The Celestial Toymaker: Doctor Who: Season 3

SYNOPSIS

DETAILS

CAST & CREW

REVIEWS

Goldby

Grob

Boland

The Celestial Toymaker SYNOPSIS:

The TARDIS is invaded and taken to the realm of the Celestial Toymaker. The Doctor recognizes their enemy, a being of infinite power who sets games and traps for people he captures and if they lose they become his toys or playthings for all eternity. The TARDIS is hidden and the Toymaker takes the Doctor to play the Trilogic game, rendering him invisible then mute when he tries to offer advice to his companions.

Steven and Dodo are forced to play a deadly version of Blind Mans buff with cheating clowns Clara and Joey who are transformed into dolls when they fall off an obstacle course. Next Steven and Dodo face the King and Queen of Hearts in a guessing game to determine the one safe chair out of seven. Further challenges involve a treasure hunt and deadly dancing dolls.

The final challenge is a game of hopscotch against tricky Cyril the school boy. An electrocution is the result of landing on the wrong square with the actual TARDIS now the reward if they win. But while they are outwitted by Cyril the now visible Doctor has near completed the Trilogic game and realises the ultimate danger awaiting if he completes the final move successfully.

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The Celestial Toymaker DETAILS:

Episode	Broadcast	Run Time	Viewership (In Millions)
Episode One: The Celestial Toyroom	2-Apr-66	24:40	8
Episode Two: The Hall of Dolls	9-Apr-66	24:45	8
Episode Three: The Dancing Floor	16-Apr-66	24:10	9.4
Episode Four: The Final Test	23-Apr-66	23:57	7.8

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The Celestial Toymaker CAST & CREW

Stars:
The Doctor:
William Hartnell (First Doctor)

Companions:
Peter Purves (Stephen Taylor)
Jackie Lane (Dodo Chaplet)

Guest Stars:
Michael Gough — The Toymaker
Peter Stephens — Cyril / Knave of Hearts / Kitchen Boy
Campbell Singer — Joey / King of Hearts / Sergeant Rugg
Carmen Silvera — Clara / Queen of Hearts / Mrs Wiggs
Reg Lever — Joker
Beryl Braham, Ann Harrison, Delia Lindon — Dancers

Production Staff for Serial Y:
Writer - Brian Hayles
Director - Bill Sellars
Script editor - Gerry Davis
Producer - Innes Lloyd
Missing Episodes 1,2 & 3

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The Celestial Toymaker REVIEWS

Goldby

Not a bad little episode segment this. Stephen and Dodo, who by now is the carbon copy of Katrina who is the carbon copy of Vicki play deadly parlor games while the Doctor matches wits with the very well played Toymaker of the title, Michael Gough eventually becoming Alfred the butler years later. It's distracting enough and different enough to be watchable, especially with the toymaker being the first 'all powerful' villain the Tardis crew have faced. Not bad 5/10

Grob

Watching two of Doctor Who's most boring companions playing bloody hopscotch doesn't float my boat, particularly when its Dodo the Dildo and Steven the Homo. What is worse is the fact that William Hartnell is invisible and you only hear his voice! That triangle game between the Doctor and the Toymaker is very boring to say the least. The Toymaker is a very dull adversary - he's "Joker-lite" in Batman terms. Christ knows what John Nathan Turner was thinking by wanting to bring him back for the aborted season 23. But then with a crap Doctor like Colin Baker, anything was possible. Cyril the overblown school boy is also very predictable and his shorts were crying out for be used in the biggest wedgie the universe has ever seen. This one is dull. Not Space Museum dull but bloody close. 1/10.

Boland

The Celestial Toymaker - One tedious episode to judge this four parter on exists. Four episodes of the Doctor doing bugger all and Steven and Dodo playing games with a comic relief character running around being annoying. This doesn’t float my boat, and thankfully was succeeded by the far superior story ‘The Gunfighters’. I can’t help but think, if episode four is anything to go by, that this must be one of the most boring Doctor Who stories only appealing to the under fives of the 1960s. 1.7/10

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