Pyramids Of Mars (1975) Review

"Your evil is my good."

Pyramids Of Mars is one of the best Doctor Who stories I've ever seen. As in the previous story, everyone give their 11 and this time they hit jackpot with this wonderful Egyptian-Victorian-Alien(not the movie, just general) horror story. 

PLOT

The TARDIS makes another detour in 1911 when it detects the power of Sutekh, an ancient superbeing affecting the Earth. Upon landing, the Doctor and Sarah discover that Sutekh is plotting to escape his tomb and annihilating the universe(if you ask the typical "why", he says it's his idea of good. So there) via robotic mummies built by the possessed archeologist Marcus Scarman. It's up to the Doctor to face his greatest foe yet!

ANALYSIS

Superb. Fantastic. Perfection. Those are words that I would use to describe this great story. If I had to compare it with anything, it would be the new series. The Doctor is melancholy(I'll get into that below) and perceived as a power in his own right. His banter with Sarah Jane has never been better. We see the consequences of Sutekh's potential freedom. It's all very RTD and even better given the time we are given to enjoy the story.

CHARACTERS

Tom Baker finally outgrows his Tom Bakerness to deliver a performance worthy of the character he's playing. No wacky pranks here, this is the Doctor in all his glory: the fire and ice and so forth. He even does a rerun of his snarling bit from The Sontaran Experiment! 

I can finally see why people hold Sarah Jane as the companion to whom all companions should be judged. And I agree. She is really the most wonderful companion ever. Sexy, somewhat bossy yet also able to listen to advice(*insert random Clara or River rant*), friends to the end with the Doctor... it's just great to watch these two, so great. I really adore her.

Marcus Scarman is spooky. I bet he terrified all the kids, especially when shooting him didn't work. Has a zombie ever been played better? I love that he has a personality, even when he's basically a walking cadaver.

Lawrence Scarman is misguided, yet we feel sympathy for his desire to help his brother and his inability to accept the truth.

Sutekh is... okay, he's not my favourite of villains. The quiet voice doesn't do him justice. I know what people see in him, but personally, I would've hired John Dearth again. "STEVENS!!"

NOTES

*The Doctor's brown coat gets plus points from me. It suits his look better than the red one.

*Again, I loved the scene where the Doctor shows Sarah the future. What a way to shake the viewers. 

*I do believe this is the first time the Doctor has been made mythic by the show.

*The invisible force field works better than I would've expected.

*The Fourth Doctor is really putting the sonic to work, isn't he? I remember Troughton whipping it out a few times during his tenure and Pertwee would get it out once a year, but he's using it for real. I keep expecting it to have an LED light on the top.

*Why on Earth is the Doctor having a midlife crisis? I mean, he's not even through half of his regenerations! Surely the Time Lords would keep track of their age that way! And even if he counts by years, his 700 and something means nothing when you think of the six incarnations who can also each live a few hundred years. Maybe Time Lords have midlife crises in each of their incarnations?

*Okay, there is no way Sarah Jane's comment about the pyramid's similarity to Exxilon makes any sense(since the Doctor went in there with one of the Exxilons). Couldn't she have gotten it changed?

*How exactly did Sutekh's face get into the TARDIS without him knowing about it?

CONCLUSION

What a fantastic season this is turning out to be.