The Toymaker is an immortal being from another dimension. He has “lasted for thousands of years” but he first appeared in Doctor Who way back in 1966 during the William Hartnell era. The Toymaker can create or destroy his world at will and build a new world full of toys and other playthings. Our hero, the Doctor has encountered this strange, trickster-like eternal a few times throughout his lives. But where does the Celestial Toymaker come from? What are his intentions? And why is he so powerful?

The Celestial Toymaker

★★★★★

TX: 02/04/1966 – 23/04/1966

Written by Brian Hayles    Directed by Bill Sellars

The First Doctor, Steven and Dodo arrive in the domain of the Celestial Toymaker. The Toymaker (played by Michael Gough) is a devious being with god-like powers over a whole world of toys. The Toymaker wants to make the Doctor and his companions into his latest playthings, so he sets them to work playing various games – many with an unpleasant ending.

Dodo and Steven face the Queen of Hearts, the Dancing Dolls and play a deadly game of electric hopscotch. Meanwhile, the Toymaker makes the Doctor invisible and forces him to play the Trilogic Game. The Trilogic Game is almost identical to the mathematical puzzle the Tower of Hanoi, in that the object of the game is to move all of the triangular disks over to Tower 3, but you cannot place a larger disk on top of a smaller disk. However, an added complication is that the game needs to be completed in exactly 1023 moves. The Doctor reaches move 1022 by the time he, Dodo and Steven reach the safety of the TARDIS. However, the Toymaker is a bad loser and he intends to destroy his world (including the Doctor and his companions) and make a new one instead, as soon as the Doctor wins the game. The Doctor imitates the Toymaker’s voice from the safety of the TARDIS in order to complete the Trilogic Game and the Time Travellers escape the ensuing destruction of the Toymaker’s realm.

The Giggle

★★★★★

TX: 09/12/2023

Written by Russell T Davies    Directed by Chanya Button

In the third and final 60th Anniversary Special of Doctor Who, the terrifying Toymaker returns (played by Hollywood actor Neil Patrick Harris). The Toymaker is using the giggle of a sinister puppet to send the human race insane. The puppet was implanted indirectly by the Toymaker into the very first television footage made by television inventor John Logie Baird in 1925. After 98 years of manipulation, the puppet’s giggle sends the human race mad in 2023 by convincing everyone that they are right. The Fourteenth Doctor and Donna travel back to 1925 to confront the Toymaker, who sets many traps and puppets for them. During a card game between the Toymaker and the Doctor, the Toymaker warns the Doctor about “the one who waits”…

The Toymaker returns to the present to play one final game with the Doctor. The Toymaker attacks U.N.I.T. and during the resultant destruction, the Toymaker uses a U.N.I.T. HQ laser beam to shoot the Doctor. The Fourteenth Doctor bi-generates into the Fifteenth Doctor, creating two separate incarnations of the Doctor. When the Fourteenth Doctor bi-generates, he says that it feels different this time which is exactly what the Fifth Doctor said in The Caves of Androzani before regenerating. The two Doctors fight the Toymaker in one final ball game. The Toymaker loses and as punishment, is ordered by the Doctor to remove himself from existence. But how long will it be until the Fifteenth Doctor encounters the Toymaker’s promised legions? A mysterious hand with red nail-paint picks up the Toymaker’s gold tooth containing the Master, mirroring the ending of Last of the Time Lords. Could this finally be the Rani? The Toymaker mentions ghosting as being a habit of humans that he finds amusing! I have ghosted loads of women over the years!

Maestro – The God of Music

The Devil’s Chord

★★★★★

TX: 11/05/2024

Written by Russell T Davies    Directed by Ben Chessell

The Fifteenth Doctor takes his new companion Ruby Sunday to see the Beatles recording their first album in London 1963. However, something is wrong! Everywhere music has begun to go stale and flat. This is because the notes are being drained by an all-powerful being called Maestro, who is the God of Music. After playing a piano, Ruby accidentally summons Maestro, who pursues her and the terrified Doctor. In a reference to Pyramids of Mars, the Doctor shows Ruby a future Earth devastated by Maestro, showing that there will be terrible consequences unless Maestro is stopped. Maestro wants to destroy the world so that they can hear the sound of a nuclear winter, “the purest music of all” – only then can Maestro hear the Music of the Spheres. Maestro claims to be the child of the Toymaker, however he was not a good father according to Maestro.

The Doctor and Ruby return to 1963 to find the musical notation needed to banish Maestro. However, before they can, Maestro appears and uses her powers over music to capture Ruby and the Doctor. Thankfully, John Lennon and Paul McCartney find the crucial final chord needed to banish Maestro. Maestro gives the Doctor a final warning about “the one who waits” as she is defeated. The Doctor and Ruby are released from the instruments they were trapped in by Maestro. The two enjoy a fun dance and a musical number before leaving in the TARDIS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QEfKDJyBOA