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Recap / Doctor Who S13 E3 "Pyramids of Mars"

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Pyramids of Mars

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sutek_1014.jpg
Written by Stephen Harrisnote 
Directed by Paddy Russell
Production code: 4G
Air dates: 25 October - 15 November 1975
Number of episodes: 4

"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."
The Doctor

The one where the Red Hood steams a man to death, and Sarah Jane almost dooms 1980 (or sometime in the 1970's, depending on who's keeping count) to hellfire.


The 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. ...What?

As 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 Stargate SG-1.

Egyptologist 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.

Sarah 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.

The 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 Kerb-Stomp Battle in Sutekh's favour and some thorough Mind Rape, the Doctor is made to transport Scarman to Mars in the TARDIS to disconnect the signal trapping Sutekh.

That 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.


Tropes:

  • Absolute Xenophobe: Sutekh the Destroyer was a Physical God and Sufficiently Advanced Alien 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 imprisoned him on Earth. The conflict itself was observed by the Egyptians and became part of their mythology.
  • Adam Westing: Gabriel Woolf reprises his role as Sutekh in a mockumentary on the DVD release titled Oh, Mummyinvoked. Hordes of well-deserved Nightmare Retardant ensues; e.g. Sutekh shows us he's just a nice guy who likes raising rabbits.
    "This is the real plaything of Sutekh. His name is Neil. Neil! Neil before the might of Sutekh!"
  • All There in the Manual: 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 offering great power if Namin served him.
  • Alternate History: 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.
  • Ancient Astronauts: The Osirans, who inspired Ancient Egyptian mythology.
  • Ancient Evil: 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.
  • And I Must Scream: 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.
  • Apathy Killed the Cat: 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.
  • Apocalypse How: If Sutekh gets loose, he'll cause a Class 6 to Earth. The Doctor shows Sarah the result a Bad Future.
    The Doctor: A desolate planet circling a dead sun.
  • Badass Boast: One from the Doctor:
    "I am a Time Lord. I am not a human being. I walk in eternity."
  • Bad Future: 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 "The Unquiet Dead", surviving several early drafts before it became clear that it wouldn't flow.
  • Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: How Sutekh sees things.
    The Doctor: But you use your powers for evil!
    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!
  • Beware the Silly Ones: 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.
  • Big Bad: Sutekh the Destroyer.
  • Big "NO!": Sutekh lets one of these rip before his death.
  • Bizarre Alien Biology: The Gallifreyan respiratory bypass system makes its first appearance here.
  • Black Comedy: 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."
  • Break the Badass: The Doctor is clearly absolutely terrified of Sutekh. Overlaps with The Worf Effect since, despite being a powerful psychic, Sutekh is able to Mind Rape him into worshipping him with willpower alone.
  • Brick Joke: 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.
  • Build Like an Egyptian: The clue's in the title.
  • Cain and Abel:
    • 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' Evil Uncle, although apparently the youngest brother of Sutekh was an aspect of Horus.)
  • Call-Back: Sarah Jane remarks on the similarity of the successive puzzle rooms to the ones encountered in the city of the Exxilons.
    • The Doctor absent-mindedly calls Sarah Jane "Vicky" when she enters the Control Room wearing one of Victoria's old dresses.
  • Can't Argue with Elves: 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.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: "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."
  • Changed My Jumper/Contrived Coincidence: Sarah just happens to change into Victoria's dress before walking around in 1911.
  • The Charmer: 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.
  • Chromosome Casting: Sarah is the only female character in the story.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture/Agony Beam: Done to the Doctor, courtesy of Sutekh.
  • Cold Ham: Sutekh manages to out-ham Tom Baker without ever raising his voice above a malevolent whisper.
  • Contain the Kaboom: Sutekh does this with his mind when the Doctor and Sarah try to blow up his missile.
  • Creepy Monotone: Sutekh's servant at the end of Episode 1.
    Servant: Die. I bring Sutekh's gift of death to all human life.
  • Cry into Chest: When the Doctor is apparently killed, Sarah sobs into his chest, causing the Not Quite Dead Doctor to wake up and complain that she's "soaking his shirt".
  • Deus ex Machina: 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.
  • Devil Complex: Sutekh the Destroyer, already the in-universe inspiration for the Egyptian God of Evil, states Satan as one of his identities. Given his answer to being called evil, he's probably unironic about it.
  • Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: 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 about as well as you would expect. Fortunately, Sutekh still needs the Doctor.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Sutekh is aged to death after the Doctor traps him in a time corridor.
  • Diegetic Switch: Even after Namin stops playing the organ, the music continues.
  • Doesn't Like Guns: The Doctor is offered a rifle, but refuses, stating that he never carries firearms.
  • Doomed by Canon: 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.
  • Dressing as the Enemy: The Doctor strips the bandages and outer casing from a Mummy Robot and dons them in order to sneak explosives into the Osiran ship.
  • Dying as Yourself: 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.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: The Doctor tells Sarah that unless they stop Sutekh, this is what will happen, showing her an apocalyptic future as proof.
  • "Everybody Dies" Ending: 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.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: 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".
  • Fatal Flaw: Poor Laurence Scarman is just incapable of accepting that his brother is dead.
  • Good Is Dumb: The only reason Sutekh is still alive in 1911 is because Horus thought killing him would make him just as horrible as Sutekh, a serious false equivalence.
  • Good is Not Nice:
    • A subtle example. Although Horus imprisoned Sutekh rather than kill him for fear becoming just as bad as him, his Mecha-Mook mummies guarding the Martian pyramid are programmed to kill intruders if they guess the riddle incorrectly. However, considering what's at stake if Sutekh gets free, one could argue Horus was justified.
    • 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.
  • Hair-Trigger Explosive: The Doctor and Sarah Jane hatch a plan to blow up Sutekh's rocket-pyramid. They come upon a store of blasting gelignite (not a variant of dynamite note ) in Ernie's stores, leading to one of the best Doctor/Companion exchanges in the show's history:
    Sarah Jane finds the nitro, and throws it to the Doctor
    Doctor: Sweaty. Gelignite. Is. Highly Unstable.note  One good sneeze could set it off... (he puts it down) Did you find any fuses?
    Sarah Jane: No. Perhaps he sneezed.
    The Doctor gives her the Death Glare to end all Death Glares.
  • Hollywood Mid-Life Crisis: 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.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Laurence Scarman tries to do this for Marcus when he shows up at his house. It doesn't work, and he ends up paying the ultimate price for itinvoked.
    • On the commentary, Michael Sheard remembered that Bernard Archard (Marcus) asked for a second take of that scene. There's 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.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: Elisabeth Sladen 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.
  • Invisible Means Undodgeable: Sutekh's magic.
  • Kill the God: The Doctor kills Sutekh the Destroyer, last of the Godlike Osirans who inspired the Egyptian Gods.
  • Kneel Before Sutekh: Repeat after me: KNEEL! KNEEL BEFORE THE MIGHT OF SUTEKH!
  • Knight of Cerebus: 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 is clearly terrified, then you know this is no idle threat.
  • Knights and Knaves: 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 Sufficiently Advanced Alien 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, Philip Hinchcliffe got it from Franz Kafka's The Castle, although this cannot be confirmed.
  • Lampshade Hanging: The Scarman household just happens to have a priest hole in it, despite being Victorian. The Doctor grumbles about this.
    The Doctor: Where are we?
    Laurence: A priest hole.
    The Doctor: In a Victorian gothic folly? Nonsense!
    Sarah Jane: He's so pedantic sometimes!
    • Of course the fact that it's a folly explains why; the Victorian-era builders constructed one for Rule of Cool.
  • Last of His Kind: 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.
  • Left the Background Music On: Namin's organ-playing.
  • Mecha-Mooks: 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.
  • Mind over Matter: 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!
  • Mind Rape: 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.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Dr. Warlock, who isn't half as badass as his name leads one to assume.
  • Nepharious Pharaoh: Sutekh, a Sufficiently Advanced Alien with an Egyptian theme and Mooks disguised as Mummies.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: 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.
  • Nitro Express: The Doctor and Sarah Jane hatch a plan to blow up Sutekh's rocket-pyramid. They come upon a store of blasting gelignite (a variant of dynamite)note  in the Poacher's stores, leading to one of the best Doctor/Companion exchanges in the show's history:
    [Sarah Jane finds the gelignite, and throws it to the Doctor]
    The Doctor: Sweaty. Gelignite. Is. Highly Unstable. One good sneeze could set it off... [he puts it down] Did you find any fuses?
    Sarah Jane: No. Perhaps he sneezed.
    [the Doctor gives her the death glare to end all death glares]
  • No Such Thing as Space Jesus: 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.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: This is one of the few times the super-confident and flippant Fourth Doctor is genuinely scared.
  • Ominous Pipe Organ: Played by Namin.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: Sutekh the Destroyer is a Sufficiently Advanced Alien who wants to eliminate all life in the universe other than himself to preclude the possibility that something that could challenge him might evolve.
    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!"
  • Only Smart People May Pass: The Doctor notes that the Osirans were famous for their puzzle-based death-traps during the travel through the Pyramid.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: 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.
  • Organ Dodge: The Doctor's previously unrevealed "respiratory bypass system".
  • Outside-Context Problem: Sutekh has such awesome power that, as the Doctor says, that if unleashed, even the Time Lords couldn't stand against him.
  • Palette Swap: Horus' servant droids are the same design as Sutekh's, but they've got stylin' gold armour on them.
  • Physical God: 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.
  • Plucky Girl: Lawrence explicitly refers to Sarah as this.
  • Prochronic Product: 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.
  • Pyramid Power: There's a pyramid in Egypt, one on Mars and the rocket is a pyramid too.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Sutekh is really 7000 years old.
  • San Dimas Time: 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.
  • Screw Destiny: 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.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Sutekh was imprisoned in a pyramid in Egypt.
  • Secret Room: Lawrence hides Sarah Jane and the Doctor in a priest hole.
  • Self-Plagiarism: Robert Holmes reused the puzzle-solving section of part four from "Death to the Daleks", which he script-edited.
  • Series Continuity Error: 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. Robert Holmes 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.
  • Shown Their Work: The story is based around the myth of Set/Sutekh from Egyptian Mythology, 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 Cosmic Horror. However, Robert Holmes was a keen researcher and snuck in several Genius Bonusinvoked 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.
  • Sickly Green Glow: Sutekh's Agony Beam.
  • Soft-Spoken Sadist: Sutekh starts off as this. Frankly, it's a relief when he breaks out the ham.
  • Smart Ball: Sarah Jane suddenly gains a lot of knowledge on how to fire a rifle and on Egyptian mythology.
  • The Social Darwinist: 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.
  • Stable Time Loop: 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.
  • Star Killing: The Doctor comments that in the Bad Future, the dead Earth is "circling a dead sun" with the indication that Sutekh did that.
  • Stock Puzzle: In the story's defence, the ol' Knights and Knaves stumper might have been new when Sutekh's prison was made. 7000 years ago.
  • Suddenly Always Knew That: Sarah Jane is a crack shot with a rifle, apparently...
  • Sufficiently Advanced Alien: The Osirans.
  • Sufficiently Advanced Bamboo Technology: All the Osiran technology looks like ancient Egyptian paraphernalia, but includes robots and teleporters that work between Earth and Mars.
  • Time Abyss: Sutekh was imprisoned thousands of years ago, the war inspiring Egyptian mythology, and was active for thousands of years before that.
  • Timey-Wimey Ball: 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.
  • Tranquil Fury: Sutekh is this, creepily and effectively whispering every word, even when torturing The Doctor. Until he's freed, when predictable characterization developments occur.
  • Villain World: The Doctor briefly visit an alternate 1980, which Sutekh had turned into a scorched cinder.
  • Wayback Trip: 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.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: 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.
  • What Is Evil?:
    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.
  • What Year Is This?: The Doctor asks Laurence this, much to his bewilderment:
    Laurence: What year?
    Doctor: It's a simple enough question, surely.
    Laurence: Are you telling me you don't know what—
    Doctor: If I knew I wouldn't ask. Don't be obtuse, man.
  • We Can Rule Together: Though as Sutekh plans to kill everyone and everything, it's not a very trustworthy offer.
    Sutekh: I offer you an alliance, Doctor. Serve me truly, and an Empire can be yours.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: To the Hammer Horror Blood from the Mummy's Tomb.
  • The X of Y
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
    • 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.
      Namin: Master, spare me. Spare me. I am a true servant of the great Sutekh.
      Scarman: I am the servant of Sutekh. He needs no other. [kills him]
    • 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.
    • 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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Sutekh's Earth in 1980

Eager to get away from Sutekh and his minions in 1911, Sarah asks the Doctor to go back to her home time of 1980. The Doctor states that Sutekh will destroy the world if left to his own devices, which Sarah disbelieves, since if the world was destroyed in 1911, she wouldn't exist. The Doctor proves her wrong by taking her to an alternate version of 1980 in which Earth is a desolate wasteland, explaining that Sutekh is so powerful that he can circumvent the laws of time. After seeing what would become of her home planet -- and herself -- if Sutekh isn't stopped, Sarah agrees to go back to 1911 and stop him.

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