Episode #95 : The Sun Makers

Leela: These "taxes"; they are a sacrifice to the Gods?

The Doctor: Taxes are much more painful.

Episode 95:   The Sun Makers.
Companions: 4th Doctor, K9 and Leela.
Air Date:       Four episodes. 26th November to 17th December 1977.

The TARDIS arrives in the future on the planet Pluto where there are now six suns, a breathable atmosphere and a large industrial community. The Company controls the planet and exploits the workers, pays them a pittance and then taxes them on everything imaginable. The Doctor and Leela join forces with an underground band of rebels to overthrow the corporation.

The Sun Makers is written as a parody of the UK's Inland Revenue and it's taxation. Even today you can get the same feelings about taxes as they must have done back in the 1970s. The story deals with the last of humanity's colonies in the solar system, now living on Pluto under the governorship of an alien corporation. Everyone works too hard and the taxes are too high. I think we can all feel something towards that. The Doctor and companions find themselves drawn into the growing rebellion and become the spark needed to give mankind that boost to rebellion.

The concept of the story is fair but the execution leaves much to be desired. The sets look worse than normal and there is something off that I can't quite put my finger on when you see on-location locations that does actually spoil things a little. The acting from the extras is a little too over the top and also adds to the dislike of the story. Everything feels a little off.

Most of the time you can come away from an episode of Doctor Who with no problems at all. With this one however, I get a nagging sensation that the Doctor may have brought about the doom of all on Pluto. The alien corporation has abandoned the planet and left everyone to it. As mentioned in the story, the artifical suns need constant maintenance and I guess that means they eventually go out. So unless the survivors have access to space travel (unlikely) or the ability reach and maintain those suns sooner or later everyone on Pluto is going to freeze to death. Meanwhile the Doctor and friends have vanished and left them to it. We know the Doctor tends to vanish once everything is done but the end of this story leaves me with an uncomfortable feeling because of it.

The Sun Makers is a very weak and uninteresting story from my point of view. Typical of this point in the show.