Pyramids of Mars
Encyclopedia
Pyramids of Mars is a serial in the British
science fiction television series Doctor Who
, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 25 October to 15 November 1975.
mansion which formerly stood on the site where U.N.I.T.'s headquarters exists during the time of the Fourth Doctor
. The Doctor and Sarah quickly become aware that something is very wrong: the owner is missing and the estate has come under the control of a mysterious Egyptian. Cloth-wrapped mummies rise up and roam the grounds, killing anyone in their path.
A dangerous alien power is at work, and the Doctor recognizes the mastermind of all this as Sutekh the Destroyer, the last of the Osirians. The Doctor must stop the ruthless Sutekh at all costs, or there may not be a future for them to return to.
, 1911. Marcus Scarman is excavating a pyramid and finds that the door to the burial chamber is inscribed with the Eye of Horus
. Scarman's Egyptian assistants panic and flee at the sight of the glowing hieroglyph, leaving the Professor to enter the chamber alone. As he holds a light up to see the undisturbed tomb, he is blasted by a ray that emanates from a seated and cowled figure.
The TARDIS is forced out of its flight path and Sarah sees an apparition of an alien, jackal-like face in the console room. The Doctor follows its energy source back to its point of origin and lands the TARDIS in the Scarman family home in England.
The Doctor and Sarah explore the priory and find what appear to be Egyptian artefacts in the storeroom in which the TARDIS materialised. Discovered by the butler, they are told that the house has been taken over by a mysterious Egyptian gentleman by the name of Ibrahim Namin.
In another part of the priory, Namin is confronted by Dr. Warlock, an old friend of Professor Scarman. The Doctor, Sarah and Warlock make their escape into the grounds of the estate. Instead of following, Namin removes the lid of another sarcophagus to reveal a mummy
. Holding up his ring, he commands the mummy to activate and orders it to pursue them.
The Doctor, Sarah and Warlock hide in the woods until the pursuing mummies are called off by Namin. The three make their way to a hunting lodge used by Laurence Scarman, Professor Scarman's brother. Laurence is an amateur scientist whose marconiscope
has intercepted a signal from Mars
. The Doctor uses a more portable device to decode the signal as "Beware Sutekh".
The Doctor explains that Sutekh is the last of a powerful alien
race called the Osirians, a megalomaniac who came to believe that all life was his enemy. He was pursued across the galaxy by his brother Horus
and was finally defeated on Earth by the combined might of 740 Osirians. The Doctor returns to the house to stop Sutekh, followed by Sarah and Laurence Scarman.
Namin and the mummies — really service robot
s — greet the arrival of Sutekh's servant who travels to the priory via a spacetime
tunnel, the portal of which is disguised as an upright sarcophagus. The Servant of Sutekh appears as a dark-helmeted humanoid figure dressed in black. The Servant ignores Namin's pleas for his life and kills him, declaring that Sutekh needs no other servant.
After killing Namin, the Servant is revealed to be Marcus Scarman, although he appears to be an animated corpse. Scarman uses the spacetime tunnel to communicate with Sutekh, immobile in his pyramid, who orders Scarman to secure the perimeter of the estate and to construct an Osirian war missile. After Scarman and the robots leave to execute their orders, the Doctor, Sarah and Laurence Scarman enter the main room. The Doctor disrupts the tunnel using the TARDIS key. Laurence hides the three of them in a priest hole
for fear of being discovered by his brother.
In another part of the estate, a poacher finds a mummy trapped in one of his snares. He retreats but is prevented from escaping the estate by a deflection barrier. Marcus Scarman finds Warlock, questions him about the other people within the barrier and kills him.
The Doctor realises that he can stop Sutekh controlling his Servant and the mummies by using Namin's ring and Laurence Scarman's scientific apparatus. The poacher fires his shotgun at Marcus Scarman and is killed by the robots.
The Doctor finds Namin's corpse and retrieves the ring. All three proceed into the TARDIS to avoid detection. Sarah suggests they should just leave in the TARDIS, because they know that the world did not end in 1911. The Doctor demonstrates otherwise by moving the TARDIS forward to 1980. There, the TARDIS doors open onto a blasted wilderness, with thunder, rain and lightning hammering down on to ash fields. They have no choice but to return to 1911 and stop Sutekh or the future will be lost.
Back in 1911 the Doctor makes a jamming unit to prevent Sutekh controlling his servants. Laurence finds it too hard to deal with the Doctor's assertion that Marcus Scarman is dead and that the being with his appearance is just a puppet. Laurence overhears the Doctor telling Sarah that when the jamming device is activated, all of Sutekh's servants will stop, Marcus Scarman included.
At the crucial moment when the device is activated, Laurence attempts to stop it from happening. The robots overrun the hunting lodge after finding and killing Clements. They knock Laurence out and throw the Doctor to the floor...
One of the robots attacks the jamming device and is disabled by a sudden discharge of power. Sarah, using the ring they took from Namin, orders the robots to return to Control.
Surveying the ruined equipment, the Doctor decides to blow up the partially assembled rocket in the stable courtyard of the Priory. Laurence suggests using blasting gelignite
, which the poacher kept in his hut. The Doctor and Sarah leave to obtain the gelignite, ordering Laurence to strip the bindings from the deactivated robot.
The Doctor finds the energy barrier and deactivates it. The deactivation is detected by Sutekh, who orders Marcus Scarman to investigate. Marcus finds Laurence in the hunting lodge. Laurence tries to make Marcus remember his childhood in order to revive his humanity, but fails, and Marcus tortures Laurence in order to find out more about the Doctor.
Sutekh interrogates the Doctor and discovers he is a Time Lord
from Gallifrey
. Sutekh locates the TARDIS and decides to use it to transport Scarman to the Pyramids of Mars in order to deactivate the Eye of Horus, the force that is trapping him. Sutekh subjects the Doctor to mind control and returns him to the priory as another of his servants. He orders Scarman to bring a robot and Sarah into the TARDIS to travel to Mars.
On Mars, Sutekh orders Scarman to dispose of the Doctor and the robot throttles him. Scarman and the robot then find the way out of the first chamber beneath the pyramid and leave Sarah weeping over the Doctor. The Doctor wakes up, revealing that his respiratory bypass system allowed him to avoid death, and they then set off in search of Scarman.
The Eye of Horus is located at the end of a corridor beneath the pyramid. The corridor is divided in to a series of chambers and progress through the chambers is dependent upon solving logical and philosophical problems. Sutekh navigates Scarman and the robot through each problem with no deliberation but the Doctor and Sarah are slower.
Scarman and the robot reach the chamber containing the Eye of Horus. Scarman destroys the Eye before falling to the floor and decaying to dust. Arriving too late, the Doctor realises that the loss of the imprisoning force will not be felt on Earth for two minutes, that being the time that radio signals take
to travel from the pyramid on Mars to the prison chamber in Egypt. They return to Earth. Sutekh begins his journey through the time tunnel back to earth; at the same time the Doctor removes a module from the TARDIS and attaches it to the other end of the tunnel springing a "temporal trap," immobilizing Sutekh in the timestream, and instead forcing him to a point 10,000 years in the future, ageing him to death.
As the Doctor and Sarah pack up and prepare to leave, a thermal imbalance in the time tunnel causes it to catch fire. Sarah remembers that the UNIT headquarters was built on the remains of a burnt priory. The two leave in the TARDIS as the priory is consumed in flames.
, was published by Target Books
in December 1976. The novelisation contains a substantial prologue giving the history of Sutekh and the Osirians and features an epilogue in which a future Sarah researches the destruction of the Priory and how it was explained. An unabridged reading of the novelisation by actor Tom Baker was released on CD in August 2008 by BBC Audiobooks.
Target novelisation
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 25 October to 15 November 1975.
Synopsis
Going slightly off course, the TARDIS materialises inside a Victorian gothicGothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
mansion which formerly stood on the site where U.N.I.T.'s headquarters exists during the time of the Fourth Doctor
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
. The Doctor and Sarah quickly become aware that something is very wrong: the owner is missing and the estate has come under the control of a mysterious Egyptian. Cloth-wrapped mummies rise up and roam the grounds, killing anyone in their path.
A dangerous alien power is at work, and the Doctor recognizes the mastermind of all this as Sutekh the Destroyer, the last of the Osirians. The Doctor must stop the ruthless Sutekh at all costs, or there may not be a future for them to return to.
Plot
EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, 1911. Marcus Scarman is excavating a pyramid and finds that the door to the burial chamber is inscribed with the Eye of Horus
Eye of Horus
The Eye of Horus is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection, royal power and good health. The eye is personified in the goddess Wadjet...
. Scarman's Egyptian assistants panic and flee at the sight of the glowing hieroglyph, leaving the Professor to enter the chamber alone. As he holds a light up to see the undisturbed tomb, he is blasted by a ray that emanates from a seated and cowled figure.
The TARDIS is forced out of its flight path and Sarah sees an apparition of an alien, jackal-like face in the console room. The Doctor follows its energy source back to its point of origin and lands the TARDIS in the Scarman family home in England.
The Doctor and Sarah explore the priory and find what appear to be Egyptian artefacts in the storeroom in which the TARDIS materialised. Discovered by the butler, they are told that the house has been taken over by a mysterious Egyptian gentleman by the name of Ibrahim Namin.
In another part of the priory, Namin is confronted by Dr. Warlock, an old friend of Professor Scarman. The Doctor, Sarah and Warlock make their escape into the grounds of the estate. Instead of following, Namin removes the lid of another sarcophagus to reveal a mummy
Mummy
A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
. Holding up his ring, he commands the mummy to activate and orders it to pursue them.
The Doctor, Sarah and Warlock hide in the woods until the pursuing mummies are called off by Namin. The three make their way to a hunting lodge used by Laurence Scarman, Professor Scarman's brother. Laurence is an amateur scientist whose marconiscope
Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and indeed he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand...
has intercepted a signal from Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
. The Doctor uses a more portable device to decode the signal as "Beware Sutekh".
The Doctor explains that Sutekh is the last of a powerful alien
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
race called the Osirians, a megalomaniac who came to believe that all life was his enemy. He was pursued across the galaxy by his brother Horus
Horus
Horus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion, who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...
and was finally defeated on Earth by the combined might of 740 Osirians. The Doctor returns to the house to stop Sutekh, followed by Sarah and Laurence Scarman.
Namin and the mummies — really service robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
s — greet the arrival of Sutekh's servant who travels to the priory via a spacetime
Spacetime
In physics, spacetime is any mathematical model that combines space and time into a single continuum. Spacetime is usually interpreted with space as being three-dimensional and time playing the role of a fourth dimension that is of a different sort from the spatial dimensions...
tunnel, the portal of which is disguised as an upright sarcophagus. The Servant of Sutekh appears as a dark-helmeted humanoid figure dressed in black. The Servant ignores Namin's pleas for his life and kills him, declaring that Sutekh needs no other servant.
After killing Namin, the Servant is revealed to be Marcus Scarman, although he appears to be an animated corpse. Scarman uses the spacetime tunnel to communicate with Sutekh, immobile in his pyramid, who orders Scarman to secure the perimeter of the estate and to construct an Osirian war missile. After Scarman and the robots leave to execute their orders, the Doctor, Sarah and Laurence Scarman enter the main room. The Doctor disrupts the tunnel using the TARDIS key. Laurence hides the three of them in a priest hole
Priest hole
"Priest hole" is the term given to hiding places for priests built into many of the principal Catholic houses of England during the period when Catholics were persecuted by law in England, from the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558....
for fear of being discovered by his brother.
In another part of the estate, a poacher finds a mummy trapped in one of his snares. He retreats but is prevented from escaping the estate by a deflection barrier. Marcus Scarman finds Warlock, questions him about the other people within the barrier and kills him.
The Doctor realises that he can stop Sutekh controlling his Servant and the mummies by using Namin's ring and Laurence Scarman's scientific apparatus. The poacher fires his shotgun at Marcus Scarman and is killed by the robots.
The Doctor finds Namin's corpse and retrieves the ring. All three proceed into the TARDIS to avoid detection. Sarah suggests they should just leave in the TARDIS, because they know that the world did not end in 1911. The Doctor demonstrates otherwise by moving the TARDIS forward to 1980. There, the TARDIS doors open onto a blasted wilderness, with thunder, rain and lightning hammering down on to ash fields. They have no choice but to return to 1911 and stop Sutekh or the future will be lost.
Back in 1911 the Doctor makes a jamming unit to prevent Sutekh controlling his servants. Laurence finds it too hard to deal with the Doctor's assertion that Marcus Scarman is dead and that the being with his appearance is just a puppet. Laurence overhears the Doctor telling Sarah that when the jamming device is activated, all of Sutekh's servants will stop, Marcus Scarman included.
At the crucial moment when the device is activated, Laurence attempts to stop it from happening. The robots overrun the hunting lodge after finding and killing Clements. They knock Laurence out and throw the Doctor to the floor...
One of the robots attacks the jamming device and is disabled by a sudden discharge of power. Sarah, using the ring they took from Namin, orders the robots to return to Control.
Surveying the ruined equipment, the Doctor decides to blow up the partially assembled rocket in the stable courtyard of the Priory. Laurence suggests using blasting gelignite
Gelignite
Gelignite, also known as blasting gelatin or simply jelly, is an explosive material consisting of collodion-cotton dissolved in either nitroglycerine or nitroglycol and mixed with wood pulp and saltpetre .It was invented in 1875 by Alfred Nobel, who had earlier invented dynamite...
, which the poacher kept in his hut. The Doctor and Sarah leave to obtain the gelignite, ordering Laurence to strip the bindings from the deactivated robot.
The Doctor finds the energy barrier and deactivates it. The deactivation is detected by Sutekh, who orders Marcus Scarman to investigate. Marcus finds Laurence in the hunting lodge. Laurence tries to make Marcus remember his childhood in order to revive his humanity, but fails, and Marcus tortures Laurence in order to find out more about the Doctor.
Sutekh interrogates the Doctor and discovers he is a Time Lord
Time Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
from Gallifrey
Gallifrey
Gallifrey is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and is the homeworld of the Doctor and the Time Lords...
. Sutekh locates the TARDIS and decides to use it to transport Scarman to the Pyramids of Mars in order to deactivate the Eye of Horus, the force that is trapping him. Sutekh subjects the Doctor to mind control and returns him to the priory as another of his servants. He orders Scarman to bring a robot and Sarah into the TARDIS to travel to Mars.
On Mars, Sutekh orders Scarman to dispose of the Doctor and the robot throttles him. Scarman and the robot then find the way out of the first chamber beneath the pyramid and leave Sarah weeping over the Doctor. The Doctor wakes up, revealing that his respiratory bypass system allowed him to avoid death, and they then set off in search of Scarman.
The Eye of Horus is located at the end of a corridor beneath the pyramid. The corridor is divided in to a series of chambers and progress through the chambers is dependent upon solving logical and philosophical problems. Sutekh navigates Scarman and the robot through each problem with no deliberation but the Doctor and Sarah are slower.
Scarman and the robot reach the chamber containing the Eye of Horus. Scarman destroys the Eye before falling to the floor and decaying to dust. Arriving too late, the Doctor realises that the loss of the imprisoning force will not be felt on Earth for two minutes, that being the time that radio signals take
Speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...
to travel from the pyramid on Mars to the prison chamber in Egypt. They return to Earth. Sutekh begins his journey through the time tunnel back to earth; at the same time the Doctor removes a module from the TARDIS and attaches it to the other end of the tunnel springing a "temporal trap," immobilizing Sutekh in the timestream, and instead forcing him to a point 10,000 years in the future, ageing him to death.
As the Doctor and Sarah pack up and prepare to leave, a thermal imbalance in the time tunnel causes it to catch fire. Sarah remembers that the UNIT headquarters was built on the remains of a burnt priory. The two leave in the TARDIS as the priory is consumed in flames.
Continuity
- At the start of the story, Sarah Jane enters wearing a dress that she has just found in the wardrobe. The Doctor calls her 'Vicky', and then says that his former companion VictoriaVictoria WaterfieldVictoria Waterfield is a fictional character played by Deborah Watling in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A native of Victorian England, she was a companion of the Second Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1967 to 1968.-Character history:Victoria first...
used to wear the dress. - The Doctor claims he has lived "for something like 750 years" and agrees that this makes him middle-aged.
- Sarah Jane Smith refers to her encounter with "mummies" in an argument with Rose TylerRose TylerRose Marion Tyler is a fictional character portrayed by Billie Piper in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was created by series producer Russell T Davies...
during the episode "School ReunionSchool Reunion (Doctor Who)"School Reunion" is the third episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It first aired on 29 April 2006. The episode's narrative takes place some time after the events of "The Christmas Invasion"...
". - Sarah remarks that the puzzles are similar to those in the Exxilon City in Death to the DaleksDeath to the DaleksDeath to the Daleks is a four-part serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. First broadcast from February 23 to March 16, 1974, it comprises four 25-minute episodes. The narrative begins as the TARDIS suffers an energy drain and crash-lands on the planet Exxilon...
, although she personally never entered the City. - At the end of the episode, the Doctor alludes to having been blamed for starting the 1666 Great Fire of LondonGreat Fire of LondonThe Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
. In the Fifth DoctorFifth DoctorThe Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
episode The Visitation the fire was shown to have been sparked by an exploding hand weapon.
Production
- The story as originally written by Lewis Greifer was considered unworkable. As Greifer was unavailable to do rewrites, the scripts were completely rewritten by Robert HolmesRobert Holmes (scriptwriter)This entry is about the television scriptwriter. For other people with the same name, see Robert Holmes .Robert Colin Holmes was an English television scriptwriter, who for over twenty-five years contributed to some of the most popular programmes screened in the UK...
. The pseudonym used on transmission was Stephen Harris. - The exterior scenes were shot on the StargrovesStargrovesStargroves is a manor house and associated estate at East Woodhay in the English county of Hampshire. It best known for being the home of Mick Jagger during the 1970s and a recording venue for The Rolling Stones and various other rock bands.-History:...
estate in HampshireHampshireHampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, which was owned by Mick JaggerMick JaggerSir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
at the time. The same location would be used during the filming of Image of the FendahlImage of the FendahlImage of the Fendahl is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 29 October to 19 November 1977.-Plot:...
. - The Doctor notes that the Osirians had "dome-shaped heads, and cerebrums like spiral staircaseSpiral staircaseSpiral staircase may refer to:* A type of stairway characterized by its spiral shape* The Spiral Staircase , a 1946 American psychological thriller film* The Spiral Staircase , a 1975 British film, a remake of the 1946 film...
s". The unmasked Sutekh at the end of the serial (resembling the Set animalSeth animalThe sha is assumed to be some canid, or wild dog, inhabiting the deserts of North Africa, particularly the region adjacent to the Nile Valley in Egypt. It is the totemic animal of the god Set, for which reason it is commonly known as the Set animal, Typhonian animal, or Typhonic beast...
) does not have a domed head. - Pyramids of Mars contributes to one of the contradictions in the Doctor Who universe: the UNIT dating controversyUNIT dating controversyThe UNIT dating controversy is an ongoing debate in Doctor Who fandom, concerning exactly when the stories featuring the fictional military organisation known as United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, or more recently as the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, take place in the timeline of the...
. - Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen improvised a number of moments in this story, most notably a scene in Part Four where the Doctor and Sarah start to walk out of their hiding place and then when they see a mummy, quickly dart back into it. Baker based the scene on a Marx BrothersMarx BrothersThe Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
routine. - The new TARDISTARDISThe TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
console, which debuted in the preceding story Planet of EvilPlanet of EvilThe plot was deliberately conceived by Philip Hinchcliffe, Robert Holmes and Louis Marks as a mixture of the film Forbidden Planet and the novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In addition, Marks had been reading science magazine articles about antimatter, and decided to write a...
, does not appear again until The Invisible Enemy. Owing to the cost of setting up the TARDIS console room for the filming of only a handful of scenes, a new console set was designed for the following season. - Several scenes were deleted from the final broadcast. A model shot of the TARDIS landing in the landscape of a barren, alternative 1980 Earth was to be used in Part Two, but director Paddy Russell decided viewers would feel more impact if the first scene of the new Earth was Sarah's reaction as the TARDIS doors opened. Three scenes of effects such as doors opening and the Doctor materializing from the sarcophagusSarcophagusA sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
were removed from the final edit of Part Four because Russell felt the mixes were not good enough. These scenes were included on the DVD, along with an alternate version of the poacher being hunted down in Part Two, and a full version of the Osirian rocket explosion. - Although the name of Sutekh's race is pronounced "Osiran" throughout the serial, the scripts and publicity material spell it as "Osirian" in some places and as "Osiran" in others. Many fans use the "Osirian" spelling, as do some reference works such as the Battles in TimeDoctor Who - Battles in TimeDoctor Who – Battles in Time is a trading card game and fortnightly magazine from the partwork publishers, GE Fabbri, who acquired the license to produce Battles in Time...
collectable card game and the Virgin Missing AdventuresVirgin Missing AdventuresThe Virgin Missing Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which had been cancelled in 1989, featuring stories set between televised episodes of the programme. The novels were published from 1994 to 1997, and...
sequel novel The Sands of TimeThe Sands of Time (Doctor Who)The Sands of Time is a Virgin Missing Adventures original novel written by Justin Richards based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan...
. Another member of the Osirian race also appears in the Big Finish ProductionsBig Finish ProductionsBig Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio drama The Bride of PeladonThe Bride of PeladonThe Bride of Peladon is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Cast:*The Doctor — Peter Davison*Peri — Nicola Bryant*Erimem — Caroline Morris*Beldonia — Phyllida Law...
. - Gabriel Woolf reprised his role as Sutekh in the Faction ParadoxFaction ParadoxFaction Paradox is a fictional time travelling cult/rebel group/organized crime syndicate, originally created by the author Lawrence Miles. The Faction's belief-system as portrayed has some similarities to voodoo, and is sometimes described as such...
audio dramas Coming to Dust (2005), The Ship of a Billion Years (2006), Body Politic (2008), Words from Nine Divinities (2008), Ozymandias (2009) and The Judgment of Sutekh (2009), from Magic Bullet ProductionsMagic Bullet ProductionsMagic Bullet Productions is an independent audio-production company formed in 2000 by Alan Stevens, focusing on Doctor Who and Blake's 7 spinoff audios...
.
Cast notes
- Features a guest appearance by Michael Sheard; he was cast by director Paddy RussellPaddy RussellPatricia "Paddy" Russell is a British television director.She directed several television programmes between 1962 and 1981 and her work includes Out of the Unknown , Late Night Horror , Pere Goriot , Little Women , The Moonstone and The Omega Factor .Before becoming a director herself, during the...
without any audition, purely on the recommendation of production assistant Peter GrimwadePeter GrimwadePeter Grimwade was a British television writer and director, best known for his work on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who....
. Sheard previously featured in The ArkThe Ark (Doctor Who)The Ark is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 March to 26 March 1966...
and The Mind of EvilThe Mind of EvilThe Mind of Evil is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 30 January to 6 March 1971.-Plot:...
and would later appear in The Invisible Enemy, Castrovalva and Remembrance of the DaleksRemembrance of the DaleksRemembrance of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 October to 26 October 1988....
. - George Tovey was the father of Roberta ToveyRoberta ToveyRoberta Tovey is an English actress and singer who has appeared in many films and television programmes. One of her better-known roles was that of Susan, the granddaughter of Dr. Who in the 1960s films Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD...
, who appeared as SusanSusan ForemanSusan Foreman is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The granddaughter and original companion of the First Doctor, she was played by actress Carole Ann Ford from 1963 to 1964, in the show's first season and the first two stories of the second season...
in the films Dr. Who and the DaleksDr. Who and the DaleksDr. Who and the Daleks was the first of two Doctor Who films made in the 1960s. It was followed by Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D....
and Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 ADDaleks - Invasion Earth 2150 ADDaleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. is the second of two films based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. It was the sequel to Dr. Who and the Daleks , and starred Peter Cushing in his return to the role of the eccentric inventor and time traveller "Dr. Who". It also...
. - Gabriel WoolfGabriel WoolfGabriel Woolf is an English film and television actor.-Career:His roles include Sir Percival in the 1953 film,Knights of the Round Table and Sutekh in the 1975 Doctor Who serial Pyramids of Mars....
would go on to provide the voice of The Beast in the 2006 episodes "The Impossible PlanetThe Impossible Planet"The Impossible Planet" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is the first part of a two-part story, followed by "The Satan Pit". The TARDIS lands in a base on a planet orbiting a black hole, an allegedly impossible situation that stumps even the Doctor...
" and "The Satan PitThe Satan Pit"The Satan Pit" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is the second part of a two-part story, following "The Impossible Planet". With the TARDIS seemingly lost, Rose and the remaining humans are trapped on the base with the possessed Ood, while the planet...
". He also provided the voice of Governor Rossitor in the Big Finish ProductionsBig Finish ProductionsBig Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio plays Arrangements for WarArrangements for WarArrangements for War is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Synopsis:The Sixth Doctor and Evelyn become involved in a tricky political situation on the planet Világ....
and Thicker than Water. - Bernard ArchardBernard ArchardBernard Joseph Archard was an English actor.Born in Fulham, London, he was a tall, imposing actor with a distinctive face. He was a conscientious objector in the Second World War and worked on the land...
previously played Bragen in The Power of the DaleksThe Power of the DaleksThe Power of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 5 November to 10 December 1966. It is Patrick Troughton's first full story as the Doctor.-Plot:...
. - Michael BiltonMichael BiltonMichael Bilton was an English actor best known for his roles in the British television sitcoms To the Manor Born and Waiting for God....
previously played Teligny in The Massacre of St Bartholomew's EveThe Massacre of St Bartholomew's EveThe Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 February to 26 February 1966...
.
Outside references
- The Doctor, Sarah and Laurence Scarman hide in a priest holePriest hole"Priest hole" is the term given to hiding places for priests built into many of the principal Catholic houses of England during the period when Catholics were persecuted by law in England, from the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558....
in the priory. This is an anachronismAnachronismAn anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος — is an inconsistency in some chronological arrangement, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...
that even the Doctor comments on, since priest holes were a feature of the Elizabethan eraElizabethan eraThe Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...
and earlier, and not of Victorian architecture ("A priest hole? In a Victorian GothicGothic Revival architectureThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
follyFollyIn architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
? Nonsense!"). - The puzzle in which Sarah is imprisoned in a tube is a variation of the classic logic puzzleLogic puzzleA logic puzzle is a puzzle deriving from the mathematics field of deduction.-History:The logic puzzle was first produced by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who is better known under his pen name Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
, Knights and KnavesKnights and knavesKnights and Knaves is a type of logic puzzle devised by Raymond Smullyan.On a fictional island, all inhabitants are either knights, who always tell the truth, or knaves, who always lie. The puzzles involve a visitor to the island who meets small groups of inhabitants...
.
In print
A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance DicksTerrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks is an English writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular children's books during the 1970s and 80s.- Early career :...
, was published by Target Books
Target Books
Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of...
in December 1976. The novelisation contains a substantial prologue giving the history of Sutekh and the Osirians and features an epilogue in which a future Sarah researches the destruction of the Priory and how it was explained. An unabridged reading of the novelisation by actor Tom Baker was released on CD in August 2008 by BBC Audiobooks.
VHS and DVD releases
- The story first came out on VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and BetamaxBetamaxBetamax was a consumer-level analog videocassette magnetic tape recording format developed by Sony, released on May 10, 1975. The cassettes contain -wide videotape in a design similar to the earlier, professional wide, U-matic format...
in an omnibus format in February 1985. It was subsequently released in episodic format in February 1994. - It was released on DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in the United Kingdom on 1 March 2004. - The story will be released on 31 October 2011 as an extra on The Sarah Jane AdventuresThe Sarah Jane AdventuresThe Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen...
Series 4 DVD and Blu-Ray boxset as a tribute to Elisabeth Sladen who had died earlier in the year.
External links
ReviewsTarget novelisation