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The Giggle (TV story): Difference between revisions
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|doctor = Fourteenth Doctor | |doctor = Fourteenth Doctor | ||
|companions = [[Donna Noble|Donna]] | |companions = [[Donna Noble|Donna]] | ||
|featuring = | |featuring = Melanie Bush | ||
|featuring2 = Kate Stewart | |||
|featuring3 = Shirley Anne Bingham | |||
|featuring4 = Fifteenth Doctor{{!}}Fifteenth Doctor | |||
|featuring5 = John Logie Baird{{!}}Baird | |||
|featuring6 = Sylvia Noble | |||
|featuring7 = Shaun Temple | |||
|featuring8 = Rose Noble | |||
|featuring9 = Trinity Wells | |||
|featuring10 = Wilfred Mott | |||
|enemy = [[The Toymaker]] | |enemy = [[The Toymaker]] | ||
|setting = [[ | |setting = [[UNIT HQ, City of London]], [[2023]]<br>[[Soho]], [[1925]] | ||
|writer = Russell T Davies | |writer = Russell T Davies | ||
|director = [[Chanya Button]] | |director = [[Chanya Button]] | ||
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'''''The Giggle''''' was the third and final of the three [[2023 specials]] of ''[[Doctor Who (TV series)|Doctor Who]]'', broadcast on [[9 December (releases)|9 December]] [[2023 (releases)|2023]]<ref>[https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/1717254709881315797 @bbcdoctorwho on twitter.com]</ref> as part of the [[List of anniversaries|60th anniversary]] celebrations. | '''''The Giggle''''' was the third and final of the three [[2023 specials]] of ''[[Doctor Who (TV series)|Doctor Who]]'', broadcast on [[9 December (releases)|9 December]] [[2023 (releases)|2023]]<ref>[https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/1717254709881315797 @bbcdoctorwho on twitter.com]</ref> as part of the [[List of anniversaries|60th anniversary]] celebrations. | ||
The | ''The Giggle'' notably marked the return of [[the Toymaker]], now portrayed by [[Neil Patrick Harris]], fifty-seven years after his only televised appearance in {{cs|The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)}}, beating the record set by the [[Great Intelligence]] as the longest gap between television appearances for individual antagonists. Harris' casting also made the Toymaker the second established ''Doctor Who'' antagonist to be played by an American actor, following [[Eric Roberts]] portraying the [[Bruce Master]] in [[Doctor Who (TV story)|the TV Movie]]. ''The Giggle'' also featured the return of [[Bonnie Langford]] as [[Mel Bush]], in her first full story following her cameo in {{cs|The Power of the Doctor (TV story)}}, with this story revealing that Mel now worked for [[UNIT United Kingdom|UNIT]]. | ||
Most notably, ''The Giggle'' saw the final onscreen adventure of the [[Fourteenth Doctor]] and [[Donna Noble]], and featured the first televised appearance of [[Ncuti Gatwa]] as the [[Fifteenth Doctor]]. Historically ''The Giggle'' introduced the very first [[bi-generation]] of the Doctor, resulting in the Fourteenth Doctor's regeneration story also acting as a [[Multi-Doctor story]], and marking the first time since the TV Movie that the Doctor regenerates part-way through the story rather than at the end. ''The Giggle'' also marked the first time that both the preceding and succeeding incarnations of the Doctor are shown to exist within the same timeline rather than the current incarnation teaming up with a past incarnation during a [[Multi-Doctor event]]. | |||
Therefore, ''The Giggle'' concluded the Fourteenth Doctor's story by showing him being the first incarnation to fully retire from travelling through space and time to live with the [[Noble family]], while letting his successor continue in their place. It also answered the question as to why the Fourteenth Doctor had regenerated with the face of his tenth incarnation, with Donna believing the Doctor had subconsciously chosen the face of the [[Tenth Doctor]] so that he could finally settle down into a normal life, with the Fifteenth Doctor adding that his predecessor was "running on fumes" and needed to rest to ensure he would be healed. | |||
Therefore, ''The Giggle'' concluded the Fourteenth Doctor's story by showing him being the first incarnation to fully retire from travelling through space and time with the Noble family, while letting his successor continue in their place. It also answered the question as to why the Fourteenth Doctor had regenerated with the face of his tenth | |||
== Synopsis == | == Synopsis == | ||
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In [[1925]] [[Soho]], [[Charles Banerjee]] enters a [[Mr Emporium|toy store]] to purchase a [[Stooky Bill]] ventriloquist’s dummy. The store's owner is delighted to learn why Banerjee wants the doll: his employer, [[John Logie Baird]], needs a subject to test his newest invention. Banerjee is disturbed by the shop owner, particularly when his German accent slips. Baird and Banerjee place the dummy's head before the camera and begin the test - the first ever television recording. The camera’s wheels spin and the bright lights burn and to the accompaniment of an arpeggioed giggle, the dummy bursts into flames. | In [[1925]] [[Soho]], [[Charles Banerjee]] enters a [[Mr Emporium|toy store]] to purchase a [[Stooky Bill]] ventriloquist’s dummy. The store's owner is delighted to learn why Banerjee wants the doll: his employer, [[John Logie Baird]], needs a subject to test his newest invention. Banerjee is disturbed by the shop owner, particularly when his German accent slips. Baird and Banerjee place the dummy's head before the camera and begin the test - the first ever television recording. The camera’s wheels spin and the bright lights burn and to the accompaniment of an arpeggioed giggle, the dummy bursts into flames. | ||
Following their return from the [[edge of the universe]], the [[Fourteenth Doctor]] and [[Donna Noble]] find a [[2023]] [[21st century London|London]] plagued by chaotic anarchy. A man annoyed by cars driving in his way tells the Doctor that everybody on Earth believes themselves to be right all the time and that arguing drives them into a rage. As the Toymaker (disguised as a gentleman speaking with a French accent) pulls the Doctor into a dance, [[UNIT United Kingdom|UNIT]] arrives on the scene and takes the Doctor and Donna to [[UNIT HQ, City of London|UNIT HQ]], where they are reunited with [[Shirley Bingham]] and [[Kate Lethbridge-Stewart]], both inoculated to the chaos thanks to a UNIT-created armband called a [[Zeedex]]. The Doctor deduces that he and [[the Vlinx]], a robot, are immune due to their alienness, as are Donna and [[Melanie Bush]], who recently joined UNIT, benefitting from the effects of long-term TARDIS travel. Kate orders her Zeedex deactivated to demonstrate the consequences: no longer suppressed, a distorted brainwave not previously present makes her paranoid and vengeful. Analysing the waveform and playing it as a sound, the group discovers it corresponds to the giggle accompanying the Stooky Bill recording. The recording has been hidden in every screen since, only triggered when the launch of the [[KOSAT 5]] satellite finally connected all of humanity to the internet. | Following their return from the [[edge of the universe]], the [[Fourteenth Doctor]] and [[Donna Noble]] find a [[2023]] [[21st century London|London]] plagued by chaotic anarchy. A man annoyed by cars driving in his way tells the Doctor that everybody on Earth believes themselves to be right all the time and that arguing drives them into a rage. As the Toymaker (disguised as a gentleman speaking with a French accent) pulls the Doctor into a dance, [[UNIT United Kingdom|UNIT]] arrives on the scene and takes the Doctor and Donna to [[UNIT HQ, City of London|UNIT HQ]], where they are reunited with [[Shirley Bingham]] and [[Kate Lethbridge-Stewart]], both inoculated to the chaos thanks to a UNIT-created armband called a [[Zeedex]]. The Doctor deduces that he and [[the Vlinx]], a robot, are immune due to their alienness, as are Donna and [[Melanie Bush]], who recently joined UNIT, benefitting from the effects of long-term TARDIS travel. Kate orders her Zeedex deactivated to demonstrate the consequences: no longer suppressed, a distorted brainwave not previously present makes her paranoid and vengeful. Analysing the waveform and playing it as a sound, the group discovers it corresponds to the giggle accompanying the Stooky Bill recording. The recording has been hidden in every screen since, only triggered when the launch of the [[KOSAT 5]] satellite finally connected all of humanity to the internet. | ||
