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Whoops Apocalypse
R2 - United Kingdom - Network Review written by and copyright: Paul Lewis (31st March 2010). |
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The Film
 
Featuring a host of recognisable television comic performers, Whoops Apocalypse! (LWT, 1982) was written by Andrew Marshall and David Renwick. Intended as a satire of politics at the end of the Cold War era, the series takes place in Britain, Russia and America. This release from Network, titled ‘The Complete Apocalypse’, collects both LWT’s original television sitcom and the 1986 film from the same writers. The series is a quickfire sitcom, focusing on a series of disparate events; and its pace and structure is probably more aligned with that of television sketch comedy than traditional situation comedies. In fact, Marshall and Renwick’s previous collaboration, End of Part One (LWT, 1979-80), also married the structure of the television sketch show with the sitcom format, featuring a series of parodies of popular television programmes strung together by bridging scenes featuring the characters of Vera and Norman Straightman (Denise Coffey & Tony Aitken). The series’ premise is relatively simple: a series of ludicrous chains of events, highlighting the follies of political leaders everywere, lead to nuclear armageddon. After a revolt in Saudi Arabia and amidst new tensions in the Middle East, the American president Johnny Cyclops (Barry Morse) and his right-wing fundamentalist advisor, known only as ‘The Deacon’ (John Barron), panics after Saudi Arabia threatens to cut off America’s oil. The Americans plan to stage a coup in Iran, in favour of the deposed Shah Mashiq Rassim (Bruce Montague), whose politics are favourable to the West. (Rassim is most likely modeled on Iran’s last Shah, Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, who was overthrown during the Iranian revolution of 1979.) As Cyclops tells The Deacon, referring to the coup that took place in 1979 (which, in 1984, President Reagan famously asserted was an attempt to ‘install Communism by force’), ‘But isn’t that the sort of thing we condemned the Russians for doing in El Salvador?’ In the meantime, the Americans must find a country that will shelter the deposed Shah: Cyclops asks Deacon ‘Where are you going to find a country damn fool enough to welcome the brother of a mass murderer?’, and Deacon replies, ‘The Conservative government in Britain didn’t hesitate, sir. They’re willing to grant him asylum for as long as they’re in power’. 
However, shortly after, the Conservatives lose the election; a new Prime Minister, Kevin Pork (Peter Jones), is elected. Only after he is declared to be Prime Minister does Pork reveal that he believes himself to be Superman: ‘In future, I shall be handling all our defence needs personally, as the Man of Steel’, he tells his cabinet. Meanwhile, events escalate due to the Soviets’ capture of two American tourists and their interrogation by Comrade Solzhenitsyn (Alexei Sayle), who feels it necessary to declare that he is ‘no relation’ to the famous Russian author who, at the time Whoops Apocalypse was produced, was still in exile from his motherland after harassments by the KGB that followed the Western publication of his expose of the Soviets’ use of Gulags, The Gulag Archipelago (1973). As noted above, the series has the structure of a sketch show. The series offers a parody of television news, with fake ‘news breaks’ being used as a bridging device – much like Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop (1987) uses parodic ‘mediabreaks’. The newscasters frequently spout propaganda and misrepresent events in the favour of their respective governments, especially the overemphatic American newsreader Jay Garrick (Ed Bishop) (‘WBC Late Late Special. It’s 3am, I’m Jay Garrick and you’re an insomniac’). These parodies of the conventions of British and American television news recall Marshall and Renwick’s End of Part One, which focused exclusively on skewering the conventions of television programming. 
The American President, Johnny Cyclops, is clearly intended to satirise Ronald Reagan: at one point we are told that Cyclops is a former actor who appeared in Tarzan pictures for RKO. The President, a Republican who has ‘a popularity rating ten points below Charles Manson’ and who looks in a World Atlas for ‘Armageddon’ but can only find Alberquerque, is manipulated by his advisor, The Deacon. (The Deacon is incidentally responsible for the creation of a devastating nuclear bomb that The Deacon christens ‘the Johnny Cyclops Bomb’.) The relationship between Cyclops and The Deacon comments (unsubtly, it has to be said) on the role of conservative, evangelical ‘Bible Belt’ Republicans in American politics, and the perception of Ronald Reagan as a ‘puppet’ – little more than a former Hollywood star ‘acting’ the part of the President. The naïve Cyclops has little clue as to his government’s political maneuverings in the Middle East: after hearing of the revolt in Saudi Arabia, Cyclops muses that ‘This new defence minister they’ve appointed [in Saudi Arabia] – he looks like a real son of a bitch’. The Deacon advises Cyclops, ‘He should be: he’s one of ours’. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the Russian Premier, Dubienkin (Richard Griffiths), goes to great lengths to prove that his country is happy and prosperous: on the arrival of the American ambassador, Dubienkin (who is in fact a series of identical clones) asserts that ‘Russia is great and happy country. I have here letter from man saying he's happy living in Russia […..] Here is sworn affidavit from two witnesses saying letter is genuine. I can get ten, maybe twelve people in here who will personally testify letter was not signed at gunpoint'. 
Some of the most funny scenes in the series involve John Cleese’s Lacrobat, a gun-for-hire who is clearly modeled on Carlos the Jackal. Lacrobat becomes involved in the plot when he is hired to steal a overtly phallic Johnny Cyclops Bomb and transport it to Iran, where it is to be used in the coup that will re-establish Rassim as the Shah of Iran. Whoops Apocalypse is occasionally crude and scattershot but often very funny and pointed in its satire, which is at times incredibly well-observed; despite becoming dated during the 1990s, as the tail end of the Cold War became rapidly forgotten, it seems very relevant to some of the tensions today. Barry Morse’s Cyclops could easily be seen as a skewering of George Bush Jr, and Spork’s deluded declaration (to his cabinet, including Yes Minister’s Geoffrey Palmer) that he is really Superman cannot help but call to mind Gordon Brown’s 2008 faux pas – his declaration that ‘We have saved the world’. 
The series has been released on home video once before, in 1987; that version was edited into a continuous 137 minute feature. This release contains all six episodes of the series, unedited, with the break bumpers intact. Whoops Apocalypse (Tom Bussman, 1986)
Disc two contains the 1986 film adaptation of Whoops Apocalypse. Directed by Tom Bussman, the film was produced for ITC and written by Marshall and Renwick. The film reproduces some of the gags from the series and has some elements in common: for example, the skewering of television news programming; the news anchorman here is Dan Hickey (Marc Smith). There are some differences too: the American president here is a woman, Barbara Adams (Loretta Swit); in her attempts to resolve the conflict begun by the invasion of a British colony by the fictional country Maguadora (a thinly-veiled reference to the Falklands conflict), Adams seeks advice from former president Jack Preston (Murray Hamilton), author of the book Commie Bastards I Have Known. Meanwhile, Maguadora’s dictator, General Mosquera (Herbert Lom), threatens to kidnap Princess Wendy (Joanna Pearce) after the Prime Minister (Peter Cook) attempt to regain control of the British colony. Mosquera’s seizing of Princess Wendy, and his alliance with Russia, threaten to bring about nuclear war. 
The film features performances from Peter Cook, Herbert Lom, Richard Wilson and Graeme Garden. However, the film’s satire is arguably less effective than that of the series: due to its half hour format, the series was successful in melding the format of the sketch show with the conventions of the television situation comedy. However, the film’s narrative too often seems episodic – particularly the sequences that feature Lacrobat (here played by Michael Richards). Cook is excellent in his role as the Prime Minister, Sir Mortimer, who is as deluded as the Prime Minister depicted in the series – going so far as to suggest, in one fantastically-orchestrated scene, that ‘We all know what really causes unemployment in this country, don’t we, gentlemen. Unemployment, in this country, is caused by pixies. I don’t mean the nice ordinary ones who sit on toadstools playing the whistle; I’m talking about the nasty, evil, malevolent pixies, the tiny green ones with the black pointy beards who go around our factories […] casting their wicked spells and bringing about mass redundancies on a scale not witnessed since the Great Depression’. Sir Mortimer begins a ‘stamp out evil pixies campaign’ to educate the public: ‘Mostly they’re about seven and a half inches tall and they get in through the air vents. Now, the worst type of all are the invisible ones’, he tells an interviewer. Mortimer devises a scheme to combat unemployment: ‘Every week, ten thousand working people jump off a cliff, thus creating ten thousand new jobs’. 
Cook’s performance is the highlight of the film, although Michael Richards’ role as Lacrobat allows Richards to demonstrate the physical humour that Richards perfected in his role as Cosmo Kramer on the US sitcom Seinfeld (Castle Rock, 1990-8). Loretta wisely Swit plays the President Barbara Adams ‘straight’; in another actor’s hands, the role could easily have been laced with irony. Whilst not as focused as the series, the 1986 film adaptation of Whoops Apocalypse is frequently very funny and contains some great comic performances. 
Disc One: Whoops Apocalypse: the complete series (LWT, 1982) 1. 'Road to Jerusalem' (25:46) 2. 'Autumn Cannibalism' (26:20) 3. 'How to Get Rid of It' (25:48) 4. 'Lucifer and the Lord' (23:17) 5. 'The Violet Hour' (25:29) 6. 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun' (26:07) Image gallery (1:16) Disc Two: Whoops Apocalypse (Tom Bussman, 1986): the film (87:59) Image gallery (1:40)
Video
Whoops Apocalypse (the series) was shot on video in a studio environment, and it shows: highlights are flared, and the series has a very static look. However, this is to be expected from a situation comedy, and aside from some minor tape damage the series is very well-preserved. The film adaptation is presented in its original screen ratio of 1.85:1; the presentation is non-anamorphic. The transfer exhibits strong contrast levels and almost no damage. 
Audio
The series is presented with a two-channel mono track; this is clear and problem-free, but the laughter track is something of a distraction and seems entirely unnecessary. The film is presented with a two-channel stereo track. This is strong and clear. Neither the film nor the series contain subtitles.
Extras
Both discs include image galleries.
Overall
A very funny, pointed satire, Whoops Apocalypse makes for entertaining viewing; its marriage of the sketch show with the conventions of the sitcom is effective. The film adaptation is arguably less successful: although it contains some great sequences, the narrative fails to ‘gel’. However, the film adaptation is arguably better than its reputation suggests, and is worth watching for the great Peter Cook’s performance alone. Containing both the series and the 1986 feature film, this DVD release from Network is excellent value, although it has to be said that it’s unusual (and mildly disappointing) to see a non-anamorphic transfer nowadays. For more information, please visit the homepage of Network DVD.
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