Doctor Who
Summary
WARNING : contain SPOILERS for Doctor Who - " The Giggle "
Neil Patrick Harris played the classicDoctor Whovillain , the Toymaker , opposite David Tennant ’s Fourteenth Doctor in " The Giggle " , the last of 2023 ’s sixtieth - day of remembrance specials . The Toymaker had only appeared once before in the history ofDoctor Who , but leave a lasting impression on fan . 1980s executive producer John Nathan - Turner ’s architectural plan to bring back the Toymaker for time of year 23 was foiled by the show ’s brief cancelation in 1985 . Decades after , and three years before " The Giggle " , the Toymaker was name - moderate inDoctor Whoseason 12 , episode 7 , " Can You Hear Me ? " by the nefarious Eternal , Zellin ( Ian Gelder ) .
Now , 57 year after his first appearance , the Toymaker returns forDoctor Who ’s last 60th anniversary special , " The Giggle . " Using the first - ever television broadcast to implant a message that will eventually tug the human airstream demented , the Toymaker faces off against the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors in one last game . Building on the original 1966 serial " The Celestial Toymaker " , writer Russell T Davies and thespian Neil Patrick Harris have greatly expanded on the slicker ’s backstory and cosmic powers .
For the first meter in Doctor Who story , two Doctors exist at once , and they both have a TARDIS ! So what next for David Tennant ’s personification ?
Neil Patrick Harris Played Doctor Who’s Toymaker
How I Met Your Motherstar Neil Patrick Harris was rove as the Toymaker after working with Russell T Davies onIt ’s a sine . As a Broadway star , Harris was perfectly suitable for RTD ’s more outlandish take on theDoctor Whovillain . Although NPH claims that he ’s not a dancer inDoctor Who Unleashed , he ’s the principal of the show in the Spice Girls song - and - dance sequence . Harris ' perpetually careen accents and international stereotypes are hints of Michael Gough ’s original Toymaker and his appropriation of Eastern acculturation in the William Hartnell serial .
Neil Patrick Harris ' Toymaker is an splendid foil for David Tennant , in a similar mold to John Simm ’s Master from RTD ’s firstDoctor Whoera . Both performers mate each other ’s push attractively , and there ’s a real sense of a climactic showdown in " The Giggle " . NPH and Ncuti Gatwa also get a brief , if brilliant , cheek - off against each other , which leave the tantalizing medical prognosis of the Toymaker returning inDoctor Who ’s future .
What Doctor Who Has Revealed About The Toymaker’s Origins & Powers
In the original TV series , it was let on that the Toymaker had make his own kingdom - the Celestial Toyroom - in which he ensnared unlucky traveler and forced them to contend in a series of infantile games . If the Toymaker ’s captives advance the game , they gain their exemption . However , if they lost or chicane the result , they would be doom to stay inside the Toyroom as participant in the biz . Neil Patrick Harris ' Toymakerdid this again in " The Giggle " , when he turned John Logie Baird ’s supporter into a marionette . Brutally , he also kills two UNIT soldiers by turning them into shaping balls to the soundtrack of " Spice Up Your Life " .
The Fourteenth Doctor reveals that there is nothing that UNIT can do to kill the Toymaker , they can only beat him at his own games . He dismisses the idea that the Toymaker change speck with the power of thought , but does concede that the celestial being ’s powers could be harnessed for ripe . His ability to turn bullets into rose flower petal would certainly be a neat approach to peacemaking . The Doctor confirms that the Toymaker is something very different from the Time Lords , telling Donna that " the TARDIS is an thought the Toymaker would throw away",confirming that he exists far beyond the realms of sentence and space .
The Toymaker Battled William Hartnell’s First Doctor (& Lost)
William Hartnell confront off against Michael Gough ’s Toymaker toward the end of theFirst Doctor erawhen he and his companions were trapped in the Celestial Toyroom . The Toymaker intended to pin the Doctor for all eternity because the Doctor ’s superior intellect made him the perfect opposer . The Doctor was take exception to the diabolic Trilogic game - a variation on the pyramid puzzle - where one wrong move would immure him forever . However , the Doctor could never hope to bring home the bacon as the Toymaker had consort to the devastation of his kingdom should he be beaten .
This meant that , if the Doctor play the winning move , then he and his companions Steven and Dodo would also be destroy . After failing to dicker with the Toymaker , the Doctor comes up with an incredibly simple solution to the conundrum . From the safe of the TARDIS , the Doctor mime the Toymaker ’s voice to instruct the biz to make the winning move and destroy the Celestial Toyroom . However , the Doctor mention that this would only be irregular as the immortal Toymaker had the index to create a novel reality for himself .
medico Who ’s sixtieth day of remembrance episode have re-introduce The Toymaker , but deplorably , his first ever visual aspect on the serial is no longer available .
How The Toymaker Returns In Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary
As the First Doctor predicted way back in 1966 , the destruction of the Toymaker ’s realm was n’t enough to stop him . In " The Giggle " , the Toymaker has do to pass from his realm into the real world , specifically in 1925 . The Fourteenth Doctor find fault himself for invoking superstitious notion at the very boundary of the known world when he spreads the line of table salt in " Wild Blue Yonder . " This weakened the barriers between his reality , and the otherworldly region of the Toymaker , allowing theDoctor Whovillainto cross over into the Doctor ’s world .
During their second game , the Toymaker tells the Doctor that he ’s play them all since make it in the primeDoctor Whouniverse . From defeating the Master ( Sacha Dhawan ) and immure him in a golden tooth , to invitingly suggest that he ’s made a fretsaw puzzle of the Doctor ’s past . More perturbing still , there ’s oneDoctor Whovillain that the incredibly powerful Toymaker refuses to face - " the one who waits " - who will presumably stimulate problem for Ncuti Gatwa ’s Fifteenth Doctor .
The Toymaker Fixes Doctor Who Canon Inconsistencies
The Toymaker ’s unbelievable power to deepen realism isDoctor Who ’s latest self-justification for the mutual exclusiveness in canyon . As a show that has been running since 1963 , changing hands across multiple yield squad and lead histrion , it ’s unsufferable forDoctor Whoto neatly slot together . The jigsaw puzzle that the Toymaker refers to is in effect a metaphor for how hard it can be to slot together the Dr. ’s blood line and backstory . In 1996 , the Doctor was revealed to be half - human , in 2020 , the Doctor was divulge to be the Timeless Child , and now , in 2023,Doctor Whointroduces bi - contemporaries .
Doctor Whoshowrunner Russell T Davies support in the on - blind commentary for " The Giggle " that the Toymaker ’s jigsaw minx is a means to afford up the canyon . He also discover that the bi - genesis , something that the Fourteenth Doctor blames on the Toymaker , is a means to further untie things up . RTD state thateveryDoctor is bi - generated , meaning that the classic Dr. can now have brand - new adventures , freed from the shackles of set up canyon . Also , it ’s thanks to the Toymaker ’s residuary zip that the Fifteenth Doctor was able to clone the TARDIS by using a comedy hammer , implying that all bet are off when it comes to established lore in this post - Toymaker earned run average ofDoctor Who .
All threeDoctor Who60th anniversary specials are available to stream on Disney+ and BBC iPlayer . Doctor Whoreturns with " The Church on Ruby Road " on Christmas Day .
The latest Doctor Who series introduces the Fifteenth Doctor, joined by new companion Ruby Sunday.
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Cast
The latest Doctor Who series introduce the Fifteenth Doctor , joined by new companion Ruby Sunday .
