Doctor Who: The Happiness Patrol: Part Two starts as the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) & Earl Sigma (Richard D. Sharp) manage to escape from the Kandyman's kitchen, they enter some underground pipes where they meet the original inhabitants of Terra Alpha before it was colonised by humans. The Doctor begins to realise the scale of atrocity that has taken place on Terra Alpha, the Doctor meets Terra Alpha's leader Helen A (Sheila Hancock) & discovers her murderous way of population control just to add to the list of crimes. Meanwhile Ace (Sophie Aldred) befriends rebellious happiness patrol member Susan Q (Lesley Dunlop) who are then both caught & sentenced to death...
Episode 6 from season 25 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during November 1988, directed by Chris Clough The Happiness Patrol has a pretty bad reputation as does most of late 80's Doctor Who but despite this I am rather enjoying it. The script by Graeme Curry has moved along at a really quick pace which the three episode limit probably helps & to be fair it's very silly stuff but good solid fun. There's some nice humour here like the Doctor confusing Trevor Sigma the official from the Galatic Center & I love the idea of people being publicly executed by being drowned in red syrup! On the negative side the odd names become confusing to keep track of who's who, I found names like Harold V, Silas P, Joseph C, Priscilla P, Susan Q, Helen A & Daisy K became rather muddling. I'm not keen on the Kandyman being stuck to the floor with Lemonade for the entire episode either or how the Doctor manages to free himself from the chair he is locked into so easily but nobody said The Happiness Patrol was perfect, did they? I was sort of disappointed to see Ace blow the mutant poodle Fifi up as well!
The sets look quite good here with the Kandyman's kitchen standing out, with lots of cogs & wheels that turn, various pipes & transparent tubes which fill with red syrup, huge ovens & cooking stoves with pots & pans, it's like a twisted futuristic imagining of a kitchen from a Grim Brother's style fairy tale. Now what about the unique hair-do's the happiness patrol women have, I honestly don't know what to make of them & if that's the sort of thing women will be doing with their hair centuries in the future I'm glad I won't be there! Their pink outfits with mini skirts, toy guns & high heels also give The Happiness Patrol a really camp look & feel. Having said that it's half the fun of this story.
The Happiness Patrol: Part Two is another fun episode & I liked it but it's certainly not a story for everyone that's for sure. Call me weird but I liked it.
Episode 6 from season 25 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during November 1988, directed by Chris Clough The Happiness Patrol has a pretty bad reputation as does most of late 80's Doctor Who but despite this I am rather enjoying it. The script by Graeme Curry has moved along at a really quick pace which the three episode limit probably helps & to be fair it's very silly stuff but good solid fun. There's some nice humour here like the Doctor confusing Trevor Sigma the official from the Galatic Center & I love the idea of people being publicly executed by being drowned in red syrup! On the negative side the odd names become confusing to keep track of who's who, I found names like Harold V, Silas P, Joseph C, Priscilla P, Susan Q, Helen A & Daisy K became rather muddling. I'm not keen on the Kandyman being stuck to the floor with Lemonade for the entire episode either or how the Doctor manages to free himself from the chair he is locked into so easily but nobody said The Happiness Patrol was perfect, did they? I was sort of disappointed to see Ace blow the mutant poodle Fifi up as well!
The sets look quite good here with the Kandyman's kitchen standing out, with lots of cogs & wheels that turn, various pipes & transparent tubes which fill with red syrup, huge ovens & cooking stoves with pots & pans, it's like a twisted futuristic imagining of a kitchen from a Grim Brother's style fairy tale. Now what about the unique hair-do's the happiness patrol women have, I honestly don't know what to make of them & if that's the sort of thing women will be doing with their hair centuries in the future I'm glad I won't be there! Their pink outfits with mini skirts, toy guns & high heels also give The Happiness Patrol a really camp look & feel. Having said that it's half the fun of this story.
The Happiness Patrol: Part Two is another fun episode & I liked it but it's certainly not a story for everyone that's for sure. Call me weird but I liked it.