Reviews: Doctor Who – “The Sun Makers” And “Paradise Towers” On DVD

“THE SUN MAKERS” (4 EPISODES) – Original Airdate November 26-December 17, 1977
The TARDIS arrives in the future on Pluto, a place with 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 (Tom Baker) and Leela (Louise Jameson) join forces with an underground band of rebels led by Mandrel (William Simons), and face an equally taxing situation when they challenge the Usurians and their leader, The Collector (Henry Woolf).

“The Sun Makers” is Doctor Who at its best, a satirical comment on the current times, a taut, creepy sci-fi thriller and rife with strange visuals and excellent acting. And, of course, it features Tom Baker firing on all cylinders as well as Louise Jameson playing Leela with the perfect balance of not really understanding what’s going on yet gamely forging ahead. Lest we forget, there is the acerbic K-9 trundling along throughout the story. “The Sun Makers” was a part of Graham Williams first season as producer and he ratcheted up the previous administration’s penchant for sci-fi horror. But more than that, this story aggressively takes on the British tax system while subtly condemning BBC strictures of the time. Holmes was perhaps the finest Who writer of the ’70s and his script absolutely shines. Both he and director Pennant Roberts take advantage of the animosity, at the time, between the two lead actors while finally giving Jameson a chance to shine away from the shadow of Baker. All that plus a pre-Blake’s 7 Michael Keating adds up to one of the best stories from the Tom Baker era.

The audio commentary is by far the best of the special features here as it consists of Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, Michael Keating and Pennant Roberts. If you usually skip commentaries I implore you to make an exception with this one, you’ll thank me for it. “Running From the Tax Man” is an informative and nicely paced Making Of feature that contains great anecdotes from Jameson, Keating and Roberts and also neatly explores the themes of the story and the science behind it. There are Outtakes from a scene made difficult due to an uncooperative prop gun, the original trailer for the story, a Photo Gallery and the usual PDF media documents. The second best feature is second part of the retrospective on composer Dudely Simpson’s musical contributions to the series. As much as Murray Gold has become musically synonymous with the new version of the series, Simpson easily eclipses him with the sheer volume of work he contributed to Doctor Who starting all the way back to the second season and continuing through to 1980. Just watching this second part of the tribute to him will give you a jaw-dropping look at his input.

“PARADISE TOWERS” (4 EPISODES) – Original Airdate October 5-26, 1987
A carefree swim at Paradise Towers as anything but leisurely for the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Mel (Bonnie Langford). The rundown Towers are patrolled by gangs of young girls, cannibalistic old ladies and dictatorial caretakers, led by the Chief Caretaker (Richard Briers) who, mysteriously, become the Doctor’s allies!

“Paradise Towers” is a curious thing as I keep alternating between thinking it’s brilliant and condemning it for being complete rubbish. The best bits are Sylvester McCoy getting to really play as the Doctor after his debut in the previous episode, Richard Briers chomping on the scenery with abandon, Howard Cook’s coward turned hero Pex and, of course, the ganny cannibals. This new season not only saw a change in the Doctor, but also saw Andrew Cartmel taking over as script editor. There has been much said about the masterplan that Cartmel had for Doctor Who that was ultimately never realized, but by this second story of the season it was evident that he and producer John Nathan-Turner were dead set on seeing how far they could push the envelope as far as what was acceptable on Doctor Who and TV. Being moved from Saturday tea-time to Monday evenings probably encouraged them even further. In retrospect, they never did anything that hasn’t already been outdone on the show since its return in 2005, but late ’80s Britain may have been surprised by flesh-eating pensioners. Again, while there is quite a lot to like about “Paradise Towers,” I’m not entirely sure it all comes together in a well-executed manner. Repeated viewings haven’t help me make up my mind, although the fact that I voluntarily keep watching it should say something, I suppose.

Audio commentary for “Paradise Towers” is provided by Judy Cornwell, story writer Stephen Wyatt and sound designer Dick Mills, all moderated by Mark Ayers. It’s entertaining enough, but isn’t a must have component. “Horror on the High Rise” is a look back with some of the cast and crew on the making of the story. Particularly fun are the bits with Briers. I would have loved it if he had been part of the audio commentary. Their are several Deleted and Extended Scenes, but most of them were rightly left on the cutting room floor. Of course you get a Photo Gallery and vintage PDF Documents. The best feature on the disc is the “Girls Girls Girls – 1980s” extra. Introduced by Peter Purves, this is a candid conversation between Sophie Aldred, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton about being Doctor Who girls in the 1980s. This is the feature you don’t want to skip over. Another fascination addition is the option to watch the story with an alternate, unused music score. I’m assuming this is the score by David Snell that Nathan-Turner ultimately decided not to go with. I think I may prefer this one to the original Keff McCulloch soundtrack, but it may just be because it is new.