Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8225 in VHS
• Released on: 2000-01-24
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Colour, Mono, PAL, Full Screen
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Synopsis
The future of the cosmos is at stake as the Doctor confronts his most fearsome adversary yet when he returns to Earth and arrives at an old priory in the year 1911.

Customer Reviews

style over substance.
A psycho nutcase wants to destroy everyone because he's basically insaneand evil.
He has a bunch of robots who chase people around the woodsand an old dark house and generally strangle them.
Then after ten minutes of padding where the Doctor and Sarah solve a bunchof lame puzzles to open the same BBC carboard door three times and wanderthrough the same bit of corridor, there's a rushed, contrived ending.That's the substance!
But the style is taken from ancient Egypt and it's very cool. The robotslook like Egyptian Mummies, the insane evil nutcase has the head of aJackyl and the name of the Egyptian God of Darkness, Seth or Setekh, (herehe's Sutekh!!)and the music, direction and settings look nice and gothic.Pointless and shallow, but entertaining! The following season the exactsame plot is repeated but set on a futuristic mining ship on a sandplanet, this time the evil nutcase loves robots and hates humans and is amad human scientist who sort of cross-dresses as a robot, while the robotsare green art-deco things, again they look cool but it's a lot ofstranglings until the Doctor tricks one into throttling the evil psycho.
Earthshock was also similar in the 80s, but probably had more genuinelasting power because of the tragic ending, among other things! Basically,if this was an 80s story, people would never forgive it, but it was the70s where style over substance was seen as a masterpiece. Dr.Who shorthand: Tom Baker is in it, it's a classic. Tom Baker is not in it, it'sjust mutton dressed up as lamb. Oh, Paddy Russell directs this with greatflair and skill! You go girl!

A Definite Classic
Forget the effects, and concentrate on the contents. Drawing its influences from sci-fi, Hammer horror, HP Lovecraft, and a hint of the adventure serials that would inspire Indiana Jones, this Baker era classic rates as one of the best Dr Who stories. The influence of this story can be seen in current sci-fi like Star Gate and even X-files, with the interpretation of Eygptian mythology as alien science. An essential buy for all sci-fi and Dr Who fans.

Tom Baker classic.
Pyramids of Mars is still one of the best Doctor Who adventures (unsurprising since it comes from the era produced by Phil Hinchcliffe). Tom Baker is well established as the Doctor, Michael Sheard makes a very sympathetic Laurence Scarman and Bernard Archard cements his reputation as Britain's most chilling actor with his performance as the walking corpse, Marcus Scarman. The mummies are frightening because the Doctor and the other good characters are trapped within an area surrounded by a kind of force field.