The Land of Happy Endings (comic story)

The Land of Happy Endings was Doctor Who Magazine's celebration of 40 years of Doctor Who comics, since COMIC: The Klepton Parasites had been released on 9 November 1964. The story illustrated an early-TV Comic style adventure with the Eighth Doctor instead of the First and featuring John and Gillian. The end revealed that the entire strip had been a dream, the Doctor wishing for a more simple life. Many have used this to interpret that all of the TV Comic run (or at least the first 46 non-annual stories) were all dreams within the Doctor's mind.

While it's easy to claim, the intention of the authors was merely to play homage to the early comics, and not neccesarily to decanonize them. The original pitch for the anniversary was simply to bring back John and Gillian (similar to how Ian and Barbara were brought back for the 50th anniversary in Hunters of the Burning Stone), who had left the TARDIS for Space University during the Second Doctor's run of comics.

One alternate version of the story considered by Scott Gray featured John being the one who was trying to relive his adventures. The story would have revealed the "world" to be a game being played by a 50-year old John after the death of Gillian. John would have been saved and confronted by the real Eighth Doctor. When mentioning this idea to Clayton Hickman, Gray said that Hickman "made a face like he'd eaten a giant lemon soaked in vinegar. With onions." They eventually went with the more positive outlook of the Doctor dreaming about their adventures. However, the story certainly doesn't match within the timeline of the original TV Comic. Because of this, it's equally valid to say that the Doctor is merely dreaming in remembrance of his earlier adventures, rather than that they never happened.

Grey later stated that many fans became emotional over the reveal, saying "I think the desire for a simpler, cleaner childhood world is something shared by everyone." The comic was voted the best of the year. (The Flood)

Summary
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Plot
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Characters

 * Eighth Doctor
 * John and Gillian
 * Pobla
 * Wargonn
 * Figments
 * Darbodians

Continuity
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