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Doctor Who: Pyramids of Mars | 
| Actors: Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Gabriel Woolf
Studio: BBC Warner
Category: DVD
List Price: CDN$ 24.98
Buy New: CDN$ 17.97
You Save: CDN$ 7.01 (28%)
New (15) Used (1) from CDN$ 17.97
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 17566
Format: Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARDE2023D
ISBN: 0790794071
UPC: 794051202321
EAN: 9780790794075
ASIN: B0002F6BSS
Release Date: September 7, 2004
Availability: Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new Item, factory Sealed. Buy direct from the U.S. and save! We only ship airmail to Canada (7-15 days).Caiman, les prix qu'on aime! Tous nos produits sont neufs. Envoi par avion des Etats-Unis
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| Editorial Reviews:
From Amazon.com
The popularity of this Tom Baker-era IDoctor Who/I serial among fans led directly to its release on DVD (it ranked first in a IDoctor Who/I magazine poll about stories to be released on disc), and once again, the WB/BBC DVD doesn't disappoint with a sparkling presentation and a wealth of supplemental features. The third serial in the thirteenth season (1975-1976) finds the Doctor and Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen) on Earth in 1911, where an Egyptologist has come under the power of Sutekh, a powerful alien bent on unleashing worldwide destruction. The much-discussed "Gothic" sensibilities that producer Phillip Hinchcliffe and writer Robert Holmes brought to the series during this season are largely in effect here--mummies and sinister henchmen mix freely with robots and alien invaders--as are the quality of writing and acting that helped IDoctor Who/I spike some of its highest ratings to date during this season. One of the series' strongest and most entertaining stories, IPyramids of Mars/I is undoubtedly a must-have for Baker and IWho/I fans. I--Paul Gaita/I
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Good story June 18, 2004
J. Grant (Atlantic Beach, Florida United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This continues the good stories that are well known in the early Baker years. His companionship with Sarah, one of the best Doctor/Companion pair ups of the entire series. The location and set designs, music and villians are all well done. Sutek makes a chilling villian, and the characters are all well acted. Classic scenes are infact the Tardis' voyage to 1980 earth to show Sarah what would become if Sutek were allowed to go free. Also the Mars pyramids and its many puzzles I found to be intriguing. The only flaw I found in this story is the organ playing in the beginning. Someone should delete this on the DVD release. We all know that is why Sutek sent his servant to kill the egyption in the first place. This is a classic Doctor Who story.
One of the Best Tom Baker stories January 27, 2004
Martin Richards (Sheboygan, WI United States)
I like this story throughout. The plot is action packed with little padding. Tom Baker for once manages to stick to the script most of the time and is not guilty of massive overplaying as he is in many other episodes. There is humour but it is good. There are some genuinly scary moments. Along with Genesis of the Daleks in my view the best of T Baker!
Doctor Who with an Egyptian motif January 26, 2004
Daniel J. Hamlow (Chikusei City, Japan)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Some stories done during Dr. Who producer Phillip Hinchcliff's time has been known as the Gothic era of the show. He commissioned stories based on old horror and sci-fi. Pyramids of Mars is a tribute to Hammer Films' mummy movies, using a lot of Egyptology themes and names.pAfter being mysteriously drawn off course to 1911 in an old priory where UNIT HQ would be built, the Doctor and Sarah become involved in the attempted return of Sutekh, an Osirian who was imprisoned by his brother Horus in a tomb recently uncovered by archaeologist Marcus Scarman. He returns to the priory, a zombified puppet of Sutekh, who with help of service robots disguised as mummies, create a deflection barrier around the priory and set about constructing a rocket to destroy the pyramids of Mars to free Sutekh.pThe Doctor and Sarah rescue Dr. Warlock, a friend of Marcus's who has been shot by an Egyptian, and enlist the aid of Laurence, Marcus's brother. Laurence is an affable fellow, but despite seeing the possessed Marcus, still thinks of Marcus as his brother and not a puppet of Sutekh. Laurence is played by Michael Sheard, a multiple Who alumni and Admiral Ozzel in The Empire Strikes Back. Bernard Archard (Marcus) is effectively terrifying, his evil-looking eyes, curved down lips, and paled face put to good use.pHow evil and how much Sutekh hates life is demonstrated in these lines: The humans, animals, birds, fish, reptiles. All life is my enemy. All life shall perish under the reign of Sutekh the Destroyer. Your evil is my good. ... Where I tread, I leave nothing but dust and darkness. I find that good! Gabriel Woolf's sepulchral voice is put to good use here as Sutekh.pLots of Egyptology comes in, such as Horus's defeat of Sutekh with the help of 740 Osirians. Not so coincidentally, 740 gods were listed on the tomb of Thutmosis III. The answer to that is the wars of the gods (Osirians) entered into Egyptian mythology and the whole of Egyptian culture founded upon the Osirian pattern. The various sarcophagi and artifacts boost the story's theme.pAn interesting discussion takes place between Laurence Scarman, Marcus's brother, and the Doctor. He takes Sarah and Laurence to a future Earth, a desolate planet circling a dead sun, which is how Sutekh would leave it. Every point in time has its alternative. You've looked into alternative time. ...The actions of the present fashion the future. When Laurence asks him if a man can change the course of history, the Doctor says To a small extent. It takes a being of Sutekh's limitless power to destroy the future. The Doctor is thus a prisoner of moral obligation--until he stops Sutekh, he just can't up and leave.pFunny lines from Tom Baker: 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. And he panics at Sarah throwing him a box of gelignite, saying, Sweaty gelignite is highly unstable. One good sneeze could set it off. When he asks the chastised Sarah for detonators or fuses, she can't find any, and mischievously says, Maybe he sneezed, meaning the owner of the gelignite. We also learn here that he is 750 years old.pA blaring booboo comes when Sarah claims she comes from 1980. UNIT stories generally take place the year the story is filmed. Also, as the Brigadier retired in 1976 (q.v. Mawdryn Undead, this is clearly inaccurate, as a future story in the same season has the Brigadier still working. So Sarah should've said she comes from 1975.pTrivia: at the time of shooting, the property where this was shot belonged to no less a person than Mick Jagger, but before, the house in the story had belonged to Lord Carnarvon, the archaeologist who uncovered King Tut's tomb, so a coincidence there.pStylish and evenly-paced, with the Egyptology motif a good asset.
 Silly! Doctor Who and Architechture Just Don't Mix January 4, 2004
J. Fuchs (Los Angeles, CA United States)
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
I seem to be in the minority on both this series and Stones of Blood, the other episode in which Tom Baker as Doctor Who takes on a god/goddess whose fate and life are wound up with an ancient archeological treasure, in the case of this series with the Egyptian pyramids, in the case of Stones with Stonehenge. Both series are cheesy in the extreme, illogical, and while they have entertaining sequences, fall well short of the truly great Tom Baker episodes (and there are many of those).pIn this series, the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith are diverted to 1911 England where a mysterious Egyptian has ensconsed himself and some Egyptian artifacts in a house belonging to a missing archaeologist. The Egyptian seems able to conjure up the spirit of a deity by playing creepy, horror music on an organ in his living room. We also have robots who look like gray mummies with breasts, bad hieroglyphics, and the missing archaeologist who is not, in fact, missing, he's just been taken over by the deity and runs around pale white, calling the deity master and killing off anyone who gets in his way. It's really a rather silly episode with not much to commend it, other than the Doctor's compassion for the human race and willingness to expose himself to danger, but those two traits appear in almost every Tom Baker episode and being chased around by cheesy mummies gets a bit dull after a while. This one has entertainment value, but there are many better episodes.
Professor Scarman Steals the Show August 25, 2003
Adam B Lewis (Lexington, SC United States)
I didn't see this mentioned in any of the other reviews and I wanted to share it. I thought Professor Scarman was awesome as a villain, even moreso than Sutekh. The mummys were a bit silly looking but I would have been more scared of Prof. Scarman than those 3 mummys put together.
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