When the BBC launched their ‘Whoniverse’ content at the end of 2023, in time for Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary, they dropped in one hell of a nostalgic treat for fans.

Tales of the TARDIS is a series in which old Doctors, and/or their companions, meet in a ‘Memory TARDIS’ and reminisce about a specific, classic adventure. This framing device then steps aside so we can watch an edited version of the story they’re discussing, cut together to essentially function as a slightly longer, single episode of the modern series (usually around an hour).

The framing sections have this absolutely incredible feeling of nostalgia and warmth; you can sense the fondness that actors such as Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred have for both their characters and each other. It’s lovely, and there’s the added bonus of getting to watch them in their original setting with a cherry picked tale from their old episodes.

Given that it was definitely intended as a gift for the fans, and perhaps as a gentler way to introduce new viewers to numerous time periods in Who’s long history, no one was particularly bothered about continuity, or the framing device making much sense (something something bigeneration something Toymaker ended up being the flimsy excuse). We just enjoyed spending more time with some of our most fondly remembered actors, Doctors and companions.

Yet the latest episode, Pyramids of Mars, is a bit of an oddity. Featuring Fifteenth Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa, and his companion, Ruby Sunday (played by Millie Gibson), they enter the TARDIS so that Ruby can have Sutekh explained to her, with the Doctor expressing doubt over how he’s going to beat the last of the Osirans.

Given the cliffhanger in The Legend of Ruby Sunday, which is set to be revolved later tonight, as of the writing of this review, there’s no time or space for the Doctor and Ruby to get together and do this, so it just feels a bit odd.

It’s clearly meant as a primer for fans to bring themselves up to speed with why Sutekh is such a big threat and a terrifying Big Bad, but the framing device makes it feel really odd from the start.

Pyramids of Mars is a fantastic story, however; a real classic of the Tom Baker, Fourth Doctor era, in which he and Sarah Jane (the late, much missed and brilliant Elisabeth Sladen) arrive at UNIT headquarters decades before the organisation are based there, and are thrust into saving the universe from the evil, long dormant God of Death, Sutekh.

A few special effects have been refined here and there, but what’s striking is what’s not been tampered with, rather than what has. Why replace the time tunnel (which I always thought was quite a neat effect) with what looks like the clouds the TARDIS is flying through in the Fifteenth Doctor’s opening credit sequence, yet leave so much other dodgy chroma key scenes entirely untouched?

Perhaps it’s significant, in some way, to the finale; however, as it is, it just seems strange that they’ve chosen something like that to enhance while leaving so much else as it was.

It is a really good way of getting the feel of what happened and bringing yourself up to speed immediately with the events of Pyramids of Mars and Sutekh himself, however; though it’s missing a few notable sequences in order to bring the story’s length down to a more manageable size, it doesn’t suffer for it overall. So if you do need a bit of background on just why the Doctor is so terrified of Sutekh’s return, this is as good a place as any to go.

The framing sequences at the beginning and end, though nicely acted (I mean, it’s Ncuti and Millie after all; they’re both brilliant), are just weird in light of the ‘current’ story and where we are between the two episodes of the finale.

Still, ignore those or just let them run their course, and you’ve got a condensed version of classic 70s Who story, and you’ll also understand who and what Sutekh is beyond that terrifying, hugely effective cliffhanger we saw just last week.