Doctor Who: Tales Of The TARDIS: Pyramids Of Mars SPOILER FILLED Review

Tales of The TARDIS a show that many Doctor Who fans can't see because of the fact that it wasn't payed for by Disney has now finally come back with a new episode. With this episode only being released because of the fact that the villain in this episode is also the villain in the series finale of Doctor Who series 14 and so then join me as I review the episode that came out just a few short days after a review of Pyramids Of Mars was very recently reviewed by me with the episode in question being called simply just "Pyramids Of Mars" enjoy.

The plot of this up is when The Doctor and Ruby meet up in the remembered TARDIS The Doctor starts to tell her about the time that he previously faced of against Sutekh. Now then interms if 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 episodes plot being very well done with the same thing not really being true for The Doctor and Ruby scenes which does make sense as those scenes are only bookends for the main story but at the same time given that this episode is featuring the same villain that's going to be featured in the series finale alot more effort should have gone into crafting a decent plot for The Doctor and Ruby scenes with the plot of the main episode being a really good plot which does make sense given that this episodes co-writer was Robert Holmes with the plot of the 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 Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor , Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday and Tom Baker as The Doctor. Also starring in this episode is Bernard Archard as Marcus Scarman , Michael Sheard as Laurence 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 thew 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. Which really isn't all that surprising as both Millie and Ncuti have both turned in some really good performances in both of there debut years on the show with there acting more often that not being the true highlight of alot of the shows bad episodes and it's also the same thing alot of the cast for the main story as well with the true standout in that part of the episode being Tom Baker who is just simply phenomenal in this episode and while the rest of the cast in the episode as aa whole do turn in some good performances there not going to top just how good Tom , Ncuti and Millie are in this episode as all three of them really do bring there A game for this episode with the acting for 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 simply just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does raise the overall quality of the acting that's really in this episode.

What wasn't to be expected from this episode was the fact that use some updated effects and remove alot of the episode original very cheesy looking effects. With the newer effects looking alot better then the cheesy looking effects from the original episode but at the same time tho there's a charm to those classic effects as well that is very sadly missing from the newer effects as the new effects look a little bit to polished and a a little bit to good when the effects in classic Doctor Who were never all that good to begin with and because of that they do have a certain charm to them when there done really well and while yes the effects in the new era of Doctor Who does look and Doctor Who should always have some good effects when your replacing effects in an episode of film and updating then you should at least make an attempt to make the newer effects look like they were made back when the original production was being made as that would help those new effects blend in more where as the effects in this episode despite them looking good and being a vast improvement over the effects in the original episode don't blend in they stand out.

SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!

This show is pretty much Doctor Who's answer to Mystery Science Theater 3000 in that both shows feature segments with there own casts where as Mystery Science Theater 3000 will feature the main cast making jokes of a full movie this show just features a full length episode of the show. With this show and this episode in particular doing something else that Mystery Science Theater 3000 does less often and that's feature edits to whatever it is that's being spotlighted in that weeks particular episode and while the edits don't effect the overall plot of the episode they are noticeable and more often just come across as feeling weird as unlike Mystery Science Theater 3000 which replaces those scenes with there own host segments with this show they don't do that and as a result of that is the fact that there's no need to remove those scenes in the first place as this show doesn't really replace them with anything thus making the edits made to this episode comes across as being rather pointless and are there just for the sake of being there and that's really it.

One of the major issues in this episode is the fact that even tho the episode does feature the fifteenth doctor and Ruby Sunday together again. It doesn't take the time to explain how there together again as in the last episode of Doctor Who they were quite clearly miles apart from each other and not only that the episode doesn't take the time to set up something that could be payed of in the next episode of Doctor Who which granted they didn't have to do but when your rebroadcasting the debut episode of a villain that you've just reintroduced into the show and your featuring newly filmed scenes with The Doctor and Ruby Sunday then it's implied that your going to be setting up something in this episode that could then be payed of in the next episode of Doctor Who and yet this episode doesn't do that as all it does is establish that Sutekh is now a bigger threat then what he was in this episode which really isn't needed as we could have gotten all of that just from the ending of The Legend Of Ruby Sunday and the start of the next episode it's not something that needs to established in this episode but what is needed in this episode is to establish how The Doctor and Ruby are now suddenly in the memory TARDIS and aren't miles away like they were at the end of the previous episode of Doctor Who.

As a villain Sutekh himself isn't really that threatening of a villain as while yes he does have a rather creepy look about him. He doesn't really have that much of a plan as while yes we do find out that he wants to destroy the world we don't find out why and we don't don't find out what he gets out of it with this not really being helped by the fact that the character spends alot of time just sitting down and not really doing nothing with alot of his plans being done by hos servant Laurence Scarman who is arguably a better villain as the makers of the episode at least went to the effort to make him alot more interesting and just as creepy looking as Sutekh was and yet for some reason despite him being the better of the two characters it's Sutekh who is the main villain of the episode and while yes it is easy to see why people would be scared of this villain as he does look like a creepy just because the villain looks creepy doesn't make him an interesting villain and because of that is that it's not that hard to see why this villain was largely forgotten about for the overall vast majority of the Doctor Who fandom as he just isn't all that memorable of a villain.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and sixteen minuets and twenty seconds. Which is a bit on the short side for this show as an episode of this show is typically around the one hour and thirty minuets mark and yet for some strange reason this episode was fifteen whole minuets shorter when the episode really does have more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that large amount of running time as without the scenes on Ncuti and Millie the original episode ran for around one hour and thirty minuets and yet because of the fact that they made pointless edits for no reason we now have an episode that's oddly shorter then the original episode that's being spotlighted and because of that is the fact that the episode really does feel incomplete where as the original episode despite still being short in it's own right still feels really alot more complete then what this episode does but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this an action show that means 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 episode was in all honesty not that bad. Which for classic Doctor Who isn't that bad as they typically didn't do that much action scenes when it came to the classic era of Doctor Who and as a result of that is that when they do have some action in any given episode they usually went as all out as there small budget would allow and that is the case here with the episode making use of model filming for alot of the episodes action with the action in the episode being alot better then what it really had any right to be with this being because of the fact that the action in this episode felt earned and served a purpose of some kind in the overall plot of the episode and wasn't just there just so they could have an action scene in this very in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!

Overall as a lead in to the series finale this episode really doesn't do all that much and kind of feels unimportant because of it but at the same time it;s not that hard to see why this episode could serve as a great double bill with The Legend Of Sunday as it really very easily could have set up things to be payed of in the series finale and yet it just doesn't which is something that really does let down the episode as a whole in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and 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 6.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all, pf the images that I personally used in this very review well 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 the official Doctor Who fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com 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.

Doctor Who: Pyramids Of Mars SPOILER FILLED Review

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.