Anubis headed men? Half-remembered 70s SciFi

Cafe Society
1

I have a half-remembered memory, that caused me to have nightmares, of a cheesy 70s (or maybe 60s, but I seem to recall it was in colour) science fiction TV show that had anubis-headed men, in an Egyptian themed episode, that were very imposing and frightening.

I thought it was from Doctor Who, but the closest match to those memories would be Pyramids of Mars, and I can’t find any pics of that which match my memory, so that’s probably not it.

It may have been a show along the lines of Children Of The Stones or Sapphire And Steel. It had that UK cardboard-studio-set synthesised soundtrack feel to it.

I would’ve watched it sometime between 1975-1979, in New Zealand, but it wasn’t locally made.

Can anyone shed some light?

2

The villain in the Doctor Who was an Egyptian god and, IIRC, did have something like the Anubis head, but his henchmen were robots disguised to look like mummies. The time frame also fits.

3

No, what I remember was distinctly a jackal-headed guard. That image just looks like a weird humanoid mask.

4

This post brought to you by Anubis Markets, Anubis Markets, shop at the sign of the Jackal-Headed Man for food so good, you can eat it!

5

The Pyramids of Mars did show Sutekh unmasked at the end, although the OP description doesn’t seem to match.

And for the record, Set (=Seth, Seteh, Sutekh, etc.) wasn’t jackal-headed like Anubis (who was the gatekeeper to the underworld, but not an evil guy). Just what Set had the head of- the "Seth Animal"- is a matter of lively debate. The earliest depictions of Set look to me more like an aardvark than anything else.

6

Hmmn. I seem to remember a couple of jackal-headed guards in Pyarmids of Mars.

(after some research)
Here is a picture. They were the Guardians of Horus; one always lied and the other always told the truth.

7

Well, that doesn’t match my memory, but it’s the closest we’ve got so far.

I don’t think it’s what I’m after, though. I think it must have been a different show than Doctor Who. Was it Space 1999? Was it Nobody’s House? Was it Rentaghost? Was it The Tomorrow People?

8

Sounds like villains from an episode of The Secrets of Isis.

9

Are you sure it was that long ago? Stargate had villains like that, but that was from the 1990s.

10

Are yuo sure it wasn’t Doctor Who and the horns of nimon?

11

It’s most definitely before Stargate. The latest I could possibly concede it may be is 1981, but that’s doubtful because I was not prone to nightmares at that age.

I’ve never heard of The Secrets Of Isis. I don’t think it screened in New Zealand.

Horns Of Nimon? That’s a Minotaur, isn’t it?

12

GuanoLad, you posted this 4 years ago, but I stumbled across your message while searching for Anubis and Doctor Who on google. I joined this site just to answer your question!

I’m fairly sure you’re thinking of The Tomorrow People - because I was scared by this storyline as a kid too! In fact it’s a 3 episode story from 1975 called ‘Worlds Away’, check out this page: Island of Terror: The Tomorrow People: World's Away
Are those the images you remember?!
They were the Kulthan, who left a ‘psychic damper’ in the Egyptian pyramids (hence the Anubis link) to delay humankind’s emergence…

Hope you get to see this some day!

13

In fact, by the wonders of YouTube: The Tomorrow People-Worlds Away-Part 1 - YouTube Definitely a jackal-headed guard! See the end of this clip.

14

Oh my god, Set is Trumpy!

15

I remember an episode of the Rod Serling 1972 TV series *Circle of Fear *that had Anubis men and it scared the hell out of me when I was little. I don’t know what episode was but I’m pretty sure the series.

16

Good find. (And excellent choice of username BTW). :slight_smile: I can’t know if this is what GuanoLad was thinking of, but Tomorrow People certainly did screen in New Zealand – I recall several stories as scaring the snot out of me as a kid. (And it’s nice to see that the opening credits can still elicit a shudder). :slight_smile: