This episode has the most disturbing opening to any episode we've seen so far. We begin with a man in terror, breathing heavily as we have a close-up on his eyes. But then, we cut away to a bunch of majorettes dancing around and playing jolly music. The rest of the story continues in the same vein, being relentlessly happy and grinning to the point of terror with their ever-present happiness. But, there's a hidden danger somewhere, hidden darkness. There's a Big Brother style presence behind everything, telling them that work is the thing that will keep them happy, and forcefully making them cheerful, ignoring the handful of people who claim that something is wrong, and sending them away. It's like Nineteen Eighty-Four on happy pills, continually telling people to be happy, and ignoring the hidden aspects of the world. This story feels relentlessly disturbing because of all of this, and it makes it all the more interesting, because it's been able to set a scene around a mystery, and through not mentioning it, it comes to the foreground more, and so this unique way of storytelling means that the series once again is able to do something that is unlike anything else on television.
Until The Prisoner premieres 6 months later, showing that Doctor Who is also a wonderful trend setter.
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