Monday, July 8, 2013

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary: The Happiness Patrol





Doctor Who: 
The Happiness Patrol 
By Graeme Curry

“Shut up. Why don't you do it then? Look me in the eye, pull the trigger, end my life.”

The Doctor and Ace arrive on the planet Terra Alpha where sadness is against the law and if you are found guilty you are put to death.  Helen A is in charge of Terra Nova and rules with an iron fist with her Happiness Patrol and the devious Kandy Man who likes to execute the Killjoys with fondant surprise. Terra Nova had a population problem but Trevor Sigma is baffled on the disappearance of a majority of the population since the last time he did the census which was six cycles ago. 


The Doctor is poking around investigating and befriends a harmonica player Earl Sigma who likes to play the Blues but that is illegal on Terra Nova because it is sad music and not happy enough.  The Doctor also discover the natural inhabitants of Terra Nova the Pipe People who seem to hunted all the time by Helen A’s dog Fifi who is a savage dog that hunts and kills it prey.  Another thing The Doctor has to worry about is that Ace has been taken prisoner and will be auditioning for the Grand Order of the Happiness Patrol.  The problem The Doctor has with that is it will be a miracle that Ace survives that.



The Happiness Patrol isn’t all that bad of a story.  Looking back on it now and seeing what the writers have been rumored to be writing about seems pretty funny now.  Supposedly this was a satire on Margaret Thatcher and her Iron Fist rule.  Whatever was originally intended it does have that lets rip the government feel to it.



I in a way enjoy watching The Happiness Patrol and find that the shorter format fits this story pretty well as it isn’t too long or too short.   It isn’t bogged down with a lot of SFX and for a studio bound story it does have some decent sets and the Kandy kitchen does look pretty good.  I did like that they used go carts in this story but I bet it must have made quite a stink breathing in all those fumes during production.


The Kandy Man himself is actually quite a unique baddie in Doctor Who as he is a robot that is made up entirely of candy.   What is funny is that The Doctor stops him by spraying his feet with lemonade.  Yes lemonade gets The Kandy Man stuck to floor.  Not a very good weakness if you are the head executioner and in fact a candy made robot working in a kitchen with hot ovens doesn’t make much sense but the character is quite amusing and fun to watch and laugh at when he is on screen.


The Happiness Patrol continues with the darker Doctor that was started in the first story of season 25 Remembrance of the Daleks.   He is lurking around, setting things up and playing his games that would end up being a staple of the Seventh Doctor era.  This is a welcoming change considering how horrible his era started in season 24.   I liked this turn in McCoy’s Doctor and having a comedian playing The Doctor dark and foreboding was a pretty good risk that ended up working very well.


The Happiness Patrol is a fun story to watch in a guilty pleasure kind of way as it isn’t a bad story and it isn’t a great story but none the less it is a fun story.  The Happiness Patrol is a decent romp with The Doctor and Ace and does have some fine moments.
Grade C +

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