[Glenn A]

My favourite of the Tom Baker era, Gabriel Woolf was excellent as Sutekh and the whole story was full of menace and terror. It also has the classic line, Your Evil is my good.

[pajs1000]

Originally Posted by Glenn A

My favourite of the Tom Baker era, Gabriel Woolf was excellent as Sutekh and the whole story was full of menace and terror. It also has the classic line, Your Evil is my good.

That bit when the guy get's crushed by the mummies!!!

[Mad Man Moon]

It's one of my faves as well, very atmospheric and well acted by all.

[rip & strip]

Originally Posted by Glenn A

My favourite of the Tom Baker era, Gabriel Woolf was excellent as Sutekh and the whole story was full of menace and terror. It also has the classic line, Your Evil is my good.

all that is true but full of huge plot-holes in hindsight.

Credit to the era that you don't immediately notice.

[Glenn A]

Originally Posted by pajs1000

That bit when the guy get's crushed by the mummies!!!

Or when Sutekh tortures the Doctor by staring at him.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Sutekh was just a cliched, barnstorming, deep-voiced, caped/masked villain, interchangeable with Weng Chi'ang, and Omega from the Pertwee era, and without the cape and mask, interchangeable with many more. Marcus Scarman, on the other hand, was a truly stand-out performance, a chilling portrayal of a man who looked physically normally, except for the pallor of his face, but was icily devoid of all emotion and response, even to those who had been closest to him, and thus no longer seemed truly human.

[meglosmurmurs]

Sutekh's voice was rather sexy.

The most disturbing thing though is the hand that is clearly visible on Sutekh's chair after he stands up.
I even came up with an explanation that it's the hand of Horus that was holding Sutekh in his chair. Even though it's probably just one of the crew thinking 'oh crap' when they realize they're on camera.

[Meisste]

Pryamids is a great story but there's something about it that I can never put my finger on that I dont like about it. Much prefer Planet of Evil

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Originally Posted by rip & strip

all that is true but full of huge plot-holes in hindsight.

Credit to the era that you don't immediately notice.

Like how Scarman made things as sophisticated as the robots and the missile, under purely verbal guidance from Sutekh, who was not there to help him-and why the missile appeared to be largely plastic, in 1911, when plastic was scarcely even known.

[rip & strip]

Originally Posted by Meisste

Pryamids is a great story but there's something about it that I can never put my finger on that I dont like about it. Much prefer Planet of Evil

Me too.

[Mad Man Moon]

Originally Posted by Phoenix Lazarus

Like how Scarman made things as sophisticated as the robots and the missile, under purely verbal guidance from Sutekh, who was not there to help him-and why the missile appeared to be largely plastic, in 1911, when plastic was scarcely even known.

I assumed that Sutekh had complete mind control over Scarman, so it would have been quite easy for him to build the robots and the rocket.

As for the visual effects, you always had that problem in nearly all of the Classic Whos due to budgetry constraints.

[steven1977]

One of the greatest stories ever made by one of the greatest writers.

[rip & strip]

Originally Posted by steven1977

One of the greatest stories ever made by one of the greatest writers.

It was 2 writers.

[Iggyman]

Originally Posted by Meisste

Pryamids is a great story but there's something about it that I can never put my finger on that I dont like about it. Much prefer Planet of Evil

Agreed. There's just something about it that's unengaging.

[steven1977]

Originally Posted by rip & strip

It was 2 writers.

I thought Robert Holmes wrote it. He had to be the greatest writer they ever had.

[daveyboy7472]

Originally Posted by rip & strip

It was 2 writers.

Originally Posted by steven1977

I thought Robert Holmes wrote it. He had to be the greatest writer they ever had.

Lewis Griefer wrote the original draft but Holmes rewrote it and hence the name Stephen Harris was used.

Brilliant story though, one of the best from Tom Baker's Era and very atmospheric.

[Tom Tit]

The reason that it was totally rewritten is because it wasn't very good originally. It's 95% Robert Holmes' story onscreen.

Greifer doesn't really take any credit beyond the idea to do an Egypt story, and frankly that's a no brainer.


It's one of the finest Doctor Who stories by my reckoning. I recall a comment by Steven moffat, something along the lines of 'It's a brilliant story but nothing happens' (that's typical Moffat; he cannot praise a classic Who story without a 'but' or some qualifiers) to which I reply 'at last!'. To be honest, I get sick of Doctor Who stories with 'things happening' constantly - ie bells, whistles, explosions and running. What's wrong with a story that's about the ideas and the plot and the characters, without all of the pyhrric stuff? I get bored of seeing all that stuff tacked on. I mean, none of the principle characters are going to die; we all know that. It's during all of the 'peril' that my mind wanders. Of course, the opposite is supposed to happen, in theory

A good story keeps me engaged; action doesn't. And Pyramids of Mars has a great central idea and masses of great character stuff, both for Tom (I would go as far as to say it is his defnitive story, at least for his early persona (alongside 'City of Death' for his later, lighter interpretation)) and Sarah Jane and for the support characters. And what a wonderful villain, conceptually and visually.

Also, one of the finest cliffhangers at the end of episode 1 - and again, not involving 'peril' for any of the main cast.

[DavetheScot]

I love this story! My favourite of the whole classic era!

[TEDR]

But am I the only one who never recognises Michael Sheard? And that's as someone with strong childhood memories of poor Danny Kendal.

[steven1977]

Originally Posted by daveyboy7472

Lewis Griefer wrote the original draft but Holmes rewrote it and hence the name Stephen Harris was used.

Brilliant story though, one of the best from Tom Baker's Era and very atmospheric.

Most of Toms work is fantastic. Ive yet to find a story that let him down.

[Tom Tit]

Originally Posted by steven1977

Most of Toms work is fantastic. Ive yet to find a story that let him down.

Robot?!


Also, i've always found 'Horror of Fang Rock' massively overrated and a poor story for Bakkersby. But I guess i should address that in the thread for that story.

[daveyboy7472]

Originally Posted by Tom Tit

The reason that it was totally rewritten is because it wasn't very good originally. It's 95% Robert Holmes' story onscreen.

Greifer doesn't really take any credit beyond the idea to do an Egypt story, and frankly that's a no brainer.

Yeah, I knew that, sorry I didn't make that clearer initially, I know Griefer only came up with the basic ideas like the Mummy's etc.

[PJ68]

This is one of my favourites. The scene with the mummies killing the poacher terrified me as a child. Also a brilliant bit of slapstick when the dr and sjs walk into a room, see a mummy, then turn on their heels and walk out again.

[allen_who]

I always feel that episode 4 doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of it. Slightly cobbled together for me. Don't get me wrong, it's good stuff but the first 3 episodes seem to work best

[dsrichard]

I always felt that a trick was missed in The Satan Pit two-parter by not implying that the Satan creature in the pit was Sutekh.

It could have been scripted so easily.

Satan creature: "We have met before."

Like that. It wouldn't have affected the story one bit and would have been a nice bit of continuity to speculate about endlessly.

Like those crab creatures whatever they're called. Nice bit of incidental continuity. God knows, the show could do with some.