(674) The Happiness Patrol - Part 3

The Happiness Patrol is a story is best described as average. It has some quite interesting political messages in these three episodes it is always forgotten because of the Kandy Man. It’s annoying that after all the good work done in Remembrance of the Daleks, that its that stupid Kandy Man creature that undermines it. This wouldn’t be so bad but it’s a monster that is put out of action by lemonade and a hot poker. No one takes it seriously and as a result I don’t take it seriously. The main threat from these three episode has always been Helen A and that is where the story is rescued.

The Fifi puppet looks quite good in this episode. It’s mobility is impressive given that it appears very little money was spent elsewhere. I know I was a bit critical in previous episodes but it suddenly made sense in this episode. It’s death was something that was going to have more of an effect on Helen A than on the viewer.

Helen A tries to leave in the shuttle but Gilbert M has beaten her to it. She doesn’t do much in the first half of the episode but Sheila Hancock shows us why she’s a great actress in the latter half of the episode. Helen A’s attempt to justify what she had done to the Doctor was a nice scene but it came way too late in the episode. It’s hard to not find something nice in Helen A’s desire to find somewhere that is happy all the time. Her sadness at the death of Fifi’s perhaps the nice way to end her time in the episode and it is perhaps the most that she deserves after what she has been doing.

The Doctor singing is something rather amusing. This is something that works well in this episode but I think that had this happened in the twenty-fourth season then I would be saying that it just adds to the problem but the idea that singing and music is helping in the uprising. Not one bullet was fired but the Doctor was still able to make change happen.

I remember a few years ago this story being part of a news feature on Newsnight about this story and its political satire. Watching this story hasn’t been a happy experience but it wasn’t as bad as I have thought of it in the past. I am not sorry that this story is over but I think that I have been harsher on this than I should have been. Still not convinced on the Kandy Man design though.

 

(673) The Happiness Patrol - Part 2

This is Sylvester McCoy’s 20^th episode as Doctor. The last three weeks have gone fairly quickly and there isn’t much time left in the McCoy era. This story continues its political stance and I think that its up to the viewer to decide how subtle it actually it. I hadn’t twigged this until watching this episode but the patrol the second group in the past two seasons of the show that have featured all women in a group.

The Kandy Man is temporarily stopped by the Kandy Man walking into some spilt lemonade. This is quite a creative way of escaping. Even though it’s a clever way of escaping it does show how rubbish the Kandy Man is and how he can’t really be seen as a visible threat.

The pipe people are introduced into this episode and as a design they look quite good. They are all played by kids and they fall over a couple of times which shows that is something that is rather unfortunate but the low lighting does mean that the

Fifi is an interesting creation but doesn’t really belong in the rest of the story yet its allowed to take some screen time in one of the endless pipe scenes. It’s good when Helen A is treating it like most people would treat a family pet but outside of Helen A scenes its just rather irrelevant.

The best scene comes quite late in the episode where the Doctor is talking to two people are basically snipers and he tries to goad one of them into killing him and yet the person with the gun cant go through with it. So the one without the gun is the one with the power and the gun is meaningless. Any doubts that people may have still had (even after Remembrance of the Daleks) should well and truly have disappeared after this scene. I always knew that this was the case but this scene is a great example of this.

John Norrington is the supporting star of the episode as he manages to deliver a superb performance with a character that is a stickler for bureaucracy. When I see him, I still think of his performance in The Caves of Androzani and even though this is a totally different character, its another example of how good an actor he is.

The episode ends with the Doctor looking at a poster of Ace who is about to enter a show. Next to that poster is another one with the letters RIP written on it (in pink paint obviously). It isn’t the greatest cliffhanger but I think that it’s been a disappointing episode really. Despite their being some sparks in this episode, it is a rather forgettable one with performances that are left to wander around with no real sense of urgency. Considering that there are only three episodes in this story I would have thought there would have been a greater sense of urgency.

(672) The Happiness Patrol - Part 1

The second story of the silver anniversary series continues with The Happiness Patrol which has to have the most ironic title in Doctor Who history. I think that this story is the first proper story that deals with a darker tone. Sadly this is one of those stories that is purely studio bound. I think that we were somewhat spoilt in the previous story. Terror Alpha is a place where being unhappy is a crime. Anyone who is unhappy is referred to as a Killjoy. At the very beginning of the episode someone is rumbled as a killjoy. I liked this opening as it pretty much told you everything that you needed to know about the current setting for this story.

The TARDIS gets painted pink for some reason. Pink is a colour scheme in this serial as everything from sets to costumes has something pink about them. The titular Happiness Patrol are basically the police force used to enforce happiness but I don’t think that they look right because their design is very 1980’s. Included in the patrol is Lesley Dunlop who can currently be seen in Emmerdale.

I like how there is a purpose for why the Doctor and Ace have arrived on Terror Alpha. Sometimes it’s good that the Doctor has planned something from the very beginning instead of stumbling across it. I would have liked to know how long in the past that the Doctor heard something about this planet. The Doctor and Ace spend several minutes trying to get arrested which is quite funny because in any other story this wouldn’t be a problem. The subtle humour that takes place in this episode is quite good and something that is written in well by Graeme Curry.

Sheila Hancock plays Helen A who is clearly as play on Margaret Thatcher who was nearing her time in office. There is an unnerving vibe from her performance and it’s one of the main things that I am liking about this story. It’s easy to see the parallels between Helen A and Margaret T. She doesn’t raise her voice but reigns with terror with the words that she uses.

Despite being rather impressed with several parts of this episode there is an elephant in the room. The big issue is with the serial is that of the Kandy man which looks a lot like Bertie Bassett. I seriously don’t believe that no one clocked onto the similarity. But the problems aren’t just with the look of the Kandy Man but also the voice. I don’t quite know what would have worked to make this monster work but the voice used just confounds the problem. The cliffhanger is slightly disappointing but does end with the Doctor trying to smile (in terror) but failing. That is more of the subtle/black comedy breaking through.

It’s not been a really strong episode but I think that the tone is just right and I don’t think that I am going to dread this serial as much as I thought that I would but compared to the previous story, this does lack some of the drama and more important sunlight.