doctor! and I liked that we had immediate continuation with the planet of Drummond remodelled in the design of Sutekh. From there I enjoyed the religious theme and the talk of sacrifice to honour Sutekh was very intriguing and brought a tense atmosphere to proceedings, especially as far as Rania was concerned. I thought Leela had a really strong episode and I liked how she was instantly aware that the world around her had changed from just the air. I am always a fan when Leela's huntress instincts kick in and this was a delightful example. Rania being referred to as an Empress was good and an interesting position for her given that it wasn't long for her to fight back against Sutekh. Her being commanded to order the sacrifices of those supposedly loyal to Sutekh after seeing the world changed around them and them being influenced by the handhelds of Rene.net was an incredibly powerful moment. The noise of so many people willingly falling on their swords in devotion to Sutekh was extraordinary and the way he toyed with his puppet and almost mocked her for order the deaths of so many for her own selfish preservation was great. Now she had blood on her hands, but that would come back to bite the Osiran God. I liked how involved the Osiran Robots were and the description of their mummy-like appearance was terrific. They were definitely a highlight of Pyramids of Mars and their role on the beautiful CD cover was done justice by the story itself. Leela taking them on was wonderful and I loved how she was trying to unite the population of Drummond to continue her comments from the previous episode and how it was wrong that Kendra had to resort to stealing because there was no unity amongst people. I liked how Sutekh had renamed the planet to a new version of his original Osiran home and that fed his ego in a big way which worked well. The cliffhanger was a little surprising with the Doctor standing up to Sutekh and bringing the gift of life, and whilst it was a fun moment it didn't really spark much of a threat. I don't think we followed up too well, but it was still a nice addition. The Doctor, Leela and Joyce disguising themselves as Osiran Mummy's was a fantastic image and the muffled sound effects worked well. The slow burning development of showing that Sutekh was weak without the Rene.net network behind him was nicely done and I enjoyed that Rania finally challenged him. The moments where the original reality of Drummond was breaking through and flashing was great and I liked how Leela picked up on that. It was a good way to show that Sutekh's will was waining. He was draining energy and used the network to take Rania's body for himself which was a good for him to be reborn. Using his will to project his image was good and I thought the scene where he was toying with Leela and using the trees to essentially pull her apart was fantastic. Discovering that the realm of Drummond was that of Sutkeh's brother Horus was intriguing but the way Rania was able to rise from within and put paid to Sutekh was fantastic. I loved the comment of her cutting the puppet strings and that was Sutekh defeated. I must admit, I think he's a pretty overrated villain but it's great to have him return here for a more than decent double finale! The ending with the Doctor having left the food machine on Drummond was magnificent and definitely a story highlight. Overall, a great listen!

Rating: 8/10