Tread Perilously is a podcast in which hosts Erik Amaya and author Justin Robinson watch the “worst” episodes of popular TV shows, attempting to determine if they would continue to watch the series based on the most off-key moments.

This Week: Doctor Who‘s “The Sun Makers”

Tread Perilously comes home for a month of Doctor Who. First up, the Tom Baker-era story “The Sun Makers.”

When the Doctor and Leela materialize on Pluto sometime in the future, they discover a human race crushed under a company store economy masquerading as heavy taxation. After they prevent one man from killing himself, they set out to discover the source of the problems on the planet. Could it be capitalism itself? Meanwhile, officious fee collectors and alien bosses plan to extract as much wealth from the workers as possible. But one man on Pluto may learn he is uniquely suited to remove the yoke from his people.

Erik and Justin end up questioning predatory capitalism. They also end up falling in love with a key guest character. The criticisms of Firefly resurface as Erik’s attempts to explain Blake’s 7. It leads to him mapping out a new version of that program. Justin praises the choices of the cast, but points out the Garth Marenghi quality of the production. Erik focuses on the misuse of the word, “taxes,” in story not actually about taxes. Margaret Thatcher comes up in the discussion. Louise Jameson’s performance gets high marks while Justin worries about her being cold in the English industrial wasteland. Also, more “British” neologisms get invented.

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