Doctor Who: Pyramids of Mars Effects Comparison

In 2024, Pyramids of Mars received a truncated edit for Tales of the TARDIS. Handled by the same team who did the previous year's The Daleks In Colour, this edit cut around 20 minutes of material, re-edited certain sequences by heavily amping up the cross-cutting and included new visual effects and music. Here is a comparison of the updated footage with the original footage.
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[@RogEdwardsTV]

They also added a “wobble” to the scenes where the poacher runs into the force-field and the Doctor pokes the forcefield with a stick! 😀

[@LicencetoWho]

Good stuff! Hopefully we will see the original non omnibus version with these special effects in the Season 13 blu-ray set.

[@AnotherScifiGuy]

I hope so as well!

[@TediousMilkshake]

@@AnotherScifiGuyPROWL!!

[@AnotherScifiGuy]

@@TediousMilkshake 🤪🤪

[@ninebrassmonkeys]

Good effort, Dan. You've spotted most of the updated VFX, but missed a few (eg, the deflection barrier, Scarman getting shot, removing the BBC camera in the opening TARDIS scene, etc).

[@DanTheMan2150AD]

@ninebrassmonkeys your edits certainly didn’t help matters

[@ninebrassmonkeys]

@@DanTheMan2150AD Yours or mine?

[@DanTheMan2150AD]

Yours

[@ninebrassmonkeys]

@@DanTheMan2150AD Haha, ok. Well, mine went down INCREDIBLY well with most people. But I've no idea about yours. (From what I've seen, you show promise. Keep at it, champ.)

[@DanTheMan2150AD]

I’d love to meet these people…

[@Gzeebo]

How did the costume department manage to create such a beautiful and iconic mask for imprisoned Sutekh and then such a dorky looking one for the climactic face reveal. I do like that it's not a straight-up dog or jackal (Anubis), more sort of equine and weird like the mysterious "Set animal" is supposed to be.

[@marionlawless]

They probably ran out of time and money.

[@Darren79]

What I think helped enormously with certain shots was that they added additional sound effects which really helps to bed the effects into the visuals (something that I find the lack of with the animations doesn't help - they go with massive sets with 60s TV audio)

[@DanTheMan2150AD]

@@Darren79 I do agree with you Darren however I find the new sound design rather poor in certain moments. I think they definitely could do better.

[@Lumibear.]

Oh nice, I do enjoy these, thanks for putting it together. Interestingly I had noticed the hand was removed but not the erasure of the cushion, equally I had noticed the removal of the shadow of someone’s head in the Tardis window, but not the background changes in the same pyramid scenes. This is why we need these comparisons!

[@Logan_Irrelevant]

That effect with the Time Vortex was my only problem with the Pyramids of Mars, glad stuff like this exists.

[@boiwifeyasmr4U]

Its so weird seeing the modern time vortex in classoc who

[@stevetayler9518]

I wonder if in forty years time they’ll be updating current episodes to modern Who; like perhaps adding an explanation as to why Ruby’s mum couldn't be bothered to simply make sure her baby doesn't freeze to death after being left on the snow covered ground, but more importantly, please make sure she's named after that lamp-post over there.

[@billthewhovian]

Or she simply could leave a typed note.

[@gabedudas2201]

why does the portal at 1:06 Remind Me Of The Clean Doctor Who End Credits

[@kiernankern3911]

I really love these. Especially the new environment and matte work at 1:23!

[@stephenmurphy2212]

I love how they used the Series 14 time vortex in the special edition version. :)

[@CJFS00s]

( 2:45 ) That shot of mars was taken from The Waters of Mars. 👍🏻

[@dark_knight_-tb4qd]

How dare they remove Sutehk's great cushion holder.

[@georgeowain]

Kind of surprised they didn’t add any effects to Sutekh’s head and enable him to move his mouth and eyes to show some actual expressions.

[@nifralo2752]

I like the rainbow tunnel effect

[@philnewton-england7795]

I always love these side by side comparisons - thank you. I think the reflection at 0:48 is the wrong way round though. I'd wrote a short fan script where the Dr had left his ring on Sutekh's chair & travelled back in time to get it when he stood up (at 3:06) lol

[@1965anthony]

Things like the stabilisation and removing the hand are welcome. But most of these changes are not obvious improvements. And they have missed an obvious opportinity to animate the dog-head version of Sutekh. It is still a mask under a mask.

[@clydesight]

I like the original episodes very much. The more dog like Sutekh in the revival is a biut hard to take.

[@matthewbolitho-jones]

I like the new effects

[@BrianSmith-lj6ug]

They cut out my favourite scene in the new version.The bit where Sarah is trapped in the cylinder and the Doctor has to answer the riddle of the Osirians! 😭😭

[@AnotherScifiGuy]

Always enjoy these comparison videos!

[@stevecallum7933]

Just watched it and thought the re edit was good and the new effects and sound fx certainly improved the feel of the story without distorting it too much. I had hoped Sutehks jackel head when revealed would have been improved with some CGI though... and im glad the conspicuous hand was deleted when he finally rose up from his throne. The bits they cut out to be fair were not that important to the telling of the story so all in all i rate it 8.5 out of 10. Very good.

[@elliot5569]

The opening shot of the orginal works better than 2024 as is too sharp and stands out especially the next scene of Egypt which drops quality drastically. I know you've not shown it but i really like the force field effects they've added.

[@ninebrassmonkeys]

This shot, which morphs from HD to SD, is to bridge the transition from the HD 2024 Ncuti/Millie intro to the 1975 SD footage.

[@chriszone50]

Ridiculous comment, you don’t understand the intention was for it to transition from HD to low quality and that’s what it did!

[@fullriver1234]

The rainbow vortex should’ve been left untouched tbh. Bit of a downgrade

[@shoogamoogaman]

I always thought the time tunnel was intentionally different from the time vortex. It was a one way system between two specific points in space and time. I didn't think people could travel through the time vortex without a capsule and live, or at least come close to dying.

[@DiamandaHagan]

Lol they based the advertising around the Sutekh time tunnel effect, apparently as foreshadowing and then they changed it.

[@whophd]

Whoa, for a whole 5 minutes you literally convinced me that I forgot I owned the Blu-ray when I watched it the other day on DVD I'm so glad they did something about that dodgy green-screen 1980 Next, they can do the Inferno cliffhanger

[@lordcthulhu627]

It's funny. While I don't usually mind these optional visual effects, this is one of the rare times I don't like it. The steadying of the croma key shots are neat, but the other bits they've done (The Tunnel Effect)... feel a bit too flashy and subtract from the actual material. They feel like someone said "We can, therefore we will". Furthermore, the reason this was done (I suppose), was to introduce younger audiences to Suhtek so they aren't confused in the latest episode. Which to me feels like a rather stupid reason. Especially, when I feel like this story didn't really need these optional effects. But that's my opinion.

[@akshaytrayner1960]

Awesome comparison I prefer the orignial

[@josephryan362]

I think one the reson they are making it look better is for whenever the series 13 doctor who collection box set comes out

[@DrWhoFanJ]

This story isn’t in Series 13.

[@DrWhoFanJ]

@@thetalonsofwaynechiang Season 13.

[@ireallydidntwanttomakeanac575]

Some of these choices are confusing. Why does the shot here at 0:29 look far worse than the much clearer version on the DVD? Why use the Shada model shot when you're going to use one of the actual model shots from the Tom Baker era here at 2:16? Why replace this shot at all at 0:41 with a edited view of the sarcophagus rather than just using the fantastic shot you already have? Probably the best change is this shot here at 1:23, and that's really it.

[@DanTheMan2150AD]

I blame Ben Cook.

[@ireallydidntwanttomakeanac575]

@@DanTheMan2150AD You definitely aren't the only one to do so.

[@bhind45]

"Why replace this shot at all at 0:41 with a edited view of the sarcophagus rather than just using the fantastic shot you already have? " I'm just going to assume it's because that shot is very shaky

[@ireallydidntwanttomakeanac575]

@@bhind45 While I agree, the mirror also is still shaking in the shot. And the replacement shot is in no way seemless.

[@DanTheMan2150AD]

@@ireallydidntwanttomakeanac575 it also feels pointless when all they needed to do was just stabilise the original shot.

[@timelordrohan9425]

While the fixed CSO work looks pretty decent, i cant stand replacing perfectly good model shots with cgi, and that laughably out of place shot of egypt.

[@stuff31]

A lot of the time corridor scenes have evidently been truncated to save time. Wise choice, I think.

[@NobodyYouKnow01]

The edits seem inconsequential, but this is coming from someone who has yet to watch any of the classic shows.

[@elliot5569]

Not a fan of the new corridor effects, something that alwayed though watching the dvd is that Time corridor was separate to the Time vortex and thats how sutekh was traped, but not now with Russell writing.

[@jefmontagne6698]

If you need a tardis to get through the vortex, why would it be used as a time corridor? You're 100% correct

[@overdev1993]

first off, I never watched the old episodes I just dont get why they changed it up that much, just WHY? also the 1975 version in this video seems to be much sharper than the 2024 one

[@flaggerify]

Why change the reflection in the mirror? Especially since it looks worse.

[@haileyshannon7548]

Updating old shows has come a long way from Ted Turner’s 80s/90s colorizing attempts and the special editions of Star Wars.

[@magnu75]

I'd like to see a comparison between the new version and the special edition new sfx!

[@thomasjohnson8391]

The original looks like smarties in space. And we need new effects on season 13 later like terror of the zygons brain of Morbuis and the seeds of doom.

[@Nick-kz6dg]

So glad the 1980 green screen has been fixed! But using the modern vortex instead of an era appropriate one doesn’t look or feel right to me.

[@kerethmakura4502]

The hand disappears on the standing up scene.

[@marquonuk]

Why was the effects update done? For the version available on iPlayer, maybe? S13 is the blu-ray set I most want, so maybe this makes it nearer?

[@DanTheMan2150AD]

@@marquonuk read the description

[@marquonuk]

​@@DanTheMan2150ADThat would have been easier if I'd thought of it, wouldn't it?! Sorry. :-)

[@ajbartley3432]

Most of its great, some seems superfluous -why replace the classic establishing shot of Egypt?- but most of all I will miss the 'Hand Of Sutekh' that hand has been a legend since i was a child!

[@Uzumakipavel]

2:09 Adios

[@htershane]

The force field effect was ok. I don’t like the time tunnel effect mainly cos I don’t like the new title sequence. Swings and roundabouts🤷‍♂️

[@geraldvance7925]

The original looks way better. The more they try to fix the past the more they ruin it.

[@kingbolo4579]

Well, that's right. The advantage of the old look is that it's so weird. Nobody does it like that any more, so you can really believe it's an alien technology. The new look is so obvious. It's done without imagination, it's what all special effects look like.

[@nifralo2752]

Couldnt they at least have have Sutekh streach his arms out as hes sucked back

[@warriorontheedgeoftime4224]

Not to take away from the people who work on the cgi upscale fillers, it's good work. However I also feel it kinda takes away the effort made by the original effects department, they didn't have computers or a high budget to work with, so they did the best with what they had. Watching it, we know it sometimes looked a bit silly, but as long as we got engulfed in the excellent story told, it honestly didn't matter. The cgi adds a nice clean alternative, but we do also have to remember this was originally filmed when such technology was unavailable and honestly was just as entertaining without it. I'd rather see the cgi used to make up the missing episodes and stories. That's where the modern cgi tech would make it interesting.

[@MartinBennett12]

The effects look better how they were

[@loggior.speedweed4345]

why did they cut so much?! this is so stupid!

[@lightofsophia6971]

Always 1975’s effects!

[@matthewvivian7235]

How do most of these look worse wtf?

[@projectdalekmark]

I hate new effects. They all look the same. If you're not happy watching the originals for what they were then just don't watch them. I personally love their old, quaint, effects

[@experi-mentalproductions5358]

George Lucas would be proud.

[@DanTheMan2150AD]

original comment do not steal

[@experi-mentalproductions5358]

@@DanTheMan2150AD A Cad Gee Million Morn Snot Tot

[@lnutt677]

I think the 1975 version is better.

[@MrSuperphil]

Seems a bit pointless as the old effects are alright.

[@papalaz4444244]

I hate the rainbow clouds thing it looks bad.

[@haileyshannon7548]

It looks like the opening credits are starting again

[@idiotproofdalek]

New effects are shite.