The Macra Terror

Dear Gary—

The Macra Terror hooks me from the start with its smiley happy people that you know underneath aren’t smiley or happy at all. The Macra Terror strikes me as an expanded version of the first Keys of Marinus storyline, and looking ahead in the Doctor’s timeline, has a bit of The Happiness Patrol about it with just a touch of The Beast Below (but don’t get me started on THAT story, not just yet at least, Gary).

After seeing a glimpse into a terrifying future on the Doctor’s newly discovered time scanner, the Doctor, Jamie, Polly and Ben arrive in a colony preaching the virtues of ‘healthy happiness’ and that dictates, “Everything in the colony is good and beautiful; you must accept it without question.”

But we know, Gary, that the Doctor is full of questions and will dig for the answers. He won’t accept the platitudes handed out by the Pilot and the Controller.

“Don’t just be obedient,” the Doctor advises; “always make up your own mind.”

When they first arrive in the colony our travelers are treated to the ‘Refreshing Department’ which exists to “revive the weary body.” It rather reminds me of the greeting Dorothy and her entourage receive in the Emerald City. As Polly goes off for her shampoo and the ‘young gentlemen’ are ushered off for the very latest treatment I expect to hear a chorus of ‘The Merry Old Land of Oz.’ After all as the Pilot states, “we regulate our day by music.”

Jamie and the Doctor, however, will have none of it. Indeed, after being unwillingly combed and ‘clothes revived’ the Doctor deliberately jumps into the ‘rough and tumble machine’ and emerges his old disheveled self.  As the Doctor says, “who wants to see their face in a pair of suede shoes?”

The Doctor’s suspicions of the colony only deepen upon acquaintance with Medok, a colonist on the run who has seen the truth: “Have fun while you can . . . before they crawl all over you.” Jamie just doesn’t trust them: “They’re a weird sort of folk; I don’t know that I understand them.”  His distrust helps him to resist the hypnotic indoctrination he, Polly and Ben are subjected to as they sleep. Polly only resists with the aid of the Doctor. Ben, on the other hand, succumbs to the “You will question nothing in the colony” propaganda he has been fed.

Getting answers in the colony is tricky business. “It’s a privilege to work for the colony,” but when pressed what it is they actually do: “We work very hard here.” When pressed further, we finally learn that they tap and refine gas—the colony depends on it. But there are no clear answers as to what this gas is and what it does.

Our smiley happy people have no answers, but they also have no questions of their own.  “The colony needs you,” is all they know.  “Return to your work and play with fresh heart and renewed energy” is their canned inspiration.

The Macra Terror is rather short of answers itself, but then most Doctor Who stories are. The Macra, we come to learn, are some sort of bug creature that have somehow taken control of the colony even though no one seems to know this. They need the mysterious gas to survive, although it is deadly to humans.  No one on the colony knows they exist, except for the few like Medok who have seen the truth and therefore are branded as insane, and except for the terrorized and apparently enslaved Controller who is himself controlled by the Macra.

How did the Macra come to take control of the colony? How did they successfully brainwash everyone? What is their intent? What are they and where did they come from? Who really cares? This is Doctor Who, after all, and questions are secondary. We only get enough answers to help the action along.

Ha, ha, ha; Ho, ho, ho; And a couple of tra la las.

Of course we know that the Doctor will sort everything out as he always does. And as always, things aren’t quite crystal clear. There is some complicated formula that the Doctor works out with chalk and some mutterings about  “plus must be made minus and minus must be made plus.” (Where have I heard that before, Gary? Young Frankenstein perhaps?) In the end it all adds up to a happy ending.

 There are several menacing Macras to contend with, but they are handily dealt with by just blowing in a little fresh air. The conditioning of the brainwashed colonists is broken with a little tough talk and confrontation with the actual Macra. And finally, the ultimate Macra threat is dealt with by an infusion of combustible gas. What is a Doctor Who story without an explosion or two?

And so our smiley happy people are left truly smiley and happy, laughing the day away in the merry old land of . . . Macraland? Not really sure, Gary, what this place was called. Let’s just call it Smiley Happy Land.

A nice little story that I thoroughly enjoyed. A story that saw Polly sporting a sleek new short hairdo (courtesy of the ‘Refreshing Department’); and I have to mention, Gary, Doctor Who has a new opening title sequence.  The original opening is iconic and innovative. With a new Doctor ushering in a new era of the show, however, a little ‘refreshing’ is refreshing.

I hope, Gary, that somewhere out there you are having a little ha, ha, ha, ho, ho, ho of your own with a couple of tra la las thrown in for good measure.