Pyramids of Mars

"There are ancient powers gathering in this place..."

Writer: Stephen Harris 

Format: TV

Broadcast: 25th October - 15th November 1975

Season: 13.03

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah 

Synopsis 

When the TARDIS is infiltrated by a mysterious force, the Doctor and Sarah Jane are drawn off course and arrive in England at the turn of the 20th century. Dark forces from aeons ago are beginning to stir, and the whole future of life on Earth is at stake. Sutekh, last of the Osirians, is breaking free from his ancient prison, and no power in the universe can stand in his way...

Verdict 

Pyramids of Mars is a fantastic story and another brilliant watch with my young cousin. It hasn't been too long since our last viewing together and this was one story that he requested I bring the DVD of up to our grandparents'. I mean, the story has quite a legendary status but as with my opinion on Terror of the Zygons, it's good but it's quite overrated in my view. I'm not saying it isn't good in the slightest, my rating reflects that I enjoyed it but I'm not sure why it's so adored. Maybe that is a tad unfair but I'm struggling to understand the immense praise it gets. I'm probably sounding like I hate this story but that really isn't the case. The Fourth Doctor and Sarah are at their best together and I did enjoy their relationship. Sarah wearing a dress that formerly belonged to Victoria was lovely and a nice touch to the show's past and I also really loved the reference to Death to the Daleks. The 1911 setting was excellent and the implications this story had on the creation of UNIT HQ was superb. The Doctor playing a role in the fire that saw the priory destroyed isn't much of a surprise at all and I loved how he just laughed at the realisation that he was responsible for its collapse. The mention of the Great Fire of London was an interesting foreshadowing of events to come in The Visitation as well. Sarah stating she was from 1980 really puts a spanner in the works when it comes to dating The Time Warrior and just adds a great deal of unwanted controversy to the UNIT dating trouble. It's just impossible for that to be resolved now. Sutekh is an excellent villain and I think he'd have worked better if he wasn't confined on Mars. The Mummy Robots acted as good monsters and I thought the appearance was impressive. Marcus Scarman was another good villainous character and the breakdown in the brotherly relationship with Laurence was a sad state of affairs. Sarah particularly saw that with the latter being murdered by the former. Laurence's relationship with both the Doctor and Sarah was good and I liked how the former realised the importance of the situation with five people already dead. I wasn't too struck on the Doctor showing Sarah her own time as it would be if Sutekh ruled as I felt it was a bit of a contradiction to things. We know that history would be drastically altered without some intervention from the Doctor but for him to just pack up and leave and see how things would be if he didn't get involved seemed a bit like cheating to me. I'm not sure why I felt like that but I just didn't like it. I also thought the cliffhangers could have been improved a little to reach into the highest level of ratings as I wasn't really shocked by any of the three cliffhangers. Although this was my third viewing of the story, and I've read the novelisation, I still hoped the cliffhangers would strike me but sadly they did not. The ending was very good though and I liked the way the Doctor dealt with Sutekh very much. The Osirians could be deadly and I liked how their perspective on evil was what the Doctor knew as good. Sutekh was proud to be bringing death and destruction. The Doctor couldn't allow him to threaten Earth and sent him flying years into the distance. Overall, a very good story but not quite as legendary as fandom would have you believe.

Rating: 8/10