Stories Television Doctor Who Season 15 Serial: 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Sun Makers 1 image Overview Episodes Characters How to Watch Reviews 6 Statistics Related Stories Quotes 4 Transcript Overview First aired Saturday, November 26, 1977 Production Code 4W Written by Robert Holmes Directed by Pennant Roberts Runtime 100 minutes Time Travel Future Tropes (Potential Spoilers!) Corridors, Capitalism is bad, Human Colony, Mind Control Inventory (Potential Spoilers!) Telescope, Jelly Babies, Sonic Screwdriver Location (Potential Spoilers!) Megropolis One, Pluto Synopsis Far in the distant future, Earth has become uninhabitable, forcing mankind to colonise first Mars and then Pluto. No longer the coldest planet in the solar system, Pluto is now warmed by artificial suns. The Doctor, Leela and K9 arrive to discover the exploitation of the Megropolis people by the ruling elite, led by the Collector. Deep in the Undercity, a small group of revolutionaries plot to overthrow the company and the Doctor is forced to fight the oppression of the people using fire against fire... Watch Watched Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Edit date completed Custom Date Release Date Archive (no date) Save 4 Episodes Part One First aired Saturday, November 26, 1977 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Holmes Directed by Pennant Roberts UK Viewers 8.5 million Synopsis Pluto, the distant future. The planet has been terraformed and is now orbited by artificial suns, provided by the rapacious company who ruthlessly exploit the relocated human workforce. The Doctor, Leela, and K9 arrive and befriend a luckless drone worker, but they must flee with him to the dark undercity... Part Two First aired Saturday, December 3, 1977 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Holmes Directed by Pennant Roberts UK Viewers 9.5 million Synopsis The Doctor has been captured by the Gatherer. Leela works to free him but the Gatherer is already laying his own plans… Part Three First aired Saturday, December 10, 1977 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Holmes Directed by Pennant Roberts UK Viewers 8.9 million Appreciation Index 68 Synopsis Now Leela is the prisoner of the Collector. He knows of the Doctor and is determined to rid himself of both of them. Part Four First aired Saturday, December 17, 1977 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Holmes Directed by Pennant Roberts UK Viewers 8.4 million Appreciation Index 59 Synopsis The Doctor now moves to completely overthrow the Company. But the Collector has one last trump card to play. Show All Episodes Characters Fourth Doctor Leela K9 Mark I Show All Characters (3) How to watch The Sun Makers: Watch on iPlayer Blu-Ray The Collection – Season 15 DVD The Sun Makers VHS The Sun Makers (VHS) Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Date (Newest First) Date (Oldest First) Likes (High-Low) Likes (Low-High) Rating (High-Low) Rating (Low-High) Word count (High-Low) Word count (Low-High) Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 6 reviews 25 April 2025 · 22 words Review by Rock_Angel This is arguably the most fun 4th doctor story like this dj the story you would put on for a good laugh Rock_Angel View profile Like Liked 0 13 April 2025 · 148 words Review by presidentdisastra Spoilers This review contains spoilers! One of my all-time favorite episodes! First off, it's hilarious that it managed to accidentally be one of the best anti-capitalist episodes in a show full of purposeful anti-capitalist episodes. It's meant to be anti-tax, but the way taxes are treated is more just using a different word for fees and the cost of living. The biggest problem is exploitation by the company that runs the planet, has a monopoly on goods and jobs, and pumps the air full of drugs to keep the populace nervous and easily exploited. At one point they actually explicitly go on strike. Leela gets a chance to be a leader in her own right, which I always appreciate, and there are some excellent moments with her and K-9. It's also funny to see that the company is aware of the Time Lords but remains unconcerned about them because they aren't monetarily exploitable. presidentdisastra View profile Like Liked 0 9 February 2025 · 27 words Review by Bongo50 I found The Sun to be enjoyable. It has some funny moments and the plot is also quite good. It does have some strange political messaging, though. Bongo50 View profile Like Liked 0 23 November 2024 · 17 words Review by mylowpolygon Love the revolutionary spirit. A solid doctor who episode. The collector is an antisemitic charicture which sucks. mylowpolygon View profile Like Liked 0 12 May 2024 · 244 words Review by thedefinitearticle63 Spoilers 5 This review contains spoilers! This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order. Previous Story: Image of the Fendahl I didn't expect to like this one as much as I did, I hadn't heard much about this story and the little I did know made me think it was going to be fairly annoying. Luckily, I was wrong. It starts off quite bleak, a man forced to pay taxes for the death of his father. Since he can't afford it, he tries to kill himself in a place where he would be fined if he was caught. It immediately tells you what kind of story this is, Robert Holmes was clearly upset about his taxes, and this is the story that came out of it. This is a brilliant story to show people who believe classic Doctor Who was subtler in its political messages, the Collector and the Gatherer at times almost feel like caricatures, especially the former, but they are both played really well. Politics aside, this is a fun serial in general, it's got plenty of memorable lines and each character feels like they get enough time to shine. K9 now has his voice again and therefore is able to participate in the story, Leela is in her element inciting a revolution and the Doctor similarly feels quite comfortable toppling a government. "Oh, the taxes. My dear old thing, all you need is a wiley accountant." Next Story: The Exxilons thedefinitearticle63 View profile Like Liked 5 Show All Reviews (6) Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating395 members 3.63 / 5 Trakt.tv AVG. Rating279 votes 3.76 / 5 Member Statistics Watched 727 Favourited 71 Reviewed 6 Saved 7 Skipped 2 Related Stories The Fourth Doctor Adventures S10 Volume 1 • Episode 1 The World Traders Rating: 3.89 Story Skipped Audio Drama Reviews(2) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: The Fourth Doctor Adventures Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Other adaptations of this story: We define an adaptation as a recreation of a similar story but on a different medium or with different characters. Target Collection Doctor Who and the Sunmakers Rating: 3.47 Story Skipped Book More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Target Collection Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Quotes Add Quote Link to Quote Favourite THE COLLECTOR: Grinding oppression of the masses is the only policy that pays dividends. — , The Sun Makers Show All Quotes (4) Open in new window Transcript Needs checking Part One [Corridor] (A man in dull yellow jacket, trousers and cap, with a brown waistcoat, is hanging about in a corridor. A woman's face appears at an opening high up in the wall, with an X next to it.) WOMAN: Citizen Cordo, District Four?CORDO: Yes?WOMAN: Congratulations, Citizen. Your father ceased at one ten.CORDO: All was well?WOMAN: A fine death. Body weight was eighty four kilos at termination.CORDO: I'm gratified.WOMAN: Gatherer Hade is waiting for the death taxes.CORDO: Yes, I have them here.WOMAN: Pay them at the Gatherer's office. [Gatherer's office] Show Full Transcript Open in new window
