Doctor Who 10: 7 Big Questions About The Pyramid At The End Of The World

7. Why Is The Monks' Base Disguised As A Pyramid?

The simplest explanation is that the writers decided, 'why not?’ The pyramid is such a stunning and iconic image, and the word looks great in the title. The Warehouse At The End Of The World doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. But even a show as fantastical as Doctor Who has to ensure that there is a degree of logic and believability to its creative decisions, and so the ‘why not?’ defence is hopelessly inadequate.

Speculation is mounting that the anachronistic landmark is far too reminiscent of a TARDIS with a faulty chameleon circuit to be coincidental. The Rani once disguised hers as a pink pyramid and in Logopolis the Doctor showed Adric how his TARDIS could take such a form. So could the monks' pyramid be a TARDIS, and if so whose?

It all hinges on the identity of the monks. There is nothing inside the pyramid to tell us what kind of ship it is, or even if it is a ship at all. There are plenty of clues that could have been added if this was a line of speculation that the writers wanted us to go down – such as a hint that the space is dimensionally transcendental, or a musical cue.

Even in the unlikely event that the pyramid is a TARDIS, the choice of form is unlikely to be random. Like the Doctor’s Police Box it has symbolic significance. Popular wisdom says that the pyramids are a gateway to the afterlife, but the ancient Egyptians also believed that the shape represented the primordial mound from which the Earth was formed. Could this be a statement of intent - the heralding of a new world order, under new management?