abstract
| - The story as originally written by Lewis Greifer was considered awful so that bastard/genius Robert Holmes rewrote it under the fake name “Stephen Harris,” both out of embarrassment and because Greifer was well-known to be an unforgiving drunk. Pyramids of Mars is itself well known for being drunk as it starred Tom Baker and helped aggravate the "UNIT dating controversy." It’s also often considered to be one of the top ten or so Doctor Who stories, like, ever. Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen improvised a number of moments, proving themselves to be more entertaining than Robert Holmes. One improvised bit Baker admitted stealing from the Marx Brothers (if you’ve seen Robot, this isn’t news to you) showed them walk on to set then do an about face when they see a mummy. Several scenes were deleted from the final broadcast due to language and sexual content, one of which included “a full frontal version of the Osirian ‘rocket’ explosion.” These were later included on a DVD version of the story released under the “Doctor Screw” library of “Filthy Fantasies and Amorous Adventures.” Another member of the Osirian race also appears in some non-canon noise-book that stole some other elements from yet another Doctor Who story, but who cares? Some actors in this story also showed up in other stories and also reprised their roles here in lots of pointlessly fetishistic “further adventures of” nonsense, but again, who cares, really? It’s all Six Degrees Of Separation From Nicholas Briggs, why can’t one just enjoy this story and not recycle all the elements as if stealing something from here makes your story cooler? Man, fans - can’t live with ‘em, can’t keep producing a show without ‘em.
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