The Sun Makers (TV story)
The Sun Makers was the fourth story of Season 15 of Doctor Who. It was written by Robert Holmes to reflect his hatred of the Inland Revenue's taxation.
Synopsis
The TARDIS, along with the Fourth Doctor, Leela and K9 Mark I, arrives on Pluto in the far future. They discover that the planet has a breathable atmosphere and enjoys the heat from six suns. The humans who live there are taxed and exploited heavily. When Leela is captured, the Doctor must save her and stop the Company, before it is too late...
Plot
Part one
Cordo visits Gatherer Hade, having saved up the money to pay for the Golden Death his father received. However, he finds the fee has been increased to 117 talmars, an amount he is unable to pay. Hade tells him he will have to increase his workload despite already working 23 hours a day.
The Doctor is playing chess with K9 while Leela moves the robot's pieces for him. They land on Pluto and the Doctor exits with Leela, telling K9 to stay put. He is amazed to find that the planet has a breathable atmosphere and huge cities. They spot Cordo preparing to jump from the roof and the Doctor distracts him long enough for Leela to pull him away from the edge.
In his office, Hade is informed by Marn of an illegal airspace invasion and landing. Overjoyed that this will incur heavy fines upon the perpetrator, Hade heads out with Marn to catch the criminals. On the roof, Cordo tells the Doctor and Leela about the taxes all citizens are subject to. Hearing the warning that Hade is coming, the three escape down a ladder.
Hade finds the Doctor's TARDIS and tells Marn the tale of Kalmar, an Executive Grade from Megropolis Four who stole millions from the Company.
Meanwhile, Cordo announces he is headed for the undercity, a place where he has heard tax evaders and outlaws dwell. Leela and the Doctor opt to accompany him. As they walk, Cordo tells the Doctor that the planet has six suns and the latter judges them to be in-station fusion satellites. Soon they found themselves surrounded by a band of humans and Leela pulls her knife. However, the Doctor warns her not to take any aggressive action.
On a screen, Hade and Marn watch as K9 heads out of the TARDIS and ponder as to what he is. The Doctor and Leela are taken deeper into the undercity. Cordo tells Mandrel of his failure to meet Hade's demands and requests to join his group. Mandrel tells him he must earn his keep through theft from the upper levels as well as killing. After Leela inadvertently demonstrates her skills with a knife, Mandrel notes that both she and the Doctor may be of use. Hade and Marn are still watching K9 as he makes his way through the city.
The Doctor is instructed by Mandrel to take a Consumcard to the Consum Bank on subway 37 with Cordo acting as his guide. Madrel warns him that he must return soon or Leela will be killed.
Exiting the undercity, K9 meets up with the Doctor. Hade asks Marn to move the tracker onto the Doctor, taking him to be an Ajack, a miner from Megropolis Three and his intended disguise. However, the tracker is keyed onto K9 and unable to follow. Hade deduces that the Doctor must be orchestrating arms smuggling and he decides to go to the palace to warn the Collector.
At the bank, the Doctor inserts the Consumcard and the process seems to have worked. Suddenly, the cubicle he is in shuts and begins to fill with gas.
Cast
- The Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker
- Leela - Louise Jameson
- Voice of K9 - John Leeson
- Hade - Richard Leech
- Marn - Jonina Scott
- Cordo - Roy Macready
- Mandrel - William Simons
- Goudry - Michael Keating
- Veet - Adrienne Burgess
- Nurse - Carole Hopkin
- The Collector - Henry Woolf
- Bisham - David Rowlands
- Synge - Derek Crewe
- Commander - Colin McCormack
- Guard - Tom Kelly
Crew
- Assistant Floor Manager - Linda Graeme
- Costumes - Christine Rawlins
- Designer - Tony Snoaden
- Film Cameraman - John Tiley
- Film Editor - Tariq Anwar
- Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
- Make-Up - Janis Gould
- Producer - Graham Williams
- Production Assistant - Leon Arnold
- Production Unit Manager - John Nathan-Turner
- Script Editor - Anthony Read
- Special Sounds - Paddy Kingsland
- Studio Lighting - Derek Slee
- Studio Sound - Michael McCarthy
- Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
- Title Music - Ron Grainer
- Visual Effects - Peter Day
- Visual Effects - Peter Logan
References
Books
- Usarians are listed in Professor Thripsted's Flora and Fauna of the Universe as "parasitic fungi".
The Doctor
- Droge of Gabrielides once offered a star system for the Doctor's head.
Elements
- Three types of gas are mentioned:
Races and species
Story notes
- Michael Keating (here playing Goudry) would later be cast as Vila in Blake's 7 based partially on this performance.
- Most of the corridors were named after UK tax forms, as the story was intended as a satire of contemporary British taxes.
- This story marks the last appearance of Leela's darker outfit. For the next two serials - her last - she would continue to wear the lighter (and more revealing) one.
- Some textures of the walls are enlarged photographs of a die of an AMD microprocessor. The logo of AMD is large and visible.
- Unusually, Paddy Kingsland did the special sounds on this episode, who was also responsible for special sounds on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Hence, as Louise Jameson pointed out in the DVD commentary, there was some crossover of sounds. Most notably, the sound of the Doctor fiddling with the combination lock in part 4 is the same as the sound of the Guide being consulted in the original Hitchhiker's radio drama.
Ratings
- Part 1 - 8.5 million viewers
- Part 2 - 9.5 million viewers
- Part 3 - 8.9 million viewers
- Part 4 - 8.4 million viewers
Myths
to be added
Filming locations
- WD and HO Wills Tobacco Factory (now known as Imperial Park), Hartcliffe Way, Hartcliffe, Bristol
- Camden Town Deep Tube Shelters, Stanmore Place, Camden Town, London
- BBC Television Centre (TC3 and TC6), Shepherd's Bush, London
Production errors
- At the start of Episode 2, the shadows of the extras playing the security guards are visible awaiting their cue to enter.
- When the Gatherer is to be thrown off the roof by an angry mob it's quite obvious that it is a dummy.
- A car park insignia is visible on the roof top.
- A microphone enters the screen for a few seconds in upper left corner at minute 18 of the 3rd episode.
- Near to the end of part three after K9 has exited the steamer, the Doctor praises K9 with his scarf rolled out and lengthend down his body yet less than a second after when he is given a communicator it is roled up over his shoulders.
Continuity
- Professor Thripsted's works also appear in NA: Christmas on a Rational Planet, Lungbarrow, EDA: Alien Bodies, Placebo Effect, Unnatural History, and Interference - Book Two.
- The Collector ends his first conversation with the Gatherer with 'this interview is terminated'. Max Capricorn, a character not unlike the Collector ends a conversation with the Doctor with the same phrase in Voyage of the Damned.
Timeline
- This story takes place after DW: Image of the Fendahl
- This story takes place before DW: Underworld
Home video and audio releases
Video releases
Released as Doctor Who: The Sun Makers.
Released:
VHS UK cover
VHS US cover
VHS AUS cover
DVD releases
Originally planned for release in a boxset with The Ambassadors of Death, The Sun Makers will now be released on DVD on its own on 1st August in the UK. Extras include a transmitted trailer from 1977, a making of documentary (called Running from the Tax Men) and another installment in the Doctor's Composer series focusing on Dudley Simpson.
Region 2 cover
Region 1 cover
Region 4 cover
Novelisation and its audiobook
- Main article: Doctor Who and the Sunmakers
Novelised as Doctor Who and the Sunmakers by Terrance Dicks in 1982.
