By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Neil Patrick Harris’ debut as The Toymaker delivered a chilling performance that elevated the third Doctor Who special in truly surprising ways.
“The Giggle,” now streaming on Disney+, quickly ditches the whimsy that characterized the previous two specials. Its opening minutes acquaint us with The Toymaker, who runs a toy emporium in Soho circa 1925. An assistant to the real-life inventor John Logie Baird purchases a ventriloquist’s dummy named Stooky Bill from the off-putting clerk (very clearly the Toymaker) and hurries off to help his boss run tests on a prototype for a live television system.
Baird pops off Stooky Bill’s head, fixes it to a crude-looking contraption, and starts the test. The experiment is a success and Stooky Bill becomes the world’s first televised image. Baird notes that to prove his invention works, he will next need to produce moving pictures. Gazing upon the now-melting dummy’s head in awe, Baird and his assistant hear distant maniacal laughing.
The focus returns to Donna and the Doctor in present-day London, where, if you recall, things have escalated dramatically. The people of London have suddenly and inexplicably turned on each other, brawling with strangers, stepping in front of careening cars, and setting fire to newsstands and storefronts. As the Doctor tries to talk down an especially unruly pedestrian, the Toymaker flits into view behind him. The enigmatic villain now sports a slick black suit, a top hat and liberally applied makeup, epitomizing fashionable evil.
UNIT soldiers arrive and whisk Donna, the Doctor and Wilf across the city to their headquarters.
Returning from “The Star Beast” is UNIT scientist Shirley Anne Bingham, who again proves to be a valuable ally to our heroes as they navigate this new threat. Shirley and UNIT Science Director Kate Stewart lead the Doctor and Donna to the control room, where former Companion Melanie “Mel” Bush greets them.
They wrap up the pleasantries and break down what’s happening: Every person on the planet suddenly believes they are right, and any attempt to convince them otherwise is met with violence. Everyone at UNIT wears a metal armband called a Zeedex to keep them from going mad, too. They don’t know exactly what’s going on, but they suspect a signal (triggered days prior to humanity’s collective snapping) is behind the chaos. They’ve identified a specific satellite as “a link in the chain,” but the Doctor suspects something deeper.
Eventually, the Doctor discovers that the signal setting the world on fire is actually a hidden recording of Stooky Bill’s crazed giggling. Shirley traces the recording back to October 2, 1925, prompting Donna and the Doctor to board the TARDIS and travel there. They quickly find the Toymaker at his shop, but finding him and beating him are two very different challenges.
The Doctor recognizes this old foe and tells Donna to return to the TARDIS. “You never ask me to do that!” Donna protests. She realizes that the Doctor is afraid of the Toymaker, but before they can do anything else, they find themselves trapped in a maze. Donna and the Doctor are separated, the former being forced to fight off a bunch of walking, talking dolls while the latter encounters Baird’s puppetized (not a word but we’re running with it) assistant. After overcoming their respective trials, Donna and the Doctor end up together again in a theater, where the Toymaker treats them to a puppet show recounting the Doctor’s adventures with various Companions.
The Doctor challenges the Toymaker to a card game and loses. Recognizing their very immediate predicament, Donna and the Doctor escape the Toymaker’s shop as it noisily converts to a tiny music box.
Back in the present, UNIT uses a galvanic beam to target and destroy the problematic satellite that’s boosting Stooky Bill’s malicious signal. The Doctor and Donna return to headquarters moments before the Toymaker appears, indulges in lively song and dance, kills a handful of soldiers, and abruptly flees.
The dastardly villain reappears and uses the galvanic beam to shoot this reincarnation of the Doctor, saying his next game must be played with a new Doctor. As this Doctor falls to his knees and starts dying, Donna and Mel rush to his side and promise to be with him until the end.
But the end doesn’t come. Instead, the Doctor, still David Tennant, makes a bizarre request: “Could you…pull?”
Donna and Mel tug on each of the Fourteenth Doctor’s arms, “pulling” the Fifteenth Doctor (played by franchise newcomer Ncuti Gatwa) from Tennant’s body. The Fifteenth Doctor explains that they can both exist at the same time because of “bi-generation,” which was previously thought to be a myth.
The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctor face off against the Toymaker in a final game: don’t drop the ball. The Doctors manage to beat the Toymaker and banish him from existence.
Donna and the Fifteenth Doctor convince Tennant’s Doctor to retire, and after using the Toymaker’s toy hammer to knock another TARDIS out of the TARDIS, the Fifteenth Doctor departs.
“The Giggle” concludes on a touching note: the Doctor, having “retired” from Time Lording, spends a quiet afternoon with Donna and her family. Is this the actual end of his story? Probably not, but it’s a much-needed change of pace for the guy….
What did you think of “The Giggle,” Fifteen’s arrival and the three specials as a whole?
I loved it.
Neil Patrick Harris was actually great? Have never been a huge fan of him, but I liked a lot what he did. I do feel like I would’ve liked him to be the threat across the three episodes.
Tennant meeting Mel again without realizing it was very sweet. I do feel like we’re gonna see A LOT more of her! And everyone thinking they’re correct… lol, I feel like we’re still in the toymaker’s realm.
I loved Ncuti a Tennant’s talk. The references to Rose, Sarah Jane, Adric… It was like discovering a twin brother. And I’m so happy we actually get two doctors.
In a way, this sort of feels like a Series Finale, the doctor we’ve seen during 60 years stays and we follow a new doctor, now I also understand why the new series is also series 1 again.
The Christmas trailer looks quite fun!
I might have missed something in Special #3, but isn’t Ncutitti’s doctor (#15) ALSO the doctor we’ve seen the last 60 years? #14 returned with #10’s face, and #15 is pulled from #14 and has the history/memories of all previous incarnations, no?
.
But like I said, maybe I missed something, because I was confused when Donna said #15 was older than #14. I don’t see how… He’s either the same age (due to bi-generation and being split from #14) or is younger (because he came later). This timey-wimey business can be very taxing!
I think the idea is that 15 is from further on in The Doctor’s personal timeline, just pulled into the “present”, so 14 hasn’t actually regenerated yet, this justifies bringing Tennant back in the future at some point to do the actual regeneration. I could be wrong on this but I feel like they’ve done something like this in the novels or the comics at some point.
That’s a good theory.
Exactly! We view The Doctor in our linear timeline. This is essentially The Toymaker tried to kill the 14th Doctor before his time, and due to the Toymaker not being of this universe, and clearly not defined by our physics and logics, as evidence of his song and dance, he had pulled the 15th Doctor into existence. The 15th is happier and more carefree because the 14th will take his time to live a slow life to process all his trauma and baggage after this battle with the Toymaker. The 14th could end up like the 11th living a long life and die of old age, except this time drama/war/stress free.
The Doctor is immortal & can’t die. He/she can regenerate without limit.
Ncuti Gatwa’s 15 is the same Doctor we have all grown up with. It’s just that he/she is split in two . And I doubt that 14 is going to just going to stay on Earth forever. That’s not who the Doctor is. The Doctor is a traveler & a wanderer.
So awesome! Glad they went this route so we can have more episodes/specials/movies (actually give me entire seasons) of 10/14 and Donna. God do I love these two.
U.K. bloke here, NPH said in the behind the scenes show that no one in the US knows Spice Up Your Life, while it’s a pop classic here. Is that right? Thought you had the Spice Girls??
Only people in High or Middle School during late 90s know it. Otherwise Spice Girls got washed out by Britney and Christina fast.
I’ve heard it, but I don’t think it was as popular as some of their other music.
I might just be the perfect age but the Spice Girls were a big part of my middle school years, and I lived in the middle of no where North Carolina during that time with dial up internet I could only access at school in the library and a friends house when I spent the night! I knew the song but I could see if you were not a 11 to 14 year old girl in 1997 I could see you missing that song.
Yes we know who the Spice Girls are and Americans of a certain age can sing most of the words to this song, whether it’s something we enjoyed having imprinted on our brains or not. NPH is not from that generation so I guess he doesn’t know. But he’s wrong. They were ubiquitous here too, at least for a (quite impressionable, if you were the right age) minute.
Are you sure that’s exactly what he said? Maybe he meant recent generations don’t know the song?
Anyone 35 or older definitely knows the song. Spice Girls were huge here in the states. Granted, Spice Up Your Life didn’t hit the heights of Wannabe or Say You’ll Be There. But it was definitely a hit for them here.
Absolutely not true. They were big here too. I remember girls dressing up as the Spice Girls for Halloween. And there’s an iconic dance scene in One Tree Hill… We definitely had the Spice Girls.
You know, as an American, I’m familiar with it, but then I realized that when it was released, I was away at boarding school in India and many of my classmates were from England, and UK music – at least back then, idk about now – charted higher in India than it does in the US. Not sure if I would have been familiar with that specific song if I’d still been in the US for school.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. Love David Tennant.
Why is Doctor Who on Disney? I can’t watch it there. Why isn’t it on BBCA where it has always has been?
Disney funded it. Disney and the BBC partnered up to increase the show’s budget and to hopefully be able to reach a bigger audience with the streaming service.
“Doctor Who” is the reason my mom & I subscribed to Disney +, so we could continue to watch it.
Although I’m happy that the budget for rubber-suit monsters clearly didn’t get increased, given the guys hunting The Meep in the first special… lol
Because Disney promised them TONNES of money to air it world-wide. Just look at this beginning – you can tell their budget has probably tripled. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_1bgdz7vig
It hasn’t “always” been on BBCA, either. When the show came back in 2005, BBC America passed on it. The Eccleston and first three Tennant seasons aired on the Sci-Fi Channel (as it was then known), with BBCA renegotiating for the rights from the 2009-10 specials on.
It’s bounced around a lot. I think at different points it was also on Amazon Prime and HBOMax (now Max).
But I’m also old enough to remember when it ran on US public television. That’s where I first saw and fell in love with the original series.
I first started watching “Doctor Who” when I was around 6 years old. I watched the Tom Baker reruns on channel 6, PBS every Sunday morning after “Sesame Street.” My mom and I became fans instantly.
Not being able to stream anything you lost 2 DR Who fans
uh, its on Disney Plus and streamed LIVE the MOMENT it began airing on BBC 1 in the UK!
I hope that the first 13 seasons of modern “Who” end up on Disney +. That way a bigger audience can see all the seasons & specials leading up to season 14.
What are the international viewing numbers for “Doctor Who?” Does anyone know?
Shamelessly sweet and nostalgic at the end and I love it!
Leaving Donna with no memory of her adventures felt so mean, so I’m a sucker for this tons more happier ending where she not only has her memories back, but her best friend gets to stick around for presumably a long, long time. Very nice send off for David Tenant’s Doctor (and the door is left open for him and/or Donna to reappear at some point).
And meanwhile, I love the energy of the new Doctor. He seems fun! Can’t wait for Christmas!
What confuses me us the specials airing on Disney plus but everything prior streaming on max
It has to do with when deals were made. The new seasons will also be on D+, not just the specials. Once the Max deal is up (though I’m not sure when), I would guess D+ would try to snatch those seasons up too for a more complete collection, just as they try to get the Marvel stuff done by other studios.
The continuity issues of having two Doctors is going to make nerds’ heads explode. Every time something threatens Earth on the show in the future a certain subset of people are going to be asking, “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER ONE WHAT WAS HE DOING?!” I can tell that’s going to get tiresome quickly, so I choose to proactively ignore it, heh.
.
It’s an interesting choice. Character-wise, I like it for the Doctor. It’s true, he’s been running for a long time and never really dealing with anything. It’s why she put an old face back on, because she knew she needed to finally deal with the trauma of the flux and the revelations of her past (which, did the Toymaker admit he cut up and “made a jigsaw out of”–was this a door opening to retcon the whole Timeless Child thing, or maybe an admission that Jo Martin’s Doctor is supposed to be from the Doctor’s future but instead is now the Doctor’s past because of the meddling?). So now he gets to relax a bit, as much as he wants to, and experience a more human-like existence, at least for a time, which, given how much he champions and enjoys humanity, seems like it would be a nice thing for him. Plus, it’s a nice ultimate end to this incarnation’s story from way back in his first run–his last words being, both before he regenerated into Eleven and before he left in his Tardis at the end of the 50th anniversary special, “I don’t want to go.” Well, now he doesn’t have to.
.
Plus the secondary media gets to write all kinds of adventures featuring him, Donna, and Rose, which I’m sure will be popular and big sellers for the BBC for those who consume those things.
.
I wonder if Tennant’s version of the Doctor will ultimately become the one who regenerates into Tom Baker and does the Custodian job we saw in the 50th anniversary special.
.
This episode is setting up the next big threat too, right? The One Who Waits. Who was namedropped by the Toymaker as someone he’s scared of. That will be interesting!
.
Too soon to offer an opinion on Scuti yet. Having to act opposite Tennant in his first scenes as the Doctor doesn’t do him any favors by way of comparison, bit hard on him by Davies imo. But he did seem lighter, refreshed. Technically he should have all the same issues Tennant’s Doctor is working through but I guess a fresh face and knowing somewhere out there a version of himself is dealing with it lets him have a blank slate of sorts. Kind of gives him permission to let it all go, internally. I can buy it.
I do like the fact that they have just decided to let go of the old ‘Rules’ the doctor was bound by. Now we can have stories upon stories from multiple doctors all at the same time. We can have a Fugitive Doctor series, a proper 8th doctor series, etc. Really go nuts with the whole “Whoniverse” concept. May piss off some older fans, but we’ll gain new ones!!
I agree. Now they can do multiple Doctor stories & since the Doctor can regenerate without limit, there are plenty of avenues they can explore. Plus, there’s the mystery of what species the Doctor is & where he/she comes from.
14th Doctor is now in retirement, living the slow life to process all his past trauma. He is meant to live a stress free life to give himself the chance to become a more carefree version of 15th, instead of constantly running around nonstop, refusing to look backward and bottling up his feeling. Kind of like the 11th dying of old age on Trenzalore, except without the constant alert to fight every enemies of his past, and consciously choosing to live and enjoy life. Not saying he can’t have more adventures, just a more quiet life.
That is a reasonable assessment.
I just finished watching it and absolutely loved the introduction of the Doctor bi-generating into the 15th and then splitting the TARDIS in 2 as well, so in theory we can have 2 concurrent Doctors running around time and space. These holiday specials can be doubly entertaining if the story calls for it.
.
As for this new Doctor, he’s already giving me great vibes from the brief interactions with everyone.
.
I also wouldn’t mind if they spun-off a proper U.N.I.T. series as well, but that ending just made me feel so excited for the future of the series.😁
Yes, Ncuti Gatwa is already giving a great first impression as the Doctor. Can’t wait to see what he brings to the table. Shame is, we may have him for only 2 seasons.
Why is that?
Just remembered a big question from the end of the special: who picked up the gold tooth? It appeared to be a human hand, adorned with red painted fingernails.
Kate has bright red nail polish!!!! But it would be hard to believe she had became a disciple of the church of Master. So hopefully its somebody else.
Who picked up The Master??? Will that be Christmas??
It’s too bad that Rose couldn’t of been part of the story. Why not end up with Rose. The person he really loved. I’m certain that I’m not alone in thinking that. If hecwas going to live afterwards then why not with the woman he loved.
Or why not let him go back to being John Smith and marry the woman he fell in love with there? He seemed to really like that human incarnation.
Rose is in a different dimension and is with the human version of him.
1) Rose is in another dimension with her own human Doctor. 2) This Doctor has had 3 incarnations, one of which lived to be 900, one of which spent what a billion years trying to save Clara and one of which had the entirety of her identity seen to be false. People change and Rose is pretty far in the rear view mirror for the Doctor.
Because Rose is trapped in an alternate dimension & she is living with a human version of the Doctor if I remember correctly.
The best part. The reference to Earthshock, and Anthony Ainley’s laugh as the Master at the end. Otherwise…garbage.
The Master always comes back!
Looking forward to it. My mom & I will watch it tomorrow on Disney Plus.
I thought Neil Patrick Harris had signed on for multiple episodes not just a one and done
We may see the Toymaker again.
Can’t we just keep David Tennant forever? All the Doctors since he was the Tenth have been great, don’t get me wrong and Ncuti just knocked it out of the park, but David Tennant can never stop being my Doctor, really fun episode and I’m really grateful for the twist cause the first regeneration was too much for me back in the day and I wasn’t really ready to say goodbye to Tennant again after his short 3 episode return. Had a blast!
I hated these specials. Love David Tennant, was glad to have him back. But it was basically just explosions and horrid green screen. I know a lot of this stuff is meant to be cameos and reminders of the past to make fans happy, but they were so boring!
I wouldn’t say I felt strongly enough about them to say “hated,” but yes. The first was reasonably okay, in a let’s-feel-our-way-back-into-this way, but the second and third got so tedious that I wanted to fast forward to where something was actually happening. I’m not a huge fan of Russell T. Davies, and this time around you seem to get extra doses of his sensibility.
Neil Patrick Harris has come a long way since Doogie Howzer and surpasses his evilness in A Series of Unfortunate Events. But the best thing about this is David Tennent’s three “lives”…with Rose in an alternate reality; as the 10th doctor and as the 14th doctor coexisting with the 15th. I fully expected the new doctor to break out into Risky Business…I hope he gets some pants…all in all a brilliant return for Russell T Davis…
Ncuti Gatwa is a natural fit for the role as he is so full of energy. I look forward to the Christmas Special as well as the upcoming 14th season.
Doctor Who vs Doggie Hauser MD or Doctor Horrible. And I mean that in a good way since Neal Patrick Harris stole the show as the Toymaker. I hope this isn’t the last we see of him on “Who.”
Ncuti Gatwa looks as if he’ll be quite good, and I don’t like “But things have changed!” complaints very much, but I didn’t get a Doctor vibe from him. That is, the Doctor has traditionally been young and old at the same time, someone who’s been around for a thousand years, and occasionally gets arrogant and somewhat callous, and a little blind about manners and how human beings work. Very decent and humane, but also flawed, to take the edge off it. Helen Mirren once wanted to play the Doctor, and she would have killed it.
.
The Tennant Doctor got away from that a bit, but so far the Gatwa Doctor has been just sunny and uncomplicated. That’s on the basis of a very brief appearance, of course, and it will be interesting to see how that evolves.
Finally, the Doctor Who vibes are back. Ncuti Gatwa is a great actor and I’m looking forward for the next episodes. I just hope BBC stops the forced wokeness scripts and gives Gatwa the freedom to act and fill the character with his personality. There’s no need to teach the auditory, we all just want to see stories that bring us closer to strange and fascinating adventures.
I saw the special today with my mom on Disney Plus & we both loved it. What a sendoff for David Tennant. Now that we have two Doctors, this opens up new possibilities for the show & since we know the Doctor is immortal anyway & can regenerate indefinitely. Neil Patrick Harris stole the show as the Toymaker. I hope we see him again.
Although I thought the special was mostly average for me, I loved Neil Patrick Harris’ performance, to be honest. Likewise, the score. Although, the latest “Sunday Night Football” game was pretty much better than that.
Uhhh… did the Toymaker always have this overexaggerated, super annoying german accent ? It very much ruined a performance that would otherwise have been excellent.
I was disappointed. After the 50th anniversary special I was expecting something a little more . . .just more. I found the episodes to be boring and lacked anything worthy of an anniversary special. I’ll probably watch the Christmas special to see what the 15th Doctor is like but I think the series overall has lost its charm.