{"id":53569,"date":"2024-06-20T20:00:06","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T18:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=2059375"},"modified":"2024-06-20T21:01:35","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T19:01:35","slug":"doctor-whos-sutekh-is-the-perfect-classic-villain-return","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/doctor-whos-sutekh-is-the-perfect-classic-villain-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who\u2019s Sutekh is the perfect classic villain return"},"content":{"rendered":"

“He is hidden in the howling void. He is hidden within the tempest.” <\/p>

By Rhianna Evans\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 20 June 2024 at 18:00 PM<\/p>

\n\n

\u201cThe one who waits, waits no more.\u201d In this moment, Doctor Who<\/a> became the scariest show on television once again.<\/p>\n

The last few minutes of The Legend of Ruby Sunday<\/a> were filled with out-and-out horror. The image of the crumbling Susan Triad<\/a> (played by Susan Twist), a character so heavily speculated over these past few months, omnipresent and then transformed in an instant into a mummified puppet by the almighty God of Death.<\/p>\n

That is his infinite power, Sutekh\u2019s<\/a> time is now. But, why is it now? Some are asking why not Omega? Or the Trickster<\/a>? Or Fenric? Or a brand new big bad?!<\/p>\n

To find out why it had to be this adversary above all others, we go back, almost 50 years, to 1975. It was Doctor Who\u2019s 13th season and Tom Baker\u2019s<\/a> second as the Doctor. With the iconic Sarah Jane Smith<\/a> (played by the late, great Elisabeth Sladen) at his side, the Fourth Doctor (intending to travel to UNIT\u2019s base) is thrown off course by a projection that has infiltrated the TARDIS itself.<\/p>\n

Sarah Jane sees the apparition of a Typhonian Beast, foreshadowing the arrival of an Egyptian god. Trapped beneath a pyramid and powerless to move, imprisoned by the ancient god Horus, Sutekh lies in wait. The Doctor and Sarah Jane find themselves pulled into a race against time to stop Sutekh from freeing himself from his prison and destroying the entire world.<\/p>\n

\"The\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Pyramids of Mars.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Sutekh, once the last of the Osirans and now part of the Pantheon of Discord (that includes Maestro<\/a> and the Toymaker<\/a>), lived in fear of any and all life forms that could challenge him, so he simply set out to destroy them. For his crimes, he was imprisoned in a tomb on Earth, one that was uncovered by the unfortunate archaeologist Marcus Scarman (Bernard Archard).<\/p>\n

Voiced by Gabriel Woolf<\/a> (who now returns to the character aged 91), Sutekh\u2019s timbre drips with malice and all are powerless to his sway.<\/p>\n

Despite the fact that many think of the famous \u201cDo I Have the right?\u201d speech from Genesis of the Daleks as Tom Baker\u2019s defining moment as the Doctor, the Fourth Doctor\u2019s resolute character was defined in his fearless confrontation with Sutekh the Destroyer.<\/p>\n

Baker is at his best and most dramatic in a performance that brings gravitas to the Time Lord \u2013 making it all the more shocking when he\u2019s ruthlessly tortured and brought to his knees by this fallen god.<\/p>\n

The Tom Baker years were vast, moving from the light-hearted hijinks of the Douglas Adams classic City of Death to the ominous debut of the Cloister Bell in Baker\u2019s final story as the Doctor, Logopolis. There was no tone too ambitious for the Fourth Doctor, and Pyramids of Mars was one of the first stories to lay that claim.<\/p>\n

\"Susan\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Susan Twist as Susan Triad in The Legend of Ruby Sunday.<\/span><\/figcaption> BBC<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

For a villain only ever seen in one television serial, Sutekh is perhaps the one with the richest backstory. Penned by series script editor Robert Holmes and writer Lewis Greifer (using the joint pseudonym Stephen Harris), their tight script, inspired by 1932 film The Mummy, neatly fused real Egyptian mythology with an ingenious use of time travel.<\/p>\n

The intricate nature of this story is a testament to the classic era, with stories often running for four weeks or longer, Doctor Who serials could build highly complex worlds worthy of elaborate novels. This story is a perfect jumping-on point for anyone unfamiliar with Doctor Who, opening with something of an introduction to the Doctor himself.<\/p>\n

What better story to return to at a time when Doctor Who is being introduced to new audiences around the world?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Earth isn\u2019t my home, Sarah, I\u2019m a Time Lord,\u201d he tells Sarah Jane, and when she teases him, he rebukes her seriously. \u201cYou don\u2019t understand the implications. I\u2019m not a human being, I walk in eternity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Jane, perhaps the first companion to challenge the Doctor directly in his choices, asks a question that others might not have asked, but one which we at home might: \u201cWhy don\u2019t you just tune up 1980 and we can\u2026 well, leave?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Doctor eventually relents, \u201cAlright, if we leave now, let\u2019s see what the world will look like in 1980.\u201d He opens the doors inside the TARDIS to reveal a desolate planet circling a dead Sun \u2013 Sutekh can and will destroy the future.<\/p>\n