They brought Sutekh’s gift of death to the cushion and the hand.
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Putting my thoughts on here begore reading anyone else’s comments so I give a pure and untainted response.
Yes, I did enjoy it. I always enjoy this story. The new effects were fine as well, yet…
…I have always felt omnibus editions of classic serials don’t really work for me. The pacing of stories in 25 minute packages, to be delivered one a week over several weeks, is so very different. I miss… oh how I miss the cliffhanger moments! As I tend to watch my classic Who in 2 episode chunks rhese days, it’s surprising how much cliffhangers still work, even when separated by nothing more than the cl9sing credits and opening titles if the next episode. Watching this omnibus, the entire atmosphere and tangibility of those moments was lost for me.
This story also has the reputation of a weak final episode with shoddy sets and pointless “puzzles” but, you know what? I MISSED those puzzles. Seems i enjoy that final episode far more than I expected.
Also, was that music from Logopolis I heard at times?
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Yes, the bookend framing scenes with 15 and Ruby are just… there. I mean, absolutely nothing wrong with the performance that either of them put in but “perfunctory” would be the word, I guess?
The updated effects were well done and made the aesthetic a little more uniform with the modern show.
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And how right you were!
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As I needed to go to bed, I ended up skipping to the puzzles bit at the end and as @realdoctor says was sad (although not surprised) that most of that was chopped. I’m glad they kept the silent turning around gag though. I thought the effects worked for the most part (although I obviously missed the establishing Mars shot in my skipping forward so will go back to find that - and these extra cushions!)
Of course the big question is - where do the Memory TARDIS scenes fit chronologically. I imagine we will get a suitable point in Empire of Death where they could fit because at the moment the Doctor and Ruby aren’t even in the same place.
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I simply cannot express how much I felt that the omnibus edit lost the soul of the thing for me. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it. Spending time with Lawrence Scarman, such a nice and gentle soul, is always a delight. Also, I haven’t seen a Sarah Jane Smith episode of DW in quite a while and it was so lovely to watch Elizabeth Sladen’s naturalistic touches. She was always, and will ever be, a truly class act!
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I really didn’t expect to miss those bits as much as I did though. Actually, this edit has made me appreciate the final episode far more than I probably ever have before. Oh, the two guardians with their fiendish logical quandary! 
Me too. It would have been sacrilege to excise that from proceedings. Raised a wry smile from my wife.
My daughter’s favourite bit was watching Tom’s eccentric way of ducking below the windows in (what would have been) episode 1. She marvelled at how he kept his poise and moved with such dynamism.
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I love love love Sarah Jane so much I could burst, and I’ve never felt Pyramids to be slow or any of the puzzle scenes to be pointless, myself. I just think it’s a fun episode and the Four&Sarah banter is at an all time peak. They’re just wonderful <3
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There was a bit with Sarah in Laurence’s cottage where she’s explaining to him who they are and she looked and sounded like someone else and I just could not place it - it was a fleeting moment. It was someone current. Ah well, none of you can help as you’re not inside my head (mercifully for you lot).
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We are in complete accord here. Liz Sladen is a delight in every scene. She brings so much naturalism to her performance and puts in one of the warmest screen performances for a classic companion. Sheer poetry!
I’ve always enjoyed the final episode but felt that it was the one most full of padding. I mean, it IS to be fair, but it turns out that it’s padding I really enjoy. I’ve never found “Pyramids” to be slow, but it feels off to me as an omnibus. I’m so used to the 25 min episode pacing that it sits naturally in my head. I’m hugely fond of the gentle ebb and flow within those episodes, building to the cliffhanger moments. Taking away the sting of the closing music cutting in at just that point felt… weird.
I know it gets flagged a LOT as a high point, but just how good is the scene where the Doctor and Sarah discover Lawrence’s body? The Doctor just gets on with the job and Sarah is stunned at his seeming lack of compassion. Her line “A man has just been murdered!”, delivered with such accusation is immediately rebuffed by Tom’s response. “Four men, Sarah. Five, if you include Professor Scarman himself, and they’re merely the first of millions unless Sutekh is stopped. Know thine enemy. Admirable advice.” It’s not that he doesn’t care. It’s that he knows he can’t afford to be sidetracked in that moment when so much more is on the line. Moreover, he has not forgotten any of the other victims.
Absolutely divine stuff!
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Yep, this basically describes my thoughts on the episodic version. We’re told Sutekh is all powerful, but we’re rarely shown it. I think the decision to make Sutekh paralysed hinders that somewhat, as it means he can never leave his throne and torment the Doctor and Sarah Jane in 1911.
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It would have been lovely to have a little Tom Baker appearance in the memory tards. Alas it wasn’t to be.
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Well when he does get face to face with Doctor Who he gives him some psychic torture & is able to so some mind control.
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I can see this but I do think Woolf’s voice work is so good that it does compensate for his immobility to some extent.
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That’s true, and it’s rare that you see the Doctor in pain.
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Also true. Gabriel Woolf has such a great intimidating voice for those kinds of devilish threats.
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Baker absolutely sells this as well, in his performance. Given that the Doctor is the one we can rely on the defeat “the monsters”, to see him so vulnerable is always shocking. Moreover, Tom is such a big man, such an intimidating presence in his own right, that it seems so wrong to see him in pain and used as a mere puppet.
Woolf’s voice should be recognised as a national treasure.
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I’d have certainly given him an honorary title instead of that Tim Martin idiot who owns Whetherspoons if I was a member of the Royal Family.
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I know. I mean what a bizarre and twisted reality we live in.
Hmmm, here’s a thought? Perhaps it is us who are living in a warped and twisted parallel universe? In many respects, the Whoniverse seems to make more sense and be a more pleasant place to live right now.
Frankly, I’d take Sutekh over most of the political party leaders we have in the UK right now… and in the US too, to be fair!
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Yep, I’m not convinced by Rishi Sunak’s gift to humanity of taking us out of the European Court of Human Rights.
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