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DOCTOR WHO
PYRAMIDS OF MARS

Written by
As Stephen Harris, Robert Holmes and Lewis Greifer

Part One

[INT. Archaeological dig]

(We are at the Sakkara pyramids. After an establishing shot of these hill-like structures, we see locals walking about and then are in the dimly lit interior of a tomb as a door is being removed. Light is exposed to the inside of the tomb as the door is lifted aside.)
SCARMAN [OC]: Gently. Slowly, that's right. Be careful.
(He is a slim and tall man of aristocratic bearing. He steps into the room, carrying an oil lamp. He casts his eyes upon the figures on the walls, which have not seen light for thousands of years.)
SCARMAN: It's perfect. It's absolutely untouched. The reliquaries are still sealed. Look at this. Great heaven, this tomb must date back to the First Dynasty of the Pharaohs! How many thousands of years since the priests sealed the inner chamber and draped this tapestry across the entrance?
(He says this while standing at the tapestry. He pulls it aside, and one of the images revealed on the wall is a large Eye of Horus carved into the surface, with cartouches below it.)
SCARMAN: Ahmed, your lantern, man. (the local man approaches) Quickly, quickly. It's the Eye of Horus.
AHMED: (as a reddish glow begins to emanate from behind the Eye) No, Professor Scarman! Eetha...
(Crying out in his mother tongue, he vacates the tomb with haste. The other local workers leave too. SCARMAN is alone in the tomb.)
SCARMAN: Come back! No, come back! I need your help! Superstitious savage. Hmpf. I've come too far to turn back now.
(He lefts a mattock and begins attacking the stones. As he moves downward along the wall, the section with the Eye pivots open, and the other sections of stone follow, exposing the inner chamber. SCARMAN enters. He has barely stood after crossing the threshold when he is bathed in a green light and cries out, falling back as he flails his arms. He falls to the ground.)

[INT. TARDIS console room]

(The TARDIS twirls through space. We enter it and see the DOCTOR standing at the console when SARAH enters.)
SARAH: (showing off a long Edwardian-style cream-coloured frock) Hey, Doctor! Doctor, look what I've found!
DOCTOR: Hello, Vicky.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: Hmm? Where did you get that dress?
SARAH: I just told you. I found it back there, in the wardrobe. Why, don't you like it?
DOCTOR: Yes. Yes, I always did. Victoria wore it. She travelled with me for a time.
SARAH: Well, as long as Albert didn't wear it. (laughs) Oh, come on, Doctor. That's worth a smile, surely? What's the matter? You should be glad to be going home.
DOCTOR: The Earth isn't my home, Sarah. I'm a Time Lord.
SARAH: Ooh, I know you're a Time Lord. (She effects a veil.)
DOCTOR: You don't understand the implications. I'm not a human being. I walk in eternity.
SARAH: (laughing) What's that supposed to mean?
DOCTOR: It means I've lived for something like seven hundred and fifty years.
SARAH: Oh, you'll soon be middle-aged.
DOCTOR: Yes! About time I found something better to do than run round after the Brigadier.
SARAH: Oh, come on. If you're tired of being UNIT scientific adviser, you can always resign.
(Her words are interrupted by the TARDIS tilting violently. The lighting dims. As the ship wobbles, a plume of smoke erupts from a panel of the console. As SARAH sits up, she sees an image resembling the skull of a jackal in the air above her.)
SARAH: (whispering) What was it?
DOCTOR: The relative continuum stabiliser failed.
SARAH: No, not that. I mean the thing.
DOCTOR: What thing?
SARAH: There was a terrible face just for a second, then it was gone.
DOCTOR: Huh?
SARAH: You don't believe me, do you?
DOCTOR: Nothing can enter the TARDIS. Unless-
SARAH: Unless what?
DOCTOR: Mental projection of that force is beyond imagination, yet it might explain the stabiliser failure. Let's see. Was it at this end of the spectrum?
SARAH: No, Doctor, don't! Whatever it was, I know it was totally malevolent.
(The ship lands with a small audible bump.)
DOCTOR: We've landed.
SARAH: Where? Where have we landed?

[INT. Artefact room]

(From the TARDIS, they enter a room containing various sarcophagi and ancient artefacts.)
DOCTOR: We've materialised at the correct point in space but obviously not in time. A temporal reverse? Some vast impulse of energy has drawn the TARDIS off course.
SARAH: You're saying this is UNIT HQ but years before I knew it?
DOCTOR: Yes.
SARAH: But it's so different. It can't be the same house.
DOCTOR: It must be the old priory. The UNIT house was built on the site.
SARAH: The old priory was burnt down, wasn't it?
DOCTOR: Something's very wrong.
SARAH: Doctor, I don't like it here.
DOCTOR: Something's going on contrary to the laws of the universe. I must find out what.

[INT. Study]

(Things shake with vibrations from an organ being played elsewhere. We see the red-fez-wearing man who is sitting at the organ, and a butler knocks at the door to the room in question. The less than euphonic music continues. As the butler - COLLINS - decides to enter, we get a look at the palatial Egyptian decor and the pipes above the organ.)
COLLINS: (as the music continues) Excuse me, sir.
NAMIN: Get out. Get out of here! (ending his chord and rising) How dare you disturb me? Get out. Get out at once!
COLLINS: I'm sorry, sir, but the gentleman insisted.
NAMIN: Gentleman? What gentleman?
COLLINS: He's an old friend of Professor Scarman, sir.
NAMIN: I ordered that no-one was to be admitted, Collins. I told you no callers.
WARLOCK: (entering) Don't blame Collins. Forced entry, sir.
NAMIN: This is outrageous.
WARLOCK: Call it what you like. I've a few questions to put to you.
NAMIN: All right, Collins. (The butler leaves.)
NAMIN: So you have some questions?
WARLOCK: My name is Warlock, Doctor Warlock. I live in the village, and Professor Scarman is my oldest friend.
NAMIN: (holding out his hand) I am Ibrahim Namin.
WARLOCK: (not taking it) I know your name. It's your business that I am concerned with. Called at the lodge on my way up, had a word with Scarman's brother, Laurence. He tells me you've had the infernal impudence to bar him from this house.
NAMIN: I am acting under instructions from Professor Scarman.
WARLOCK: I don't believe it.
NAMIN: I have his letter of authority. I have brought back from Egypt all the relics discovered by the professor on his recent expedition. My orders are to store them safely and allow no-one admittance to the house until the professor himself returns. (grabbing the letter back from WARLOCK) That is an end to it, Doctor Warlock.
WARLOCK: Oh, no, sir - not by a long chalk!

[INT. Outside the study]

(COLLINS is listening in on the proceedings.)
WARLOCK [OC]: I came here to find out what's going on, and I'm not leaving until I do.
(He notices motion from a doorknob across the hall.)

[INT. Artefact room]

DOCTOR: Why bother to lock an internal door?
SARAH: Maybe this wing of the house isn't in use. It smells musty enough.
DOCTOR: That isn't all must, Sarah. Some of it's mummy. (holding up a small mechanical instrument) French pick-lock. Never fails. Belonged to Marie Antoinette. Charming lady. Lost her head, poor thing.
(He begins using it, but both he and SARAH back away as the door begins moving from the other side. COLLINS opens it. The DOCTOR and SARAH step out of hiding, beside a mummy case.)
DOCTOR: (loudly) Of course, it would make an ideal headquarters for some paramilitary organisation. This room could easily be turned into a laboratory. Oh, hello.
COLLINS: Who are you? How did you get in here?
DOCTOR: Through the window. I understood the property was for sale. No?
COLLINS: Ah, you're not fooling me, sir. You came with Doctor Warlock, didn't you?
DOCTOR: Did we?
COLLINS: He asked you to scout round whilst he kept his nibs busy. Listen, if you're a friend of Doctor Warlock, sir, tell him to watch out.
SARAH: Watch out for what?
COLLINS: The Egyptian. There's no knowing what he might do. He's got the temper of the devil himself.
DOCTOR: Egyptian, eh? Is this where he keeps his relatives?
COLLINS: It's no joke, sir. He's only been here a few days, but. I wouldn't be staying, but, well, situations aren't easy to find at my age.
DOCTOR: What are you afraid of?
COLLINS: He locked this wing. He didn't know there was a second key. If he were to find me along here, let alone you two, he'd, he'd go stark raving mad, sir.
DOCTOR: I see. In that case, we'd better leave.
COLLINS: Oh, not this way, sir. Better go the way you came. He might see you.
DOCTOR: As you wish.
COLLINS: And remember to tell Doctor Warlock what I said, sir.
DOCTOR: Don't worry. I'll remember.
(He helps SARAH out the window. As they walk round the building, they duck as they go past the other windows of the manor house.
Watching them on their way, COLLINS does not notice that the mummy case behind him has just moved.)

[EXT. Outside the study window]

(The dialogue is spoken as the DOCTOR and SARAH scout round the building to a position under the window.)
WARLOCK [OC]: Utter humbug. That letter's a bogus fabrication if ever I saw one.
NAMIN [OC]: Are you alleging that it is forged?
WARLOCK [OC]: I am, sir, and I intend to prove it.
NAMIN [OC]: I warn you, Doctor Warlock, do not interfere.
WARLOCK [OC]: Are you threatening me?

[INT. Study]

NAMIN: It is not I who threaten. There are ancient powers gathering in this place, powers beyond the comprehension of unbelievers.
(As he speaks, he turns toward, and gazes at, a mummy case in a black theme.)
WARLOCK: Ancient balderdash. Now let me warn you, Namin, unless you give me some straight answers, I'm going to the police.
NAMIN: To say what? That a foreigner is living in Professor Scarman's house?
WARLOCK: To say that he's not been seen for weeks, that his baggage is lying unclaimed in his hotel. Oh, yes, I've had some enquiries made in Cairo.
(We hear a strangled cry.)
WARLOCK: What the devil...?
(Both men run from the room. The DOCTOR and SARAH promptly enter via the window.)

[INT. Artefact room]

NAMIN: (at the door) ...Open. (entering) The fool.
(Just before they enter properly, the mummy case closes. We see COLLINS next to the window. WARLOCK bends down to examine him as NAMIN looks on. He clearly did not have a peaceful death.)
WARLOCK: Poor fellow. He's been strangled.
NAMIN: The gods have returned. I, Ibrahim Namin, servant of the true faith, rejoice in their power.
WARLOCK: Get the police. His assailant can't have got far.
NAMIN: You blind, pathetic fool. The servants of the all-powerful have arisen. When the temple is cleansed of all unbelievers, the High One himself will come among us. This is how it was written.
WARLOCK: Yes, I see. Well, I still think the police- (He breaks off as he sees the revolver that NAMIN has pointed at him.)
NAMIN: You should have listened when I told you to leave, Warlock. Now you have seen too much. You must be the second unbeliever to die.
(Just as NAMIN fires, the DOCTOR pulls on his scarf, which has lassoed NAMIN. The Egyptian falls to the floor.)
SARAH [OC]: Come on, quick.
(While the DOCTOR has NAMIN held down, WARLOCK makes his escape. The travellers hasten away, and NAMIN rises, holding his gun in thought. He stands before the mummy case, straightens his jacket, and lifts the front away from the case. Within is a vaguely human figure in bandages. The abdomen is sunken, below a protruding rib cage, and there are hollows on either side below the brow ridge.)
NAMIN: (holding out his large scarab ring in front of the figure - this makes a chirping sound) Bismi Sutekh, [not sure] molachah intunh'd.
(The mummy creature lowers its arms slightly and steps from its case.)

[EXT. Priory gardens]

(WARLOCK is leaning on the DOCTOR for support as they walk. SARAH helps him on the right side as he clutches at his chest wound.)
WARLOCK: It's no good, I can't go much further.
DOCTOR: You must. We're sitting ducks if we stay here.
WARLOCK: Get to the lodge. Tell Laurence-
DOCTOR: Laurence?
WARLOCK: Marcus Scarman's brother. He lives there, knows me.
(He pitches forward. SARAH clutches at him, and the DOCTOR manages to catch him and lower him to the grass.)
DOCTOR: He needs help, Sarah. You go on ahead - find the lodge.
SARAH: Well, what about you?
DOCTOR: I'll be all right.
SARAH: Okay.
(Lifting her skirts, SARAH runs up the steps and through the gate. The DOCTOR lifts WARLOCK into his arms and walks away. We see that Warlock's bowler hat remains on the lawn.)

[EXT. Wooded area]

(SARAH has found a hollow in which to hide. She peers out and sees a mummy lumbering in her direction.
Meanwhile, NAMIN, still brandishing his revolver, has found the bowler hat.
The mummy stops near SARAH's hiding place for a while and then leaves, allowing her to scamper off. She reaches the lodge.
The DOCTOR is now hiding in the trees as the mummy approaches. He and WARLOCK flatten themselves as they hear a twig snap - NAMIN has arrived. They stay down as NAMIN hears something and turns.)
NAMIN: The All-Powerful descends. O noble god, your servant hears you.
(NAMIN slowly walks off, and the mummy follows. We then see SARAH run to WARLOCK and the DOCTOR. She has brought LAURENCE Scarman.)
LAURENCE: Oh, my dear chap. Is he badly hurt?
DOCTOR: He'll be all right if we can staunch the bleeding.
LAURENCE: We'd better get him back to the lodge.
SARAH: Doctor, listen. I saw a mummy, a walking mummy!
DOCTOR: Mummies are embalmed, eviscerated corpses. They don't walk.
SARAH: But this one did.
DOCTOR: Never mind about that now.
(We cut to NAMIN, who has knelt before the black-themed mummy case and, with hands raised, begins to pray.)
NAMIN: [roughly] Ashindi haav olom dekh, masa intala keilin. Pasuolo ashindi kumtu ashindi. Baaksar sa'bo nada'um. Ashindi haav olom dekh.

[INT. Lodge]

(We are in Scarman's study. SARAH is arranging cushions on the couch as WARLOCK, whose arm is now in a sling, reclines. She covers him with a blanket up to his chest.)
WARLOCK: Thank you.
SARAH: Now, is there anything I can get you?
WARLOCK: No, no, I'm all right now.
SARAH: Just try and rest, then.
(She joins the others.)
LAURENCE: Well, in view of what you've told me, I'm going to fetch the police.
DOCTOR: No! This is much too grave a matter for the police, Mister Scarman.
LAURENCE: Too grave?
DOCTOR: Yes. They'd only hamper my investigation.
LAURENCE: Your investigations?
DOCTOR: Yes. Why do you think I'm here? Something's interfering with time, Mister Scarman, and time is my business.
LAURENCE: Who are you?
SARAH: Well, I'm Sarah Jane Smith. I'm a journalist.
LAURENCE: (taking the hand she offers) Journalist? Who is your companion?
SARAH: My companion? Aw, that's just the Doctor. We travel in time, Mister Scarman. I'm really from 1980.
LAURENCE: That is utterly preposterous, Miss Smith.
SARAH: Yes. Sorry.
DOCTOR: Interesting contraption.
LAURENCE: Kindly leave that alone, sir. That apparatus is delicately adjusted and furthermore is a receiver containing highly dangerous electrical current.
(The device features a largish wheel with teardrop shapes cut out of it and a paper cylinder for recording vibrations.)
DOCTOR: Yes, so I see. What year is this?
LAURENCE: What year?
DOCTOR: It's a simple enough question, surely.
LAURENCE: Are you telling me you don't know what y-
DOCTOR: If I knew, I wouldn't ask. Don't be obtuse, man.
LAURENCE: Nineteen hundred and eleven.
DOCTOR: Ah. Splendid. An excellent year. One of my favourites. Yes. I really must congratulate you, Mister Scarman.
LAURENCE: On what?
DOCTOR: Inventing the radio telescope forty years early.
LAURENCE: That, sir, is a Marconiscope. Its purpose-
DOCTOR: Is to receive radio emissions from the stars.
LAURENCE: How could you possibly know that?
DOCTOR: Well, you see, Mister Scarman, I have the advantage of being slightly ahead of you. Sometimes behind you, but normally ahead of you.
LAURENCE: I see.
DOCTOR: I'm sure you don't, but it's very nice of you to try. Now, why don't you show me how this gadget works?
LAURENCE: Do you mean you want me to-
DOCTOR: (with a disarming grin) Please. Just a little demonstration.
(LAURENCE operates some switches and then pulls a lever to the table's surface. With a spark and a bit of smoke at the contact point, the machine begins to operate. The wheel spins.)
DOCTOR: Amazing. That's really amazing.
(He pulls the power lever back up, but the wheel only spins more rapidly.)
LAURENCE: I can't switch it off!
(He flicks some switches, to no avail, and a big diode explodes with a flash. The wheel stops.)
SARAH: Oh, very impressive.
LAURENCE: It's never done that before.
DOCTOR: (sitting and looking at the lines on the roll of paper) Fascinating, a regular pattern repeated over and over again.
SARAH: Like an SOS?
DOCTOR: I wonder. Where was your aerial tuned?
LAURENCE: Mars. Why?
DOCTOR: Oh, I just thought I'd verify the signal.
(He removes a hand-held radio from his pocket and extends the aerial.)
LAURENCE: What's that you have, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Well, in principle it's exactly the same as the gadget you've invented, only less cumbersome. Yes, it is the same signal. Obviously automatic. Well, if it's a message, it shouldn't be difficult to decipher. They'd want to make it easy.
(He starts to jot a few lines in his notebook.)
LAURENCE: Who would?
SARAH: Whoever transmitted it.
DOCTOR: Now, let's see. This pattern recurs three times in one line. Let's call that E, the commonest letter in the language.
(For a moment, we see NAMIN back at the cabinet organ. There are now three mummies in the room. They line up in front of the mummy case and slowly raise their arms.)
DOCTOR: Beware Sutekh.
SARAH: Sutekh?
DOCTOR: Better known to you as Set?
SARAH: Of course, Egyptian mythology. Set, or Sutekh, was one of their gods. He was killed by Horus, god of light.
LAURENCE: Yes, but Egyptology and Mars?
DOCTOR: If I'm right, the world is facing the greatest peril in its history. (He stands.)
SARAH: Hey, wait for me.
DOCTOR: No. The forces that are being summoned into corporeal existence in that house are more powerful and more dangerous than anything even I have ever encountered. Stay here.
LAURENCE: I've an old hunting rifle that might come in useful.
DOCTOR: I never carry firearms. (He leaves.)
LAURENCE: What I meant was that I should feel better if I could bring it.
SARAH: (almost out the door) Bring it.

[INT. Study]

(As the music plays, the DOCTOR enters the priory and cracks the study door open a bit. Superimposed on the mummy case, we see spots of various colours radiating outward from a dark centre. The mummies take a few steps back, and NAMIN steps beside them while his music continues.)
NAMIN: All-high, all-powerful, most noble Lord, thy humble servant welcomes thee.
(He bows his head and holds his hands across his chest. A figure appears from the central blackness and grows larger until it fills the space. It is dressed in an all-black loose-fitting lamé-type suit and wears a black helmet.
Out in the corridor, SARAH enters, and the DOCTOR gestures for her to stand back.
The figure steps forward as NAMIN speaks. Smoke appears at its feet as if it is scorching the earth on which it treads.)
NAMIN: Master, at last you are here. I, Ibrahim Namin, and all my forebears have served you faithfully through the thousands of years that you have slept. We have guarded the secret of your tomb.
(The figure stands before NAMIN and speaks calmly.)
FIGURE: Stand. Look upon my face.
NAMIN: Great One, Lord Sutekh, I dare not.
FIGURE: Look.
(NAMIN raises his head and sees the helmet.)
FIGURE: Is this the face of Sutekh?
NAMIN: Master, spare me. Spare me. I am a true servant of the great Sutekh.
FIGURE: I am the servant of Sutekh. He needs no other.
(The figure uncrosses its hands from its chest and reaches out to the shoulders of the kneeling NAMIN. As he is grasped by the black gloves, he cries out in pain. The DOCTOR, LAURENCE, and SARAH watch from the doorway. Smoke pours from beneath the hands on NAMIN's shoulders as he cries out and whimpers.)
FIGURE: (still speaking calmly) Die. I bring Sutekh's gift of death to all humanity.
(He pushes the smouldering, now-dead NAMIN down onto the floor.)

The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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