The thing about doing reviews is that anything can inspire any review that you won't to do take for example this review right here. As the thing that inspired it was oddly enough the latest episode of Doctor Who because of the fact that it features the same villain as in this episode and it's due to that reason that this review will most likely end up being a spoiler filled review just because of the fact that it was hard to come up with an intro for this review without mentioning or even perhaps hinting at the spoiler from the latest episode and so then join me as I give you my SPOILER FILLED review of the episode that sees The Doctor battle some Mummies with the episode in question being called simply just "Pyramids Of Mars" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is The Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith find themselves in England 1911 where they have to team up with a professor of archaeology to stop an egyptian god of death from escaping his prison and trying to take over the world. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad with the plot of this episode being a true highlight of just how good the plot of the episodes during the fourth doctors era really were as the plot of this episode does have moments of being really pure brilliant which given that this episode was co-written by Robert Holmes isn't something that all that surprising with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Tom Baker as The Doctor , Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith and Michael Sheard as Laurence Scarman. Also starring in this episode is Dad's Army 1971 film star Bernard Archard as Marcus Scarman , Peter Copley as Dr. Warlock , Michael Bilton as Collins , George Tovey as Ernie Clements , Peter Mayock as Namin , Raiders Of The Lost Ark star Vic Tablian as Ahmed and Gabriel Woolf as Sutekh.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With all of this episodes cast members turning in some really good performances with both Tom and Elisabeth really nailing there characters down perfectly and turning in some really good performances in this episode because of it with the also really being same thing also being true for alot of this episodes cast members as alot of them turning in some really good performances with the true standout performer in this episode really being none other then Elisabeth Sladen who is just phenomenal to watch in this episode with the acting in this episode really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode is just so good that all this episodes cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performances will come out of them naturally which is something that really does raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this episode.
This episode really does a good job of showing of just how great of a companion that Sarah Jane Smith really was. As in this episode we get to see her act n her own for a large portion of the episode and heck she even gets to wield a gun and shoot it at something that the villain of this episode wants something which none of the shows companions both before and sense have done with the character even showing alot of spunk and alot of emotion both of which are things that go along way to make her a well rounded character and a companion that is the true definition of the word legendary as those are things that modern Doctor Who companions are afraid to do as they lean to far one way or the other with alot of them either crying at every single chance that they get or just not showing emotion in scenes where there character would actually show emotion for one reason or another and yet in this episode we get to see exactly why Sarah Jane Smith was chosen as The Doctor's companion and why she became The Doctor's true best friend as she willingly helps him out of situations alot of the time even when he doesn't want her to do because of the fact that's what a best friend and in this case a good character would infact do.
SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!
This is of course the episode that introduces us to the villain Sutekh who until recently had only made just the one appearance in Doctor Who. With the character being really well well handled in this episode as he does come across against someone who is a genuine threat to The Doctor something which might be carried over to next weeks episode of the show with this episode doing a good job of building up some mystery behind this villain which does make you wonder how this villain got the way that he got but at the same time tho despite this episode making Sutekh a threatening villain what the episode doesn't do is make him an interesting villain as the episode doesn't really give him that much of an interesting plan outside of the stereotypical villain plan of wanting to take over the world and that's really it which isn't something that makes him a good villain as all it does is make blend in with all of the other Doctor Who villains instead of stand out and as a result of that id the fact that this villain does come across as being a rather forgettable villain.
One of the things that this episode gets wrong is the fact that alot of the episode is just really goofy even down to the already cheesy looking effects. Which come across as being even more goofy looking then what they already would have been in the first place as you can just tell that the team didn't have the budget that they really needed to make this episode as could as it could have been as alot of the time you can straight up tell where the actors were told to stop and look out of the effect and it is something that really does take away from the episode as does the fact that the episode really doesn't take advantage of it's time period as outside of the mansion we don't really get see anything from the early nineteenth century and as a result of that is the fact that this episode really could have taken place in any time period and nothing about the plot of the episode would need to be changed as it would all look so similar in the first place and while yes this show was always made cheaply so the effects would always look goofy here there's just something about the effects that make them look even more goofy then what they already would have done in the first place.
The mummies in this episode for the time and budget that this show usually has do look as good as they could have done. However at the same time tho there's a cheesiness about them and how they look that make them look like they fit in with the world of classic Doctor Who and that is something that does make them hard to pull off in modern Doctor Who where they most likely would be done with CGI as the practical designs for the characters do make them look cheesy as you can see on the arms where the costume ends which is something that does take you out of the episode but at the same time tho there's just something about there design that also makes them look creepy as you have no idea what there thinking and that is something that does add a certain something to the episode that makes them look believable and make them look real with this being helped by the fact that the characters do make for some really good henchmen as the characters just do whatever there told to do and have great strength to them so much so that it could be argued makes them alot more of a threat then Sutekh himself who just sits around and does nothing for large portions of the episode.
Now then while I cannot for the absolutely life of me remember this episodes running time even was I do know that for a fact that this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty minuets. With this one episode being four episodes which to this episodes credit is the absolutely perfect amount of episodes for it to last as the episode really doesn't have that much there interms of of plot to really warrant more episodes in order to it justice and it could even be argued that by giving it four episodes was already stretching the storyline a bit thin as the plot was starting to feel a little bit dragged out by the time that episodes rolled around and as a result of that is the fact that while yes this episodes current episode count is the perfect amount of episodes for it to last it also wouldn't have harmed the episode if they cut out at least the last episode just to make the plot of the episode flow alot more better then what it already does in the final cur of the episode but I will admi that this episodes really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episodes was in all honesty not that bad. However that's also the problem as alot of this episodes action wasn't all that good either which is understandable as this show never really got given a big budget to do anything all that spectacular from an action point of view and while some of this episodes action does look good with there being some really great model explosions for when a house a being blown up halfway through the story it is still something that looks really cheaply made with this not really being helped by the fact that the explosions adds really does add nothing to the overall plot of the episode and is there just for the effect but the episodes best action happens near the the third act where Sarah Jane shoots at something that Sutekh would really need to help to complete his goal as while yes it is a rather simple thing to do it is something that does add to the story and it really does make Sarah Jane Smith herself look like a really competent companion in the longer run of things in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!
Overall this episode is a solid episode and a really solid introduction episode to a character who may or may not be all that well handled in next weeks series finale with this episode laying the groundwork for what had the potential to become one of the more well known villains in Doctor Who history in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good ad as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 .5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review ell then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk , the official Doctor Who fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode and are really of course up and on Google Images are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.