Anyway, enough about politics, back to Doctor Who, and the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine which has another The Fact of Fiction by me in it, this time about the 1977 adventure
The Sun Makers. It was fun to do, but
tough because there aren’t alternative drafts of the story knocking about, and
the story has already been quite extensively researched (particularly by Jim
Smith for the DVD Production Subtitles). That said, I hope I found some new things
to say – there’s some topical references that haven’t been picked up before,
and while I couldn’t find any pre-Columbian source for the sun god face in the
Gatherer’s Office I did at least find the source of the sun makers’ logo. I
also had some fun disproving some repeated-wisdoms about the story – no, the
opening shot does not resemble the opening shot of Rudolph Cartier’s production of Nineteen Eighty-Four at all, I’ve
checked:
The one thing I didn’t have room to include in the article
are my own memories of watching the story, back when I would’ve been four years
old. I don’t remember much of it – this was the beginning of a long run of
episodes which took place in corridors and which didn’t have any memorable
monsters – but I do recall a sense of the hospital-like sterility of the
corridors, particularly the one shot on location. I think I remember the bit where they throw the Gatherer off the roof
– it’s played and shot as though it’s one of those bits in Monty Python where they throw a dummy out of a tower block, but it’s
basically Mussolini being strung up in a petrol station.
The only scene I remember with any clarity – and bear in
mind, I remembered absolutely nothing of Image
of the Fendahl, Underworld and The
Invasion of Time, so I’m not even sure I watched them – is the bit at the
end where the Collector is – spoiler warning – revealed to be a green blobby
alien (haven’t had one of those for a few weeks) and vanishes down a plughole. Yes,
it’s suddenly struck me that they were basically doing the Rutan again, weren’t
they? I’m not sure what the point of all this is, except to say that in the
days before videos, before novelisations in many cases, the only way you could
keep these stories alive was in your memory. A few years on, and I’d remember Destiny of the Daleks and City of Death almost on a shot-for-shot
basis (they were repeated, which helped).
But it’s interesting, I think, how
enduring some television memories can be – I’m not sure how many specific
moments from my early childhood I remember, it’s all a muddle of places and
people – but for years I have been haunted by unplaced memories from shows and
films which have turned out to be Quincy’s
Quest, a schools adaptation of Mr
Humphries and his Inheritance, the musical Carousel, and most embarrassing of all the Rentaghost Christmas special. I think I’ve ticked them all of now,
there is nothing outstanding (well, maybe a vague memory of an edition of Emu
where they were in a lighthouse, but that’s all mixed up with Horror of Fang Rock).
Anyway, I’ve digressed. The point is, new Doctor Who Magazine, exciting feature by
me on the classic story The Sun Makers,
rush out and buy it now.
