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From The Celestial Toymaker to The Giggle, the Toymaker has had an interesting journey through Doctor Who history. Let's explore it!
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00:00You know the Celestial Toymaker, right? That incredibly important villain in Doctor Who's
00:04history and... alright listen, I'm not gonna blame you if you don't, but funny enough they are an
00:09incredibly important villain in Doctor Who's history and they are returning in the form of
00:14Neil Patrick Harris. But what are they? Who are they? Let's take a dive. I'm Sean Ferragh for Who
00:20Culture and here are 10 things you didn't know about the Toymaker. Number 10. He almost came
00:25back multiple times. The first attempt to bring back the Toymaker was in a story outline pitched
00:30by creator writer Brian Hales. In 1975 Hales pitched a story called The Eyes of Nemesis for Tom Baker's
00:36Fourth Doctor. Weirdly the Toymaker was revealed late in the story outline only pitting him against
00:41the Doctor in the final episode. This idea was rejected. A decade later the 1980s showrunner
00:46John Nathan Turner planned to bring Michael Goff back as the Toymaker for season 23. A script was
00:51written by former producer Graham Williams which would have pitted the sixth Doctor and Perry
00:55against the Toymaker in an arcade in Blackpool. Doctor Who's 18 month hiatus killed this plan
01:00however with Jonathan Nathan Turner deciding to completely redraft his plans for season 23.
01:05This story was later novelised as The Nightmare Affair before being adapted as a big Finnish audio
01:10adventure in 2009. Years later Nathan Turner suggested bringing back the Toymaker in a straight to home
01:16movie for the video market. He even considered using the villain in what would eventually become
01:201993's EastEnders crossover Dimensions in Time. Toymaker might have dodged a bullet on that one.
01:25Number 9. He has a sister. Brian Hales later wrote The Queen of Time, an unmade second Doctor serial
01:31that would have introduced the Toymaker's half-sister Hecuba, the so-called Queen of Time,
01:35who had mastery over time in the same way that Toymaker has mastery over reality. She used those
01:40gifts to pluck unwitting people from across time and space as dinner guests and potential players of
01:45her temporal games. In Hales' story outline, Jamie and Zoe are forced to play various games including
01:51times and clocks, much like Steven and Dodo in The Celestial Toymaker. Meanwhile, rather than the
01:56Toymaker wanting to keep the Doctor as a worthy opponent, Hecuba wants him as her husband. It's
02:01hilarious to imagine Patrick Troughton's second Doctor being lusted after by the Queen of Time herself,
02:05although, arguably, as the eleventh Doctor and River Song, Matt Smith and Alex Kingston provide a
02:10pretty good estimation of what that would look like. Hales' outline was rejected, presumably due to the
02:15similarities with The Celestial Toymaker. The writer would have much greater success in the Troughton
02:20era when he created the Ice Warriors. Number 8. He was married to Doctor Who's Polly. The first
02:25Toymaker was played by Michael Goff, best known as Alfred Pennyworth in the 90s Batman movies,
02:30and of course the 89 movie. He was Batman's loyal butler opposite Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George
02:36Clooney. Not a bad resume eh? Even back in 1966, Goff was a well-known actor of film and television who would
02:42have been a big draw for viewers. Of course, he also returned to Doctor Who in 1983 in the far less
02:48memorable role of Time Lord Heden in Arc of Infinity. But The Celestial Toymaker and Arc of Infinity
02:53aren't the only connections between Goff and the Hooniverse. Between 1962 and 1979 he was married to
02:59Annika Wills, who joined the show as companion Polly Wright a few months after The Celestial Toymaker
03:04aired. The couple met on the set of the film Candidate for Murder and remained together for 17 years. Goff
03:09adopted Wills' daughter who, coincidentally, was also named Polly. Polly believed that Goff was her
03:14biological father until her tragic death in 1982. Number 7. He was intended to be a Time Lord.
03:21In the age of 15 Doctors and the Timeless Child it's worth remembering that in 1966 very little
03:26was known about the Doctor's backstory. Viewers had met the meddling Moak in the 1965 serial,
03:31The Time Meddler, but the names Gallifrey and Time Lord were still alien. To that end,
03:36script editor Donald Tosh had intended to make the Toymaker another member of the Doctor's race.
03:40The Doctor knows the Toymaker by name and reputation in the serial, warning Dodo and Steven about the
03:46villain's predilection for turning people into playthings. The Doctor's knowledge of the Toymaker
03:50could be because that's the sort of thing an intergalactic traveller would know, or it could be
03:54that he knows about him because they were at the Time Lord Academy together. The Toymaker was never
03:59confirmed to be one of the Doctor's own people in the serial, but the intention was certainly there.
04:04Perhaps Russell T Davies could make good on this promise in the Giggle.
04:07Number 6. The Trilogic Game Cursed Peter Purvis.
04:10The Celestial Toymaker was one of Peter Purvis' last serials as companion Steven Taylor. After it
04:16finished filming the actor came into the possession of the Trilogic Game prop, the challenge set by the
04:21Toymaker to test the first Doctor who played a key role in the serial. With Hartnell invisible for
04:26most of the story it was down to Purvis to lead it. This was good news for the actor as he felt that
04:30Steven had often been sidelined during his time on Doctor Who, but unfortunately for Purvis he was
04:35further sidelined when he left the show a few serials later. He didn't work for a year and a
04:39half after his last day on Doctor Who and he came to blame the Toymaker's cursed game for his bad luck.
04:44A day after disposing of the Trilogic prop, Purvis was offered a job on Z-Cars and then the presenter
04:50role on Blue Peter. While it's surely a cosmic coincidence, this sudden change of fate was enough
04:54to convince Purvis that the Trilogic Game was cursed. Number five, The Celestial Toymaker was
05:00almost a regeneration story. The Celestial Toymaker was the seventh serial in William Hartnell's final
05:06Doctor Who season. By this time Hartnell's relationship with the new production team was
05:10strained and his own health was failing. Producer John Wiles and script editor Donald Tosh considered
05:15replacing him with another actor. In the original plan the Toymaker would have changed the Doctor's
05:20appearance, facilitating the casting of a new lead. Something similar was done to cover
05:24Frasier Hines absence in the Mind Robber, with the second Doctor choosing the wrong facial features
05:29when reconstructing a cardboard Jamie. 57 years later and the Toymaker may well be responsible
05:35for the 13th Doctor's change of appearance. Did this trickster give the Doctor their old face back?
05:40Will the 14th Doctor's regeneration be triggered by the machinations of the Toymaker? With a being of
05:44such cosmic power and a showrunner like Russell T. Davis, anything is possible. Number four, The Toymaker's
05:49Flashbacks were the first ones ever. Despite what the Daleks in colour may suggest, it's
05:54actually 1966's The Celestial Toymaker that's the first Doctor Who serial to feature flashback
05:59sequences. In the serial's first episode the Toymaker uses a memory window to try and dominate
06:04the minds of the Doctor's companions Stephen and Dodo. This reveals some of Dodo's slight
06:09backstory. The script reveals that her mother died when she was still in school, as she sees a sad
06:13schoolgirl in the Toymaker's memory window, forcing the Doctor to drag her vision away. The memory window
06:19also displays footage from the Daleks' master plan and the massacre, as Stephen sees himself on both
06:24the jungle planet Kemble and in 16th century Paris. This was the first time that Doctor Who deployed
06:29footage from earlier adventures. The irony being that all the stories in question no longer fully
06:34exist in the BBC archives, if only someone had an elderly Doctor Who fan and a memory window hooked up
06:40to a VCR. Number three, he had an epic showdown with the Eighth Doctor. After the 1996 TV movie failed
06:47to lead to a series, Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor set a course for the multimedia landscape of the late
06:531990s. As well as a series of BBC books and eventual big Finnish audio dramas, there was also a mini Doctor
06:58Who comic strip in the Radio Times. However, for a generation of 90s Doctor Who fans, the Eighth Doctor's
07:04adventures began in the Doctor Who magazine comic strip. The first story, Endgame, featured the Eighth Doctor,
07:09facing off against the Toymaker in another series of games and challenges. Written by Alan Barnes and
07:15full of so much memorable imagery, it's an epic start to the Eighth Doctor's comic book adventures.
07:20It also features a terrifying Marionette Doctor that does battle with McGann in the story's climax.
07:25With Doctor Who Weekly's The Star Beast being adapted for the first 60th anniversary special,
07:30it'll be interesting to see if RTD adapts elements of this classic comic strip for the giggle. Marionettes
07:35and puppetry was hinted at in the trailer after all. Number two, he's only the third
07:39Hartnell-era villain to return. Of all the strange, strange creatures in the first era of Doctor Who,
07:45only the Daleks and the Cybermen have come back in the modern era. This means that the Toymaker
07:50is in very good company and could even take his place among those top tier baddies as a recurring
07:55villain in the new era. It's interesting to ponder why so many first Doctor villains haven't come
08:00back, especially as Russell T Davies' first Doctor Who era brought back the bloody Macra. The Sensorites
08:05and the Dravens have been name checked since 2005, but they've never actually appeared on screen. One
08:10possible reason is that a lot of Hartnell villains were historical characters due to the show's early
08:14commitment to educating as well as entertaining. Another possibility is that Davis and his successors,
08:19who are now also his predecessors, Timey Wimey, felt that monsters like the Zarbi, the Monoids or the
08:24Vord wouldn't work in modern Doctor Who. Cowards. Number one, he's not actually called the Celestial
08:30Toymaker. Inevitably, there will be comments that Neil Patrick Harris' character has been
08:35renamed due to Celestial being a racist term for a person of Chinese descent. This isn't the case
08:41as the character has always been referred to as just the Toymaker. The Celestial Toymaker is the
08:47overall name of the 1966 serial, not the actual character. While the Doctor does say the Celestial
08:53Toymaker, the actual script reveals that it's with a small c. This means that the Doctor is referring to
08:59the Toymaker's origins in the stars rather than his actual title. Dodo then asks who is the Celestial
09:05Toymaker, but she's clearly made the same misunderstanding that many others have since
09:091966. Script editor Donald Tosh always referred to the character as the Toymaker, omitting the C word
09:15entirely. Gone too are the oriental style robes that have added to the Celestial Toymaker's
09:20uncomfortable reputation. In bringing the character back in 2023, Davis will move the Toymaker on from
09:27his problematic legacy and give us a memorable villain that lives up to the character's modern
09:32day potential. That is it for our list. Thank you so much for watching along. You are awesome,
09:36you are wonderful. Remember you can follow us over on Twitter at Whoculture, same on Instagram,
09:41same on TikTok. I am Sean Ferrick, you can follow me at Sean Ferrick on the various socials. Thank you so
09:46much to the wonderful Mark Donaldson for writing the article this video is based on, and thank you so much
09:51to James for editing it to make it look pretty. I hope you're enjoying the specials, I know I am.
09:55Keep things wibbly wobbly, thanks very much.
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