Doctor Who (2023 – 20XX)

The Giggle ~ 8/10

◆ An Introduction

Better late than never, I guess. Things have changed dramatically in the six plus months since I covered one of the RTD2 episodes; my computer stopped working throughout January, I had something of a mental breakdown in February, and I began moving all my reviews to TARDIS Guide in May. Despite all of this, Spice Up Your Life still hasn’t left my head… unfortunately.

The Time Lord and the Toymaker.

One final game…

◆ Publisher’s Summary

The giggle of a mysterious puppet is driving the human race insane. When the Doctor discovers the return of the terrifying Toymaker, he faces a fight he can never win.

◆ The Fourteenth Doctor

Remember when everyone thought RTD would ignore the entirety of the last era, and all the bigots started celebrating? I sincerely hope they all watched this episode and cried when we got the amazing puppet show scene, seeing the Doctor forced to confront all his past tragedies; three dead companions from the Moffat era, and the universal devastation caused by the Flux. The Doctor tries claiming that those companions still lived in some form – such as being trapped in their last second of life, like Clara – but their deaths clearly weigh heavily on his mind.

David Tennant recently claimed that he wont be returning to the franchise anymore – at least on television, I don’t think he ruled out a potential return to the audio adventures – but I somehow doubt this is the last we’ve seen of him. His performance in ‘The Giggle’ was utterly superb, especially when he played cards with the Toymaker: talk about palpable tension! Tennant also received the unique opportunity to act alongside his successor, and he’s clearly got great chemistry with Gatwa.

The Doctor’s face practically illuminates the minute he is reunited with Mel. He’s a billion years old: if he stood and talked about everyone he’d ever met, they’d still be in the TARDIS, yapping. When the Doctor was young, he was so sure of himself and made a terrible mistake. He let the TARDIS fall into another realm, a hollow beneath the Under-Universe, where science is a game and all of us are toys. He escaped. He beat the Toymaker, he won his game, but now he’s here. He’s found his way into reality… and the Doctor thinks it’s all because of him. He cast that salt at the edge of of the universe. He played a game and let him in; an elemental force with the power of a god, and he’s driven the human race mad with a puppet! The Doctor is always so certain. He’s all sonic and TARDIS and Time Lord. Take that away – take away the toys – what is he? What is he now? He makes a tearful admission to Donna, that he doesn’t know if he can save her life this time. The Doctor proudly calls Rose his favourite niece, and it genuinely warms my heart that he’s become part of a family. He admits that he’s never been so happy in his life.

◆ Donna Noble

Russell T Davies gave Donna some amazing material in this episode. I particularly like how she pulled the Doctor out of his defeatist mood when they were trapped in the Emporium.

Catherine Tate delivered a superb performance in ‘The Giggle’. If someone asked me to choose my favourite scene with her, then it would have to be her basically smacking the Stooky dolls against a brick wall, as though she was on an anger management course! I know that scene was meant to be really creepy, as Stooky Sue tried biting into Donna, but the minute the dolls got kicked into next week, I burst out laughing.

She isn’t keen on being called a companion. That sounds like they park the Doctor on the seafront at Weston-super-Mare! Donna spent six months teaching her daughter how to play the recorder till she said, “This is not who I am.” And that was the start of a whole other conversation, believe her. But it helps her identify that the wavelength is actually a tune. Kate offers her a job at UNIT - £60,000 annual salary – but she haggles and manages to get £120K and five weeks holiday! Donna’s dad used to say, “Dice don’t know what the dice did last time. Games don’t have a memory. Every game starts from scratch.” and that advice seems to be enough to bring the Doctor out of his defeatist mood.

◆ Mel Bush

Quite easily the greatest decision RTD has ever made. Speaking as someone who loves the bones off this character, I’m so glad she’s becoming a key member of UNIT personnel. She flexes her computer programming skills in this episode – something she never got the opportunity to do in the Classic Era – and a tragic backstory has been hinted at involving her family. I sincerely hope this will be expanded on, either in the show itself or by the good folks over at BigFinish.

I recently had the honour of meeting Bonnie Langford at EM Con 2024, and what a charming woman she is! Some people will doubtless have been worried about her returning to our screens, but I can guarantee those people have never listened to a BigFinish play in their lives. Her performance in ‘The Giggle’ was genuinely marvellous, and she doesn’t scream once!

Mel travelled the stars with good old Sabalom Glitz, who lived till he was 101. Died falling over a whisky bottle: it was the perfect way to go! He had this great big Viking funeral, and then she thought… “time to go home.” So she got a lift off a zingo and came back to Earth. But then Mel had to face up to the one thing she’d been running away from: she’s got nothing. Her family are all gone. Then Kate offered her a job, and here we are.

◆ The Game of the 21st Century

The Toymaker is one of the most creative villains in the history of this franchise, so RTD was really spoilt for choice when coming up with contemporary storylines for him. Personally, I’d have the Toymaker take over one of the big-name video game companies, like Electronic Arts, and make him create several real-time strategy games where you fought using real people… I know that sounds like the deranged fever dream from someone still bitter about the damage EA did to the Command & Conquer franchise, but it’s still a damn good idea!

Instead, the Toymaker has established his own emporium in 1920s Soho, manipulating events so that one of his dolls – Stooky Bill – would become the first image viewed on a television screen.

The Toymaker then animated and immortalised the sound of Stooky Bill’s laugh to spread insanity in the 21st century, because technology and communication had reached a point where the Giggle could be heard subliminally through all screens across the globe. Now everyone has started thinking they’re right, all the time, and they wont change their mind. If you try to argue, they go completely mad. Essentially, the Toymaker has made a never-ending game.

It’s honestly quite amusing that RTD has turned the entire planet into Karens, because it reminds me of being back in lockdown and having someone at work purposefully cough when they were around me. People really are quite awful, which the Doctor himself states during the episode, but the Toymaker is amplifying all of our arrogance and worst traits to cause total anarchy. It’s an incredible idea.

◆ “Und now everybody loves the balls!”

The previous actors who portrayed the Toymaker are both long gone, so I was interested to see how Neil Patrick Harris would put his own stamp on the character. What I didn’t expect was for him to spend most of the runtime putting on a hammy German accent, and acting like a living meme! – see the subtitle for this section of my review.

RTD sought an actor with theatrical skills who could entertain like a magician, and he got exactly that. The performance was genuinely excellent, and that musical number was just perfection.

◆ Bi-generation

Originally believed to be a myth, bi-generation was an extremely rare variant of regeneration. Instead of one incarnation directly changing into the next, as seen with the regeneration process, bi-generation instead causes the new incarnation to split from the previous, allowing both to exist simultaneously.

Bi-generation – perhaps unintentionally – solves a mystery from a decade ago, and I’m obviously talking about the Curator: an elderly form of the Doctor who had retired from his adventurous ways, and possessed the ability to wear aged forms of his previous incarnations.

I firmly believe that the Fifteenth Doctor will continue having adventures and keep moving on with his life, whilst the Fourteenth Doctor will eventually become the Curator. And that’s why I have no issue with the concept of bi-generation.

◆ Set Design & Visuals

I know I’ve probably mentioned this already, but seeing Doctor Who made on a Disney budget is genuinely gorgeous! Everything looks phenomenal in this special.

Opening with the image of Stooky Bill caught alight, his wooden face wide-eyed and slack jawed, is genuinely quite horrifying.

Everyone started thinking they were right two days ago, and the streets of London are consumed with rioting and chaos… and the Toymaker is just dancing through it all in that glorious top-hatted outfit. We’re given a terrifying view of the capital ablaze, as the Doctor and the TARDIS are taken to the helipad at UNIT Tower.

Remember when UNIT had their headquarters in what can only be described as a country estate? Those days are long gone, because someone has constructed “not Stark Tower for legal reasons” in Central London! The command deck is absolutely gorgeous; sleek terminals integrated into every desk, with giant screens at the front of the room offering a battle interface of sorts. I’m also a big fan of the theory that this was all built by Dan Lewis: in all fairness, he was looking for a job after the Doctor ditched him.

Having those little colourised flashbacks to the original Toymaker story was a very nice touch. It makes his return feel like something truly worth celebrating… even if said Hartnell adventure was pretty average.

The Emporium becomes this insane realm where the laws of reality mean absolutely nothing, where a giant apparition of the Toymaker can play with human sized puppets… and Donna Noble can end up trapped with the horrifying Stooky Sue doll!

The Toymaker puts on this intricate puppet show which showcases all the tragedies the Doctor has faced since he last met Donna; Amy Pond being zapped back in time by the Angels, Clara Oswald being killed by the raven, Bill Potts getting shot by Cybermen… and finally, the devastation caused by the Flux! Seeing the Emporium collapse in on itself was quite the sight! It actually reminded me of a movie I watched as a kid, think it was called Monster House.

I finally get to discuss the musical number! The Toymaker bounces round the UNIT Tower dancing to Spice Up Your Life, and it is quite literally the most camp thing I have ever seen. Guaranteed, the song will be stuck in your head for months after watching the episode! I particularly loved how the guns all started firing rose petals: it’s a really striking image.

◆ Music

The demonic fairground music which plays during the juggling scene is marvellous: a ridiculous mix of camp and creepy which fits the Toymaker perfectly.

◆ Conclusion

“That’s the game of the 21st century. They shout and they type and they cancel. So I fixed it.”

An elemental force with the power of a god has been unleashed, and he’s driven the human race mad with a puppet! Defeating the Toymaker hinges on the outcome of one final game…

David Tennant and Catherine Tate once more deliver excellent performances, but we cannot forget our returning companion, who has spent the past twenty-something years being redeemed by BigFinish. Bonnie Langford excels with this material, and it warms my heart knowing that RTD is making her a key member of the UNIT family.

‘The Giggle’ actually kick-starts the Pantheon of Discord storyline which is set to conclude this Saturday, so I’ve certainly timed this review well! Neil Patrick Harris brings endless camp to the role of the Toymaker, turning him into this unpredictable magician who treats reality as just another plaything. I sincerely hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of him. Though I’m not sure how RTD will beat the storyline of this episode: making all humanity into literal Karens!

An excellent conclusion to the 60th Anniversary, ‘The Giggle’ resurrected one of the most creative classic villains and granted him a new lease of life. I can’t wait to discuss the next series with you all… here’s hoping I manage to get Spice Up Your Life out of my head by that point!