👍🏼(7.45) = GOOD!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

This lost story, originally planned for the scrapped Season 23 in 1984, sees Six and Peri enter an amusement park in Blackpool, where they encounter the Toymaker, out for revenge. Former producer Graham Williams penned the original story, while John Ainsworth adapted it for audio.

Right off the bat, the story effectively establishes the setting, the bantering relationship between Six and Peri, and the strange things going on at the fair.

Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant capture their TV relationship effortlessly.

I love how the Toymaker is present in the background from the very start, slowly letting his plan evolve, and he taunts the Doctor. David Bailey (remembered as Dask in Robots of Death) is wonderfully scary and effective as a new incarnation of the Toymaker. He's less Neil Patrick Harris and more Michael Gough, while doing his own thing, and he makes the character sinister yet childish.

This feels much like a Sixth Doctor story. Early on, Peri separates and embarks on a tangential adventure, while the Doctor confronts the Toymaker, culminating in a fierce battle of words between Baker and Baillie at the end of Part 1.

The music and some of the plot details evoke the 80s atmosphere, which is lovely.

Stefan is quite a good henchman for the Toymaker, even if he is a bit simple.

Honestly, I don't get the extent of the Toymaker’s plan here, and I find it a bummer that he doesn’t rely more on fun and games. It also reaches a standstill in Part 2 and doesn’t quite move at the brisk pace it initially promised.

It is fun how the Toyamker and the Doctor go up against each other in the end—and how the Doctor is forced to play a video game.