Who In Review: The Sun Makers

Tom Baker's time on Doctor Who can fairly easily be split into three distinct eras: The Hinchcliffe Years, which had an increasing lean towards Gothic Horror pastiches and violence; The Graham Williams Years, which saw an increase in college humour and a more Science Fiction bent; and Season 18, which brought in more stylish production values and eschewed humour for serious scientific ideas. Each of these eras had their high and low points, with Hinchcliffe usually being regarded as producing some of Tom's best serials. Williams has received a less consistent level of fan appreciation over the years but oversaw some fantastic stories, worked alongside literary icon Douglas Adams and took the show abroad to film for the first time. In turn, John Nathan-Turner brought the show straight into the Eighties with the changes he made for his first season as Producer making it look sleek and modern for the post-Punk, electronic age. Each year brought us some classic stories from The Ark In Space to Terror Of The Zygons to The Talons Of Weng-Chiang, from Horror Of Fang Rock to The Androids Of Tara to City Of Death and Warriors' Gate, with a string of memorable and contrasting companions along the way. The 4th Doctor's seven series produced a hell of a lot of great stories, but my favourite sits literally slap-bang in the middle of it all.

The Sun Makers

The Sun Makers is one of those stories which I can guarantee has had more than one person say "It's good, but it's nobody's favourite story". A lot of people will view it as not even that, a sub-Blake's 7 yarn with drab orange sets, factory location sequences, OTT performances and some silly dialogue. Some, speaking of Blake's 7, may even only know it as 'the one with Vila in it'. And I admit that it's all of those things, but at the same time it is so much more.

Filmed early on with Graham Williams at the helm, Tom's habit of taking his performance that little bit too far hasn't quite settled in yet, although his Doctor is far more manic than he had been under Hinchcliffe. It's at an even point between his alien oddness and scenery-chewing madness. He also has a script from series stalwart Robert Holmes, and it's an utterly fantastic script. Recently stung by HMRC, Holmes delivers his most satirical and savagely humorous dialogue and gives us a tale of an oppressed population rising up against their money-greedy leaders - 'Perhaps everyone runs from the Taxman' is one of the most astute observations in the series, made all the better by being delivered by a character who doesn't even know what a taxman is! Holmes draws inspiration from Orwell and Huxley as the backdrop for his society with the populous known as Citizens, graded by social status, repressed using anxiety-inducing gas pumped into the artificial atmosphere and financial constraint brought about by poor wages and overtaxing. The rebels are a disorganised band of aggressive runaways cowering underground and the government is populated by the greedy, the self-serving and the self-important. Gatherer Hade has some wonderfully pompous dialogue, clearly thinking himself more intelligent than anybody else but obviously in the position he's in because he isn't. Whether he's kowtowing to the Collector with a series of evermore elaborate honorifics or mispronouncing 'Mahogany' and getting his Earth history wrong, he's portrayed as an incompetent, a jobsworth, a bloated aristocrat in a garish faux-regal outfit - he's the worst kind of ruler, the worst kind of politician and as familiar today as he was 40 years ago. It's easy to see him as representing the British Royal Family (or in recent months, the British Prime Minister), a terribly posh-sounding individual in ridiculous clothes who is merely a figurehead for the brains behind the scenes.

The Collector, a Usurian in every way, is the epitome of the moneygrabbing little worm and clearly partly based on Denis Healey, the incumbent Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1977 famous for his incredibly bushy eyebrows. Henry Woolf gives a gloriously slimy performance, delivering his lines in a voice like a creaking door. The character is both freakishly amusing and incredibly disturbing, salivating over monetary gain and getting excited over Leela's death-by-steaming. He definitely gives Tom plenty to work with and their scenes together are a joy to watch. Tom himself is giving it all he's got, clearly enjoying the chance to tackle such subversive material; carrying out bank fraud, running rings around Hade and leading an overnight revolution. His face positively glows during his scenes with both Hade and The Collector but he still knows when to turn on the anger when The Collector chooses genocide as the most economically viable solution to the rebellion, or when being threatened with torture by a brand iron-wielding Mandrel. He pitches his performance perfectly. His moods swing from amusement to contempt with everyone bar Cordo and Bisham, whom he treats with a friendly and concerned air. This is unsurprising when even the rebels are a bunch of unpleasant thugs who threaten both the Doctor and Leela to get what they want.

And this is a fantastic story for Louise Jameson. Leela is by far my favourite companion to have travelled with the Fourth Doctor; coming in after the rather dull and vapid Sarah Jane, Leela is a breath of fresh air. Her intelligence and independence belie her lack of an education, the moniker of 'savage' seeming almost ironic when applied to her as she's anything but. She's able to judge people quickly and willing to fight when necessary, and has no interest in civilised formalities be she eating a leg of lamb or changing out of her wet clothes in front of Vince in Fang Rock. She speaks her mind and can defend herself, and she gets some great scenes in The Sun Makers, fighting Mandrel and Veet at various points, and leading Cordo and Bisham in an attempt to rescue the Doctor. And she's clearly been listening to the Doctor's pleas to stop killing people when she only wounds the guard holding him at gunpoint towards the end. And of course, Leela isn't alone travelling with the Doctor - K9 also gets plenty to do, helping save Leela and take over the PCM production plant (after being almost entirely absent from the previous story). Technically his first full story, K9 is used surprisingly well, having been a last minute addition to the series' main cast, and here earns his place on board the TARDIS.

The Sun Makers is also a fairly good story for female characters, too, even if this is solely because of the Director's casting decisions. Veet is a nasty piece of work, despite being (technically) one of the good guys, egging on Mandrel as he threatens the Doctor, fighting Leela and instigating the Gatherer's rather unpleasant fate. Marn, Hade's right-hand woman, comes across as an efficient deputy and a willing lackey of the Company so it's interesting, and quite fitting with her self-serving character, that she (as one of the three main villains of the story) apparently gets away scot-free, siding with the rebels when it becomes obvious the uprising is going to be a success. It's a fate not often bestowed upon wrongdoers in Doctor Who! It's rather unusual and quite refreshing to have the Doctor surrounded by such unpleasant people on both sides of a revolution, and equally realistic.

Overall, I think that The Sun Makers is one of the best examples of Doctor Who in the late Seventies. Not Earthbound, it has a clever and witty script which gives plenty for the cast and crew to work with, it has a great deal to say about the society at the time and is one of the few overtly political stories the show has produced. It's a fine example of Tom at his height, allowing him moments of humour and anger, sees him deliver some very understated acting but still features some grandiose moments. And he's so in control, constantly ruling the scenes and appearing superior to all those he meets. He's aided by two great companions; the logical and useful robot dog and the sensitive, aggressive and unflappable 'savage'. It's a story with plenty of action for the younger viewers and a satirical script with some excellent performances for the adults. In the end it may not be everybody's cup of tea, but for me it features all of the best bits of the Tom Baker era and therefore ranks higher than the more generally regarded 'Classics' which surround it.