History Recap / DoctorWhoS13E3PyramidsOfMars

[[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!'''"]]

--->"''This'' is the real plaything of Sutekh. His name is Neil. ''Neil!'' [[{{Pun}} Neil before the might of Sutekh!]]"

--->'''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]''

'''Production code:''' 4G

Written by Lewis Greifer and Creator/RobertHolmes ([[AlanSmithee under the pseudonym Stephen Harris]]). This four-episode serial first aired from October 25 to November 15, 1975.

--->"''This'' is the real plaything of Sutekh. His name is Neil. ''Neil!'' [[JustForPun Neil before the might of Sutekh!]]"

JustForFun/{{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]] [[ConinuitySnarl who's keeping count]]) [[to hellfire.]]

JustForFun/{{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 [[ConinuitySnarl who's keeping count]] to hellfire.]]

JustForFun/{{The one w|ith}}here the Red Hood steams a man to death, [[ItMakesSenseInContext and Sarah Jane almost]] [[ButterflyOfDoom dooms 1980 to hellfire.]]

JustForFun/{{The one w|ith}}here the Red Hood steams a man to death.

The one where the Red Hood steams a man to death.

* BadFuture: Sarah Jane asks the Doctor if they can simply leave and return to 1980 without fighting Sutekh, since 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.

'''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!

* 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.

* 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.

* AncientAstronauts: The Osirians, who inspired Ancient Egyptian mythology.

* BadFuture / TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Sarah Jane asks the Doctor if they can simply leave and return to 1980 without fighting Sutekh, since 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.

* DressingAsTheEnemy: The Doctor strips the bandages and outer casing from a Mummy Robot and dons them in order to sneak explosives into the Osirian ship.
* DyingAsYourself: Marcus at least gets to do this.

* FantasticRacism: Marcus Scarman makes a racist remark about his Egyptian guides when they flee Sutekh's temple.

* KillTheGod: The Doctor kills Sutekh the Destroyer, last of the Godlike Osirians who inspired the Egyptian Gods.

* NoSuchThingAsSpaceJesus: Sutekh's personality and history heavily resembles the same god from Egyptian mythology 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 Osirian, and that he was imprisoned on Mars by the leadership of his planet.

* OmnicidalManiac: Sutekh the Destroyer was a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien with these tendencies to preclude the possibility that something that could challenge him ''might evolve''.

* WhatIsEvil

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: 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.
** When the Eye of Horus is destroyed the re-animated Marcus Scarman is released, collapses like a puppet with its strings cut and disintegrates.

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.

* AwesomeMcCoolname / NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Dr. Warlock. Who isn't half as cool as his name leads one to assume.

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 KerbStompBattle in Sutekh's favour, some thorough MindRape, the Doctor is made to transport Scarman to Mars in the TARDIS to disconnect the signal trapping Sutekh.

* 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.

* 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 is terrified, then you know this is no idle threat.

* EverybodysDeadDave: 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.)

* {{Jerkass}}: Marcus Scarman makes a racist remark about his Egyptian guides when they flee Sutekh's temple.