Doctor Who: The Sun Makers (Story 95)

Tom Baker's fourth season of Doctor Who marked a change from the exploration of Gothic horror. The unusually satirical "The Sun Makers" finds the Doctor, Leela (Louise Jameson), and robot dog K9 involved in a struggle against capitalism-gone-mad at the outer limits of the solar system. With Earth exhausted, mankind has colonized Pluto and lives in six vast "megropoli" lit by artificial suns. These colonies are run by the Company, with drugged human "work units" slaving simply to pay their funeral expenses. There are plenty of potshots at overzealous taxation and bureaucracy--Robert Holmes wrote the story as revenge after a frustrating audit--and splendidly theatrical performances from Richard Leech and Henry Woolf as the ultra-capitalist villains. With no monsters and little conventional horror, Baker is in fine form in a briskly directed four-part comedy-thriller distinguished by its political edge. --Gary S. Dalkin

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