What a day. I slept in, which was nice, and then did my hour on the treadmill. Then I installed my monster new monitor for writing code (seriously, it is a widescreen monitor in portrait mode and about two and a half times size of my other one). Then it was off to rehearsal for my cabaret that happens tomorrow, and then wrapped up the evening by seeing Mark Kozelek in concert. Now all I need to do is write this blog post and get to bed.

So let's talk about Martian Pyramids.

Pyramids of Mars - Parts 3 & 4

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

Ok, can we talk for a second about how this story is called Pyramids of Mars plural, but we never actually see any actual pyramids on Mars? Or how, once it gets to the point where the Doctor travels to Mars he only talks about the Pyramid of Mars singular? But we only ever see the interior of said pyramid, and are never shown any kind of establishing shot? I mean, that's weird... right? One presumes there were budgetary constraints.

The gist of the back half of the story is that Sutekh is trapped in his prison up on Mars, but is using his mental control to use a dead guy as a puppet plus a bunch of robot mummies to build a rocket that will fly to Mars and blow up the pyramid (singular) in order to free himself. I think. It got a bit muddled.

The thing that isn't muddled: every single speaking character besides the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith die over the course of the story. Egyptian dude who is the main bad guy in part one? Dead at the end of the episode. Archaeologist who awakened Sutekh? Dead right away, and animated as a puppet servant for the rest of the story, killed permanently by the big ending on Mars. Archaeologist's brother? Killed by robot mummies. Archaeologist's friend? Also killed by robot mummies. Local poacher? Mummies. Sutekh? Ultimately trapped in a time tunnel and swept thousands of years down the tunnel until he finally dies. Ok, sure, in the very first scene of the first episode there were a couple of Egyptian workers present when Sutekh's tomb was opened, who run away in fear, but in the novelization they also get the robot mummy treatment. This whole story is one long string of deaths, which somehow calls itself a happy ending because it ran out of people to kill. Weird.

I really didn't much enjoy the second half of the story any more than the first. Again, it wasn't terrible (I'm looking at you, Planet of Giants), it was just half-baked and loaded with weak dialog and weaker chains of logic. It felt like someone said "let's do a mummy story", and then the strung together every Egyptology trope they could think of without rhyme, reason, or budget.

Tomorrow's story should be better. If nothing else it features the final appearances of Sergeant Benton and Harry Sullivan, and is the last classic UNIT story. Should be good times.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Fourth
Companion(s): Sarah Jane Smith
Episode(s): Pyramids of Mars - Parts 3 & 4
Steps Walked: 7,008 today, 1,414,643 total
Distance Walked: 3.52 miles today, 702.33 miles total
Weight: 260.56 lbs (five day moving average), net change -46.74 lbs