DOCTOR WHO:  PYRAMIDS OF MARS

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#8:  PYRAMIDS OF MARS (4 Parts)
ORIGINALLY AIRED:  10/25/75 to 11/15/75
WRITTEN BY:  "Stephen Harris"	
WRITTEN BY:  "Stephen Harris"	
DIRECTED BY:  Paddy Russell
PRODUCER:  Philip Hinchcliffe	SCRIPT EDITOR:  Robert Holmes

Stephen Harris is a pseudonym; this script was actually written by script editor Robert Holmes, based on a story by Lewis Greifer.

As with most of Holmes' writing for the show, this is one of the very best of the DOCTOR WHO stories. The plot has many clever twists and uses the period setting well, with its resonances of Howard Carter and the discovery of the tomb of King Tut. The Egyptian artifacts look pretty authentic and are well integrated into the science fiction elements.

The story also showcases an interesting villain and contains a lot of sly humor. The Doctor's character seems very rounded; we see him joking, testy, impatient, at a loss, logical and decisive. A somewhat dark side of him is revealed and the point is made that, in fact, he is not human.

There are several "inside" references to previous DOCTOR WHO stories or characters, and excellent interplay between the Doctor and Sarah, with dialogue that seems spontaneous instead of scripted; and which may well have developed during rehearsal. There is lots of delightful jargon and tantalizing references to the Doctor's home planet and personal history.

It is 1911. Professor Marcus Scarman has discovered an untouched tomb in Egypt, dating back to the first dynasty of the Pharaohs. The symbol of the Eye of Horus marks a sealed inner room. When Scarman enters this room, he is attacked by some force.

In the TARDIS, Sarah has found a long, white, lacy dress in the wardrobe. A preoccupied Doctor greets her: "Hello, Vicki." Sarah twirls in the dress and asks him: "Don't you like it?" He replies, "Yes, I always did. Victoria wore it. She traveled with me for a time." This refers to the character of Victoria Waterfield, played by Deborah Watling, who was a companion back when Patrick Troughton played the Doctor.

Sarah makes a joke but the Doctor frowns. She tells him, "You should be glad to be going home." The Doctor replies, "The Earth isn't my home, Sarah. I'm not a human being. I walk in eternity. I've lived for something like 750 years." Sarah jokes, "You'll soon be middle aged." The Doctor agrees, "Yes, about time I found something better to do than run 'round after the Brigadier."

Just then a force rocks the TARDIS and Sarah sees a ghostly image of a doglike face. She asks what's that, and the Doctor tells her "The relative continuum stabilizer failed." Sarah explains she means the face, which he didn't see. The Doctor marvels, "Mental projection of that force is beyond imagining; it might explain the stabilizer failure."

The TARDIS materializes at the correct point in space but not in time. The Doctor calls it a "temporal reverse; some vast impulse of energy's thrown the TARDIS off course." They are at the site of UNIT HQ but years before, back when it was the old Priory.

The Doctor feels, "Something's going on contrary to the laws of the universe. I must find out what." While he and Sarah search the room they're locked in, which is chock full of Egyptian relics, Dr. Warlock forces his way into the house, which belongs to Marcus Scarman, and questions Namin, an Egyptian who claims to be minding the house for the Professor.

The Doctor pulls a French picklock from his pocket and mentions it belonged to Marie Antoinette, "a charming lady--lost her head, poor thing," but before he can unlock the door, Collins the butler enters.

The Doctor pretends to be showing the property to Sarah: "Of course, it would make an ideal headquarters for a paramilitary organization; this room could easily be turned into a laboratory." This is a sly reference to the BBC's penchant for reusing the same sets with different dressings. Collins assumes the Doctor and Sarah are with Dr. Warlock and warns them about the Egyptian. Referring to the surrounding mummy cases, the Doctor jokes, "Is this where he keeps his relatives?"

The Doctor and Sarah climb out the window and slink along the outside of the Priory; the Doctor using a Groucho-Marx-like crouch. Behind them, a mummy case opens and, offscreen, Collins is strangled. Namin and Dr. Warlock rush to see what's happened and Namin pulls a gun. The Doctor and Sarah sneak back into the house and the Doctor uses his scarf to overcome Namin, but the gun goes off, wounding Dr. Warlock.

Namin opens the mummy case; inside is a mummy, which Namin activates via a pulsating ring. The mummy shuffles off to do Namin's bidding.

The Doctor, Sarah and Dr. Warlock hurry away from the Priory, but the elderly Warlock is too weak from loss of blood to continue. Sarah runs off to the Lodge to get help from Scarman's brother Lawrence, as Warlock collapses. The Doctor carries him to cover. Separately, Sarah and the Doctor both see a mummy searching the grounds for them.

They all manage to elude the mummy and Namin, and Sarah returns with Lawrence Scarman. Sarah tells the Doctor she's seen a walking mummy. The Doctor tells her, "Mummies are embalmed, eviscerated corpses; they don't walk."

When Lawrence hears what's happened, he wants to go to the police, but the Doctor says: "This is much too grave a matter for the police; they'd only hamper my investigations. Something's interfering with time, and time is my business."

Lawrence is rather taken aback, so to smooth things over, Sarah introduces herself and explains she's from 1980. As mentioned in TERROR OF THE ZYGONS, although PYRAMIDS OF MARS was written and filmed in 1975, all the UNIT stories took place in the 1980s; as Sarah was introduced into the series in a UNIT story, to remain internally consistent, all the stories with Earth characters such as Sarah had to be set in the 1980s.

The Doctor admires a piece of apparatus in Lawrence's home and asks the year. Upon hearing it is 1911, the Doctor crows, " Splendid! An excellent year. One of my favorites," and congratulates Lawrence on "inventing the radio telescope 40 years early."

Lawrence is unconvinced the Doctor knows what he's talking about, until he and the Doctor simultaneously describe the purpose of this artifact as "to receive radio emissions from the stars." When Lawrence asks how he knows this, the Doctor replies: "I have the advantage of being slightly ahead of you. Sometimes behind you, but normally ahead of you."

Lawrence demonstrates the machine but can't switch it off; it blows up. The aerial was tuned to Mars, and the machine has recorded a message. The Doctor takes out his pocket version and verifies the signal. He deciphers its message as "Beware Sutekh."

Sutekh is the Great Destroyer. According to Egyptian mythology, he was killed by Horus, God of Light, his brother. The Doctor says, "If I'm right, the world is facing the greatest peril in its history. The forces that are being summoned into corporeal existence in that house are more powerful and more dangerous than anything even I have ever encountered." Scarman mentions he has a gun. "I never carry firearms," the Doctor declares, as he exits.

The Doctor sneaks back into the Priory, followed by Lawrence and Sarah. A time tunnel appears in a sarcophagus in the main room, and a masked figure travels through it into the room. It is Marcus Scarman. As the Doctor, Sarah and his brother Lawrence look on, Marcus kills Namin with a touch, proclaiming, "I bring Sutekh's gift of death to all humans."

Marcus and the mummies leave the house to set up a deflector barrier; its generator loops are contained in Egyptian canopic jars.

The Doctor explains, "Sutekh is breaking free from the ancient bonds. If he succeeds, he'll destroy the whole world." The Doctor tells Sarah and Lawrence how Sutekh destroyed his whole planet and headed to Earth, where he was imprisoned in a pyramid in Egypt; the war of these Osirans entered Earth mythology.

The Doctor discovers the sarcophagus is "the lodestone that drew the TARDIS off course; it's the entrance to a time space tunnel to Sutekh." The Doctor activates it, but it is booby trapped; he escapes by tossing something from his pocket into it, but passes out from the shock.

On the grounds, one of the mummies gets caught in a trap, as Ernie Clements, a poacher, looks on. Clements runs into the deflection barrier; this is demonstrated nicely when he tosses a stick at it and the stick caroms off what appears to be empty air.

Expecting the imminent return of Marcus, Sarah and Lawrence drag the unconscious Doctor into a priest's hole. This is a small secret chamber found in some old houses where priests once hid from persecution.

Marcus discovers Dr. Warlock at Lawrence's Lodge and has a mummy strangle him. The poacher sees this and runs off. He follows Marcus back to the Priory and shoots him, but nothing happens. The smoke from the bullet wound is merely absorbed back into Scarman's body. Marcus sends the mummies to kill Clements.

The Doctor revives and mentions Sutekh is controlling operations at the Priory by mental force. If the Doctor knew Sutekh's exact physical location, with Marcus' equipment at the Lodge, he could transmit a jamming signal "with an etheric impulse projected along precisely the right axis." The Doctor deduces the Egyptian's ring is a slave relay; with it, "calculating the reverse polarization should be child's play."

They exit the priest's hole and get the ring from Namin's body. Lawrence brings to the Doctor's attention some equipment nearby, which the Doctor identifies as a "resonating tuner; part of an antigravity drive; they must be building a rocket" so Sutekh can escape from the power of Horus.

When Sarah expresses doubt a mummy would build a rocket, the Doctor tells her, "They're not mummies; they're service robots."

The Doctor and Sarah take Lawrence into the TARDIS; he is delighted but finds the way the laws of physics are ignored preposterous. The Doctor agrees, "I often think dimensional transcendentalism is preposterous, but it works."

Sarah suggests scarpering to 1980, but the Doctor says he can't. He takes the TARDIS to 1980 to show Sarah what will happen if Sutekh is not stopped; it's "a desolate planet circling a dead sun." Sarah can't understand because she's from 1980. The Doctor explains, "Every point in time has its alternative. You've looked into alternative time." The Doctor goes on to say, "The future can be shaped; the actions of the present fashion the future."

They return to 1911 and go back to the Lodge, where they find Dr. Warlock's body. The Doctor tells Lawrence, "As a human being Marcus Scarman no longer exists; he's simply the embodiment of Sutekh's power; he's given the paralyzed Sutekh arms and legs, a means to escape. He's not alive now in any real sense; only Sutekh animates him."

The Doctor has determined Mars is the source of the forcefield holding Sutekh paralyzed in Egypt. If the rocket the mummies are building makes it to Mars, Sutekh will be released.

The service robots capture and kill the poacher outside the Lodge. Lawrence shoots at them, causing the robots to attack. Sarah switches on Lawrence's machine, which the Doctor had started to tinker with; this interferes slightly with Sutekh's psytronic control, but it's not enough. At the Doctor's direction, Sarah uses the Egyptian's ring to send two of the service robots back to the Priory; a third is out of commission on the floor.

The Doctor berates Lawrence for endangering them and causing the equipment to be destroyed. He tells Lawrence, "What's walking around out there is no longer your brother. It is simply an animated human cadaver, animated by Sutekh; and if Sutekh succeeds in freeing himself, the consequences will be incalculable."

Gabriel Woolf, who plays Sutekh, is wonderful in a role which allows him to act only with his voice. Up until part 4 of this story, he doesn't move a muscle; and you never see his face, although his mask and later a dummy with a dog-shaped head are very effective.

The rocket is almost ready; it is an Osiran war missile shaped as a pyramid. The Doctor tells Sarah, "It transposes with its projection--pyramid power." The Doctor deduces "the robots are drawing their energy from a psytronic particle accelerator, which must be in Sutekh's tomb." Lawrence suggests blowing up the rocket with blasting gelignite from the hut of Clements, the poacher.

The Doctor asks Lawrence to remove the bindings from the robot they overpowered. He and Sarah set off for the hut. The Doctor uses a stick to locate the deflector barrier and follow it around to the canopic jar which marks the doorway. He says to Sarah, "You going to help me or are you just going to stand there admiring the scenery?" She replies, "Your shoes need repairing; and I'm waiting for you to tell me what to do." While Sarah steadies the jar, the Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver, telling her, "Deactivating a generator loop without a correct key is like repairing a watch with a hammer and chisel; one false move and you'll never know the time again."

The Doctor deactivates the barrier and he and Sarah go to the poacher's hut. The Doctor tells Sarah that Sutekh is so all-powerful not even the Time Lords could withstand him if he got free; it took the combined might of 741 Osirans to defeat him 7000 years ago.

Sarah finds the explosives and tosses them to the Doctor, who blanches: "Sweaty gelignite is highly unstable; one good sneeze could set it off." They can't find any detonators or fuses, however.

Marcus goes to Lawrence's Lodge. Lawrence shows him a photo of when they were boys and Scarman almost throws off Sutekh's control. The Doctor and Sarah hide the gelignite near the rocket and return to find Lawrence strangled.

The Doctor wastes no pity over this death, but Sarah is appalled: "Sometimes you don't seem..." The Doctor completes her thought: "Human?" but explains the deaths so far will "just be the first of millions unless Sutekh is stopped."

Sarah helps the Doctor disguise himself as a service robot in the bindings Lawrence removed. The Doctor, dressed as a mummy, places the gelignite near the rocket. Sarah shoots the gelignite but Sutekh contains the explosion, "holding back the exothermic reaction" via mental power, so the Doctor decides to break his concentration.

The Doctor goes to the sarcophagus and activates the time space beam. He travels along it to the pyramid in Egypt. His arrival distracts Sutekh, whose mental control lapses; the rocket explodes. This was done with a miniature explosion in front of a photo of the Priory. All the outdoor sequences were filmed at Stargroves House in Berkshire, once owned by Mick Jagger.

Sutekh tortures the Doctor and finds out he's from Gallifrey, in the constellation Kasterborus. Its binary location from Galactic Zero Center is ten zero eleven zero zero by zero two.

Sutekh consults his data bank, which resembles a Las Vegas slot machine; he discovers the Doctor is a Time Lord. The Doctor tells Sutekh, "I've renounced the society of Time Lords; now I'm simply a traveler."

Sutekh offers the Doctor an alliance, but the Doctor refuses to serve him. Sutekh threatens Sarah and doesn't understand the Doctor's desire to protect her from harm. The Doctor replies, "All sapient life forms are our kith."

Sutekh locates the TARDIS by mental force and levitates the TARDIS key back through the time tunnel to Scarman. This effect was done with an all-too-obvious set of strings. However, the Doctor tells him it will do no good because "the controls of the TARDIS are isomorphic." Sutekh thoughtfully explains this means "one to one; they answer to you alone."

Of course, future stories will prove this is not the case, but up until this story no one but the Doctor has ever piloted the TARDIS, so it's possible the Doctor was telling the truth here, as it was defined by the script editors to date.

Sutekh puts the Doctor under his mental control and sends him back to the Priory through the time corridor. The Doctor, Sarah and Scarman enter the TARDIS and travel to an empty chamber under a pyramid on Mars which controls Sutekh's forcefield.

Upon arriving, the Doctor is no longer needed, so a service robot strangles him. Thinking he's dead, Sarah breaks into tears over his prone body. The Doctor taps her hand and announces, "You're soaking my shirt." Sarah says joyfully, "You're alive!" The Doctor absentmindedly replies, "Respiratory bypass system. Useful in a tight squeeze."

Scarman sets about deactivating the pyramid, which involves a series of mechanical puzzles. The Doctor follows and must figure out these codes as well as avoiding all the traps. One is a solanoid puzzle tied to explosives in the floor. It reminds Sarah of the City of the Exxilons. This was a completely automated city, with mechanical puzzles that were also boobytrapped that Sarah visited with Jon Pertwee's Doctor in DEATH TO THE DALEKS.

The Doctor figures out the key: "The length of the line provides a scale of measurements." He checks his scarf: "Feet and inches one side; meters and centimeters the other." He measures the key with his scarf: "120.3 centimeters multiplied by the binary figure ten zero zero; that's 162.4 centimeters; that's about 7 stitches." He marks off 7 stitches on his scarf, finds the correct solanoid and gently pushes Sarah behind him, "in case I'm wrong." He presses the panel; the door opens and the Doctor smiles: "I'm right."

In the next chamber he leaves Sarah for a second and she is immediately encased in a glass tube--a textron crucible. The Doctor tells her not to panic, but he can't get her out. Two service robots appear and a recorded message calls them the Twin Guardians of Horus. The Doctor must solve a Sphinx-like riddle, involving two buttons outside Sarah's narrow prison. One provides instant freedom; the other instant death. One Guardian is programmed to tell the truth; the other to lie; and the Doctor can ask only one question.

The Doctor asks the nearest Guardian, "If I were to ask your fellow Guardian the question, which switch would he indicate?" The Guardian points. The Doctor works it out aloud: "If you're the true Guardian, that must be the death switch; if you're the automatic liar, you'd be trying to mislead me, so that must still be the death switch." He pushes the other switch and frees Sarah; the Guardians disappear.

Marcus Scarman has reached the last obstacle. He turns into the embodiment of Sutekh--the dogheaded demon Sarah saw briefly in the TARDIS earlier. He destroys the Eye of Horus; immediately Sutekh withdraws his control and Scarman turns to dust and disappears. Sutekh is free!

But there's still time. The radio waves from Mars to Earth will hold Sutekh in place for another 2 minutes. The Doctor and Sarah race back to the TARDIS and materialize in the Priory.

The Doctor removes the time control component from the TARDIS and sets it up in front of Sutekh's sarcophagus. Sutekh starts to travel through the time tunnel to the Priory, but the Doctor catches him in a temporal trap. The Doctor tells Sutekh, "You're caught in the corridor of eternity." The Doctor moves the threshold of the time space tunnel into the far future until Sutekh dies in about 7000 years. The Doctor comments, "He never could reach the end."

As the Doctor disconnects the time control, the time tunnel blows up, almost injuring him. "That was careless of me," the Doctor remarks, "I forgot the thermal balance would equalize."

Sarah remembers the Priory was burned to the ground. The Doctor agrees it's time to leave. "We don't want to be blamed for starting a fire, do we? We had enough of that in 1666!" This refers to the Great London Fire, which ironically is actually depicted in a Peter Davison story called THE VISITATION.

Writing in her posthumously-published autobiography (Aurum 2011), Elisabeth Sladen said of the way her performance and Tom's were shaped during the rehearsal process:  "Tom knows I love films.  He was always throwing little lines at me, and we'd discuss the old black-and-whites.  Scenes from the classics became a kind of shorthand between us."  ... Once we were waiting to shoot a scene on PYRAMIDS where we had to walk up to a door and enter."  Tom suggested a bit of business from the Marx Brothers' MONKEY BUSINESS.  "Remember the three of them walk silently up to a door, change their minds, and turn in unison and walk away?"  So we did.  We had one shot at it, and woe betide us if we messed it up!  But it worked perfectly. ... As far as I'm concerned, if you're a director on DOCTOR WHO and you can't get along with Tom Baker---you can't get along with anyone."

Michael Sheard, who plays Lawrence Scarman, played Rhos in the Hartnell story THE ARK; Dr. Summers in the Pertwee story THE MIND OF EVIL; Mergrave in the Davison story CASTROVALVA; and the Headmaster in the McCoy story REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS. He also portrays Lowe in the future Tom Baker story THE INVISIBLE ENEMY. Lawrence Scarman is his best guest appearance on the series and is especially likeable, with his quick acceptance of the Doctor and Sarah and his appreciation for scientific contraptions; his concern for his brother and his eagerness to help the Doctor. It's a pity the character was killed off.

Bernard Archard, who plays Professor Marcus Scarman, played Bragen in the Troughton story THE POWER OF THE DALEKS.

Peter Mayock, who plays Namin, plays Solis in the future Tom Baker story THE DEADLY ASSASSIN.

Michael Bilton, who plays Collins, played Toligny in the Hartnell story THE MASSACRE and shows up in a later Tom Baker story as a Time Lord in THE DEADLY ASSASSIN.

Melvyn Bedford, who plays a Mummy, played Reig in the previous Tom Baker story PLANET OF EVIL.