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1[[WMG:[[center:[-''[[Series/DoctorWho Doctor Who]]'' [[Recap/DoctorWho recap index]]\
2'''Fourth Doctor Era'''\
3'''Season 13:''' [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons 1]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E2PlanetOfEvil 2]] | '''3''' | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E4TheAndroidInvasion 4]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius 5]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E6TheSeedsOfDoom 6]]\
4'''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E1Robot <<< Season 12]]''' | '''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E1TheMasqueOfMandragora Season 14 >>>]]''']]-]]]
5!Pyramids of Mars
6[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sutek_1014.jpg]]
7[[caption-width-right:350:"[[Main/CardCarryingVillain Evil...? Your evil is my good.]] [[OmnicidalManiac I am the Sutekh the Destroyer. Where I tread, I leave nothing but dust and darkness.]] '''I find that good!'''"]]
8->Written by Stephen Harris[[note]][[AlanSmithee Pseudonym]] for Lewis Greifer and Creator/RobertHolmes[[/note]]\
9Directed by Paddy Russell\
10'''Production code:''' 4G\
11'''Air dates:''' 25 October - 15 November 1975\
12'''Number of episodes:''' 4
13
14->''"Deactivating a generator loop without the correct key is like repairing a watch with a hammer and chisel. One false move and you'll never know the time again.''"
15-->-- '''The Doctor'''
16
17JustForFun/{{The one w|ith}}here the Red Hood steams a man to death, [[ItMakesSenseInContext and Sarah Jane almost]] [[ButterflyOfDoom dooms 1980 (or sometime in the 1970's, depending on]] [[ContinuitySnarl who's keeping count]]) [[ItMakesSenseInContext to hellfire.]]
18----
19
20The Doctor is having a bit of a midlife crisis, which isn't helped much when Sarah decides to raid the TARDIS wardrobe and show up in one of previous companion Victoria's old dresses. She also suddenly sees a demonic goat head floating around in the TARDIS. [[ItMakesSenseInContext ...What?]]
21
22As the TARDIS lands in 1911 England, the Doctor gets involved in a plot that wouldn't have been too out of place 20 years later on ''Series/StargateSG1''.
23
24Egyptologist Marcus Scarman has been possessed by Sutekh, last survivor of the ancient Osiran race who appeared to the Ancient Egyptians as gods. Sutekh is trapped in an Egyptian pyramid, his prison maintained by a signal from another pyramid on Mars. Sutekh has Scarman build service robots, (badly) disguised as Egyptian mummies, then with their help he builds a rocket to destroy the Martian pyramid.
25
26Sarah Jane is all ready to leave and vworp back to 1980, but the Doctor shows her the view of 1980 Earth (a desolate wasteland) and explains that this is one historical event they ''are'' going to have to meddle in, for a change.
27
28The Doctor and Sarah Jane destroy the rocket, but the Doctor is soon forced to admit that Sutekh literally has god-like powers when he falls under Sutekh's control himself. After a KerbStompBattle in Sutekh's favour and some thorough MindRape, the Doctor is made to transport Scarman to Mars in the TARDIS to disconnect the signal trapping Sutekh.
29
30That done, Sutekh's hold on the Doctor is released. The Doctor realises there will be a delay before it has an effect on Earth, and makes it back in the TARDIS just in time to use the TARDIS' time controls to push the exit to Sutekh's time/space tunnel far into the future. Sutekh dies of old age before he ever reaches it. A malfunction starts a fire, and the Doctor and Sarah slip away as the house burns down, as it did in history as they know it.
31----
32!!Tropes:
33* AbsoluteXenophobe: Sutekh the Destroyer was a PhysicalGod and SufficientlyAdvancedAlien with these tendencies. To preclude the possibility that something that could challenge him ''might evolve'', he wanted to erase all life in the universe, down to viruses and bacteria. He started out by trying to exterminate his own race, the survivors of whom ganged up on him and [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoned him]] on Earth. The conflict itself was observed by the Egyptians and became part of their mythology.
34* AdamWesting: Gabriel Woolf reprises his role as Sutekh in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1xnU2BNryo&feature=kp mockumentary]] on the DVD release titled ''[[{{Pun}} Oh, Mummy]]''[[invoked]]. Hordes of well-deserved NightmareRetardant ensues; e.g. Sutekh shows us he's just a nice guy who likes raising rabbits.
35-->"''This'' is the real plaything of Sutekh. His name is Neil. ''Neil!'' [[{{Pun}} Neil before the might of Sutekh!]]"
36* AllThereInTheManual: The novelisation explains that Namin was the leader of an ancient Egyptian cult tasked with guarding Sutekh's prison. They arrived too late to stop Scarman, and Sutekh was able to tempt Namin by claiming the legends of what would happen if Sutekh was released were lies, and [[WeCanRuleTogether offering great power if Namin served him]].
37* AlternateHistory: Sarah Jane asks why they don't just leave to avoid getting killed, since they know Sutekh didn't destroy Earth in 1911 since she is from 1980 Earth. The Doctor explains that now that they are involved in events, alternate histories are inevitable, and her Earth may never exist if they don't stop him. He even takes her to her "present" and shows her a blasted wasteland that will result if they don't go back and fix things.
38* AncientAstronauts: The Osirans, who inspired Ancient Egyptian mythology.
39* AncientEvil: Sutekh, Last of the Osirans. At the time, the Doctor describes him as the worst threat he has ever faced, the greatest time of peril in the history of the Earth, and given his awakening would have rendered the planet a barren wasteland before he spread across the universe to kill everything, his concern was very much justified.
40* AndIMustScream: When the Doctor rigs the time-space tunnel that Sutekh used to get his lackeys and materials to Earth, Sutekh tries to bargain, only for the Doctor to extend the length of the tunnel so far that Sutekh never reaches the end and subsequently dies of old age while inside it.
41* ApathyKilledTheCat: {{Lampshaded}}. Sarah Jane asks the Doctor why they need to save the future when they've already been in 1980 and it didn't need saving. The Doctor answers the question by taking the TARDIS to 1980 and showing her that the Earth has been destroyed. Only if they set things right back in 1911 can the "real" 1980 be restored.
42* ApocalypseHow: If Sutekh gets loose, he'll cause a ApocalypseHow/Class6 to Earth. The Doctor shows Sarah the result a BadFuture.
43-->'''The Doctor:''' A desolate planet [[StarKilling circling a dead sun]].
44* BadassBoast: One from the Doctor:
45-->"I am a Time Lord. I am not a human being. I walk in eternity."
46* BadFuture: Sarah Jane asks the Doctor if they can simply leave and return to 1980 without fighting Sutekh, since if she's from a future that wasn't destroyed, then Sutekh must have failed, after all. The Doctor complies and takes her to 1980. He shows her the desolate lifeless wasteland orbiting a dead sun that the Earth will become if they don't stop Sutekh from freeing himself. An {{homage}} to this scene was planned for [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E3TheUnquietDead "The Unquiet Dead"]], surviving several early drafts before it became clear that it wouldn't flow.
47* BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad: How Sutekh sees things.
48-->'''The Doctor:''' But you use your powers for evil!\
49'''Sutekh:''' Evil? Your evil is my good. I am Sutekh the Destroyer. Where I tread, I leave nothing but dust and darkness... I find that good!
50* BewareTheSillyOnes: The mummy robots do look pretty silly, with their slow gait and their apparent lack of intelligence. Then they go and crush the poacher's head.
51* BigBad: Sutekh the Destroyer.
52* BigNo: Sutekh lets one of these rip before his death.
53* BizarreAlienBiology: The Gallifreyan respiratory bypass system makes its first appearance here.
54* BlackComedy: Sarah Jane on the Doctor's mummy costume: "It must have been a nasty accident!" Also, the Doctor: "I shall mingle with the mummies, but I shan't linger."
55* BreakTheBadass: The Doctor is clearly absolutely terrified of Sutekh. Overlaps with TheWorfEffect since, despite being a powerful psychic, Sutekh is able to MindRape him into worshipping him with willpower alone.
56* BrickJoke: Sarah Jane tells the Doctor if he's unhappy at UNIT he can always just resign. The Tenth Doctor era reveals he never did, so he's still on UNIT's payroll.
57* BuildLikeAnEgyptian: The clue's in the title.
58* CainAndAbel:
59** Lawrence is killed by his possessed brother Marcus when trying to break the control. Sutekh associates the connection with Horus being brother of Sutekh. (He is known as Horus' EvilUncle, although apparently the youngest brother of Sutekh was an aspect of Horus.)
60* CallBack: Sarah Jane remarks on the similarity of the successive puzzle rooms to the ones encountered in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E3DeathToTheDaleks the city of the Exxilons]].
61** The Doctor absent-mindedly calls Sarah Jane "Vicky" when she enters the Control Room wearing one of Victoria's old dresses.
62* CantArgueWithElves: The Doctor, in a particularly broody mood at the beginning, mentions he's a Time Lord. Sarah-Jane, who isn't having any of it, just responds "I ''know'' you're a Time Lord" like she's heard this a thousand times before.
63* CardCarryingVillain: "Your evil is my good. I am the Sutekh the Destroyer. Where I tread I leave nothing but dust and darkness. I find that good."
64* ChangedMyJumper[=/=]ContrivedCoincidence: Sarah just happens to change into Victoria's dress before walking around in 1911.
65* TheCharmer: The Doctor manipulates Lawrence Scarman into helping him out just by smiling and touching him on the arm, despite having spent all of the preceding conversation constantly insulting him.
66* ChromosomeCasting: Sarah is the only female character in the story.
67* ColdBloodedTorture[=/=]AgonyBeam: Done to the Doctor, courtesy of Sutekh.
68* ColdHam: Sutekh manages to out-ham Creator/TomBaker without ever raising his voice above a malevolent whisper.
69* ContainTheKaboom: Sutekh does this with his mind when the Doctor and Sarah try to blow up his missile.
70* CreepyMonotone: Sutekh's servant at the end of Episode 1.
71-->'''Servant''': Die. I bring Sutekh's gift of death to all human life.
72* CryIntoChest: When the Doctor is apparently killed, Sarah sobs into his chest, causing the NotQuiteDead Doctor to wake up and complain that she's "soaking his shirt".
73* DeusExMachina: The story addresses the seemingly inescapable problem of the Doctor being commandeered and fatally strangled by Sutekh by having him suddenly have a "respiratory bypass system" that allows him to go for an abnormally long time without breathing.
74* DevilComplex: [[OmnicidalManiac Sutekh the Destroyer]], already [[AncientAstronauts the in-universe inspiration]] for [[Myth/EgyptianMythology the Egyptian]] GodOfEvil, states {{Satan}} as one of his identities. Given [[CardCarryingVillain his answer to]] [[WhatIsEvil being called evil]], he's probably unironic about it.
75* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: The Doctor (severely ticked and horrified by Sutekh's hatred for all life) thoroughly and formally curses Sutekh 'in the name of all nature.' This goes over [[AgonyBeam about as well as you would expect]]. Fortunately, Sutekh still needs the Doctor.
76* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[PhysicalGod Sutekh]] is aged to death after the Doctor traps him in a time corridor.
77* DiegeticSwitch: Even after Namin stops playing the organ, the music continues.
78* DoesntLikeGuns: The Doctor is offered a rifle, but refuses, stating that he never carries firearms.
79* DoomedByCanon: A subtle one: Laurence Scarman has invented the radio telescope a few decades early. Seeing as no one knows about this, of course he has to die, so the radio telescope can be invented at the right time.
80* DressingAsTheEnemy: The Doctor strips the bandages and outer casing from a Mummy Robot and dons them in order to sneak explosives into the Osiran ship.
81* DyingAsYourself: Marcus at least gets to do this; the moment he finishes serving his purpose as Sutekh's puppet, Sutekh removes him from his control, allowing him to briefly feel the relief of freedom before he immediately crumbles to dust.
82* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The Doctor tells Sarah that unless they stop Sutekh, this is what will happen, showing her an apocalyptic future as proof.
83* EverybodyDiesEnding: Only the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith survive among the characters with lines. There are a couple of non-speaking servants with Marcus when he enters the tomb at the start who might have got away alive, though not in the novelisation where Namin's cult has them killed.
84* EvilCannotComprehendGood: If Sutekh's last stab at bargaining with the Doctor is any indication -- he offers to spare the planet Earth (''just'' Earth) and give it to him as "a plaything".
85* FatalFlaw: Poor Laurence Scarman is just incapable of accepting that his brother is dead.
86* GoodIsDumb: The only reason Sutekh is still alive in 1911 is because Horus thought killing [[OmnicidalManiac him]] would make him [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim just as horrible as Sutekh]], a serious false equivalence.
87* GoodIsNotNice:
88** A subtle example. Although Horus imprisoned Sutekh rather than kill him for fear becoming [[HeWhoFightsMonsters just as bad as him]], his [[MechaMooks Mecha-Mook]] mummies guarding the Martian pyramid are programmed to kill intruders if they guess the riddle incorrectly. However, considering [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt what's at stake]] if [[OmnicidalManiac Sutekh]] gets free, one could argue Horus was justified.
89** The Doctor is so concerned with the threat Sutekh possesses that he throws niceties out the window, bluntly telling Laurence Scarman that his brother is dead and not even offering any comforting words. He's so cross at him for screwing up his plan to jam Sutekh's signal that he tells him that he doesn't deserve to be alright. Sarah Jane even calls him out on his callous attitude following his death, to which the Doctor responds that the deaths in this story will be the first of many if they fail.
90* HairTriggerExplosive: The Doctor and Sarah Jane hatch a plan to blow up Sutekh's [[ItMakesSenseInContext rocket-pyramid]]. They come upon a store of blasting gelignite ('''not''' a variant of dynamite [[note]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelignite The other Wiki]] says it's actually a very safe explosive. Three Doctors [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E1Battlefield later]] Ace, who really should know better, repeats the mistake.[[/note]]) in Ernie's stores, leading to one of the best Doctor/Companion exchanges in the show's history:
91--> ''Sarah Jane finds the nitro, and [[ExplosiveStupidity throws it]] to the Doctor''
92--> '''Doctor''': [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Sweaty. Gelignite. Is. Highly Unstable.]][[note]]Gelignite. Doesn't. Sweat. Either.[[/note]] One good sneeze could set it off... ''(he puts it down)'' Did you find any fuses?
93--> '''Sarah Jane''': No. Perhaps he sneezed.
94--> ''The Doctor gives her the DeathGlare to end all Death Glares.''
95* HollywoodMidLifeCrisis: The first episode starts with the Doctor thinking about giving up his job as the Brigadier's scientific advisor, reminiscing about his younger companions, and griping about how he's reached the big 750. Sarah promptly lampshades this trope.
96* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Laurence Scarman tries to do this for Marcus when he shows up at his house. [[AvertedTrope It doesn't work]], and [[TearJerker he ends up paying the ultimate price for it]][[invoked]].
97** On the commentary, Creator/MichaelSheard remembered that Bernard Archard (Marcus) asked for a second take of that scene. There's [[HopeSpot the faintest glimmer]] that he might break through Sutekh's possession, and Archard didn't think he "got it" on the first take. Remember that retakes are almost unheard-of in Classic ''Who''--this should give you some idea of just how powerful the scene was.
98* ImprobableAimingSkills: Creator/ElisabethSladen thought so, anyway. She wasn't wild about the scene with Sarah shooting the explosives because she didn't think it had ever been established that Sarah had such abilities.
99* InvisibleMeansUndodgeable: Sutekh's magic.
100* KillTheGod: The Doctor kills Sutekh the Destroyer, last of the Godlike Osirans who inspired the Egyptian Gods.
101* [[KneelBeforeZod Kneel Before Sutekh]]: Repeat after me: KNEEL! KNEEL BEFORE THE MIGHT OF SUTEKH!
102* KnightOfCerebus: Sutekh is bad enough to make the Fourth Doctor scared. When the man who was flippant and jokey in the face of Daleks, Cybermen and other horrors [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness is clearly terrified]], then you know this is no idle threat.
103* KnightsAndKnaves: This is one of several puzzles the Doctor had to solve to enter the titular structure. This incident is an example of solution #2, asking the one guard about what the other guard would have said. Why an ancient Martian pyramid imprisoning a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien was protected only by logic puzzles is unknown. The Doctor, being the clever bastard that he is, figures it out in about 15 seconds. According to the DVD production notes subtitles, Creator/PhilipHinchcliffe got it from Creator/FranzKafka's ''Literature/TheCastle'', although this cannot be confirmed.
104* LampshadeHanging: The Scarman household just happens to have a priest hole in it, despite being Victorian. The Doctor grumbles about this.
105-->'''The Doctor:''' Where are we?
106-->'''Laurence:''' A priest hole.
107-->'''The Doctor:''' In a Victorian gothic folly? Nonsense!
108-->'''Sarah Jane:''' He's so pedantic sometimes!
109** Of course the fact that it's a folly explains why; the Victorian-era builders constructed one for RuleOfCool.
110* LastOfHisKind: Sutekh, last of the Osirans. He blew up his home planet, leaving a few hundred survivors who chased him down and imprisoned him. What happened to the rest isn't clear, but by the eighteen-hundreds they're long gone. And then Sutekh gets sent to the end of time.
111* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: Namin's organ-playing.
112* MechaMooks: The mummies or "servicers" as Sutekh refers to them, are just robots wrapped in bandages. Good versions in the employ of Horus appear on Mars.
113* MindOverMatter: Sutekh uses telekinesis throughout the story to counter his own paralysis; at one point, he even uses his mind to contain the blast from a gelignite explosive. Doubly impressive considering the explosion is occurring in England and Sutekh's pyramid is in Egypt!
114* MindRape: The Doctor gets subjected to this by Sutekh. The Doctor is clearly in excruciating pain trying to resist, and yet he forces the Doctor to kneel before him, worship him and 'debase himself' without even moving in his seat. What's more, Sutekh is clearly doing it for sport, thoroughly enjoying hurting and humiliating him, and was going to 'shred his mind' before realising he could take the Doctor's TARDIS key instead. One of the more scary and disturbing moments from the show's most scary and disturbing period.
115* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Dr. Warlock, who isn't half as badass as his name leads one to assume.
116* NephariousPharaoh: Sutekh, a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien with an Egyptian theme and {{Mooks}} disguised as {{Mumm|y}}ies.
117* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: The Doctor's respiratory bypass system is introduced here as a way of allowing him to escape being possessed and strangled by Sutekh. Later stories would revisit this plot device by using it for a number of other scenarios where the Doctor has to go with little to no air or has to avoid inhaling certain substances.
118* NitroExpress: The Doctor and Sarah Jane hatch a plan to blow up Sutekh's [[ItMakesSenseInContext rocket-pyramid]]. They come upon a store of blasting gelignite (a variant of dynamite)[[note]]A lovely scene, but unfortunately the whole point of gelignite as an improvement on dynamite is that it ''doesn't'' sweat.[[/note]] in the Poacher's stores, leading to one of the best Doctor/Companion exchanges in the show's history:
119-->''[Sarah Jane finds the gelignite, and [[ExplosiveStupidity throws it]] to the Doctor]''\
120'''The Doctor:''' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Sweaty. Gelignite. Is. Highly Unstable.]] One good sneeze could set it off... ''[he puts it down]'' Did you find any fuses?\
121'''Sarah Jane:''' No. Perhaps he sneezed.\
122''[the Doctor gives her the {{death glare}} to end all death glares]''
123* NoSuchThingAsSpaceJesus: Sutekh's personality and history heavily resembles the same god from Egyptian mythology (a.k.a. Set) and he possesses very god-like powers (said by the Doctor to be "near-limitless"). It is not clarified whether this is another alien encounter or something completely different. Sutekh is specifically said to be an Osiran, and that he was imprisoned on Mars by the leadership of his planet.
124* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: This is one of the few times the super-confident and flippant Fourth Doctor is genuinely scared.
125* OminousPipeOrgan: Played by Namin.
126* OmnicidalManiac: Sutekh the Destroyer is a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien who wants to eliminate all life in the universe other than himself to preclude the possibility that something that could challenge him ''might evolve''.
127-->'''Sutekh''': "The alien who dares to intrude, the humans, animals, birds, fish, reptiles...all life is my enemy. All life shall perish under the reign of Sutekh the Destroyer!"
128* OnlySmartPeopleMayPass: The Doctor notes that the Osirans were famous for their puzzle-based death-traps during the travel through the Pyramid.
129* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The Fourth Doctor is normally unflappable, even jokey, in the face of danger. So when Sutekh has him terrified, you ''know'' the guy is well above and beyond the threats he normally has to face.
130* OrganDodge: The Doctor's previously unrevealed "respiratory bypass system".
131* OutsideContextProblem: Sutekh has such awesome power that, as the Doctor says, that if unleashed, even the Time Lords couldn't stand against him.
132* PaletteSwap: Horus' servant droids are the same design as Sutekh's, but they've got stylin' gold armour on them.
133* PhysicalGod: Sutekh has incredible mental powers, telekinesis even when paralyzed, and it is shown if he escaped he would be capable of destroying entire worlds. Not even the Time Lords could stop him.
134* PluckyGirl: Lawrence explicitly refers to Sarah as this.
135* ProchronicProduct: Set in 1911, scientist Laurence Scarman shows The Doctor his "marconiscope", a primitive form of the radio telescope. The Doctor is surprised by this as this is around twenty years before the first actual crude prototypes appeared and around forty years before the first fully realised versions were constructed in recorded history. During the events of the serial, Scarman is killed, the machine is smashed and then the building containing it burns to the ground, destroying the remnants and all knowledge of the device and keeping the timeline intact.
136* PyramidPower: There's a pyramid in Egypt, one on Mars and the rocket is a pyramid too.
137* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Sutekh is really 7000 years old.
138* SanDimasTime: Justified when the Doctor has only a narrow window of opportunity to trap Sutekh in the spacetime tunnel. Even if he were to use the TARDIS to return to Earth at a point hours or weeks earlier, he'd only wind up waiting around for the few minutes when Sutekh is in the tunnel, and can therefore be trapped. The fact that he rushes to get it done immediately is more an indication of his excitement-level than fear of wasting precious San Dimas Time.
139* ScrewDestiny: The Doctor and Sarah encounter the wrathful god Sutekh in 1911. Sarah argues that they don't have to stop him since they already know the world wasn't destroyed back then. The Doctor takes her into the future and shows the world has been utterly obliterated, proving time is in flux and they're the only ones who can stop Sutekh.
140* SealedEvilInACan: Sutekh was imprisoned in a pyramid in Egypt.
141* SecretRoom: Lawrence hides Sarah Jane and the Doctor in a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest_hole priest hole]].
142* SelfPlagiarism: Creator/RobertHolmes reused the puzzle-solving section of part four from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E3DeathToTheDaleks Death to the Daleks]]", which he script-edited.
143* SeriesContinuityError: The plot hinges on the idea that the TARDIS' controls are "isomorphic" and can only be manipulated by the Doctor, despite characters like Susan, Jo and Harry having piloted it in previous stories. Creator/RobertHolmes later offered the explanation that it was because the Doctor was lying, though Sutekh's ability to read the Doctor's mind makes this unpopular.
144* ShownTheirWork: The story is based around the myth of Set/Sutekh from Myth/EgyptianMythology, but in the broadest possible strokes (for the sake of fitting it into a ''Doctor Who'' plot), incorporating plenty of influence from Christian {{Satan}} mythology and CosmicHorror. However, Creator/RobertHolmes was a keen researcher and snuck in several GeniusBonus[[invoked]] references to the original myth. For instance, Set in mythology was the god of 'deserts and storms', and when the Doctor takes Sarah to Sutekh's version of 1980, the planet is a stormy desert. Later, Sutekh growls that his brother Horus condemned him to 'a life of darkness and impotence', when in the original myth Set was believed to be impotent, and Horus had ripped off one of Sutekh's testicles.
145* SicklyGreenGlow: Sutekh's AgonyBeam.
146* SoftSpokenSadist: Sutekh starts off as this. Frankly, it's a relief when he breaks out the [[LargeHam ham]].
147* SmartBall: Sarah Jane suddenly gains a lot of knowledge on how to fire a rifle and on Egyptian mythology.
148* TheSocialDarwinist: Sutekh despite already being one of the most powerful beings in the Universe takes this to extremes, wanting to destroy all life to prevent something that could kill him evolving.
149* StableTimeLoop: The TARDIS materializes in Scarman's house in 1911 because it is at the same location that UNIT Headquarters will be in the future (since the Doctor was aiming for UNIT HQ but was pulled off course by several decades). The Doctor then gets involved in events that culminate in the Scarman house burning down, which we were earlier told is what enabled UNIT Headquarters to be constructed at that location in the first place.
150* StarKilling: The Doctor comments that in the BadFuture, the dead Earth is "circling a dead sun" with the indication that Sutekh did that.
151* StockPuzzle: In the story's defence, the ol' KnightsAndKnaves stumper might have been new when Sutekh's prison was made. 7000 years ago.
152* SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat: Sarah Jane is a crack shot with a rifle, apparently...
153* SufficientlyAdvancedAlien: The Osirans.
154* SufficientlyAdvancedBambooTechnology: All the Osiran technology looks like ancient Egyptian paraphernalia, but includes robots and teleporters that work between Earth and Mars.
155* TimeAbyss: Sutekh was imprisoned thousands of years ago, the war inspiring Egyptian mythology, and was active for thousands of years before that.
156* TimeyWimeyBall: The Doctor show Sarah Jane how time has its alternatives. Even though Sarah Jane is from 1980 and knows the world wasn't destroyed in 1911 by Sutekh, the Doctor takes her to 1980 and shows Earth has been destroyed as they didn't stop Sutekh escaping. This is partly accounted for: the Doctor says individuals can shape the future but only powerful beings like Sutekh can destroy it.
157* TranquilFury: Sutekh is this, creepily and effectively whispering every word, even when torturing The Doctor. Until he's freed, when [[LargeHam predictable]] [[KneelBeforeZod characterization]] [[ChewingTheScenery developments]] occur.
158* VillainWorld: The Doctor briefly visit an alternate 1980, which Sutekh had turned into a scorched cinder.
159* WaybackTrip: Sarah-Jane argues that she ''knows'' the Earth wasn't destroyed in 1911, given she's from 1980. The Doctor responds by taking her to 1980, which is now a wasteland. Unless they stop Sutekh, the 1980 Sarah knows will never have existed.
160* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Marcus has three servant droids before going to Mars. Once there, he only has two. Of course, the out of universe reason is because the third was repurposed as Horus' servant.
161* WhatIsEvil:
162-->'''Sutekh''': "Evil"? Your evil is my good. I am Sutekh the Destroyer. Where I tread, I leave nothing but dust and darkness. [[OmnicidalManiac I find that good.]]
163* WhatYearIsThis: The Doctor asks Laurence this, much to his bewilderment:
164-->'''Laurence''': What year?
165-->'''Doctor''': It's a simple enough question, surely.
166-->'''Laurence''': Are you telling me you don't know what--
167-->'''Doctor''': If I knew I wouldn't ask. Don't be obtuse, man.
168* WeCanRuleTogether: Though as Sutekh plans to kill ''everyone and everything'', it's not a very trustworthy offer.
169-->'''Sutekh''': I offer you an alliance, Doctor. Serve me truly, and an Empire can be yours.
170* WholePlotReference: To the Film/HammerHorror ''Blood from the Mummy's Tomb''.
171* TheXOfY
172* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness:
173** When the possessed Marcus Scarman arrives on the scene, the first thing he does is dispose of the minion who did all the preliminary work.
174--->'''Namin:''' Master, spare me. Spare me. I am a true servant of the great Sutekh.\
175'''Scarman:''' ''I'' am the servant of Sutekh. He needs no other. ''[kills him]''
176** After the Doctor transported everybody to Mars, Sutekh orders his mummies to kill him, since none of them intend to leave the Pyramid anyway; the Doctor only manages to escape death thanks to his respiratory bypass system.
177** When the Eye of Horus is destroyed, the re-animated Marcus Scarman is released, collapses like a puppet with its strings cut, and disintegrates.

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