I just finished The Sun Makers, and I never thought this would happen because of how anti-capitalist Doctor Who is in general, but I think I found THE most staunchly anti-capitalist episode of Doctor Who?? (If I'm wrong that only makes me so much more excited for the episode that could be more anticapitalist than this) Within seconds of the unjust system being explained to the Doctor and Leela, Leela without missing a beat simply goes "Oh. Have you considered Murdering That Bitch?" AND THATS THE SOLUTION !!! THATS THE MORAL OF THE STORY !!! The entire city unites together for the sole purpose of murdering these evil capitalist scum!!! AND THEY DO!! They push the motherfucker who had wronged them and oppressed them off a motherfuckin building and he FALLS TO HIS DEATH !! 1000 meters! There's no "Maybe if you were a good little worker you can change the system from the inside" or "If you actually just talk to these people you'll find a peaceful solution!" The Doctor gets on the speakerphones and says "long live the revolution"!!!! When they had successfully concluded the uprising and its time for the Doctor and Leela to leave, a whole crowd of people waves them off and they all look so happy! AND then the episode finishes with the Doctor being a little shit and purposefully ruining the chess game between him and K-9 because his little dog was simply too good!
I have never been more enchanted by an episode of a show than by The Sun Makers. Violent anti-capitalism? Check! Absolutely bonkers villain? Also check!
All of CDW Season 15 that I've seen so far feels very Tenth Doctor. If the general vibe of Tennant's Doctor didn't come from this season I'd be shocked.
I rewatched this suddenly relevant again serial on 19 March 2023. It’s all about the skyrocketing cost of living and what workers can do against appalling conditions.
We begin with Citizen Cordo farewelling his recently deceased father and being liable for a dramatically increased cost of the death and its aftermath. They call it taxes but it’s a private company. The Doctor and Leela arrive and help Cordo survive a suicide attempt. Our heroes learn quickly that while the society looks shiny and comfortable, it’s a dystopia. Like all good dystopias there’s a rebellion, and like all good Doctor Who serials the Doctor is right smack bang in the middle of it.
It’s a lively story, with good humour as well as drama and loads of lefty libertarian politics.
The Doctor, Leela and K9 land on Pluto, where they find the human race subjugated into conforming and paying taxes to a mysterious Company in The Sun Makers!
Coming Soon to Blu-ray: Doctor Who -- The Collection Season 15
Coming Soon to Blu-ray: #DoctorWho -- The Collection Season 15
The BBC has announced the next in its Doctor Who: The Collection Blu-ray releases — Season 15, with Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Louise Jameson as Leela, and John Leeson as K9!
The seven-disc set will be out later this year.
Containing six classic stories, this limited-edition set is packed with hours of new and exclusive material.
The box includes:
Horror of Fang Rock
The Invisible…
Just from the title, I went in expecting either a story similar to last serial, about mysticism and the occult, or something on the more cosmic scale of Doctor Who. Instead, we got a parody of capitalism and the IRS complete with a communist revolution
Tbh, it was almost TOO on the nose for it to be effective, especially the comedic elements of the story. Like, an insufferable kiss-ass as a middle manager calling his boss "Your Flatulence" is just a bit too... British for my liking. Though maybe that's just because I've been in middle management basically my entire career who knows
But its heart was in the right place and unlike a majority of the other attempts this show makes at communist propaganda, it didn't fall back onto liberalism to soften the blow. Well, they did a little by making the corporate office be aliens rather than having the uprising be against fellow humans, BUT the revolutionaries never knew that so it still counts
I do wish it had had a different title though because now I want a serial about celestial beings who made the sun