‘Doctor Who And The Sun Makers’ – Terrance Dicks (Target Books)


Page Count: 127 Pages

I wouldn’t normally go for two ‘Doctor Who’ book posts in a week but, yep… it’s still a week for quick reads and they don’t come a lot quicker than a book that’s only a hundred and twenty seven pages long ;o) It wasn’t just that though, I’ve never seen ‘The Sun Makers’ so until I finally get round to finding the DVD, the book was the best way to finally experience the story. And that’s just what I’ve done over the last couple of days. Like I said, there isn’t a lot of book to talk about but I’ve still got a few things to say about it :o)

Everyone knows that Pluto is a barren airless rock. So naturally the Doctor is surprised when he discovers that artificial suns, an ultra-modern industrial city and a group of colonists being worked – and taxed – to death in this inhospitable and supposedly underdeveloped part of the universe…

With the help of his companion Leela and the faithful K9, the Doctor takes on the mysterious and powerful Company, ruthless exploiter of planets and their people.

This is normally the part of the post where I’ll have a little moan about Terrance Dicks just re-telling the story, on the screen, but not doing an awful lot (if anything) more than that. Not this time though as, having not seen ‘The Sun Makers’, I’ve got literally nothing to compare the book to (and I felt kind of grateful for the chance to experience the story at all). Where did that leave me then with the book?

It’s not the most iconic or memorable of tales but on the whole, I enjoyed ‘The Sun Makers’ with its mix of action and commentary on, well… I’m not sure. I read it and immediately thought of the ongoing ‘Cost of Living’ crisis with people having to work harder and longer, just to stay standing still. This story does a little more than hint at how unsustainable the current model is. You can’t just keep expecting people to make up the difference; something has to give and here, all it takes is the Doctor landing on Pluto to kick things off. And you know what the Doctor is like, he’ll quite happily set the ball rolling. And that’s where we get the action; a little too much running up and down corridors for my liking but with some decent set pieces that keep things moving nicely. I’ll be honest though, the Doctor’s final blow, against the Company, went completely over my head as I know nothing about taxes (index linked or otherwise) other than that I have to pay them. That’s not the books fault though, that one is definitely on me ;o)

Not a bad read then, it definitely did the job I needed it to do and sometimes, that’s all you can ask from a book. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how much I’ll remember of it in a weeks time, there are far more memorable ‘Doctor Who’ adventures, but it was a decent read when it mattered.

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