TW Watches The Outer Limits: The Zanti Misfits

By Owen Quinn Photos copyright United Artists Television

Sometimes you realise that you know an episode of something but when asked what the plot was, you have no idea.

This was the case for me with The Outer Limits episode The Zanti Misfits. Everyone knows the creatures themselves, ant-like wasps with a humanoid face. They were bigger than a wasp, more like a small rat, but their image was burned into my young head years ago in repeats.

So I recently watched it just to remember what it was about and why it has stayed in my head for all these yearts. All these years…..Now there’s a phrase that makes me old even with repeats. Well, I couldn’t have watched it when it was first aired as it was 1963, December 30th to be precise. In 1997, it was ranked as number 97 in the 100 greatest television episodes of all time. But all I could recall was that face on the wasp body crawling up someone’s arm.

So sixty two years after it was first broadcast, I settled down to watch it. Outer Limits was a counterpart to The Twilight Zone. Both were anthology shows where different stories set against a sci-fi background commenting on the human condition. Many still hold relevance today. Each episode of both shows had an opening and closing monologue.

As the episode opens, we learn that the human race has been contacted by an alien race. It is summed up in the opening monologue.

Throughout history, compassionate minds have pondered this dark and disturbing question: what is society to do with those members who are a threat to society, those malcontents and misfits whose behavior undermines and destroys the foundations of civilization? Different ages have found different answers. Misfits have been burned, branded and banished. Today, on this planet Earth, the criminal is incarcerated in humane institutions…..or he is executed. Other planets use other methods. This is the story of how the perfectionist rulers of the planet Zanti attempted to solve the problem of the Zanti misfits.

We learn that the military have sealed off a ghost town called Morgue (of all things). The alien planet called Zanti have issued specific and potentially devastating orders to the humsna to expect a ship of their miscreants. Their orders are to seal off the area and maintain Zanti privacy. Otherwise, the Earth will face terrible consequences and with the Zanti seemingly more technologically advanced, it is a threat they take seriously. Earth will not be able to survive a war with the aliens if their demands are not met. Cooperate and the Earth will benenfit from great advances in technology.

Knowing human nature, it does not like to be held over a barrel or be dictated to but it all depends on who’s doing the threatening. The Zanti have determined that this is the perfect place to exile their criminals to as long as humans maintain the required conditions.

However, a bank robber, Ben Garth played by Bruce Dern, father of Jurassic Park actress, Laura Dern and his damaged girlfriend, Lisa, who witness the Zanti ship’s arrival. Garth goes to check it oput while the military deploy Steve Grave to be their emissary to repaoir any damage done.

The Zanti ship is smaller than we as an audience expects. The shape of the Zanti is teased through one of the open vents with the sight of an antennae and a strange noise.

We get the full effect when seeing their privacy has been compromised, the Regent chases Garth who falls into a crevice. The sight of the Zanti creature racing up his body with that buzzing sound. It plays on the primal fear of insects crawling up your skin and boiting you. Something like a wasp’s sting hurts and can kill, similarly, a spider. It’s the human mind’s incapability to comprehend what they are seeing that contributes to the death. This thing has almost cartoon eyes, a nose and a mouth. Their shape is so familiar yet incomprehensible that it adds to the terror and paralysis. Garth’s screams are those of a man knowing he is going to die. And when Lisa goes to find him, the creature gives chase. Lisa’s wreck of a life plays into her half hearted flight and non resposnse top Grave. As she says , she has always ripped away at the seams of everything and it fell apart. Her self destructive behaviour makes a change from the usual damsel in distress.

Grave kills the Regent but the prisoners take advantage of this to flee in the ship. We get an all out fight between the Zanti swarms, who march off the ship to attack the humans. The final battle is impressive as the Zanti swarm down the windows, soldiers fall screaming, their bodies covered in Zanti. The use of stop motion for the Zanti is great and well realised. It’d a trick used for years of repeating shots. Doctor Who did it to make you think there were armies of Daleks and Cybermen flooding from their ships. I often talk about how imagination forces production teams to come up with clever ways to realise what the writer sees on screen for the audience. With clever direction and lower points of view shots, we get a real battle with guns and flame throwers.

Every last Zanti is dead but this is no victory. With all the Zanti rules broken, the Earth will now face their full retaliation and be destroyed.

But this is the good thing about the Outer Limits and Twilight Zone; everything is not always what you think or see. The Zanti announce there will be no retaliation; the Earth is safe. The Zanti plan was for the humans to kill the Zanti prisoners. Zanti do not and are incapable of killing their own but humans will kill anything including their own people. It is something when an alien race makes us look at each other and see what we really are. We pride ourselves that we kill mostly for honour, to protect what we beleive in and all in the name of good. But the simple truth is, kiling comes easy to us. Even those of us that think we would never do it, will in the right circumstance. We will kill anything that looks different from us to preseve our way of life. Shoot first, ask questions later as they say.

But when that part of us is highlighted through an alien lens, then this is why The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone endure over sixty years later. Times change but we as a species, still have a long way to go.

Classic Foes: Adam, Buffy The Vampire Slayer

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photos copyright Mutant Enemy 20th Century Fox

Over three seasons Buffy faced werewolves, zombies and of course vampires but there was one iconic monster that surely had to be covered? No, Dracula would arrive in season five and also in a Spike spin-off comic book.

How would they do Frankenstein’s Monster? Like all other monsters he would have to be similar to but different enough from the classic Boris Karloff movie version.

So was born Adam.

Played By George Hertzberg, Adam was a foe that tested even Buffy’s abilities and, in the end, it would take the combined forces of the Scooby Gang to defeat.

By season four, Cordelia and Angel have left the show for the Angel spin off, so Buffy has no boyfriend and has to face college life after the dramatic events of season three. Life is changing for all the gang. But something else is going on as the supernatural are going missing. Word of Sunnydale’s strange deaths and happenings has reached farther than they knew and beneath the college is The Initiative led by Buffy’s psychology professor Maggie Walsh. Walsh is, in fact, the head of the Initiative.

They want to weaponise the supernatural creatures so they kidnap them, chip them and experiment on them. Spike was captured and chipped. If he tried to kill or feed on a human he could not because his body was flooded with excruciating pain. Walsh then puts together the ultimate soldier. To that end she followed the work of Doctor Frankenstein and created Adam from various and lethal body parts from other monsters. But Adam did not want to be controlled and like the Frankenstein monster, he turned on his creator and killed her, even calling her mummy as she fell dead. But worse; he turned her into a mindless hybrid to serve him. He tasks her and her co-worker to begin augmenting the soldiers into things like, but not superior to, Adam. Adam was initially driven as to self exploration; who was he? What was his purpose?

Adam gained a sense of self and decided that it would be better if he took control. To that end he continued Walsh’s work, adding parts of monsters to unwitting victims. Some of these were the soldiers of the Initiative masquerading as students. Adam also incorporates weaponry into his body making him a virtual Terminator. Walsh has supplied him an unwitting army which is converted at will. Adam revels in his superior body which he vocalises to Buffy’s new boyfriend, Initiative soldier, Riley (Marc Blucas). Adam sees himself as the one to deliver the world from all of its imperfections. One of those imperfections is Spike who makes a deal with Adam. If he breaks the Scooby Gang apart then Adam will remove the chip in Spike’s head. The gang fall apart, their friendships shattered thanks to devious Spike but they realise in time they have been manipulated.

Adam is able to see that alone the Slayer can be defeated but when she has the strength of her friends then she is a serious threat to him and could well bring about his downfall. But he underestimates the bonds between them and not even a huge argument can keep them apart. They know he has an uranium core near his spine that if ripped out will kill Adam.

In one of the most spectacular endings to a storyline in Buffy history, Buffy and friends storm the Initiative while Adam releases all the monsters within leading to a huge battle between humans and monsters. It’s all out war as the Scooby Gang combine all their abilities through Willow’s magic. Buffy becomes a magical being that can turn Adam’s bullets to dust and withstand his weaponry. She turns projectiles into birds before putting her fist through his chest and ripping out his heart crushing it with her magic. As an aside, the magic the Scooby Gang tap into comes from the First Slayer who will come to demand retribution for this transgression.

The government deem the Initiative a failed experiment and orders are given to cover it all up – literally by burying it in concrete.

Season four was a mixed bag. The hole left by Angel and Cordelia was very evident; the wooden Riley completely failed to fill the void left by Angel and while Anya does a decent job of replacing Cordy as Xander’s foil and love interest, it’s still lacks the on-screen chemistry the former had with him. It also started out very slow and took a lot of time to build up. There are a few bright spots throughout, Faith’s return and the episode ‘Hush’ for example, as well as a final episode with a monster mash-up that was such a good idea that Joss Whedon would replicate it all over again for a new generation (thinking they were seeing something new) for A Cabin in the Woods.

Overall Adam, as the season big bad, gained mixed criticism from viewers and critics alike but as the season progressed he successfully brought the Frankenstein’s monster legacy to another level.

Stephen & Owen Face Humanoids From The Deep

This time we face the Roger Corman movie Humanoids From The Deep, mutated salmon monsters that want to kill the men and breed with the women. If you think the plot is mad, wait until you hear the behind the scenes drama. The story of a director and cast that got dissed behind their very backs and only found out when the movie screened. Plus Owen unveils his next writng project.

Join the craic. You won’t look back!

Stranger Things Final Season: First Five Minutes Will Leave You Screaming

Copyright of Netflix

You can feel the anticipation and excitement as the final season of Stranger Things creeps ever closer. Rumours and theories are flying and Netflix has dropped the first five minutes of the new season. It does not disappoint and the horror is in your face.

Don’t listen toi me. Just watch it and freak!

Stephen Carey Stories Podcast celebrates 1 year Anniversary

Join Stephen carey, Owen Quinn and Jack Markham as they celebrate the one year anniversary of the podcast. They look back at the higlights, who said what, stats, listener feedback and get personal when they reveal never before details ablut themselves as to why you love to tune in. Plus, will Owen ever be able to pronounce Dave Bautista’s name?

Join the craic. You won’t look back!

TW Reads Doctor Who End of the Line Comic Strip

    By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photo copyright marvel

Doctor Who has been for 60 years a canvas for every type of story you can and cannot think of but rarely has it dipped into pure horror. In the Doctor Who Monthly 54 and 55. Written by Steve Parkhouse and drawn by Dave Gibbons, it is one of those rare stories that would have to be toned down for television. Anything else that has come close like the Two Doctors has come in for criticism about being too violent for children. But adults underestimate kids sneakiness and watch things they should not be.

The Doctor arrives alone on a seemingly deserted subway platform in an undetermined time and place. It is covered with litter and graffiti and gives off a gloomy aura. Suddenly the Doctor finds himself under attack from cannibalistic humans. While the show has dealt with horror this is firmly in the genre where Mad Max, Doomsday and The last of Us are at home. Humanity has been reduced to the level of murderous scavengers who kill and do anything to survive. To think we as civilised beings falling to this level is unsettling and scary. Like those beings we would kill our friends for a scrap of bread or do anything to have the safety of a community in this nightmare landscape.

These cannibals use bones for weapons as well as blades, axes, hunting knives, anything to mutilate and carve their kill there and then. Some of them have devolved and look misshapen, the result of probably the radiation and toxic atmosphere that has caused birth defects. This revokes Wrong Turn and the Hills Have Eyes mutants. They are not to be reasoned with, something that is alien to the Doctor.

All he can do is run for his life in a landscape that wants to murder him and have him for dinner….literally. Their leader is called the Chief, a madman that has a chainsaw for an arm and his sniffer dog is an old man on all fours on a leash and harness. This is R rated stuff and would not have made it to television. When you watch movies like Doomsday where a virus has decimated the UK but there are survivors in Scotland that mirror the cannibals in End of the Line. In that movie they tied Sean Pertwee’s character to the front of a tank and burned him alive and started feasting on him there and then. This echoes the scene where the Chief is electrocuted. His minions comment they love a roast and how good he smells before feeding. This is scary stuff as the Doctor is on the verge of being sliced apart and fed on. No regeneration will save him this time. If ever a concept would send a kid behind the sofa then this is it.

In the seventh Doctor story Paradise Towers, Mel is almost murdered by two old cannibalistic pensioners. Even then it was played down as not to be OTT despite the image of one of them being eaten by a trash disposal unit with only her legs showing. What is shown in this comic strip is far more graphic. We see two survivors stomachs being ripped open by the Chief, something that would not make it on screen.

However rescue comes in the form of Angel, a blond girl ace fighter of the Guardian Angels. She is part of a few survivors including leader Sonny and the Engineer. Sonny and Angel are romantically involved and where there is love there is hope right?

The Engineer is an old man who has figured a way out of the city but is very ill. It is a combination of radiation and malnutrition. He knows there is a place called countryside where they can live free from the poisons and cannibals. All he needs to do is get the train moving. It is easy to picture Sonny and Angel starting a family along with the other survivors once they are free from the city.

The Doctor succeeds in getting the train moving but the Chief and his hordes attack. In the battle he tries to kill the Doctor for himself but hits electrical cables frying him on the spot. He suddenly becomes dinner as they are excited at the prospect of a roast dinner. Separated from the others, the Doctor stumbles upon the Tardis and takes off. As we know the Doctor keeps running, never looking back.

This time however he needs to know if the Engineer achieved his dream of living free in the countryside. He pilots the Tardis To land outside the city where he is dismayed to see a wasteland with no indication of any form of lush countryside.

He waits patiently on the platform for a long time until it starts raining. Concerned about the radiation effect in the droplets, the Doctor pauses at the Tardis door. He knows they are not coming and that they probably were killed in the attack. With a final look at the poison wasteland, he ponders that it is probably for the best. It is a bleak day when even the Doctor decides that death potentially at the hands of cannibals is preferable to finding sanctuary has been reduced to ash.

It’s a very somber end to the story and a stark reminder that the Doctor doesn’t always win. The television fourth Doctor would stride in to any situation and save the day no matter how dire the situation. He brings hope and light but there are some places in the universe that not even he can light up.

A great story that highlights that if we fall from civilisation it may be too far to ever come back again. A multilayered gem from Steve Parkhouse.

Magic TV: Doctor Who: Amy Pond’s Baby Explodes

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photos copyright BBC

We were warned in A Good Man Goes To War.

The Doctor would rise so high before falling further than he ever has before because this was the day he discovered who River Song really was. But I was not prepared to have my jaw fall during an episode that blew me away.

Thus far we have had the Doctor meeting the mysterious Professor River Song who knows him but he has no idea who she is. Currently she is in the storm cage for murdering a man and just back from a trip to London with the Doctor where Stevie Wonder played for them.

At the same time the Doctor has discovered that the Amy he and Rory have been travelling with is just a flesh avatar. The real Amy has been kidnapped and kept alive by Madame Kovarian and her army led by Colonel Manton. They have joined forces with the Headless Monks to prevent the Doctor rescuing Amy. But the Doctor is not one to simply walk away blowing up the twelfth Cyber legion as a message.

The legions at Demon’s Run are taken down by the Doctor and his allies such as the Silurian people, Vastra, Jennie, Strax, a pirate crew, Dorium and World War Two pilots including Danny Boy. Amy and the baby are rescued and all is well with the world. But the Doctor in all his planning has failed to see that he has been tricked in a double bluff. Lady Vastra points out that this was too easy and the Doctor did all this out of anger. Cleric Lorna Bucket arrives warning them that this is a trap. But the re are no lifeforms registering on their scanners; however the Headless Monks are not alive so won’t register.

All of this was done so they could have a baby with Time Lord DNA mixed in due to Amy’s exposure to the Time Vortex on her wedding night in the Tardis. The Doctor gets a message from Kovarian that the baby is hope in the war against the Doctor. he is the cause of everything that is happening.

As the Headless Monks attack, the Doctor’s friends surround Amy and baby Melody from their enemies getting Melody back again. Lorna joins the fight as she met the Doctor once before and has searched for him ever since.

Kovarian laughs that fooling the Doctor once was a joy but fooling him twice the same way is a privilege. Realising what she means the Doctor runs as River Song narrates a poem about Demon’s Run. The Doctor runs calling out for Amy, Kovarian says wakey-wakey and Melody Pond explodes in her mother’s arms as the flesh avatar she always was.

I cannot tell you how much this moment was a slap in the face. You immediately are horrified and feel for Amy and Rory as she screams staring at the white goo she is covered in. The Doctor cannot say anything and Amy pushes him away despite saying she knows this is not his fault. The mournful soundtrack is haunting as they come to terms with losing the baby. They lose Lorna too as she dies having found the Doctor again. Dorium is also lost as is Strax.

The entire episode has been so carefully layered and structured to the moment the Doctor realises too late that he has not won at all; he has failed and in the process delivered the prize right into Kovarian’s hands destroying the lives of his two best friends, Amy and Rory forever.

The loss of a baby is bad enough but to have her kidnapped, taken away from you forever to be turned into a weapon specifically to kill the Doctor is worse. You know she is out there and the life you had in your head for her, the plans you had, the moments that are robbed of that make lifetime memories are gone because of the man in the blue box. These parents will never smile again or have a happy birthday party. Rory says it all in three words “yeah we know.”

In those words he conveys the pain and grief he and Amy share now. And you can tell it is directed at the Doctor. There is so much consequence in their words and body language that the Doctor really cannot understand. Most people live to have children someday and raise them to be better and to give them better lives than they had growing up. There is a hole in their hearts that will never be cured.

The interesting thing is that although we know that River Song is Melody, it doesn’t take away from Amy and Rory’s pain.

A Good Man Goes To War is for me one of the most outstanding episodes of the Matt Smith era not because of the alien aspect but it is the boldest and most human story of them all dealing with the loss of a child. Perfect.

TW Reviews 30 Days of Night: Falling Sun Comic #1

By Owen Quinn author. Artwork copyright IDW and Chris Shehan

It’s interesting that knowing Barrow is in potential danger for 30 days with no sun, that many have stayed there. What does that say about the human psyche that it would gamble with their very souls like that?

I don’t ususally review comic books but I read and collect them. But, last week while collecting my pull list, I noticed this on the wall. It is a limited series , six issues I believe and I have it ordered.

I had never read the first comic book. My first encounter with the 30 Days of Night world was the movie starring Josh Harnett and Melissa George. I loved it. Such calculated savagery on behalf of the vamps and blood on a snow background never fails to impact. It was only then I heard of the comic and when I saw The X-Files comic do a crossover with 30 Days, I jumped on it. I didn’t jump on the sequel movie though.

But I did jump on this when I saw that cover staring at me from the shelf. It’s gorgeous and evocative. This print is the first in IDW Dark run which will focus on horror and it picks up twenty years after the events of the first comic series. Barrow is a different place now, fearful of the arrival of a month of night with survivors still in therapy groups. Me? I’d have moved to the sunniest climate I could find. Or a church with plenty of garlic and crucifixes.

Writer Rodney Barnes and artist Chris Shehan have brought us back to Barrow where a newly resurrected Vicente has shown to give Barrow a second taste of the power of vampires where everyone is on the menu and no one will survive this attack. This is going to be a slaughter for revenge theri fallen from the first attack. Shehan’s use of shades of red is beautiful making this a visual feast.

In the middle of this comes a troubled teenager, Jalen James, staying with his Uncle Calvin to escape gang trouble in Los Angeles. As Jalen meets the other residents, we see a lovely split. Those who don’t believe the original attack ever happened scoff at those that do like poor Bobby Jo, who believes she should have died with her family that night and is still plagued with nightmares. Ernestine’s mother fills her house with holy candles, crucifiex and the Bible but her daughter knows they are no good if a vampire comes.

Her mother says, “Barrow is wicked. That’s why the bad thing came.”

What a great line, so evocative of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot.

It’s interesting that knowing Barrow is in potential danger for 30 days with no sun, that many have stayed there. What does that say about the human psyche that it would gamble with their very souls like that?

The town prepares each year to vampire proof itself but seriously, why have they stayed and not moved to sunnier climates with me?

The fact we, as readers can see the rebirth of Vladimir, brother of, Vicente, who heads straight to Barrow with his vampire brood like migrating birds which brings a real sense of unease. Valdimir is furious that he was murdered by Marlow in the original series as his brother watched.

It is the first time that I have willed characters to run now especially with the divided nature of the town between those that know and those that don’t believe. I felt unnerved as we witnessed the rebirth and look into the inhabitants that have no idea what’s coming. Jalen has picked the wrong time to visit his uncle because he is now in the path of a gang far deadlier and terrifying than anything he faced in Los Angeles.

The art is stunning as is the writing, drip feeding you crumbs that will come to fruition further down the line against stunning artwork. The panel where a man is ripped apart to satisfy the newy resurrected Vicente is beautiful as is the moment Vicente rises from the dead having been resurrected through his own blood. How the vampires plan ahead like this to ensure they can be brought back to life a la Chrisopher Lee at his finest as Dracula, makes them even more dangerous across a grander timescale meaning they are much harder to kill than previously thought.

For a first issue, this sequel more than delivers leaving the reader terrified of what is to come. Can’t recommend this enough.

Classic Villains: Sutekh, Last of the Osirans

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photos copyright BBC                  

“Your evil is my good! I am Sutekh the Destroyer. Where I tread I leave nothing but dust and darkness. I find that good.”

Doctor Who has always danced the line between pure horror and fantasy and in the 1975 adventure The Pyramids of Mars, Doctor Who delivered a perfect dose of horror and Egyptian mythology which is one of the most solid and memorable stories of the run. It is evocative of the Hammer movies with its a lost Egyptian tomb being opened against the native’s protests. Once opened, Marcus Scarman is killed by something in the tomb.

It introduced Sutekh who was able to psychically invade the Tardis scaring the hell out of Sarah Jane Smith. The Doctor claims this is impossible so we get our first indication of an enemy so powerful the Doctor cannot even conceive of it. The fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane arrive at the site of UNIT headquarters. This is the Priory which burned down. It isn’t long before they discover the house filled with Egyptian artifacts brought from their home country by one Ibrahim Namin who claims he is acting on orders of the house owner Marcus Scarman.

Namin is part of a cult that worships Sutekh and is paving the way for his lord’s return. To ensure this happens, he will do anything including murder. The story adapts artifacts with a sci-fi twist. One of the sarcophagus is a time tunnel leading to the tomb where Sutekh has been imprisoned by his fellow Osirans whose personal code did not allow them to kill another of their own. Paralysed in his prison, Sutekh is helpless, relying on his followers to put together his escape.

He is able to send things down the tunnel for first Namin then Scarman to use. We have the robot mummys controlled by a ring. I like many kids couldn’t figure out how this was a man dressed up because of the strange shape of the chest. The image of them stalking their prey and crushing a poacher between their chests remain images that burned into our minds. When the Doctor and Sarah remove the bandages from one, the kid me was unnerved to see there was no man but a wire frame.

But as we see Nanim is but a disposable pawn when Sutekh sends a horrifying figure down the tunnel. It is totally black with a domed like head. It steps forward and places its hands on Namin’s shoulders. They immediately burn as Namin is scalded alive. Aand we get the classic line that stayed with us and rang terrifying in our ears at the climax of The Legend of Ruby Sunday; as Namin screams in agony it says “I bring Sutekh’s gift of death to all humans.”

It is said with such reverence which makes it all the more frightening. The harbinger the turns into Marcus Scarman who now serves Sutekh in all things. Sutekh may be paralysed in his chair but he is controlling everything. Giving Scarman Osirian technology, Sutekh seals the Priory off from the rest of the world under a force field. He gets his mummies to build a rocket that will destroy the lock keeping him trapped. On the surface of mars is a pyramid housing the Eye of Horus, the power source keeping Sutekh where he is. Scarman is every inch the classic Hammer horror villain. He is pure white, the pall of death around him. The man that was is just a puppet, a walking cadaver as seen when he meets Warlock, his old friend.

The memories are still there but come out forced as if it is a foreign word to him. He calls his brother, the human whom he is seeking. He is destroying every last human under the force field. They are now mere humans to be killed by the mummies. His appearance and devoid manners are the classic behaviour of the possessed of a superior force.

But the horror is escalated when a poacher, Clements, having witnessed Scarman and his mummies murdering Warlock. He shoots him in the back but the power of Sutekh manages to reverse the gunshot and keep his puppet alive. It is Sutekh’s will that is controlling everything but even that can be jammed by throwing a signal back at him to break his control. The Doctor says that if Sutekh frees himself Earth will be the first to fall. Everywhere there is life in the universe, Sutekh will destroy. We would see come to pass in The Empire of Death.

The Doctor knows Sutekh from mythology and explains to Sarah who he is and how dangerous he is.

Sutekh destroyed his home world of Osiris. Horus and his surviving Osirans hunted him until the battle of the gods in Egypt. That battle became an integral part of Egyptian mythology leading to a cult that worshipped him. Every part of Egyptian society is based on the Osirian pattern. Over the centuries Sutekh has gone by many names; the Typhonian Beast, Set, Seth, Sutekh the Destroyer; everything our society associates with evil. Not even the Time Lords could stand against him.

I do have to say that part of the terror of Sutekh is his voice. It is gentle and soothing in a manner you wouldn’t expect. That is perfect for the character as it is a voice that pulls us in because it is alluring. That is down to actor Gabriel Woolf. He returned for the two part finale The Legend of Ruby Sunday and The empire Death.

He has influenced humans from his prison planning every step of his escape. It shows just how patient and cunning he is. Companions have so many adventures that they come to be immune to the possibility that they may not win every time. This time the fourth Doctor shows Sarah her future Earth if Sutekh wins; a planet that has been razed to a wasteland of howling winds and lightning storms. This we would see when the fifteenth Doctor watches the Earth fall to dust beneath the dust of death spread by Sutekh’s acolytes, Susan Triad and Harriet Harbinger.

The Doctor and Sarah mange to blow up the rocket aimed at Mars but the sheer will of Sutekh keeps the explosion from happening. Scarman is ordered to remove it forcing the Doctor to travel to face the god alone. He distracts him long enough to break his concentration and destroying the contained explosion.

The Doctor is on a suicide mission when he enters Sutekh’s tomb to face him down. He is thrown back by Sutekh’s mental powers as seen by his eyes turn green. The Doctor is no match as Sutekh takes control of his mind effortlessly and forces him to pilot the Tardis to Mars carrying Scarman and some mummies to destroy the Eye of Horus. Scarman achieves this and freed from the Eye, Scarman dissolves to dust and Sutekh rises from his prison. The only thing that saves them is the two minute gap it takes for a signal to travel between Earth and Mars.

This allows the Doctor to change the time tunnel settings and fling Sutekh to the far future where he dies around 7,000 years later.

We also have to look at the design of Sutekh. His cobra like mask with tunics evoke an Egyptian taste. Beneath the mask is the long alien face of an Osiran. He is a physical humanoid form which raises the question of his return.

As per The Legend of Ruby Sunday and The Empire of Death we learn Sutekh latched on to the Tardis when the fourth Doctor flung him down the time tunnel. He fused himself with the Tardis and evolved into the dog/anubis form (some have said Scooby Doo) we see wrapped round the Tardis. Now the fourth Doctor does say Sutekh’s mental powers make him capable of anything. Could it be he was able to melt himself at a molecular level and fuse into the Tardis so he could recover and realise his plans for destruction? Jack Harkness had to hold on for dear life in the vortex when he grabbed the exterior of the Tardis in Utopia so it does stretch believability that Sutekh simply clung to the outside while in flight.

The fourth Doctor warned us that he would destroy all worlds which is what Sutekh does with his dust of death. He has been part of the Tardis since The Pyramids of Mars so has left his imprint on every world with every Tardis landing. He has marked them all for death as he leaves a form of Susan Triad behind every time, ready for when he is ready to attack. Everything and everyone dies as the dust clouds of death consume everyone bar the fifteenth Doctor, Mel and Ruby.

With only his skull face acolytes remaining, Sutekh is at last supreme but bogged down by the mystery of whom Ruby’s mother is. He is eventually killed when the Doctor drags him into the vortex to restore all the worlds lost, cutting him loose to die in the sheer forces of time itself. There is no denying that the reveal of Sutekh’s return was brilliantly done and a shocker but the demise left a lot to be desired.

That’s the problem with bringing back someone as all powerful as Sutekh; it is a great idea but how do resolve it in a believable and logical fashion? A great reveal but a reminder that sometimes it is better to leave the all time greats in the past. Savour perfection and don’t sour it.