Pyramids of Mars

Dr. Who has been thrilling TV audiences around the world for years.  A Time Lord, the Doctor meanders through time and space in his vessel, the TARDIS, which appears to be simply a police telephone box.  Though human in appearance, the Doctor is not of this earth, as proven by his ability to regenerate himself after death.  Tom Baker was the fourth and longest running of the eight actors who have played the Doctor since 1963.   In this installment of immensely popular series, Dr. Who (Tom Baker) and Sarah (Elisabeth Sladen) are diverted back to the year 1911, where they encounter one Marcus Scarman, a professor who’s possessed by an ancient Egyptian god of darkness.   Helped by robot mummies, Scarman intends to release his master, "the bringer of death to all mankind."  Will the Doctor stop Scarman from realizing his horrible goal, or will the mechanized mummies triumph and wrap the human race in a cloak of permanent darkness?

• Another classic Doctor Who story from the early Tom Baker seasons, "Pyramids of Mars" did generate complaints over its stereotypic portrayal of Egyptians.

• Watch for a particularly effective scene where the Doctor takes Sarah Jane forward to her own time to see the effects on the Earth if they were to allow Sutek to escape from his prison. 

• **Omnibus Format**  Unfortunately, this story was originally released in an edited "movie" (or Omnibus) format.  This means that individual episodes have been cut and pasted together into one viewing.  The BBC released Doctor Who videos like this until the early 90's.  Since then they have gone back and issued "re-releases" of virtually all of their omnibus versions.   Unfortunately, the U.S. (i.e. CBS/Fox at first, and then later Warner Home Video) hasn't been eager to follow suite, as they have only done two re-releases "The Brain of Morbius" back in 1997 and  "Terror of the Zygons" in 2000.  Additionally, many stories first released in the late 80's and early 90's are seeing re-release on DVD.  Unedited titles such as "Spearhead from Space," "The Ark in Space" and "Robots of Death" are all available now in their unedited formats.

• The U.K. has already re-released "Pyramids of Mars" on VHS in its unedited episodic format.

• In a recent Doctor Who Monthly poll, "Pyramids of Mars" won as the top fan choice.  As a result, a DVD release of this story is in the planning stages for sometime in 2004.

• Although writing credits go to Stephen Harris for this story, it was heavily reworked and rewritten by script editor Robert Holmes.  Holmes' influence shines through in this gem of a story.

• Playing Lawrence Scarman is none other than Michael Sheard.  Sheard's first role in Doctor Who was in the 1966 Hartnell story "The Ark" as Rhos.  5 years later Sheard would return as Dr. Summers in the Pertwee story "The Mind of Evil."   After his appearance in "Pyramids of Mars" Sheard returned two seasons later for "The Invisible Enemy" playing the doomed Lowe.  He took a 4 year break from Doctor Who until his next appearance as Mergrage in "Castrovalva."  One final appearance occurred in the 1988 Sylvester McCoy story "Remembrance of the Daleks."  He's a busy man...

• If you've ever heard reference on the internet to "Sutek's Bum" then this is the story that it comes from.  In episode 4, when Sutek gains the ability to move, he rises from his seat.  If you look closely you can see a stage hand (literally) reach from behind the chair and grab the cushion that the actor had just been sitting on.  The cusion had begun to fall, and the stage hand "saved" it.  This blooper has reached almost legendary status (so much so that fans even debate whether or not it should be digitally removed when it comes out on DVD).