After three years since this series last made the list, Doctor Who...welcome back. 2023 was a big year for the Whoniverse, mostly because it’s the franchise’s 60th anniversary of being on the air since its first episode dating back to 1963. And unlike the 50th anniversary...and every other anniversary special, it was huge to a certain degree. One is the changing of the guard regarding the head writer role. Switching over from Chris Chibnall at the end of last year to handing the keys back to Russell T. Davies and I bet you that fans were rejoicing that the “golden years” of the show are back with Davies returning to take the driver’s seat for the show the same way people thought that the sequel series of Star Wars playing hot potato from Abrams to Johnson and going back to Abrams, though, okay...yeah, the last two movies was a mess.
The change of Doctors is also in the conversation after Jodie Whittaker’s departure at the end of “The Power of the Doctor” and the announcement of Ncuti Gatwa taking over the position ahead of the new series, sorry, season, forgot that they’re restarting the show starting with Season 1 instead of Series 14. I thought, and some of us noticed when watching the regeneration of the Thirteenth Doctor thought that 13 with Jodie would go into 14 with Ncuti, but instead, it’s Tennant who took over the slot as the 14th Doctor, not the 10th Doctor once more as if there was an issue with the regeneration, the 14th Doctor, placing Ncuti as the 15th, saving him for 2024 if you seen the trailer for the specials for the 60th Anniversary. Not to mention bringing in an old face to take the companion role with Catherine Tate returning as Donna Noble as if the whole story with Donna and The Doctor isn’t like...over-over since the end of Series 4. And that’s where the 60th Anniversary comes into play with a set of three specials and I had to pick the last of the three specials to handpick for the countdown and that is, of course, “The Giggle”.
And this episode pretty much ties in with the notion of how misinformation and the invention of screens, especially television, can drive people mad, mostly because of one enemy that we haven’t seen in a long time. And we started the episode in Soho, a district in London, in the year 1925 where a man, named Charles Banerjee came across the man who works at the toy shop, who we know that it’s the Toymaker making his return to the show in this century, in the modern version of the series, and I’d said that it somewhat ties in with television because this ties in with history regarding the invention of the television with Charles looking for a prop, a dummy head for him and John Logie Baird, the man who is dubbed the pioneer of the television, to use to test out their latest invention. That dummy head turned out to be, and this is an actual thing, look it up, called Stooky Bill. And Stooky Bill was used when being a test subject for the cameras to roll and for the machinery to do its work to see if the television works by having the head being broadcasted to them as a test and to the point where you hear an evil laugh, primarily coming from the Toymaker since he sold the dummy head to Banerjee, in the background. There’s an actual video of the doll being used for the test run of the television on YouTube, I would show it here, but the last thing this page needs is triggering people’s fears of dolls or analog horror. But that was 1925 and going into 2023 where we left off at the end of “Wild Blue Yonder”...
You have people going into mass panic because, at the end of the previous episode, you had The Doctor and Donna returning to Earth after having to survive their time at a random spaceship and having to deal with alien species that can create copies of themselves where the duo come across with Wilfred Mott in what was the last performance by the late Bernard Cribbins, and an explosion that came out of nowhere from a random kiosk during a street market caused the panic to erupt to where we are at the start of the episode. And, of course, you have UNIT stepping in to find The Doctor and take him and Donna to HQ but not before a few things. One is Donna telling one of the soldiers to take Wilfred safely to another location, which, again, is bittersweet because Cribbins passed away right as this episode was undergoing filming and production. They had to grab a soundbite from a previous episode with him telling Donna to go with The Doctor. Just be thankful that they didn’t use digital recreation like what Star Wars did for Moff Tarkin or Leia in Rouge One, you know, like a deepfake, nor did they use the idea of artificial intelligence to fill in Cribbins’ position. So, thank god they didn’t go to that route for this scene, if not, the whole episode. Take notes, Hollywood, especially with that new contract y’all had to agree with the writers and actors.
And also, in the small scene with The Doctor encountering someone in a top hat and suit and ending up dancing with The Doctor while the chaos was taking place and you already knew that the Toymaker watching the whole thing and was expecting The Doctor to show his face the possible reunion between the two beings. And might as well talk about The Toymaker himself since it was a very long time since we last saw the celestial being...even though three of the four episodes from the classic series had gone AWOL from the archives.
Now, when I first heard that Neil Patrick Harris was cast into the casting role for this episode as part of the show’s 60th Anniversary last year, this was pretty much my reaction to that announcement...
Yeah, that was my reaction to the news last year when I found out that Harris would the role. I mean, I don’t hate it. It’s just random at best when the news broke last year as filming and production for this episode began to take place. A year and a few months later with the release of the episode and I gotta say, Harris freaking killed it when playing the role of the Toymaker. The accent he has to use when playing the role, messing with The Doctor and Donna when coming across with the being at the toy shop. Hell...
Him putting on a puppet show and messes with The Doctor by telling Donna about what The Doctor did after her sudden departure. Telling about The Doctor’s time with Amy, Clara, and Bill and how each of the three companions when he was the 11th and 12th Doctors with Amy being killed off by the weeping angel, in which The Doctor responded that she died of old age, though no mention of Rory since he died first, technically, he was sent back in time and became a Roman soldier, came back to the present, and then go back in time by the weeping angel and like Amy, died of old age; Clara with the raven going through her after passing Rigsy’s tattoo countdown of death onto her, in which The Doctor responded that she survived in her last second of life; Bill getting shot by the Cybermen later being converted into one, in which The Doctor responded once more that her consciousness is still around, now becoming a puddle alongside Heather. Though no mention of Nardole? Huh. And I love that the Toymaker had to lose the accent when responding to The Doctor’s fact-checking regarding the fate of his companions after Donna with him yelling, “Well that’s alright then!” And looking at the puppets of Amy, Clara, and Bill and having their strings cut by the Toymaker to make The Doctor look bad, tell me that doesn’t sound like a jab with how Moffat handled the companions. Not that it’s a slander because I’m sure that both Davies and Moffat are good friends, it just things had gone out of The Doctor’s control.
And boy, all it took for The Doctor to finally challenge The Toymaker and play his games was, of course, mentioning the Flux and how things went out of his control with half of the universe erased and how he’s the blame for the universe erasing event. Like...The Toymaker in this episode became the ultimate hater when coming across with The Doctor and that’s more than enough, along with the attempts to separate The Doctor and Donna when chasing after him with The Doctor coming across with a puppet version of Banjeree, rather his head in a puppet body in one room and Donna getting attacked by a set of dolls, only to fight back and make her escape, like...man, they did not mess around with the imagery and visual effects that was used for the scenes and holy crap, it did not disappoint.
Hell, The Master was mentioned by The Toymaker when bringing up what happened to the guy I’m guessing right after his plan to take The Doctor’s body through force regeneration was foiled, and had to come to The Toymaker’s aid as his “last hope of life”, of course, ended up losing his game and thus, resulting in him being sealed as the Toymaker’s golden tooth until the Toymaker’s defeat and a mysterious individual picks up it up as if it’s a sign telling us that we’re expected to see The Master once again, possibly with a new actor taking the role, and hearing the laughs of the past incarnations of The Master, that being Ainley, Simm, Gomez, and Dhawan, in the background when being picked up. And I can already see some pointing out who the mysterious person is and the finger-pointing is going toward a new villain set to appear in the new season that is set to be played by Jinkx Monsoon and believe that we could be seeing the return of the other Time Lord, that being the The Rani. And while looking at Jinkx’s photo of her character on the show for the upcoming season doesn’t seem to be the case, it’s any given Sunday. I mean, we all remember back in Series 8 with the whole mystery of who Missy is before finding that she’s The Master in the finale.
Going back to The Toymaker and yeah, Harris nailed the role when taking over the part of the antagonist. Messing with The Doctor to the point where he had no other choice but to challenge the celestial being to a game, messing with everyone’s psyche the moment Stooky Bill was purchased for use to have the television undergo a test run...I mean, fuck, breaking into UNIT HQ and messing around with not just The Doctor, but also Donna, Kate, Mel, Shierly, and every soldier on guard while playing Spice Girls in the background while dressed up as a member of the marching band, giving Dhawan’s Master with his dance to Rasputin a run for his money...like...what else to say but to give mad props to Harris to playing the character. And speaking of returning old faces...
Sure, you have Shirley, who appeared in the first special with the issue regarding the Meep but you also have the return of Kate Stewart, who appeared in last year’s centenary special when dealing with The Master, Daleks, and Cybermen and now having to deal with people in mass hysteria thanks in part to The Toymaker’s doing. Especially with that little device attached to her arm where she did a test run that uh...let’s say just, makes you feel like you’re not yourself. When deactivated, you’re good. You’re normal. But once that is activated like what she did for a test run, she goes full InfoWars like what we’re seeing with everyone across, not only London or across the United Kingdom but also across the globe, including the return of an old face from the first Davies era of the show, that being Trinity Wells. And speaking of returning old faces...
Melanie Bush made her full return to the series, now working for UNIT after that cameo with the support group at the end of “The Power of the Doctor” alongside the other companions of The Doctor’s past. Helping The Doctor and Donna alongside Shierly and Kate to take on The Toymaker. Also, nostalgia for anyone who are fans of the show since she’s now the second companion of the Seventh Doctor who came back and worked for UNIT with the first being Ace last year alongside Tegan. I guess you could say that this feels like an unnecessary addition to having Mel return for this episode even though she is set to return for the new season with Gatwa’s Doctor, and we’ll get to that moment in a bit, but hey, gotta have the nostalgia button to be smashed and she did alright. Whether it’s helping The Doctor and UNIT to deal with the Toymaker or having brunch with The Doctor and the Temple-Nobles, I have no issue and that’s alright. At least it’s nice to have a classic companion in the modern series.
And, of course, gotta talk about the bi-generation. Okay...that was my reaction when seeing the process after the 14th Doctor got shot and thought we’re gonna get a full regeneration instead, you have The Doctor to tell Donna and Mel to pull, and thus, it comes Doctor Number 15. Like...okay? I guess? A lot of people, including myself, felt lost when that happened when it first came out and I had already knew the divisiveness over the idea of having one Doctor being split in two right after getting shot by the Toymaker. I mean, yeah, sometimes, you gotta have to break the rules, even if it’s going to piss off a portion of the fandom, but not without telling why you’re doing this and it has to be logical where both sides had to come into an agreement. And mind you, The Doctor was playing The Toymaker’s game where he had to break the rules of laws of physics and reality and you might as well put out that this is a part of that rule breaking as the 15th Doctor had said after both him and the 14th Doctor defeated the Toymaker and banished him from reality by picking up a mallet and said that the Toymaker’s domain is still going as part of their prize before hitting the TARDIS to create two TARDISes. Not in the way where the fabric of space and time would cause an issue when having more than one Doctor interacting with each other unlike the previous times we had that in the past, but that moment is going to have a lot of people scratching their heads right after this episode alongside the topic of the Timeless Child.
But yeah, the introduction of the 15th Doctor under Ncuti Gatwa didn’t disappoint. Feeling campy and excited despite the situation at hand with The Toymaker. Not to mention, him, despite that his Doctor had to be split with Tennant’s 14th, had each piece of wardrobe kept and taken away, mostly the suit jacket, suit vest, shoes, and also, pants. At least the visuals look good. Silly, but good when having two Doctors in one body before being split into two with their separate bodies. Not to mention, having two TARDISes for each Doctor through the power of the magic mallet with the amounts of magic it got left, one of which finally contains a ramp that makes the TARDIS wheelchair accessible, which is great for not just Shierly whenever she wants to enter the ship, but also accepting every fan who are wheelchair users and in the disabled community that they’re being accepted to take aboard, which is nice. Really liked that. And, of course, the Toymaker finally defeated after having two Doctors playing against him in what is pretty much a fair game. While the scene with both Doctors showing off their skills in the game of catching the ball was great, the idea of bi-generation, which happened to be a Time Lord myth that is nothing more than a fairy tale until we just saw that, is going to leave a lot of people scratching their heads and whether you like it or hate it, it’s a thing now and might as well go by it.
And with that, so ends the second Tennant era of the show, even if it’s for a year and a few weeks for the 60th Anniversary, seeing the 14th Doctor, Donna, the family, and Mel sitting at one table, it sort of feels like we’re finally closing the book on the whole story with The Doctor (Tennant) and Donna as if he finally got a happy ending than a sad one that we got in Series 4, though knowing the bi-generation, it does feel like we’re setting things up with Tennant possibly returning in case something happens during the 15th Doctor’s control of his own TARDIS, which I hope that doesn’t become the case because for once, it does feel like closure for Tennant’s Doctor without the idea of mourning clouding over him or the companion but the show might mess around but for once, it’s closure for the 14th Doctor sitting at the table with Donna and her family and having it being treated as an apology letter to not have the ending to be a sad one. And thus, the baton has been passed from the 14th to the 15th. And I can’t wait to see what that Doctor has in store come Christmas Day.
Man, this was a bit of a long one for yours truly when trying to scramble my head with this episode. This was an interesting episode to wrap up the series’ 60th anniversary and a wild one of the exact but can leave a confusing note regarding the bi-generation and how the process even works. From the Toymaker’s return to the bi-generation process to the Fourteenth Doctor having to relax for once while his future incarnation in a split body takes over the job, it had been a roller coaster of a ride from start to finish. And out of the three specials, it had to be handpicked, so, don’t shoot the messenger.
I guess the highlight for me would be The Toymaker and again, Neil Patrick Harris played the role perfectly as the antagonist in this episode and whether it’s him messing with The Doctor by putting on a puppet show about The Doctor’s companions after Donna and their fate along with the Flux to coming into UNIT HQ while playing “Spice Up Your Life” by Spice Girls and disturb everyone there, he straight up killed it. He straight-up killed up taking over the role. Nice to see Kate again for this episode. The same goes for Mel, even if she’s there for nostalgic reasons. Though the whole bi-generation thing is going to have people feel confused and whether you like it or hate it or somewhere around the middle, rules are often meant to be broken and this was that rule that is, of course, broken. The ending to the episode with the 14th Doctor sitting with Donna and her family along with Mel as a plus one, even though the bi-generation opens up the possibility of Tennant returning, feels more like a closure for Tennant’s run as The Doctor and without having either The Doctor or the companion or the family to the companion in mourning and instead, it’s more on the line of him being relieved and a sense of happiness. That and also can’t wait to see what Ncuti Gatwa has in store for the 15th Doctor once Christmas Day arrives with “The Church on Ruby Road” alongside new companion Ruby Sunday, which I’ll be live blogging on Monday.
And so ends Day 2 of the Top 12 Countdown of the year 2023 is in the books. What do you think about this episode? Should it be higher, lower, or stay put on your list? Put it in the comments below as we prepare to go into the Number 10 spot of the Top 12 Countdown. Which episode and series will be taking the tenth spot? Find and see sometime tomorrow. Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, and BlueSky for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. And y’all should know the drill by now...
- PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/yahoo201027
- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/yahoo201027
- Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/Y8Y8K4OP
Donate over on PayPal, Patreon, and Ko-fi pages to help your boy out in both improving the page and paying the bills to keep the lights on. And until tomorrow with number 10 of the Top 12 Countdown of the year; stay safe, wash your hands, wear a mask, get vaccinated, and a reminder that you are loved, you are beautiful, ignore the haters, and I’ll see y’all later.
No comments:
Post a Comment