Doctor Who: Season 14: episode 3: The Giggle by Russell T Davies (TV episode review).

Sometimes, you wish there was a Doctor in the house, especially when the Internet goes down and I had his sonic screwdriver to hand. According to my supplier’s technician, I had an outage in the area which I hope is no more than reconnecting at the phone exchange. Of course, there’s no way of knowing how many other people were affected in the area.

So, in the meantime, let’s have a little chat before the main event tonight. ‘The Celestial Toymaker’ is a story I saw back in the 1960s where the Tri-Logic Game left everyone baffled and even had an explanation in the Radio Times how to play it. I think there’s even a link on-line to show the clipping. [Back on-line: https://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Dr._Who_plays_the_Trilogic_Game and time travelling up a paragraph.] If memory serves, you’re essentially building a pyramid upside down in co-ordinated numbers, hence the two advisories spouting numbers to each other. As you can see from the clip it isn’t quite like that but it is tricky to get the markers in the right order. It also gave the Hartnell Doctor, being invisible, a change to have a couple weeks holiday and only had to leave voice-overs.

Son-of-a-gun. I’ve been reconnected. No worries about putting this review on-line tonight. I’m keeping the above in just so you know I’m typing in the afternoon. I always wondered back in the 1970s whether or not the Celestial Toymaker was actually a Time Lord. He certainly has all the qualifications to be one. He plucked the original Hartnell Doctor’s TARDIS to his dimension which was no mean feat and he wanted to show his mental superiority, a common failing with Time Lords. With a new face to explain, it’s getting increasingly like a sure bet then again, considering actor Michael Gough, the original Toymaker has gone a long time ago now, he needed a new face.

Beware of giggles, there might be spoilers ahead.

Oddly, the first three episodes of this current season aren’t on IMdB anymore, which makes it difficult to do cast acknowledgement.

The change happens in 1925 when John Logie Baird is presented with the ventriloquist doll Stookie Bill for his first use of television, not knowing that its been given to them by the Toymaker.

In the present, continuing from last week, there is chaos in London and UNIT officers come to get the Doctor, Donna and the TARDIS back to their headquarters. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart explains what they, plus the appearance of another companion (I’m not going to tell you everything but she arrived by a zingo whatever that is). Monitors are now available world-wide causing the madness to happen. Those with a calming ring on their arm called a ZeeDex, the people in the UNIT HQ are safe. So are any companions of the Doctor because they are out of sync.

So, taking Donna with him, the Doctor takes the TARDIS back to 1925 and at the Mr. Emporium toyshop meets the Toymaker (actor Neil Patrick Harris) who wants to play a game and sends them into a maze of corridors where some doors open into complex rooms. Watch out for the puppets as they kill. The Doctor plays a game against the Toymaker but loses. Picking a high card by the way with a guaranteed win is never likely so don’t try that one at home. Oh, should I say the Toymaker met the Master who is now a golden tooth in his mouth.

They manage to escape back to the present where the two companions sort out what the octaves of the Stookie Bill doll is broadcasting once the Doctor shows its hidden on everything TV screen and computer monitor. It might be on your screen as you read this. If you don’t see or hear Stookie Bill then you’re safe…for now.

The Toymaker arrives, causes havoc and takes over the laser-gun that was used to destroy the South Korean satellite that was distributing the signal. The Doctor says best of three but is countered by the games were played by different regenerations and causes a regeneration. From here it is spoiler but it gives me a week to write an article on what happens for next week where by that time you should all have seen this episode and no doubt debating it.

Time for a bit of analysis. The corridor sequence reminds me a bit of ‘The Avengers’ episode ‘This Is The House That Jack Built’. Who’s to say that all these corridors returned to the same place?

This story also has the same feeling as I had with the first episode of this season. I’ll give a couple days and watch it again. Always a good sign. Of course, you all know this is also the first appearance of Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor and there is a lot of references to other companions and a screen acknowledgement that Sarah-Jane had died.

In the ‘Doctor Who: Unleashed’, showrunner Russell T Davis said he wanted to acknowledge the show’s history and do something different for the future. He’s certainly done that. I’m a little troubled by the appearance of a second TARDIS because it looks a bit like magic than space fantasy/SF but it isn’t unusual that the TARDIS can co-exist with itself in the same time and place as that’s been done in the past. No doubt that will be resolved in the future.

Looking at the possibility of merchandise from this episode, I suspect the ZeeDex will be on every Whovian fans’ arms in the next few days. Those who aren’t wearing it will behave madly. You have been warned. I reckon that there were at least eleven puppets throughout this episode so there’s a fair bet that they might turn up as a boxset. The ‘Unleashed’ shows how the puppeteers got them to walk so if they do them as puppets, something for all of you to learn. Oh, Neil Patrick Harris does magic so it is his hands throughout.

What about the origin of the Toymaker. I still think its pretty open as to what he really is and I’m not convinced he is just a primeval force from another dimension. However, when you consider the origins of the Doctor is now from somewhere that might not even be our reality, maybe they are more closely related than we think.

Watch, smile and only 16 days for the next episode.

Geoff Willmetts

09 December 2023