Doctor Who #1044: The Giggle

"Take away the toys. What am I?"

TECHNICAL SPECS: First aired Dec.9 2023.

IN THIS ONE... The Doctor has a rematch with the Toymaker.

REVIEW: Along with many little references to past stories, The Giggle brings back a villain from the 1st Doctor era - The Celestial Toymaker - even gives Michael Gough a flash, and this even though his serial is lost for the most part. That's a grand Anniversary idea, and it COULD have been used to explain a lot of the weirdness introduced by RTD in the three specials. Could have, but didn't. Since the character's tricks are on the order of magic, the Doctor getting an old face back, regeneration in costume, Rose making toys, Meep's "boss", and the bi-generation... all of it could have been part of the Toymaker's manipulations, but aren't. A quick line of dialog could have done A LOT for us continuity hounds, but alas... Still, Neil Patrick Harris (one of two guest stars with musical theater backgrounds) is pretty great in the role, even looks a little like Gough, and gets to go over the top in terms of expressions and is even allowed a crazy dance number. It's too bad he doesn't sing though - RTD prefers to do one of his pop song moments - though Bonnie Langford, as Mel, does do a little vocalizing for us. This Toymaker doesn't dress as a Mandarin, but that would be culturally insensitive, and instead, Davies gives him a German accent and makes him say racist things as a "tribute" to that earlier portrayal. It's a bit muddy as Donna says a couple of things in the same vein in the same episode. I don't really get how "park" could be a problem for Shirley, but "Do you come in a range of colors" I think is more than "borderline".

With the Toymaker comes a lot of visual inventiveness - the marionette man, the House of Leaves shop, the creepy dolls, the dance number of course, and his folding back into his box - but he also gets a lot of great lines, including a nice speech about humanity's capacity for games. "Two out of three" and "they're still falling" are also cool moments. The Doctor's explanation of his powers is completely bogus, which he reveals when Shirley asks is another one. We can take some of the Toymaker's stated exploits with a grain of salt, but I guess he'll be the reason why the Master returns. The gold tooth he is trapped in is picked up by a mystery woman's hand at the end as an overt nod to RTD's resurrection scheme at the end of Last of the Time Lords (was it his own hand again?). But the scheme du jour is pretty interesting too. That creepy Stooky Bill head as the first television transmission is all real, and well used to "infect" our screens with the Toymaker's giggle, a hidden signal that makes humanity go mad. And it's a madness we recognize - television's legacy -the madness of opinion taking over from fact. The satire extends to anti-vaxxing, which is represented by people not wanting to wear the Zeedex, a bracelet that protects from the mind virus. RTD even brings back his news anchor Trinity Wells, but she's gone the Fox way of things. It's a bit too bad that the final game is playing catch, because you'd think something more intellectual would be more Doctorly. As it is, the Toymaker will lose when he fumbles the ball and that just feels like luck. The mention of his legions as a future threat can now be added to the Meep's boss, the Master and The One Who Waits as mysteries dangers that will plague the Doctors and/or UNIT. But of course, the Toymaker will get to kill the Doctor... sort of. Put a pin in that.

I do wonder how much of this is a not-so-backdoor pilot for the UNIT series. It would certainly explain why we spend any time at all on the Vlinx, an otherwise very random element. This robotish alien creature is suddenly there, manufacturing tech for UNIT and doing techy things. And he's probably the ropiest robot effect since Kamelion. What in the heck? (As questionable as the weird padding the soldiers now wear.) We also get a new, very public HQ for the organization, and it's pretty much Avengers Tower. As far as the possible cast of that show goes, we of course have Kate Stewart and Shirley Anne Bingham, but what about Mel? Kate is obviously on a tear to recruit all of the Doctor's past companions (like Tegan and Ace in Power of the Doctor, and Donna gets tapped in this one), especially if their presence on Earth can be handwaved away like it is here, but I'm not sure Mel would be a regular. More likely, various companions would make appearances as guest stars. Still, if you're going to have Mel around, don't give Donna her scenes. At one point, the Doctor tells everyone she's the fastest typist in London - fine - but then has her pull a complicated programming trick. With Mel, a computer programmer, RIGHT THERE. And if Donna is in UNIT now, what role with Doc14 play in the future of the org?

Because yeah, the bi-generation... RTD has a moment in the Toymaker's domain where he makes fun of the Moffat era consistently robbing companions of their deaths. ("Well that's all right, then!") At first I thought this a dig, but then he does it too, and in the most canon-breaking way. I'll discuss what might really be happening under Theories, but for now, what I find annoying is that by keeping 14 alive (an echo of Doctor Blue in Journey's End), he's giving ammunition to the morons who are already on the Internet saying Ncuti Gatwa isn't the real Doctor because he's black, he's robbing us of an emotional regeneration moment (it happens, but that balloon is deflated), and I don't think it's being fair to Gatwa as he moves forward as the current Doctor. You're supposed to pass the torch, and for very good reasons. Now if RTD is holding out hope of Tennant starring in a Doctor Who feature film, it makes sense from a commercial point of view, but we're flying in the face of 60 years of continuity here. (Or are we? See Theories for why we aren't and yet are.) Everyone had Tennant leaving with some version of "I'm ready to go", and I'm not sure "Allons-y" is as satisfying, but then, it doesn't matter because he doesn't regenerate. This would have been acceptable, mind you, if 15 had absorbed 14 at some other point (and there are two moments where it could have happened). The problem is compounded by the TARDIS ALSO bi-generating so that 14 doesn't use the use of a time machine, which he is only apparently using for tourism with his new family. The epilogue harks back to Ten's first Christmas, a repudiation of 9's "I don't do domestic", and I suppose the Nobles will do as a pied-à-terre. Do we believe the Doctor's never been happier? What about those years with River? It's all very saccharine, and I do feel robbed of a proper goodbye. Now we're always going to wonder if and when these characters come back, when what I want as a viewer is to MOVE ON. RTD's fetishization of Tennant's Doctor proceeds apace and in the style of the War Doctor and the Fugitive Doctor, I propose calling him the Persistent Doctor.

Ncuti Gatwa, at least, makes a fine first impression in this, the longest transition we've had for an incoming Doctor. He's instantly charming, instantly grounded, a man who seems to understand himself better than the last few regenerations and has a comforting, healing presence. Can't wait to see how his jukebox is used in episodes, and should we expect Shirley Anne to get a trip aboard now that the TARDIS is wheelchair-accessible and all ramps? In any case - and I've been saying this for a while - I'm am absolutely ready for this new Doctor and can't wait for Christmas.

THEORIES: The episode makes the mistake of saying bi-generation is a myth and that it's never happened before. But that's not strictly true, is it? The Watcher in Logopolis has a physical present before her merges with the Fourth Doctor to turn into the Fifth. Something similar happens to the Buddhist Time Lord(s) in Planet of the Spiders. And of course, there's the nature of the Valeyard having "split off" somewhere between the 12th and 13th incarnations in a timeline that has no longer developed. A reference to the Valeyard might have been a little opaque to new fans, but you've got Mel RIGHT THERE and she was a part of Trial of a Time Lord! Nevertheless, we might take the Doctor's words here to mean it's never happened before IN THIS WAY. The Valeyard turned into legend when the Doctor prevented him from spawning, and the Watcher and Cho-Je/K'anpo were instances of pre-regeneration echoes who DID merge with the core incarnation. We can also presume the Toymaker's "magic" allows it to happen, as he's quick to say he'll double the Doctor to infinity to use them as playthings. Is he surprised at the bi-generation, or is he more upset that the Doctors insist they can play two-against-one given what's happened? That his lingering wish powers allow 15 to double the TARDIS is perhaps a sign that this is all only possible because of the Toymaker's incursion into the universe. It needs a bit of tidying up in the dialog, but if you squint, you can just sort of make sense of it.

What happens next is another matter. Can 14 keep regenerating, or is he a split-off loner? 15's insistence that HE's the Doctor and 14 needs a rest would seem to indicate this will be the end of the road for 14. That he's like Doctor Blue. Perhaps even have a single heart and that he will age and die. Davies' comments about all this in the making of is him going off the deep end, however. He suggests that the older Doctors seen in Tales of the TARDIS are all bi-generations, somehow left over from regenerations so they can keep adventuring forever and ever. Some people have taken this to mean that 14 will regenerate in reverse and become older versions Eccleston, then McGann, McCoy, etc. which is even more preposterous, even if you're trying to account for Tom Baker's Curator. Really, RTD? You're going to say this even after your own Tales script attributes those appearances as the TARDIS dreaming and telepathically connecting Doctors in their own eras to their companions in later time frames? Thank Jack-in-the-Box, interviews are NOT canon.

REWATCHABILITY: Medium-High - Not sure I can get behind 14's fate, but this was easily the best of the three 60th Anniversary specials. Gatwa makes an immediately positive impression as 15 and NPH makes a great guest star.