Pyramids of Mars [TV/1975.10.25 ~ 11.15]

★★★★☆

  When Tom Baker's usually unassailable Fourth Doctor is filled with spite and fear, growling like his life depends on it and being somber and acidic towards those around him, even at Sarah Jane, you know the stakes have never been higher. Sutekh is a fantastically conceived foe — a being from the dawn of time more powerful than anything the Doctor has encountered — and Gabriel Woolf's silky voice brings so much to the trapped Osiran, accompanied by some awesome costume design.

  It's the magic of Doctor Who, really, to be able to practically do anything. One moment you have Frankenstein homages, next you've got The Thing, except the Thing in question is an infectious plant seed! Pyramids of Mars taps into that fascinating realm of Egyptology, and the production rises up to the challenge... to genuinely impressive results. The mummies are terrifying (except for when two of them awkwardly smother a man between their chests... someone in the BBC was unnecessarily worked up), the Gothic mansion and Mars set pieces are enough to make a kid cower in fear and boggle their eyes in wonder at the same time. It's fitting that the mansion is designed and shot in such a claustrophobic way, because it's contrasted by the enormous scale of Sutekh's potential threat — saving the world in a small room, that's the charm of Doctor Who. 

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ  

  It's easy to see why Pyramids of Mars lives on in the hearts of many. It manages to scare and bewitch in equal measure with its fantastic characters (with our leads, Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen, fired up to 11) and somber, almost brutalist atmosphere. After all these years, I've almost forgotten how genuinely creepy this serial is... even without the explicit gore of its peers, the story manages to make you believe in Sutekh and his threat. That accounts for quality, surely.