About Time 4 bafflingly identifies a Bram Stoker play called The Curse of the Scarab as the inspiration behind 'Pyramids of Mars'. I don't think any such play exists. In fact, the only play I can find by Stoker is his adaptation of Dracula and that was a one-night affair created purely to protect his copyright (bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/bram-stokers-stage-adaptation-of-dracula). Actually, odd as it sounds, I think they might be getting confused with the fifth Doctor DWM comic (tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Curse_of_the_Scarab_(comic_story)).
There is of course Stoker’s novel The Jewel of Seven Stars, which revolves around a mummy and was the basis for the Hammer film Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb, which is what Elizabeth Sandifer picks as Robert Holmes's muse/first draft (eruditorumpress.com/blog/i-dont-exist-in-your-world-pyramids-of-mars). The Discontinuity Guide plumps for both, plus The Mummy, another Hammer horror film.
Thing is, none of these could exactly be described as particularly similar to 'Pyramids of Mars' except for having a mummy in them. Fifteen minutes' worth of children’s puzzles would have been a dead giveaway, for example, and, as a sidenote, Dicks is extraordinarily respectful of Part Four in this. The main reason they've been picked, I suspect, is because they're Hammer films and we all know Hincliffe and Holmes did Hammer. And that opens up something of a problem.
The heyday of Hammer horror stemmed from their sitting at the crossroads where increasingly lurid gore and titillation were permitted but still viewed as illicit enough draw and audience. This isn't to undermine any specific films they produced, many of which either actively thrived on their ability to confront the seductiveness of evil or just treated these aspects as window dressing -- indeed, founding a cinematic style on Gothic literature without gruesome violence and insistent sexuality would be a bit odd. It even makes sense that it would prove the inspiration for a mode of children's, or at least young teens', stories since sex and coming-of-age sit so obviously together.
Generally, the show is rather good at channelling that sex drive somewhere equivalent. Frankenstein revolves a lot around fear that the monster'll breed, and 'The Brain of Morbius' turns that into a fear that Morbius's military empire could spread through galaxies. Similarly, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde plays on fears of a man who lacks all inhibition, and 'Planet of Evil' turns that dark side into something antithetical to all nature, a boundary to knowledge and experience that must not be crossed -- unspeakable acts become something that literally cannot be described.
But what's the sex drive behind Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, beside the fact Valerie Leon's modern incarnation spends half the film in a strange nightie and her ancient one wears a top that doesn't quite reach the bottom of her breasts? The best I can come up with is that it centres on Margaret turning 20 and deciding she wants to unleash her slumbering sexual power, Queen Tera, which she does by amassing a load of gifts, whatever the cost, before discovering that, should she truly awaken her sexuality, it'll actually consume her. I can't see much of 'Pyramids of Mars' in there. It doesn't even have anything resembling a mummy, save the bandage-smothered Valerie Leon in hospital at the end.
It's not surprising Hinchcliffe had already turned away form Hammer horror as a model before he moved on to Target, it was already burning itself out. There's a limit, and a low one at that, to how many non-gory, non-titillating Hammer rip-offs you can do.
What's more surprising is how persistent the idea has remained that Blood from the Mummy's Tomb or The Jewel of the Seven Stars is the blueprint for 'Pyramids of Mars'? They're nothing like each other. No wonder Miles and Wood had to resort to a fictional stageplay when asking where it all came from.
Anyway, for a proper look what this story actually is, click here...
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