Story: The Doctor is once again manipulating events, plotting and planning – but this time, he’s planning Bernice Summerfield’s wedding. Friends and acquaintances – ranging from Ace to Kadiatu to the Brigadier himself – are gathering in the quaint Earth village of Cheldon Bonniface. But other forces are at work here – evil, hatred, and perhaps just enough lust to derail Bernice’s wedding before she’s even had a chance to walk down the aisle. Can singing Silurians salvage the situation? Can Jason keep it in his pants – at least until after his wedding? Will the Timewyrm unleash her mighty powers again…upon her new boyfriend, Chris Cwej? And will the Brigadier survive one final encounter with the Master?
Review: This pleasant little novel by Paul Cornell, surely the most gifted of the NA authors, breaks with the “seasons” theme utilized in his four previous books and plays Benny’s wedding for the stand-alone event that it has to be. Even if you haven’t read the previous book (and I haven’t), Jason Kane comes across as an interesting and well-rounded character – and Cornell wisely makes use of the fact that Jason had only appeared in the previous novel to keep the reader guessing about whether or not Jason and Benny are headed for wedded bliss, or the usual mayhem that seems to consume the lives of everyone in the Doctor’s immediate vicinity.
The sheer number of guest “appearances” here – at least one character from each of the 49 New Adventures published before this one – has an almost fanboyish feel to it, but the absurdity doesn’t really begin to pile on until the guests start to arrive in unlikely numbers and in unlikely company (I’m thinking here of the arrival of Captain Lisa Deranne – of Shakedown: Return Of The Sontarans fame – and Sgloomi Po, among other characters). The presence of familiar faces like the men of UNIT also helps to ground things a little.
Cornell’s trademark whimsical-but-dangerous feel for the Doctor is set aside here, and the whole book takes on an unusual tone for a Doctor Who novel – somewhat romantic in places. But even the campiest elements – singing Silurians, anyone? – don’t make things too weird. Still, there are a number of fans who absolutely hated this one precisely because of those whimsical elements and the romantic tone, so I suppose I could be wrong.
Possibly the worst misstep of “Happy Endings” is the wedding reception chapter which was gang-written by all of the previous New Adventures authors. It comes across as silly, inconsistent, and largely inconsequential – it doesn’t hurt the book one bit if one chooses to skip over it.
“Happy Endings” isn’t as bad as many of the fan reviewers would have us believe. Sure, it strays from the formula New Adventures followed for much of their existence, but when so many Doctor Who novels hitting the shelves now seem to be carved out of much the same storytelling stuff, is this break with tradition unpardonable – or, perhaps, more interesting than the average book? “Happy Endings” was also the first NA to bear the new look which saw the range out (and I was never that much of a fan of the new cover design).
It’s no “Human Nature” or “Love And War”, but did it have to be?
Year: 1996
Author: Paul Cornell
Publisher: Virgin
Pages: 256