The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)

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The Celestial Toymaker was the seventh story of Season 3 of Doctor Who, and the first to be produced by Innes Lloyd. It was at one point considered writing out William Hartnell as The Doctor in this story, but the idea was vetoed.

Synopsis

The travellers arrive in a strange domain presided over by the Celestial Toymaker – an enigmatic, immortal entity who forces them to play a series of games; failure at which will render them his playthings for all eternity. The Doctor has to solve the complex Trilogic game while Steven and Dodo are faced with defeating a succession of apparently child-like but potentially lethal animated toys in contests such as 'blind man's buff', musical chairs and 'hunt the key'.

The Doctor finally overcomes the Toymaker by imitating his voice in order to complete the Trilogic game from within the TARDIS, which then dematerialises as his foe's universe is destroyed.

Plot

Part One: The Celestial Toyroom

Aboard the TARDIS, The Doctor suddenly vanishes from sight. The Doctor says it's some sort of powerful attack, leaving him invisible as well as intangible, unable to touch the TARDIS controls. He tells Dodo and Steven to turn on the scanner, but nothing appears. He has them open the doors, and they head outside.

Steven and Dodo find the Doctor, now visible once more. Steven sees images himself on a screen on Kembel during DW: The Daleks' Master Plan and in Paris during DW: The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve. The Doctor realizes where they are, and not to look at the screen. They are in the world of the Celestial Toymaker, and that the screen is a trap designed to let him get into their minds. The Doctor explains that the Toymaker is an evil force that traps people and turns them into his playthings. The Toymaker appears and tries to get Dodo to watch the screen, which shows herself on the day her mother died. Dodo suggests they escape in the TARDIS, prompting the Toymaker to show them hundreds of TARDISes on his screen, before vanishing with the Doctor.

The Toymaker sends two clown dolls from his doll house, Joey and Clara, which he makes into full-sized people, to play a game with Dodo and Steven while he plays a game with the Doctor. He explains that after each game Steven and Dodo win, they'll find a TARDIS which may or may not be the real one. They must find the real TARDIS before the Doctor has finished his game.

The game he assigns to the Doctor is called the Trilogic game, which appears to be identical to the classic puzzle Tower of Hanoi, using 10 discs. He tells the Doctor he has exactly 1023 moves to complete the game; one wrong move, and he will lose and be kept there forever. He points out a counter to keep track of how many moves the Doctor has taken. To prevent the Doctor from stalling in order to give Steven and Dodo more time, the Toymaker has the ability to command the Trilogic Game to move ahead to a specific move. The Toymaker explains that he specifically brought the Doctor to his world because he's been bored, and if he can trap the Doctor, he'll have a brilliant mind to play against for all time. The Toymaker mentions that he and the Doctor had met once before, but that the Doctor escaped before they could even play one game. The Doctor remarks that it was wise of himself to do so.

Steven and Dodo, meanwhile, are pitted against the two clowns in "Blind Man's Bluff." One teammate will move around an obstacle course blindfolded, being guided only by coded buzzes from their partner. If the blindfolded person falls over, they lose. The Doctor tries to call out to warn Steven and Dodo about the game, but The Toymaker cuts him off, and, as punishment, makes him intangible once more (except for one hand, so he can still play his game). Joey goes first and effortlessly succeeds. Steven goes next, but has a hard time, especially because Joey has moved some obstacles around. Steven seems to fail, but they inspect Joey's blindfold, and it's see-through, meaning the clowns had been cheating all along. They demand a re-match, and this time Joey falls, and Clara suddenly collapses.

A TARDIS appears, but it's a fake. Steven and Dodo find a piece of paper with a riddle on it: "Four legs, no feet; Of arms no lack; It carries no burden on its back; Six deadly sisters, seven for choice; Call the servants without voice." They looks back, and the clowns have become figurines.

Part Two: The Hall of Dolls

Steven and Dodo move on through the false TARDIS into the next room, which contains different sizes and shapes of chairs in two adjoining rooms - three in one room, four in the other. The Doctor, who is apparently familiar with the Toymaker's games, cries out, "It's chair number-" but is cut off by the Toymaker before he can give them the answer to the game. The Toymaker takes away the Doctor's ability to speak and commands the game to go to move 444. He picks up a deck of cards and declares that he will send the "Heart Family" to play against Steven and Dodo next.

The pair are joined in the chair room by people dressed as the King, Queen, and Jack of hearts, as well as the Joker. They realize that the line from the riddle they found earlier, "Six deadly sisters, seven for choice" means one chair is the correct choice, and the other six are deadly. They find seven dolls in TARDIS-shaped cabinets and decide to test out the chairs with them, assuming them to be the "servants without voice." The King and Queen see the dolls and demand they be shared, so Steven and Dodo hide three of them and the four players take one doll each. They split up between the rooms, and each try a chair. The King puts his doll in a chair, and the chair shakes violently until the doll's head falls off. Dodo throws her doll into a chair, and it is electrocuted. Steven tries another, and a knife cuts the doll in half. The King puts the last doll into a chair, and it simply vanishes.

Steven and Dodo have one chair left in their room, but left the extra three dolls in the room the King and Queen are in. As Steven heads for the other room, Dodo sits down in the remaining chair. The Toymaker taunts the Doctor, now on move 690, telling him Dodo has chosen the wrong chair - the "freezing" chair. Steven notices, and rushes to her. She says she suddenly feels cold, and cannot move. Steven manages to pull her free from the chair.

Meanwhile, the King and Queen try to convince the Joker to test a chair for them, but he catches on to their plan and runs away. Unable to agree on who should try a chair next, the two sit in one of the two remaining chairs together. For a moment, nothing happens, and it appears they won, until the chair suddenly collapses on them. Dodo suggests they go to help them, but Steven realizes there's only one chair left, and sits in it, winning the game.

A TARDIS appears, but it's another fake. Recalling that they haven't solved the entire riddle, they try to "call the servants without voice" and call the remaining three dolls to them. Just then, the TARDIS' phone rings. Steven answers, and it is the Toymaker, delivering the next clue: "Hunt the key, to fit the door; That leads out on the dancing floor. Then escape the rhythmic beat; Or you'll forever tap your feet." The phone goes dead. They notice the King and Queen have become cards. As the two continue on, the three remaining dolls come to life and start to pursue them..

Part Three: The Dancing Floor

The Toymaker congratulates the Doctor on his choice of companions, and decides they have earned some amusement. He selects Sergeant Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs.

Steven and Dodo are at the next door, but can find no way in. Dodo is frightened at the appearance of the "servants without voice." However, the door suddenly opens on its own, and they go inside to discover a large old-fashioned kitchen populated by the familiar-looking Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs. Mrs. Wiggs directs them to the Dancing Floor, but the large oak door that separates them from it is locked. Though Steven is getting thoroughly annoyed at the characters sent at them, whose only job appears to be to "get his goat," Dodo appeals sweetly to Rugg. He helps them realize the game is "Hunt the Thimble;" the key to the door is hidden somewhere in the kitchen.

The Toymaker complains that the Doctor is not playing fast enough, and orders the advance of his game twice, to move 813.

Steven and Dodo discover a third character asleep in the kitchen, who looks uncannily like the Jack of Hearts. This character, Cyril, is stuffed into a schoolboy's uniform. Dodo again appeals to Rugg and he chivalrously helps her and Steven search for the key. Mrs. Wiggs is getting more and more irritated at the three of them tearing apart her kitchen. She eventually loses her temper, even at Rugg, at the shattering of some of her plates and cups. Rugg and Mrs Wiggs quarrel violently, (Cyril waking and taking refuge under a table) but Steven tries to keep Dodo on task.

Soon food is being thrown around, whereupon Dodo tries to reconcile the two, unsuccessfully. Steven catches Cyril trying to escape, and tries to force Cyril to tell him where the key is, but Cyril escapes and locks himself in the pantry. As the food fight continues, Rugg threatens a pie that Mrs. Wiggs has made. She becomes very concerned and demands he put it down. Dodo realizes that's one place they haven't looked, and when the pie is smashed on the ground, she finds the key in it. They open the door and go inside.

The Toymaker appears and angrily confronts the characters, exclaiming how they have wasted their "chance at life." He commands them to prevent Steven and Dodo finding the next TARDIS, or he will smash them to pieces like plates.

Steven and Dodo arrive on the Dancing Floor to witness three ballerinas performing a dance. They see the TARDIS at the opposite end of the floor, but realize it can't be so easy to get there. When they place their hands curiously over the floor, music plays and the dolls begin to dance. As Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs enter, having "made up," Steven makes a dash for it, but once the music starts, he is forced to dance, and the dolls surround him. The Toymaker comments on this to the Doctor, who is at move 881.

Soon Dodo is pulled into the dancing, while Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs scheme to get to the "big cupboard" first. As Mrs. Wiggs begins to dance, the dolls change partners. Rugg finds he cannot resist and is soon dancing as well. Steven eventually becomes Dodo's partner, and they successfully jump off the floor and into the TARDIS as Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs dance on.

Another fake, or course. Dodo is firmly convinced that these characters are alive, but Steven is doubtful. Meanwhile, the Doctor is pleased with his companions, while the Toymaker is livid with his "too human" characters. He takes out a Cyril doll, an "innocent, fat, jolly schoolboy."

Steven and Dodo find the way out of the cupboard, and another message: "Lady luck will show the way; win the game or here you'll stay." As they emerge from a passageway, Dodo screams when Cyril appears in front of them. As Cyril shakes Steven's hand, Steven is shocked by an electrode and pulls away; Cyril giggles mischievously. As they realize the Doctor has reached move 902, Cyril directs them to the next game, which will be played against him.

Part Four: The Final Test

To be added

TARDIS hopscotch

Cast

File:Lc08.gif
The Celestial Toymakers' Dolls' house

Crew

References

  • Steven sees himself on the planet Kembel and in 16th century Paris in flashbacks to The Daleks' Master Plan and The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve respectively, and also refers to the Monoids from The Ark.
  • Dodo initially speculates that the Doctor's intangibility is due to the Refusians.
  • When the Doctor imitates the Toymaker's voice, the last piece of the Trilogic moves over slowly, whereas when the Toymaker commanded the pieces they moved instantly.

Story Notes

  • This story had working titles The Trilogic Game and The Toymaker.
  • The Celestial Toymaker was to return in The Nightmare Fair, and Michael Gough was approached to reprise his role, but this was never made due to BBC-1 Controller Michael Grade having unexpectedly decided to postpone the series for eighteen months. This was part of the unmade Season 23 in 1986.
  • Radio Times credits 'Michael Gough as the Toymaker' for all four episodes and 'Dancers: Beryl Braham, Ann Harrison, Delia Lindon' for The Dancing Floor, with the other supporting cast members credited without specific roles under the heading 'with' in the programme listings for all four episodes.
  • In The Hall of Dolls, whilst deciding which of the seven chairs – six of which are deadly, while one remains safe – to choose, the King of Hearts recites a politically incorrect version of the children's counting rhyme "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" (used to select a person to be 'it' for games and similar purposes), which includes the racial slur "nigger" in the second line. On BBC Audio's CD release of the story, this offending section has been obscured by placing part of Peter Purves's narration over the top.

Ratings

  1. The Celestial Toyroom - 8.0 million viewers
  2. The Hall of Dolls - 8.0 million viewers
  3. The Dancing Floor - 9.4 million viewers
  4. The Final Test - 7.8 million viewers

Myths

to be added

Filming Locations

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • When the Doctor is on move 905, he moves a piece so it counts as move 906. However, when the Celestial Toymaker asks the pieces to go to move 930, they only jump 21 times so it should be move 927.
  • In one spot of the Trilogic Game, the smallest piece can be seen to be on top of the 5 piece. In order to get the minimum 1023 moves for the game, the smallest piece can never be put on top of another odd numbered piece – so the Doctor shouldn't be able to do it in 1023 moves.
  • Also, at 1000 moves, there are pieces on all three edges of the board. In the optimum solution of 1023 moves, one of the edges should be blank at 1000 moves.

Continuity

Timeline

DVD, Video and Other Releases

  • The surviving episode, The Final Test, was released on VHS as part of Hartnell Years (with the "Next Episode" caption rather clumsily cut from the cliffhanger scene, as it was at the time missing from the existing 16mm Black & White Film telerecording).
  • The Final Test was also released in digitally re-mastered form on the Lost in Time DVD box set (with the "Next Episode" caption reconstructed and restored).

Novelisation

Celestial Toymaker novel.jpg
Main article: The Celestial Toymaker (novelisation)

See also

to be added

External Links

Template:Season 3

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