This week, I'm joined by Houman Sadri, to discuss a moment from Part two of the 1975 serial Pyramids of Mars, from Tom Baker's second season of Doctor Who. We discuss how sound can terrify us, the impact of opening and closing credits on a viewing experience, and the role that fear and tension and cliffhangers have in making Doctor Who what it is.

You can follow Houman on Twitter at @houmansadri.

Special Guest: Houman Sadri.

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Links:

• Pyramids of Mars - Wikipedia — Pyramids of Mars is the third serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 25 October to 15 November 1975. The serial is set in England and Egypt and on Mars in 1911. In the serial, the burial chamber of the alien Osiran Sutekh (Gabriel Woolf), the inspiration for the Egyptian god Set, is unearthed by the archaeology professor Marcus Scarman (Bernard Archard). Alive but immobilised, Sutekh seeks his freedom by using Professor Scarman as his servant to destroy the jewel on a pyramid on Mars which is keeping him prisoner.
• Houman Sadri - University of Gothenburg — PhD student in English Literature, investigating the continued relevance of Joseph Campbell’s theoretical concept of the Monomyth, or ‘Hero’s Journey,’ and the ways in which this pattern has continued to inform and augment literary and pop-cultural texts and narratives. The project takes the form of a portfolio of articles, and is designed to encompass and utilise a variety of texts, forms and critical approaches, the better to reflect not only the diversity of popular culture as a whole, but also the pervasive and encompassing nature of the Monomyth itself.
• The GotPop Popular Culture Podcast — The GotPop podcast explores all dimensions of today's popular culture. From zombies to superheroes to pundit-driven news to internet culture to graffiti and beyond, if it's popular culture, it's our culture.