The Celestial Toyroom (documentary)

The Celestial Toyroom was the first instalment of the DVD documentary series dr. forever!.

	The Aztecs: Special Edition
	11 March 2013
	22'34"
	Ayesha Antoine, Gillane Seaborne
	Ayesha Antoine
	James Goss
	Dan Hall

Main subject

A brief overview of the history of Doctor Who toys and related products, presented by Ayesha Antoine. Such toys include the first Daleks made during the initial run of the program and the massive impact they had along with Dalekmania. Other topics include other figures produced over the years such as with the Dapol toy line as well as a look at the modern action figures produced by toy company Character Options.

Additional topics covered

A deep look at the original 1960s Dalek toys is covered in-depth, including the BBC's first merchandising boom thanks to the popularity of the Daleks at the time. The documentary also covers various other products not directly related to toys, such as the "Weetabix" collectible Doctor Who cards and the Top Trumps cards. The toys covered after Dalekmania were the 1970s Denys Fisher toys, mail-in order toys like the TARDIS tuner as well as puzzles, undergarments and food and models made by company Sevans. The release of Star Wars and its related merchandise in the following years had a large impact on Doctor Who, spawning the model train company Dapol's line of action figures in the 1980s. Despite the show being off-air in the 90s, Product Enterprises produced a range of detailed figures that kept Doctor Who in the top 10 merchandise revenue earners throughout the 1990s. When the show returned in the 21st century, the toys were produced by company Character Options and became incredibly popular, so much so that they even expanded into making figures based on the classic series. Also discussed are knock-off and bootleg Doctor Who products.

Notes

• Doctor Who was responsible for the BBC's first merchandising boom.
• "Weetabix" produced incorrect cards including ones where pictures of the Sea Devil had the title "Ogron" on it and vice-versa.
• When toy company Denys Fisher asked Louise Jameson for her measurements, she submitted ones smaller than her real ones, as was common for many young actresses at the time, resulting in an oddly-shaped, top-heavy action figure.
• Dapol often released figures with incorrect details, such as a Davros figure with two arms instead of the often-seen one arm and a five-sided rather than six-sided TARDIS console.
• Russell T Davies loved the "Product Enterprises" Daleks of the 1990s so much that he has a shelf in his kitchen filled with them and claims that he refuses to buy any toys, even Doctor Who-related, as an adult with the sole exception of Daleks to this day (or up to the time of the documentary's release).

Booklet synopsis

The first of a five-part series looking at Doctor Who toys. With Verity Lambert, new series creator Russell T Davies, writers Mark Gatiss, Rob Shearman, Paul Cornell and Joseph Lidster, BBC Worldwide's Richard Hollis and Dave Turbitt, book range editor Steve Cole, AudioGO editor Michael Stevens, Character Options' Alasdair Dewar, Doctor Who Magazine's Jim Sangster and Doctor Who's Winston Churchill, lan McNiece.

People interviewed

• Richard Hollis
• Jim Sangster
• Verity Lambert
• Russell T. Davies
• Robert Shearman
• Steve Cole
• Michael Stevens
• David Turbitt
• Joseph Lidster
• Alasdair Dewar (designer at Character Options)
• Ian McNeice
• Mark Gatiss

Crew

• Camera - James Brailsford, Thomas Guerrier
• Interviews - Ayesha Antoine, Gillane Seaborne
• Composer - Mike MacLennan
• Trumpet - Gianni Bruno
• Trombone - Emma Bassett
• Animation - Michael Dinsdale
• Thanks to - Mark Jones, Graeme Caddies-Green, John Scott
• Images - Ed Barnett-Ward, Paul Condon, Doctor Who Magazine, doctorwhotoys.net, Mick Hall, Andrew Ledger, Rick McEwen, Ian O'Brien, Gary Russell, Paul Scoones
• Colourist - Jonathan Wood
• Sound Mixer - David Darlington
• Executive Producer - Dan Hall
• Editor & Producer - James Goss
• Pup
• A Pup Ltd Film for BBC Worldwide
• © 2013

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