Pyramids of Mars
In 1910, Egyptologist Marcus Scarman makes his greatest find ever – a crypt said to be the tomb of the god Sutekh. It is also Scarman’s last find. His life as he has known it ends and his body becomes an obedient servant to the still very-much-alive Egyptian god Sutekh, in fact an alien consciousness trapped on Earth.
The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Sarah to Britain that same year, after a close call in the time vortex and the appearance of Sutekh’s face in the console room – a psychic breach of the time machine’s most important defenses. The Doctor follows the source of the interference to Scarman’s mansion, where strange things are afoot – including the shadowy appearance of walking mummies. With Scarman’s brother Lawrence in tow, the Doctor and Sarah stumble upon the force behind the unusual happenings: Sutekh is planning a strike, from Earth, against a mechanism on the surface of Mars which hold him captive on Earth. Even the primitive state of rocketry isn’t holding Sutekh’s effort back: he’s lending Scarman and his robot mummies advanced technology. Sutekh hopes to dominate the Earth with his immense willpower and then take revenge upon his fellow Osirans on Mars – even if it means wiping out the human race to avenge his centuries of captivity.
written by Lewis Griefer (a.k.a. Robert Holmes)
directed by Paddy Russell
music by Dudley SimpsonGuest Cast: Bernard Archard (Professor Macrus Scarman), Vik Tabian (Ahmed), Peter Mayock (Namin), Michael Bilton (Collins), Peter Copley (Dr. Warlock), Michael Sheard (Laurence Scarman), George Tovey (Ernie Clements), Gabriel Woolf (Sutekh / voice of Horus), Nick Burnell, Melvyn Bedford, Kevin Selway (Mummies)
Broadcast from October 25 through November 15, 1975
LogBook entry & review by Earl Green
The Doctor and Sarah arrive in modern-day England, where they are almost immediately stalked by a shark-like creature that can take to land for limited times. The Doctor recognizes it as a Pescaton – a being from a world whose ecosystem is doomed, probably searching for a new world rich in salt water for the rest of its kind to colonize. The fact that Earth is already quite inhabited doesn’t seem to faze the Pescaton invader at all. The Doctor patiently waits for the creature to exhaust itself after a few rampages through London, and it quickly dies – but not before summoning the rest of its kind. The entire Pescaton race is coming to Earth, including their sinister leader Zor, who the Doctor has met before – and to whose psychic powers even the Time Lord is not immune.
The Brigadier invites the Doctor to the grand opening of the Parakon Corporation’s space-themed amusement park, Space World. The Doctor, expecting to see fabricated exhibits and faked “creatures” on display, is astonished to see what seem to be actual alien life forms from other worlds – clearly, the Parakon Corporation’s reach extends far beyond the Earth. But Lethbridge-Stewart’s interest is fixed upon an unsolved murder on Space World’s grounds. Chairman Freeth and Vice Chairman Tragan, the operators of Space World, are doing their best to cover up the death, even if it means eliminating an employee who knows what really happened. When Sarah Jane Smith – always in search of a story – stows away aboard Tragan’s spacecraft, the Doctor, the Brigadier, and Sarah’s rookie photographer Jeremy embark on a quest to save her – a quest that will lead to a world whose fate hangs in the balance…and whose fortune is steeped in the blood of innocent bystanders.
The Doctor is summoned to Italy by the Brigadier, whose Uncle Mario has requested help in the face of increasing threats from a New York land baron with mob ties. Apparently, the intimidation tactics are growing in their scope, including what seem to be apparitions of the dead and visions of horrible, unearthly creatures. The Doctor is very worried to discover that something supernatural is gaining a foothold at Uncle Mario’s castle – something which could, if it breaks through, overrun and destroy life as 20th century humanity knows it. With Sarah Jane Smith tagging along, the Doctor finds away to travel back through the time rift from which these visions are occurring, and finds that the apparitions are the result of one insane alchemist’s attempt to touch “the other side.” The Doctor must put these experiments to a halt, even though his presence merely confirms his adversary’s belief that he is succeeding.
Years after her travels in the TARDIS ended, Sarah Jane Smith has resumed her job as an investigative journalist, though her stint with TV network Planet 3 ended in disgrace after one of her exposes was proven to be based on false evidence. Fired by her network, Sarah’s troubles didn’t end there, as her identity, bank account and her employability were systematically erased. With the help of Natalie, her former Planet 3 producer, Sarah is still on the trail of a big story, but now she’s trying to find out who tainted her last big story – and her paranoia is growing. The trail leads to a bank where Sarah assumes a new identity and takes a job – but her cover is blown by the police when the bank is robbed. Sarah receives a message from her friend Ellie, an environmental activist, to meet her the next day at an isolated village, and Ellie’s friend Josh insists on accompanying Sarah, especially after she goes to meet with the bank manager again and finds him dead – with a note on his desk also referring to the village where Sarah is supposed to meet Ellie. Sarah and Josh go to retrieve her car, which she’s taken to keeping hidden in a garage away from her home for security reasons, only to see a man break into it and blow it up. They decide at this point that public transport might be a safer way to get there, and when they do arrive, they find Ellie’s environmentalist group preparing to protest a French biochemical company’s gradual plan to take over the entire village. Only some of Ellie’s environmentalist colleagues have gone missing, and the corpses have begun piling up near the village’s legendary healing well…