Doctor Who: Pyramids of Mars (1975)

Doctor Who: Pyramids of Mars (1975)

Dir. Paddy Russell | 4 episodes, approx 25 mins each

I mentioned that Pyramids of Mars was included as an extra on Series 04 of The Sarah Jane Adventures DVD + Blu-ray, which is a good enough reason for me to want to give a little more information on it.

Stargate is my favourite onscreen merger of sci-fi and Egyptian mythology, but it isn't the only Movie or TV Series to have connected the two things. Doctor Who did it almost two decades before. [1]

It's a Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) adventure in which Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen) has a fairly significant role. It's a good example of how much she brought to the series, both as a fully-rounded character in her own right and as a foil for the Doctor.

She isn't his gofer, written in just to do the boring stuff, but is very much there because she wants to be. They joke with each other on equal terms, and she's not afraid to let him know if he's being insensitive or callous when dealing with humans; he's an alien and has an alien perspective.

The story is set mostly in the Victorian era, 1911, although it begins, rather fittingly, in a pyramid at Giza with a scene that's reminiscent of HAMMER's first Mummy film. The horror element was something of a recurring feature in Season 13, in which the four-episode serial is a part.

In his previous incarnation the Doctor had worked closely with UNIT, which was somewhat stifling for him. Pyramids is a sizable step towards his dissolving of that relationship.

Now might be a good time to mention that, despite the title, we don't see any actual pyramids on Mars. Not even a matte painting. The budget didn't stretch to that, it seems. But the red planet isn't wholly absent. The primary antagonist orchestrates his plan from there.

The quality of the storytelling takes a steep dive in the final episode, which is the only real disappointment in what's otherwise a pretty good story with decent acting. If nothing else, the sight of bandaged nasties shuffling around the British countryside is top Doc stuff, and we get to see the absurdly long scarf put to more than one use, besides keeping an alien neck warm.

NOTE: if you like your Doctor Who in book form, the story (credited onscreen to Stephen Harris) was adapted into a novel of the same name by Terrance Dicks. Published by Target Books in 1985, it's #50 in their Doctor Who Library series. Page Count: 125.

[1] The Doctor Who series is the earliest onscreen merger of such that I've seen. It may even be the very first. If there's anything earlier, I'm not aware of it. The Universal and Hammer Mummy films might classify as sci-fi to some people, but I don't feel they fit the criteria as I see it. The only other pairing that I'm aware of is Roger Zelazny's Creatures of Light and Darkness (1969), but that's a novel. If anyone knows of anything onscreen prior Doctor Who, I'd love to hear of it.