Pyramids of Mars: Part Four

Review of all 4 episodes:

One of the finest Doctor Who stories of all time without doubt, this is pure genius throughout.

An Egyptologist, Marcus Scarman, enters an Egyptian tomb in 1911 and is taken over by a powerful being. This being, Sutekh was a God to the ancient Egyptians but it is later revealed that the Egyptian Gods including Sutekh and his brother Horus were actually ultra-powerful alien beings called Osirans. Sutekh is evil and exceptionally powerful. He wants to destroy all intelligent life because he considers any such life a potential threat. He was imprisoned thousands of years before by Horus and the over 170 other 'Egyptian Gods' (actually Osirans) who united their powers to defeat him. Sutekh now begins to use Scarman to enable him to finally escape. The Doctor and Sarah arrive in 1911 England where Scarman is returning to his home. They must stop Sutekh or the Earth and every other world faces destruction.

Sutekh is one of the best villains in Doctor Who. The power and evil shown by him is scarily impressive, The Doctor appears genuinely in fear of him saying he is the most powerful, dangerous foe he has faced. This menace helps create tension and excitement for the audience. The sinister realisation of Sutekh himself is brilliant and Gabriel Woolf plays the part incredibly effectively. Those in his power also carry out some tremendously scary and effective scenes of evil. There are so many magnificent scenes in this story and the effects are extremely well done, adding to the impact of many scenes.

One great example of the impressive effects is the smoke emitting from boots and gloves of the creepy black-clad servant of Sutekh as he kills another servant no longer considered useful. The Mummy robots are effective. Explosions and even reverse explosions are brilliantly done as is a fire at the end.

The story itself is genius and the dialogue is marvelous, with so much intelligence and interest imbued in every scene. This is mostly down to the great Robert Holmes, script editor for this greatest era and writer of many great stories. The script was originally submitted by Lewis Greifer but was considered unworkable. We clearly have Greifer to thank for some of the great ideas but Holmes did extensive rewrites of the script and has created a work of genius. He adopted the pseudonym of Stephen Harris, not wanting to take credit for a story he had adapted from someone else's idea.

The acting matches the quality of the material with every main part being played perfectly. Bernard Archard is perfect as Marcus Scarman and every other supporting part is played to the best standard. Michael Sheard as Laurence Scarman is a particularly interesting, endearing and wonderfully acted part whilst that character is also used to bring out some great insight into The Doctor himself. The dark side of The Doctor is explored fully in this story and light is shed on how he balances care for individuals with an ability to weigh up the 'bigger picture' of what is at stake. There are superb character based scenes across all 4 episodes.

There is also a chilling, imagination capturing scene when The Doctor goes forward to 1980 to show Sarah what the Earth will be like if they left without stopping Sutekh. This scene is to prove that Sarah's knowledge (and the audience's mindset) that the world was not destroyed in 1911 does not mean Sutekh cannot succeed. The Doctor shows Sarah, and us, that history can change depending on the actions or lack of action of The Doctor and/or Sutekh. This is a scene of massive importance in bedding the whole series in some logical context.

Another incredibly good aspect in this story is the exposition. Never in any TV show have motives, actions and events been so effectively and intelligently explained whilst still keeping you entirely captured within the drama. Writers of every show, including modern Doctor Who should take note of the clever and subtle methods of keeping the audience informed and up to speed without clumsy or unrealistic explanations.

Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen are perfection. The mixture of darkness and sparkling personality demonstrated by Baker as The Doctor is majestic. Lis Sladen is strong, independent, brave and never a weak, screaming damsel in distress. Her interaction with The Doctor and with Laurence Scarman is fabulous.

The whole adventure is enthralling in every way. This is a real front-runner to be the best story of all time and it is set within season 13, which for me is one of the best seasons ever. This is very top standard 10/10 classic from start to finish.