Sarah -
Are you happy, Harry? I will be so glad if you are happy.
Harry -
Yes, happiness will prevail! What a totalitarian slogan, like something out of North Korea, or Thatcher's Britain.
Sarah -
Helen A was clearly modeled on Thatcher. Sheila Hancock was brilliant as Helen A!
Harry -
Brilliantly grotesque, and always on message.
After a story packed with loads of location and exterior filming, the Doctor and Ace arrive next at a human space colony far in the future. The grim sets and bleak atmosphere belie the utter madhouse they've just landed in.
Sarah -
I don't want to be critical of the sets, but I couldn't shake the feeling that the "Paradise Towers" sets had simply been redressed for "The Happiness Patrol".
Harry -
The sets certainly had that feel. This time, it reminded me of being trapped inside a shopping mall after dark, complete with tinny muzak still playing.
Sarah -
I don't think I was a big fan of the whole aesthetic of the story. The sets, with the exception of the Kandy Man's kitchen, were underwhelming.
Fortunately, there were some amazing guest actors who managed to sell the story.
Harry -
I'm guessing that they made the colony look extra grey so that the Happiness Patrol would present a more insane contrast when the Doctor and Ace run into them.
Sarah -
I completely agree on that point.
Harry -
Before that, they encounter Trevor Sigma, a census taker played by John Normington (aka Trau Morgus). The census taker is a secretive sort, adding to the mystery of the place. The Doctor decides the only way he and Ace can get to the heart of things is by getting themselves arrested. Enter the Happiness Patrol.
Sarah -
It's hysterical that, after so many years of being detained and arrested, the Doctor is finally trying to do it on purpose.
Harry -
And what a presentation. It's a troop of Amazonian women in candy floss wigs and short coats, carrying huge guns that were probably re-painted after Dragonfire. They march our friends to the Waiting Zone, a kind of prison without walls. There, they encounter Harold V, another non-prisoner who used to write jokes for Helen A. Now, he's condemned and gloomy as hell.
Sarah -
The Doctor's conversation with Priscilla is hysterical. It's not a prison, but you can't leave:
DOCTOR: Is this a prison?
PRISCILLA: A prison? Of course not! This is the Waiting Zone. There aren't any prisons on Terra Alpha. Miserable places.
DOCTOR: So there's absolutely no chance whatsoever that this could be a place of incarceration, and we're free to leave at any time.
PRISCILLA: Well, yes and no. This isn't a prison, but cross that line and you're a dead man.
Harry -
Meanwhile, Helen A watches with delight as another condemned man is executed by being drowned in liquid candy: the dreaded "fondant surprise" method of death. To complete the circle, it turns out the executed man was Harold V's brother, and Harold V is electrocuted immediately after. Fun place!
Sarah -
It's a laugh a minute in this town. I know the death by fondant is supposed to be gruesome, but I found it kind of funny. Is that so wrong?
Harry -
The executions are carried out by the Kandy Man from his lair in the kandy kitchen. Is this not the most bonkers character in all of Doctor Who?
Sarah -
Oh, he definitely tops the bonkers list!
Harry -
He's a robot with a seriously bad temper, wrapped in giant pieces of confectionary. The look, the voice, all completely mad.
Sarah -
OMG, that voice! It's INSANE! I love when he answers the phone with, "Kandy Man."
Harry -
Perhaps the best satires are the ones that present the most over-the-top parodies? I wonder who the Kandy Man was meant to represent, if this story is a slam on Thatcher's Britain.
Sarah -
It's been suggested that the Kandy Man represents capitalism, which seems appropriate.
Harry -
The Doctor and Ace split up from the Waiting Zone. Ace is brought to audition for the Happiness Patrol, the least Ace-appropriate job one could imagine for her. She befriends one of the Patrol members, who turns out to be as miserable as anyone else.
Sarah -
One of I like about this era is how Ace often ends up making a pal in the course of her adventures. Her friendship with Susan Q is lovely.
Harry -
The Doctor meanwhile makes a friend of Earl Sigma, and they make their way to the kandy kitchen.
Sarah -
New friends for everyone!
Harry -
After being threatened and shouted at by the Kandy Man, they escape down to the tunnels underneath the colony. There, they meet the native species of the planet -- a race of anthropomorphic rodents. I hope I'm not alone in saying there was not one line of dialogue spoken by the rodent people that was comprehensible. Did you catch anything that they said, Sarah?
Sarah -
Not a word!
Harry -
Anyway, the rodents did perhaps too good a job of representing "the little people" in Helen A's miserable domain. I just didn't care for them. The misery of the Patrol members, the Kandy Man's abusive relationship with Gilbert, and even Helen A's unshakeable projections of happiness were fascinating for their repulsiveness.
Sarah -
Were they meant to be the miners, crushed by Thatcher's evil policies?
Harry -
Ah yes, that would fit.
Naturally, the Doctor is not impressed by Helen A when they meet each other in her headquarters. Having seen enough, he does the most Doctory thing he could do and stirs up a rebellion. First, he turns the tables on the Happiness Patrol with a (not very well acted) display of over-the-top happiness, making them look like killjoys. As confusion and fighting breaks out among the ranks, the workers of a sugar factory revolt and the colony begins to fall out of Helen A's grasp. If it were only that easy in real life to topple a regime.
Sarah -
I love that the Doctor's reaction to meeting Helen A is to declare he's taking the government down!
Harry -
And he does! The Happiness Patrol falls into disarray, the killjoys emerge from the shadows, and dozens of sugar factories join the revolt. Down in the tunnels, both the Kandy Man and Helen A's hideous pet Fifi meet their doom. Helen A's partner Joseph C steals away in the escape shuttle with Gilbert.
Sarah -
Looks like Joseph C has a new partner for adventures and hijinks! And we thought Dennis would never leave Maggie.
Harry -
Seeing that the gig is up, she packs her bag and makes to split the scene, until a final confrontation with the Doctor. He takes no joy in her overthrow, railing at her regime of fake joy. Poetic justice is served when she find's Fifi's corpse and breaks down in tears.
Sarah -
Right after commenting that she thought love was overrated.
Harry -
The ironic title of this story fools no one. This was a gloomy story about totalitarianism and phoniness. I thought it worked as a quicky three-parter. It was almost too simple on an allegorical level, but I'm hard pressed to think what they could have spent more time on. The rat people? No thanks. At least they'll be happy to get their planet back, and I'm glad that they're happy.
Best Line, from the man at the Forum box office: "We always have a full house because attendance is compulsory."
Favourite Moment: Harold V throws a big phony smile at Priscilla P when he sees her spying on him.
Lasting Image: the Kandy Man!
7/10
Sarah -
Best Line, from Ace : "I want to make them very, very unhappy."
Favorite Moment: Daisy questioning Helen A as things are falling apart about whether or not she just might be unhappy. The forces turn on their leader!
Lasting Image: The Kandy Man, of course!
5/10
Our marathon continues with Story #150: Silver Nemesis...
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