Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker

The Celestial Toymaker is the twenty-fourth serial of Doctor Who or the seventh serial of Season Three of the series. It originally aired in fourth weekly parts between April 2 and 23, 1966. Like most of the serials of Season Three, this serial is missing episodes. In this case, it is the first three episodes of the serial with the final episode still in the BBC archives. So, once again, I'll be mostly watching a Loose Cannon Inc. reconstruction. I would say that I'm getting to enjoy these reconstructions, but I would be lying through my teeth.

I don't know much about the Toymaker himself other than the fact that the Doctor was invisible at the end of the last serial with the Refusians getting the blame for some reason while the Doctor denied the possibility of that. We'll get to see in this serial what's really going on... I hope!

Two Hours Later...

Well... That was interesting. Once again, I find myself wishing these serials weren't missing.

A POX UPON BBC!!!

Anyhow, in this episode, the TARDIS crew lands in the realm of the Celestial Toymaker. First he makes the Doctor intangible and invisible. Then he messes with the TARDIS's scanner. Then, when the Doctor, Steven, and Dodo leave the TARDIS, he steals it, mixes it up with his fake TARDISes and then he separates Steven and Dodo from the Doctor and forces them all to play his games.

The Doctor is forced to play a Trilogic Game which is basically a very complex Tower of Hanoi game with 1023 moves which made be made in a certain sequence. One wrong move and the Doctor loses. He also must lose after Dodo and Steven finish their games otherwise the Doctor will be stuck playing games with the Celestial Toymaker forever.

Meanwhile, Steven and Dodo have to play four different games to find the TARDIS. 

The first game is essentially a deadly game of Blind Man's Bluff with buzzed clues against two clowns by the name of Joey and Clara. In the end, Steven is basically tricked into going back to the beginning of the game at which point they discover that Joey and Clara were cheating by having Joey wear a blindfold he could see through. Joey is forced to play again wearing Steven's blindfold and he loses his footing, turning the two clowns back into dolls.

The second game involves a riddle:

"Four legs,

No feet, 

Of arms and no back,

It carries no burden on its back.

Six deadly sisters,

Seven for choice,

Call the servants without voice."

Steven and Dodo have to solve the riddle to figure out the game is to choose from seven chairs which one won't kill them when they sit in it. This time they're playing against a king and queen who are looking for their throne. If the king and queen beat Steven and Dodo to the throne, they get to escape the hold of the Toymaker (or so they think). If they lose, they'll be stuck as dolls. Steven and Dodo discover dolls that they can place in the chair to determine if they will kill the person that sits in the chairs. However, the king and queen find them and take half of the dolls. This results in three remaining chairs that haven't been tested and no remaining dolls: two chairs with the king and queen and one with Steven and Dodo. Dodo sits in one chair and it freezes her. Steven actually has to yank her off to save her. The king and queen both decide to sit in the same chair and risk their own lives together because they won't abide one living while the other dies. They die in that chair. So, Dodo and Steven pick the final chair and win the game to find... a fake TARDIS once again. The king, queen, jester, and jack all turn back into cards.

Because they have to follow the riddle, they then call for the dolls (the "servants without voice") that hadn't been used with the chairs. The Celestial Toymaker then calls them on the fake TARDIS's phone to give them the riddle to help them solve the third game:

"Hunt the key, to fit the door

That leads out to the dancing floor.

Then escape the rhythmic beat,

Or you'll forever tap your feet."

So, Steve and Dodo proceed to the room for the next game and find themselves in a room with Sergeant Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs. Steve and Dodo have to "hunt the thimble" which is actually the key and is hidden somewhere in the room. Dodo convinces Sergeant Rugg to help her find the key and eventually the pair work out that the key is hidden in Mrs. Wiggs' pies. Steven and Dodo make they're way through the door to find that the mannequins from the previous game are now dancing ballerinas. On the other side of the dance floor is the TARDIS. Steven works out that they have to cross the dance floor to get to the TARDIS, but when he tries, he ends up forced to dance with one of the mannequins. Dodo tries to help him, but she's also forced to dance with a mannequin. Eventually, they figure out that if they switch their mannequins for each other the two can make a jump for it to the TARDIS... which is once again a fake. Once again, the other players are turned into dolls. 

The Toymaker, frustrated with Steven and Dodo constantly beating his minions, decides to set them up with Cyril who has previously appeared as the Jack of Hearts and a kitchen boy. He challenges them to a complicated game of hopscotch (where outside of the triangles is electrified) while also delighting in tricks and traps to throw the two off their game. In the end, Cyril the Schoolboy, wins. However, he trips on his own trap and dies. So, Dodo has to win the game and they make it to the real TARDIS just as Doctor is about to make the final move on his puzzle.

The Doctor refuses to finish his game with the Toymaker until after he, Steven, and Dodo are safely in the TARDIS. However, the Toymaker refuses to let them leave until after the Doctor has finished his own game. Knowing that winning means destroying the Toymaker's world, the Doctor cannot do that. So, he imitates the Toymaker's voice to order the piece to move on its own (as the Toymaker had done to him when he felt the Doctor was moving too slow previously) and then the TARDIS crew dematerialize to the next location as the Doctor eats a sweet from a bag Steven and Dodo acquired from Cyril. It causes him to have a toothache which we will see in the next episode.

I found this episode to be fascinating in part because I kept wondering how they were going to get out of this thing when it seemed like the Toymaker controlled it all. In the end he was outwitted by the Doctor as you can expect (the past 48 years haven't been the Doctor playing tricks with the Toymaker... or has it? I could see Rose as an elaborate toy... River Song too... hmm...), but I was concerned about the how and why. I wanted a good explanation and the ending didn't come out of left field for which I am extremely glad. I am curious about the Toymaker himself and curious as to whether or not he'll show up in future episodes. He was interesting.

Next Episode: The Gunfighters or Doctor Who Meets Wyatt Earp!