| 1 | [[WMG:[[center:[-''[[Series/DoctorWho Doctor Who]]'' [[Recap/DoctorWho recap index]]\ |
| 2 | '''Fourteenth Doctor Era'''\ |
| 3 | '''60th Anniversary Specials:''' [[Recap/DoctorWho60thASTheStarBeast 1]] | [[Recap/DoctorWho60thASWildBlueYonder 2]] | '''3'''\ |
| 4 | '''[[Recap/DoctorWho2022NYSEveOfTheDaleks <<< 2022 Specials]]''' | '''[[Recap/DoctorWho2023CSTheChurchOnRubyRoad Series 14 >>>]]''']]-]]] |
| 5 | !The Giggle |
| 6 | [[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doctor_who_the_giggle.jpeg]] |
| 7 | [[caption-width-right:1000:The Time Lord and the Toymaker play one last game... [[labelnote:.]][[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou Ha-haha-HA-haha-ha![[/labelnote]]]]]] |
| 8 | ->Written by Creator/RussellTDavies\ |
| 9 | Directed by Chanya Button\ |
| 10 | '''Air date:''' 9 December 2023 |
| 11 | |
| 12 | ->''"I've fought them all. Robots and insects and yetis and clones, but what do we do this time, Doctor? How do we fight the human race?"'' |
| 13 | -->-- '''Kate Stewart''' |
| 14 | |
| 15 | JustForFun/{{The one w|ith}}here Russell T Davies and Creator/DavidTennant take another crack at this whole "regeneration" thing, while also bringing back a very, ''very,'' '''''very''''' obscure villain from the old series. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | This is the third and final episode of the 2023 Specials Trilogy created to celebrate the 60th Anniversary, and the third episode to be broadcast on the Creator/DisneyPlus streaming service. It also heralds the introduction of Creator/NcutiGatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor, and the ''re''introduction of [[Characters/DoctorWhoImmortalsAndEldritchAbominations the Celestial Toymaker]], a First Doctor villain last seen in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E7TheCelestialToymaker his titular debut]], portrayed here by Creator/NeilPatrickHarris. |
| 18 | ---- |
| 19 | ''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...'' |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Soho, 1925. A man named Charles Banerjee stops in to a small toy shop run by [[Creator/NeilPatrickHarris a man]] with the most over-the-top German accent you're ever likely to hear. The shop owner tries to sell Banerjee a teddy bear or a "[[GratuitousGerman hobbyhorsen]]", but Banerjee is only interested in one thing: a puppet known as Stooky Bill. In-between lamenting the separation of Stooky Bill from his family, making casually racist remarks toward Banerjee, and [[OohMeAccentsSlipping briefly forgetting his accent]], the shop owner inquires what exactly the man wants with the puppet. Banerjee reveals that he works for local inventor John Logie Baird, and that Baird is working on something truly revolutionary: a new device called "television". |
| 22 | |
| 23 | Jumping forward, we see that Baird and Banerjee are hard at work on said invention and are ready to perform the first real test. The puppet is going to be the televised subject, as the cameras produce too much heat to safely direct them at a human being. The device is activated, and, sure enough, grainy footage of Stooky Bill is broadcast to the other room, and Baird and Banerjee become the first ever television viewers (and the recipients of the first ever televised JumpScare after Bill's mouth falls open). Baird proclaims that this invention is going to change the world forever, while the sound of a strange giggle echoes over the burning puppet... |
| 24 | |
| 25 | ----- |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Back in 2023, the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna Noble are still caught in the middle of a WorldGoneMad. A passerby insists on trying to block a car on the road with his own body, on the grounds that [[InsaneTrollLogic his taxes helped fund the road, so it's his road and he can do with it whatever he likes with it]]. It seems that everyone in the world has become convinced that they're completely right about everything and are willing to fight to the death to prove it. The Doctor is briefly invited to dance with a strangely familiar man in a tuxedo, but he has no time for that with the ongoing crisis! He's got a planet to save! And fortunately, UNIT soldiers- seemingly unaffected by the madness- have arrived to shuffle Wilf (or rather, [[FakeShemp Wilf's stunt double with an obscured face]], given that Creator/BernardCribbins had sadly passed away by this point) away to safety and escort the Doctor and Donna to UNIT HQ in what is most certainly ''not'' [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Stark Tower]].[[note]]Hey, this is what you get from letting Creator/DisneyPlus pitch in![[/note]] |
| 28 | |
| 29 | The Doctor and Donna are met at HQ by Kate Stewart, who gives the Doctor a hug and wearily asks him the question of the hour: how the hell are they supposed to save humanity ''from'' humanity? Stepping inside, the Doctor is confronted by a familiar face: Melanie Bush (last seen all the way back in the Seventh Doctor era), who's now working for UNIT! Unfortunately the catching up will have to wait, as Kate confirms the Doctor's worst fears: the problem is worldwide, and it's so effective at convincing humans that they're right about everything that they won't even stop for basic reason or self-preservation (as seen by the pilot who decided there was nothing at all wrong with landing smack dab in the middle of a city, resulting in the plane crash from last episode). No change for the wacky politicians though (especially the ones who lean too hard to the left or right). Regardless, the only reason why UNIT isn't affected by the phenomenon is all because of a handy piece of AppliedPhlebotinum called "Zeedex" that was created by the Vlinx (a robot alien that works for UNIT, [[RememberTheNewGuy yes, they're a new character, nothing to worry about]]), which suppresses the effect; and even the besthearted among them aren't immune to the HatePlague, as Kate Stewart being ''briefly'' without it causes her to start hurling hateful accusations at some of her closest friends (by being xeno-racist, ableist and an anti-redhead fan in one fell swoop). And with humanity in this state, good luck trying to convince them to put these devices on their arms, as we see influencers like Trinity Wells (a former AMNN news reporter who has previously popped up in a ''lot'' of old Russell T. Davies era stories) convincing the people of the world to go anti-Zeedex [[SarcasmMode (hmmm, does this remind anyone of]] [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic something similar in real life?)]]. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | The Doctor gets UNIT scientific advisor Shirley to put up the wavelength on the monitor to analyze it. Upon inspection, the wavelength peaks seven times, with a steady hill pattern to boot. But Donna is able to figure out the pattern as Kate Stewart explains to the team that the plague begun two days prior, when the KOSAT 5 satellite from South Korea was activated... although the satellite WASN'T hiding the signal. Donna then shows the team her homework on the signal pattern, and ponders if the signal is a tune, judging from said pattern (she was able to figure it out from her tuning skills acquired for the sole purpose of teaching her daughter the recorder). Mel's singing skills come in handy here, as she performs an arpeggio scale... which matches the signal's pattern perfectly. A musical palindrome that affects human minds, and '''has''' affected them since... ''the invention of television itself.'' |
| 32 | |
| 33 | Shirley brings up the footage of Stooky Bill, the most plausible fit for the arpeggio puzzle, as we hear him giggle in a similar, if not, exact fashion to the arpeggio. And the worst thing about it? For some reason, ''it's been burned into every screen ever since then.'' Only now has it unleashed its true power upon the Earth thanks to KOSAT 5's broadcast of the video being weaponized by the giggling mastermind behind it all, causing an armageddon upon humanity. And it's all thanks to a simple, taunting giggle. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | "Ha-haha-'''''HA'''''-haha-ha!" |
| 36 | |
| 37 | With the puppet found, the Doctor has to hunt down the puppeteer. Before the Doctor departs to go back to 1925, he asks Kate to find a way to bring down the satellite. With missiles being a bad idea, the Galvanic Beam is the safest bet for this situation, as long as they get permission from the UN...which ain't possible. Thankfully, the Doctor's permission overrides it all. The Doctor checks up on Mel for a bit, and tells the Doctor about how this screamy redhead managed to get back from her misadventures with good ol' Sabalom Glitz (who died at the age of 101, by slipping on a whiskey bottle). How did she get back to Earth? By getting a lift off a zingo. Don't question it. Mel sadly has no family to stay home with, though, but is still grateful to be part of UNIT to this day (even getting accommodation for it). With the exact coordinates given to the Doctor (as well as Donna getting a £120,000/year job offer from UNIT), he and Donna depart for 1925 Soho. |
| 38 | |
| 39 | As the Doctor and Donna walk, Donna notes that he doesn't tend to reminisce much about his past, nor his companions of old. Doctor makes up an excuse for the reason why, but Donna tells him that when she was the [=DoctorDonna=] for a bit, she saw a glimpse of the Doctor's gloomy headspace. She states that he's been staggering a lot. Perhaps the reason why Fourteenth has this old, familiar face is because of the fact that his own past is finally catching up to him? It would make sense given what happened recently with his "origins" as a Timeless Child, and -- never mind, he's brushed her off again. Pooey. |
| 40 | |
| 41 | The duo heads off to the "Mr. Emporium" shop, where Stooky Bill was sold. As the Doctor peers into the shop window, he notices the strange shopkeeper, who hides away from him. The partners in crime enter the shop, and the shopkeeper ''immediately'' starts spieling about the first game ever invented: the ball. With his rotten German accent, he totes about how the cavemen loved tossing rocks at each other's heads, and the "game of ball" lasted until the year 5,000,000,000. The ballsy Donna shushes him, and suddenly, the shopkeeper recognizes her perfectly. But how? As the Doctor panickily tells her to go back to the TARDIS, the shopkeeper is glad that the Doctor is finally realizing who he REALLY is. |
| 42 | |
| 43 | As the Doctor's blurry vision of the past come into fold, he finally remembers the time he faced this particular man in a game when the Doctor was in his "first" incarnation. And that man is none other than... '''The Toymaker.''' |
| 44 | |
| 45 | Before the Doctor can talk to him about ''anything'', really, the Toymaker invites him and Donna to play the second game known to man: "hide-und-seek". The Toymaker giggles à la arpeggio-style and hides behind his domain of games, and the chase is on. With the duo trapped in the Toymaker's domain, the Doctor recaps to Donna about the last time he beat the Toymaker in a game (as the other games he played all ended pre-maturely or on a tie), i.e. the first game he played with said celestial immortal. The Doctor also panics about how he might have truly screwed up and put Donna's life in gravest danger (revealing that it was his salt trick with the Not-Things in the last episode that allowed The Toymaker into this universe), lamenting about after everything that's happened to restore her, he might not be able to save her life this time. This cues an existential crisis similar to Twelve's; that if you remove the "toys" i.e. the Sonic, the TARDIS, and the swagger, what's left? |
| 46 | |
| 47 | Donna does her best to reassure his faith in winning regardless, and tells the Doctor that "the dice don't know what they did last time", something that her father said to her once. With his faith restored, he ''accidentally ditches Donna,'' thanks to the doors in the Toymaker's domain being a one-way ticket. |
| 48 | |
| 49 | The Doctor finds himself in a room where Charles Banerjee is trapped after losing to a game with the Toymaker (which would easily explain why the Toymaker has invaded Earth in 2023). The Doctor frees Charles, but is shocked to find out that Charles is all strings and (almost) all wood. The Toymaker commands the puppet from above, and taunts the Doctor by clamoring about the Doctor's soon-to-be-inevitable loss against him, and even goes as far to make the puppet look like the Doctor! Frightened, the Doctor flees for dear life. |
| 50 | |
| 51 | Meanwhile, Donna ends up in a dark, gloomy attic room, where a crying woman is hiding in the corner. This woman turns out to be poor wee Stooky Sue, who doesn't know what to do after the Toymaker threw her in the cubby upon losing her precious hubby, mourning every day thanks to Bill being took away. Because Stooky Bill was burned on TV, he can't see his poor wee missy. And now, her Stooky babbies weep and cannot sleep. They miss their papa, seeking him near and far, and with Donna in their sight... they ''greet her in the endless night.'' The Stooky babbies don't look so sweet, especially given they've come to eat. As the widow Sue has finished her cry, she declares that it's time for Donna to die. But, thanks to her rough, less-wooden personality, Donna is able to come out on top with a more clever follow-up rhyme: "Hello Stooky, my name's Donna! Now I think that you're a '''goner!'''" and proceeds to behead the wooden widow by slamming Stooky Sue against the wall. Donna scares off the Stooky babbies back into their corner, and Donna escapes the room triumphantly, reuniting with the Doctor at last. |
| 52 | |
| 53 | With the partners in crime back together again, they are greeted by the Toymaker, as he prepares a worldwide premiere puppet show, especially made for Donna. The Toymaker begins his tale of woe by starting at the point when Donna first left the Doctor, taking us for a trip down memory lane; or more specifically, the Creator/StevenMoffat and Creator/ChrisChibnall eras. The Toymaker introduces Donna to a plucky, redheaded Scottswoman called "Amy Pond", who despite her flirty behavior, was a favorite of the Doctor's (having traveled with his [[Characters/DoctorWhoEleventhDoctor eleventh incarnation]]). Sadly, she eventually [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E5TheAngelsTakeManhattan died to an out-of-nowhere Weeping Angel in the middle of a graveyard]]. The Doctor rebuffs this by stating that Amy was only sent back in time (with poor ol' Rory) and died from natural causes at a very old age. The Toymaker immediately spouts a sarcastic "WELL, THAT'S ALRIGHT THEN!" in a thick American accent. |
| 54 | |
| 55 | Next, the Toymaker introduces Donna to a beautiful brunette lady called "Clara Oswald", who spans across time and space. She travelled with two incarnations of the Doctor, until one day, out of nowhere, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E10FaceTheRaven a bird killed her]]. The Doctor rebuffs him by saying that Clara still "lives", albeit on her last second of life (effectively being immortal). Again, the Toymaker gives out the same response, and introduces Donna to "Bill". As in, ''lady'' Bill, not Stooky Bill, who went on adventures with the Doctor in [[Characters/DoctorWhoTwelfthDoctor his twelfth incarnation]], until Bill was killed and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E11WorldEnoughAndTime turned into a Cyberman]]. Once more, the Doctor rebuffs and states that Bill's consciousness survived. The Toymaker gives the same response, louder this time. |
| 56 | |
| 57 | The Toymaker skips over the companions of the [[Characters/DoctorWhoThirteenthDoctor Thirteenth Doctor]] (who all returned home, safe) in favor of a more disastrous outcome that happened during Thirteen's time: '''The Flux,''' an apocalyptical event that could have, and should have, been stopped before it happened, but was unleashed for a brief time anyway, destroying ''half of the entire universe'' because of it. With no actual rebuff that the Doctor can use to save himself from this past scenario, despite not actually being responsible, his TranquilFury rises to the top as he challenges the Toymaker to a game. Naturally, the Toymaker accepts. |
| 58 | |
| 59 | Thanks to the Toymaker being free from his shackles from his last outing, he has been able to challenge games to just about anyone, he toyed with supernovas, turned galaxies into spinning tops, gambled with ''God'' himself and won, even going as far to mess with the Doctor's past by making it into a metaphorical jigsaw[[note]](which may or may not remove certain events from being canon as a result)[[/note]]. And even the poor Master couldn't escape from his lure, as he tried to gain more life from the Toymaker, but lost and is now but a gold tooth hiding in the Toymaker's inhuman maw. The only being who the Toymaker dared not play with was a being known as [[TheDreaded the One Who Waits]]. The Doctor asks for more information... but the Toymaker refuses, and states "that's someone else's game". |
| 60 | |
| 61 | As they begin their game of cards, the Doctor asks the Toymaker about the reason behind the human race being subjected to the HatePlague, and there's a very easy reason why: so that they can win. The game of the 21st century itself is nothing more than a mere envious, cancel-culture ridden apocalypse that has no losers, but all winners. Such a game that will cause civilization to collapse. [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything (Again, this might sound too real, don'tcha think?)]] Anywho, the rules of the Doctor's second game with the Toymaker are simple: "highest card wins". And don't worry, no cheating shall be involved! Not like the Toymaker likes to cheat to begin with, as he's already skilled enough. And sure enough, he wins with a king to Doctor's 8 of spades. But while the Doctor has lost this game... he binds the Toymaker into a failsafe rule. "One all." Now, it's not just a singular game, it's a best out of three, a rule that the Toymaker must follow. As the Doctor won his first game, this makes it so that he has one more game to win, one last chance to save the planet. With a best of three like that, the Toymaker considers to make that best of three into "2023", and leaves post-haste... not without attempting to kill the Doctor and Donna by activating a self-destruct sequence in his domain. Luckily, the duo escape back into the TARDIS, but not before the Doctor grabs a hold of the Toymaker's box, containing himself and his own dimension. |
| 62 | |
| 63 | Back in the present, UNIT fire up the Galvanic Beam to blow up the KOSAT 5 satellite, and, with Donna's help, they get to work on stopping the HatePlague within the subframe. As they prepare to finally put an end to the Toymaker's "giggle", the box containing him starts to take affect within the UNIT control room... as a Music/SpiceGirls song begins to play. |
| 64 | |
| 65 | '''[[ThisIsGonnaSuck Uh-oh]].''' |
| 66 | |
| 67 | As the Toymaker warps, dances, and lip-syncs to "Spice Up Your Life", he ends up tossing Kate into the wall ''hard'', and tosses Mel into the ground. Kate, showing off the genetics, immediately calls for FiveRoundsRapid, which is a stupid idea anyway, as the Toymaker's RealityWarper powers come into play, making the troops' guns shoot rose petals and turning said troops into mere toy balls that contain their screaming faces. After turning the control room into a colourful mess, he leaves through his own trapdoor out of mere existence, for now, but eventually, they start to hear the Galvanic Beam being used, and that can only mean one thing: the Toymaker has managed to grab a hold of a destructive weapon. Thus, they rush to face him. |
| 68 | |
| 69 | Before the Doctor can usher the gang back into the building, the Toymaker holds them hostage with his brand new toy that he stole off UNIT. Kate questions the Toymaker about where the two UNIT staff members went when the Toymaker warped into the Galvanic Beam's site, to which he assures her that they're still falling (cue the thud). The Doctor then begs the Toymaker to stop this game for the sake of using his reality-bending powers for good. Obviously, this sort of diplomacy will never work on him, given the Toymaker's mindset on life runs on whoever wins and loses, and not running on the morals of good and evil. Besides, the Toymaker has taken a liking towards Earth. After all, humanity has birthed so many games, regardless if they take place indoors or outdoors, within computers, or even within minds. It's the ultimate playground for the Toymaker, and he can play in it for as long as possible. The Doctor, unfortunately, cannot play his last round with the Toymaker, for he has found new meaning in his life of games. With the Galvanic Beam in his hands, the Toymaker blasts the Doctor right in his chest, proclaiming that his third game will be with the ''next'' Doctor. |
| 70 | |
| 71 | Despite only lasting a few hours (and having a shorter run than the last time he had this face), The Fourteenth Doctor has begun his regeneration. That being said, given how he's also similar to Tenth, he's able to relive Ten's regeneration -- only with company this time around. Donna and Mel stand up for the Doctor, and they proceed to protect him from the Toymaker, who was planning to outright kill the Doctor permanently. With his CharacterDevelopment firmly in play[[note]], as well as the fact that this is the third body of a regeneration cycle compared to the thirteenth[[/note]], and with the Doctor's redheaded companions tugging on his arms, the Fourteenth Doctor finally make amends with Ten and says "''Allons-y!''", ready to accept [[TheNthDoctor his change into a new incarnation]]... |
| 72 | |
| 73 | ...but the Fourteenth Doctor does ''not'' regenerate. |
| 74 | |
| 75 | In fact, the Doctor tells Donna and Mel to pull his arms away from him on each side, as he feels like something, no, some''one'' is inside him. They do so, and... Fourteenth splits apart to reveal the ''next'' Doctor. Wait, what? ''"What?"'' '''''"WHAT?!"''''' |
| 76 | |
| 77 | Yes, you heard it here, folks, for the very first time in the show's history, there are ''two'' incarnations of the Doctor living in the same universe, thus giving us both a regeneration and a Multi-Doctor story in the same episode! Honestly, this works out in everyone's favor (well, except the Toymaker). Say hello to the snazzy, jazzy and freshly bi-generated [[Creator/NcutiGatwa Fifteenth Doctor]]![[note]]For those wondering how bi-generation was even possible, it's not explained. That being said, one can assume the recent regeneration from Thirteenth to Fourteenth allowed for the latter to keep his incarnation and also allow his next incarnation to be born from all that recent post-regeneration energy. And besides, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis this isn't the first time that the rules of regeneration have been screwed with]].[[/note]] The Toymaker decides to see if he can make more Doctors pop out with the use of the Galvanic Beam, but that ain't happening because with a new challenger comes a new game. The long-awaited third round can finally start, and the Toymaker '''has''' to accept, despite being the one who caused the bi-generation to happen. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Whoopsy-daisy!]] |
| 78 | |
| 79 | To make things fairer, they all agree to play the first game made by man: catch. If one drops the ball, they lose. Considering there are two Doctors playing against the Toymaker, the possibility of losing has doubled. Luckily, both Doctors share the same amazingly perfected motor skills in order to catch the Toymaker off-guard a little bit. The Toymaker does seem have the upper hand for a bit with his showboating however, even going as far to give Fifteen a sly grin at his face, gold tooth gleam and all. Fifteen scowls back at him. Fourteen almost drops the ball but is able to catch it, as he tosses it to Fifteen to deliver a perfect pitch towards the Toymaker, and with the Toymaker just ''barely'' missing, he has finally been defeated. While the Toymaker is known for destroying planets that hosted a game that he has lost himself, he is unable to do so here, as the Doctor chooses a particular prize of choice: banishing the Toymaker from existence forever. But despite his body flattening and folding up, the Toymaker decides to have one last laugh by telling the Doctor that his "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS40E2TheDevilsChord legions]] are coming", and nothing more. |
| 80 | |
| 81 | With the Toymaker finally contained in his toybox, Stooky Bill's giggle has been stopped, and thus, humanity is saved. This calls for a celebration, right? Well, no. While humanity as a whole ''was'' saved, the giggle-demic unfortunately led to a lot of people dying around the world, but with Fifteen around, Fourteen is able to rely on himself (literally) for support, as they embrace for a hug. Afterwards, the gang heads back inside the building, but they seem to be forgetting their ''bonus'' prize: a gold tooth. |
| 82 | |
| 83 | {{Facepalm}}. |
| 84 | |
| 85 | Unluckily, and yet to absolutely ''no one'''s surprise, a {{Femme Fatalon|s}}ed hand from absolutely ''nowhere'' is able to nab that prize away from them, as we hear an echoing quartet of Masters [[EvilLaugh laughing evilly]] (ranging from the [[Creator/AnthonyAinley classic]], [[Creator/JohnSimm political]], [[Creator/MichelleGomez female]] and [[Creator/SachaDhawan most recent]] incarnations), a sign that Gallifrey's resident bad seed will rise again. Seems like the more things change, the more things stay the same... |
| 86 | |
| 87 | Later on, Fourteen and Donna take Fifteen on a small tour through the new TARDIS just in case he has any opinions on it. Fifteen tells Fourteen that the latter needs a chair. As in, he needs to take a long rest from travelling to-and-fro, given how the Doctor(s) have been going on dangerous adventures non-stop, and were unable to take a break. After all, [[TraumaCongaLine the Doctor as been through a ''lot'' of traumatic events]], such as [[Characters/DoctorWhoSixthDoctor Six's]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E1TheMysteriousPlanet trial]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoSecondDoctor Two's]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E7TheWarGames exile (and actual execution)]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoFourthDoctor Four's]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E1TheRibosOperation whole mishap with the Key to Time]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis and his failure of stopping Logopolis' destruction]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoFifthDoctor Five]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock witnessing Adric's death]], the Doctor witnessing [[Characters/DoctorWhoRiverSong River Song]]'s messy life from (almost) back to front, [[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresSpecialFarewellSarahJane the recent (off-screen) passing of Sarah Jane]], and [[Characters/DoctorWhoRoseTyler Rose Tyler's]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday emotional farewell from an alternate universe]]. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd Twice, if we may add.]][[note]]Not to mention [[Characters/DoctorWhoTwelfthDoctor Twelve]] going completely [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E11HeavenSent mental]] over Clara's death, to the point of almost [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent wiping out reality itself]] to save her.[[/note]] |
| 88 | |
| 89 | ...but while the Doctor has been through a lot of trauma, they were able to succeed triumphantly in other events, [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor such as saving Gallifrey during the end of The Last Great Time War]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang saving the ''universe'' by becoming one with The Pandorica]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan defeating the evil Mavic Chen]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E2TheDalekInvasionOfEarth saving Earth from]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays at least four]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday separate Dalek invasions]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd throughout the]] [[Recap/DoctorWho2021NYSRevolutionOfTheDaleks course of the series]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E4TheGreatestShowInTheGalaxy defeating the almighty Gods of Ragnarok and their space circus]]... the list can go on, but at the end of the day, Fourteen is pretty much tip toeing on the razor's edge of a complete meltdown and a possible permanent death. Fifteen tells Fourteen to take a huge vacation, for now, because Fifteen assures him that eventually, he'll be ready to continue his love for journeys in Fifteen's own shoes; it seems Fifteen is ''not'' just born, instead the bi-generation pulled him from a point in the Doctor's personal timeline where he's healed from the trauma. Rehab out of order, as Fifteen puts it. |
| 90 | |
| 91 | But there's just one last question that has yet to be answered: Why does Fourteen's face resemble Ten's? And Donna gives him a proper answer: because of the Doctor's own subconscious, he found Donna again, and Donna would understand him better if he had Ten's look. Therefore, that face was brought back for one thing: "to come home". He accepts it, but is saddened to see his TARDIS be given away to his next incarnation, as he feels like this kind of thing would break his hearts. That would be the case, if the Toymaker ''didn't'' give a small parting gift for the Doctor(s) to use for the occasion: a toy hammer to use in the last seconds of the Toymaker's domain magic before it truly goes away. Thus, Fifteen decides to do the seemingly impossible: make a second TARDIS pop out of the first! Fifteen's TARDIS, however, is very much similar to Fourteen's, at least. But it comes with a jukebox and a wheelchair ramp now, so that's pretty cool! But as Fourteen compares the two [=TARDISes=], Fifteen attempts to ditch the group. Luckily, Fourteen caught on quick, and Fifteen gives. They both hug one last time, and Fifteen hugs Donna too. The new Doctor farewells them for real, and wishes them a good rest of their time on Earth. |
| 92 | |
| 93 | Sometime later, in a sunny Spring afternoon, the Fourteenth Doctor has been accepted (adopted, even!) as part of the Noble family. Together with Donna, Rose, Shaun, Sylvia, Wilfred[[note]](who's busy off-screen shooting moles in holes, thankfully protected by the Doctor's sonic forcefields)[[/note]] and even Mel, the Doctor can finally be part of a family that he's always wanted. The reason he has fought all of those past battles and sins have lead to this moment, [[EarnYourHappyEnding and he's going to live in this moment for as long as possible.]] |
| 94 | |
| 95 | With the story of Fourteen drawing to an end, Fifteen's story has already begun. The Fifteenth Doctor goes off on a new adventure with his own TARDIS. His destination? [[Recap/DoctorWho2023CSTheChurchOnRubyRoad Manchester, circa Christmas 2023.]] |
| 96 | |
| 97 | ---- |
| 98 | !!Tropes: |
| 99 | |
| 100 | * AboveGoodAndEvil: The Toymaker's response after the Doctor demands to know why he's so small and uses his powers and abilities on such a small, petty scale. |
| 101 | -->'''The Toymaker:''' You know full well this is merely a face concealing a vastness that will never cease, because your good and your bad are nothing to me. All that exists is to win, or to lose. |
| 102 | * AccentSlipUp: |
| 103 | ** When the Toymaker insults Banerjee with a racial remark, Banerjee fires back that the Toymaker's over-the-top German accent has disappeared. |
| 104 | ** PlayedForLaughs when the Toymaker spells out how some of the Doctor's companions met their demise, the Doctor argues back how they weren't ''really'' dead, to which the Toymaker slips out of his German accent to an American accent as he spits back, "[[SarcasmMode Well, that's alright, then!]]" |
| 105 | * ActorAllusion: Yes, The Toymaker (played by Neil Patrick Harris) ''will'' [[Series/HowIMetYourMother accept the Doctors' challenges!]]. The Toymakers' dance number to "Spice up your life" is also an allusion to Harris' talents for musical theatre. |
| 106 | * AdventurerOutfit: The Toymaker dons one when he takes over UNIT's WaveMotionGun. |
| 107 | * AllIsWellThatEndsWell: Subverted. After defeating the Toymaker, Donna and Fifteen celebrate -- before Fourteen grimly wonders how many people died in the Toymaker's HatePlague before they stopped it, taking the wind out of the celebrations somewhat. [[note]]This is likely influenced by the Toymaker's recounting of what happened to the Doctor's previous companions Amy, Clara, and Bill, deflating the Doctor rebutting with the bittersweetness of their fates using a sarcastic "Well, that's all right then!". Not to mention that the Toymaker then brings up the Flux that completely destroyed half the universe.[[/note]] |
| 108 | * AndIMustScream: |
| 109 | ** The fate of Charles Banerjee. After losing a game to the Toymaker, he's trapped in the Toymaker's realm and turned into a marionette, forced to dance whenever the Toymaker wishes him to. The Toymaker [[ImpliedDeathThreat implies]] he'll do the same to the Doctor. |
| 110 | ** Possibly with the Master. While his essence was placed inside the Toymaker's gold tooth, it's left unrevealed if he's aware of the passage of time and events outside his prison or not. |
| 111 | ** Implied with the UNIT agents turned into balloons -- when Shirley grabs one of them, it's got a screaming face in it. |
| 112 | * ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: While under the Giggle's influence, Kate goes on a xenophobic rant to the Doctor, an ableist rant to Shirley, and a rant about how much she hates redheads to Mel and Donna. She immediately apologizes to them once she's freed of its influence. |
| 113 | * ArtisticLicenseHistory: The real version of Stooky Bill didn't get so hot that it burst into flames. Its hair was singed and the paint on its face cracked by the intense heat of the lights that were used, but it otherwise remained intact, although Bill bursting into flames can be justified due to the Toymaker's RealityWarping powers causing it to do so. John Logie Baird also used a second puppet called James during his testing, which is AdaptedOut here. |
| 114 | * AudibleGleam: The Toymaker's gold tooth containing the essence of the Master does this both with its initial reveal ''and'' just before it's picked up by an unknown woman in the falling action. |
| 115 | * BadassBoast: The Toymaker gives one when the Doctor challenges him to a game. |
| 116 | -->'''The Toymaker:''' I came to this universe with such delight, and I played them all, Doctor. I toyed with supernovas, turned galaxies into spinning tops. I gambled with God and made him a jack in the box. I made a jigsaw out of your history - did you like it? The Master was dying and begged for his life with one final game. And when he lost, I sealed him for all eternity inside my gold tooth. ''[grins, revealing too many teeth and a shiny gold tooth]'' |
| 117 | * BaitAndSwitch: As the oblivious Doctor monologues away, Kate storms up to him with a serious expression on her face -- and then promptly hugs him, admitting she's completely out of her depth. |
| 118 | * BeenThereShapedHistory: The Stooky Bill puppet that was used to test television was provided by the Toymaker. |
| 119 | * BerserkButton: A symptom of the HatePlague, even the most innocuous of questions, such as "feeling alright?" can set someone off on a volatile rant, as Kate helps demonstrate. |
| 120 | * BlackComedyBurst: |
| 121 | ** Donna's confrontation with Stooky Sue ends with Donna smashing the puppet against the wall until her head pops off in front of her babies, who quickly hide away in the corner. |
| 122 | --->'''Donna:''' [[BondOneLiner Anything to add?]] Babbies. |
| 123 | ** When the Toymaker turns two UNIT officers into rubber balls, Shirley reflexively catches one -- and sees the face of one of the men screaming. She screams right back and chucks it away. |
| 124 | ** When Kate asks the Toymaker what happened to the crew that was manning UNIT's Galvanic Beam, he has this to say, completely uninterested: |
| 125 | --->'''The Toymaker:''' I think they're still falling. ''[a faint thud, followed by a glass crash, is heard in the background]'' |
| 126 | * BloodlessCarnage: The Doctor is shot straight through the chest by the Toymaker with UNIT's Galvanic Beam, but there's not a hint of blood on him. There's not even a chest cavity nor a tear on his suit. |
| 127 | * {{Bookends}}: Creator/DavidTennant's run as the Doctor ends similarly as his [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion first full episode]]: proposing and winning a challenge against the villain, followed by a dinner with his companion's family. |
| 128 | * BriefAccentImitation: The Toymaker mostly uses a German accent, but uses a French accent when he first meets the Doctor and an American accent when taunting him about the "deaths" of Amy, Clara, and Bill. It's indicated that his "real" accent is an RP British one, as he [[AccentSlipUp slips into it in the brief moments when he gets serious]]. |
| 129 | * TheBusCameBack: |
| 130 | ** In the longest gap between two appearances of a villain yet, the Toymaker returns to the TV side of the franchise after a ''fifty-seven'' year absence. It is also tied with Ian Chesterton's return in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2022CENThePowerOfTheDoctor The Power of the Doctor]]" for the longest time between two appearances of a character, though not played by the same actor this time. |
| 131 | ** News reporter Trinity Wells, a minor recurring character on ''Doctor Who'', ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' and ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' in Davies' previous era, returns and is now hosting her own show where she [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything rants about being against UNIT's Zeedex bands]]. |
| 132 | * CallBack: |
| 133 | ** Upon the Doctor recognizing his old enemy, we're treated to brief flashes of the Toymaker's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E7TheCelestialToymaker original]] Creator/MichaelGough incarnation squaring off against the [[Characters/DoctorWhoFirstDoctor First Doctor]], and the Toymaker constantly alludes to the Doctor's initial victory over him. |
| 134 | ** The Doctor briefly catches up with Mel, who tells him of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS24E4Dragonfire her travels with Sabalom Glitz]] before she returned to Earth and [[Recap/DoctorWho2022CENThePowerOfTheDoctor was offered a job by Kate]]. |
| 135 | ** Due to the Earth being in an absolute, unsolvable crisis, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E12DeathInHeaven the Doctor once again is given command over the planet.]] |
| 136 | ** The Toymaker has, in the interim between appearances, beaten the White and Black Guardians, as well as the Master -- the latter is now trapped in the form of a gold tooth. |
| 137 | ** The Toymaker taunts the Doctor and Donna with the untimely fates of the three major companions who followed her -- [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E5TheAngelsTakeManhattan Amy Pond]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E10FaceTheRaven Clara Oswald]], and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E11WorldEnoughAndTime Bill]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls Potts]] -- and the destruction of half the universe due to the events of the ''Flux'' arc, which unlike the fates of the companions has no bittersweet ending. |
| 138 | * CanonMarchesOn: The episode being treated as the Doctor's third meeting with the Toymaker (after a NoodleIncident in the latter's debut serial and said serial itself) contradicts the audios, comics and novels in which the character has appeared since then ([[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoTLSS1E1TheNightmareFair including adaptations of the unproduced "The Nightmare Fair" script]]). Similarly, Mel's account of her life after the TARDIS is at odds with other expanded media stories, along with the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLb-rlZQA9k "24 Carat" narrative trailer]] for the classic Season 24 Collection Blu-Ray. |
| 139 | * CerebusCallBack: The Doctor's tendency to give metaphors for sci-fi effects before saying that they don't actually explain it is done less jokingly here -- the Doctor asks Shirley if she'd believe that the Toymaker "controls atoms with his mind", before snapping that that ''isn't'' what he does and humans have no way to understand him, let alone fight him. |
| 140 | * ContinuityNod: |
| 141 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The TARDIS is once again airlifted by a UNIT helicopter.]] |
| 142 | ** The Toymaker describes a Stone Age caveman who used a rock to commit the first murder; the First Doctor himself [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild nearly did the same]]. |
| 143 | ** The Toymaker then makes reference to the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E2TheEndOfTheWorld year five billion]], where the last human "kicks off the skull of his enemy [[GratuitousGerman und]] says, 'that is the final ball of all'." |
| 144 | ** When discussing how the KOSAT-5 satellite is connected to the HatePlague, Shirley states the satellite isn't hiding a signal like [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E12TheSoundOfDrums the Archangel Network was]]. |
| 145 | ** The Doctor says he is "a billion years old", seemingly acknowledging his hidden past as the Timeless Child, and possibly his time spent trapped in the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E11HeavenSent Confession Dial]]. (Although it is in dispute how that time frame actually applies.) |
| 146 | ** The Toymaker's song-and-dance routine inside UNIT HQ. [[Recap/DoctorWho2022CENThePowerOfTheDoctor This is now the second time in the last year]] that the Doctor's been subjected to this by one of his oldest adversaries, with the novelisation adding that it's only been ''half-a-day'' in-universe for him. |
| 147 | ** The Doctor's pleas with the Toymaker to take their game to the stars and play forever evoke his similar pleas to the Master during "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E12TheSoundOfDrums The Sound of Drums]]". |
| 148 | ** The Doctor [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E5EvolutionOfTheDaleks desperately offers himself up to an enemy who's pointing a gun at him to take their attention off his companions.]] [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim This time, said enemy actually shoots.]] |
| 149 | ** The Doctor makes a specific mention of how regeneration is ''not'' like dying, exactly the opposite of what he [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime told Wilfred, when his tenth incarnation's time was drawing to a close.]] |
| 150 | ** After his regeneration takes an odd turn, the Doctor says it "feels different this time," directly quoting [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E6TheCavesOfAndrozani some of the Fifth Doctor's last words before regenerating.]] |
| 151 | ** While holding Fourteen's hand shortly before the bi-generation, Mel calls all of his incarnations [[Characters/DoctorWhoNinthDoctor "fantastic"]]. A brief snippet of background music from Nine's regeneration into Ten ("Hologram") plays as she says the word as well. |
| 152 | ** Fourteen and Fifteen's conversation in the falling action references many other previous stories (and losses), including the Key to Time arc, the Time War, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis Logopolis]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock Earthshock]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E4TheGreatestShowintheGalaxy The Greatest Show in the Galaxy]]". |
| 153 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E13LastOfTheTimeLords Once again]], unbeknownst to the Doctor and his companions, a woman picks up an object imbued with the Master's essence while [[EvilLaugh maniacal laughter]] plays in the background. |
| 154 | ** Donna describes a normal life as the one adventure the Doctor couldn't have, referencing the Tenth Doctor saying the same thing in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday Doomsday]]" and Joan Redfern using a similar description in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood The Family of Blood]]". |
| 155 | ** The Doctor refers to an alien species that communicates with their eyebrows, which the Third Doctor also did in his [[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E1SpearheadFromSpace debut story]]. |
| 156 | ** Like in [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CiNSDoctorWhoChildrenInNeed David Tennant's first outing as the Doctor]], Fourteen states that he "[loves] the [[DoubleEntendre moles]]". |
| 157 | * CooldownHug: After the Toymaker is defeated by the two Doctors and subsequently sealed away, Fourteen laments that so many innocent lives were lost before the villain could be stopped. Fifteen gives his fellow Doctor a much-needed hug before he can slip into a full-on HeroicBSOD. |
| 158 | * CopycatMockery: At one point, the Toymaker torments the Doctor with a puppet modelled after the latter, repeating "I thought I was clever." |
| 159 | * CreepyDoll: Stooky Bill, of course, the catalyst of this whole debacle. Donna later encounters his family in the Toyroom, having been turned sentient by the Toymaker. |
| 160 | * {{Crossover}}: Of sorts, with RTD's earlier show ''Nolly''. John [=MacKay=] appears in both as John Logie Baird, and Davies sees both shows as being in a SharedUniverse for it. |
| 161 | * TheDeadHaveNames: Invoked -- as part of the clean-up, Kate asks for the names of all the agents killed by the Toymaker. |
| 162 | * DesignatedGirlFight: Donna fights the puppet Stooky Sue at one point. |
| 163 | * DidntSeeThatComing: ''Nobody'' -- least of all Fourteen himself -- saw the Doctor's bi-generation coming. |
| 164 | * DoubleMeaning: The Toymaker calling Donna and Mel handmaidens can be taken as either a derisive way of describing them as the Doctor's servants or the derogatory term used by trans-exclusionary radical feminists (or [=TERFs=]) for women who support transgender people. |
| 165 | * TheDreaded: |
| 166 | ** Despite having only clashed with the Toymaker twice years and years ago (once offscreen), the confrontations have clearly lingered with the Doctor in the interim since. The Doctor becomes visibly serious and terrified when he realizes who the mysterious man in the Toy Shop really is -- and that he's now in a rematch with the being that he didn't so much beat as ''survive'' last time. |
| 167 | ** For his part, while the Toymaker has been happy to play with the Master, the Guardians of Time and Space, and apparently ''God'', there's one thing -- The One Who Waits -- whom he refuses to challenge. He doesn't go into any detail about who or what this is, though, quickly changing the subject. |
| 168 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: And ''how''. The Fourteenth ''and'' Fifteenth Doctors get to co-exist with a TARDIS each. The Toymaker is banished from existence, even with the threat that VaguenessIsComing (not least because his gold tooth containing the Master's essence is left behind). Fourteen is living and having adventures of his own with the Noble family and Mel, while Fifteen gets to have a life of his own. |
| 169 | * TheEndOrIsIt: As the Doctors and Donna go back inside UNIT, somebody takes the Toymaker's abandoned gold tooth [[SealedEvilInACan containing the Master's essence]] offscreen -- complete with the [[Creator/AnthonyAinley Tremas Master]], the [[Characters/DoctorWhoJohnSimmsMaster Saxon Master]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoMissy Missy]], and the [[Creator/SachaDhawan Spy Master's]] [[EvilLaugh Evil Laughter]] overlapping -- in a ShoutOut to ''Film/{{Flash Gordon|1980}}''[='s=] famous use of this trope (with the tooth in the place of Ming's ring), and a CallBack to the similar moment at the end of "The Last of the Time Lords". The recipient of the gold tooth also picks it up from an angle off the side of the platform, placing them high above London in midair, hinting at a RealityWarper nature to whoever holds it now. |
| 170 | * EvilerThanThou: The Toymaker challenged the Master, presumably after "[[Recap/DoctorWho2022CENThePowerOfTheDoctor The Power of the Doctor]]", to a game for the latter's escape from death. The Master lost, and now he's trapped in the Toymaker's gold tooth. But that seems destined to change soon... |
| 171 | * EvilIsHammy: The Toymaker spends the entire episode chewing the scenery, culminating in one scene where he performs a full Music/SpiceGirls dance routine with rose petals and a band leader costume for no clear reason whatsoever. |
| 172 | * EvilIsPetty: Fourteen combines this with BoringInsult, accusing the Toymaker of being "small". |
| 173 | * FaceDeathWithDignity: In contrast to Ten's death, Fourteen calmly accepts his regeneration. In his case, it helps that he's not regenerating alone this time (with Mel and Donna at his side). |
| 174 | * FairPlayVillain: Despite all his cosmic powers, the Toymaker won't cheat at his games, which leads to his ultimate defeat when he's unable to catch a ball during a game of catch. |
| 175 | * FakeNationality: InUniverse, the Toymaker adopts a variety of accents before the Doctor realises who he is, at which point he reverts to a standard RP accent. |
| 176 | * FakeShemp: Due to Creator/BernardCribbins not being well enough to film more than the short scene at the end of "Wild Blue Yonder", Wilf only appears briefly in the first scene of the episode, but his face is either not shown on camera or clear enough to distinguish it, and his voice was archive footage taken from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E5ThePoisonSky The Poison Sky]]". When UNIT arrive to pick up the Doctor, Donna demands that they take her grandfather to safety first, quickly removing him from the episode. At the end of the episode when her family are hosting the Fourteenth Doctor, he's said to be off hunting and thus is not seen (though still alive). |
| 177 | * FamouslyMundaneFictionallyMagical: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stooky_Bill Stooky Bill]], the ventriloquist's dummy John Logie Baird used for his early television experiments, was provided by the Toymaker and left a "giggle" hidden in all TV broadcasts as part of a long term plan to unleash a HatePlague. |
| 178 | * FiveRoundsRapid: The {{Trope Namer}}s are at it again, with UNIT attempting to shoot the Toymaker with small arms fire... and then, when that doesn't work, ''continuing'' to [[TooDumbToLive ineffectually shoot at the Toymaker]] for the length of a Spice Girls song. Granted, given the Toymaker's [[RealityWarper near-omnipotence]], it's unlikely even heavy weaponry [[ImmuneToBullets would have done anything]], but still, you'd think they'd at least stop wasting ammunition to no effect. |
| 179 | * {{Flashback}}: Colourised archival footage from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E7TheCelestialToymaker The Celestial Toymaker]]" is spliced into the revelation sequence of the Toymaker's identity and return. |
| 180 | * ForegoneConclusion: Heavily implied; Fifteen mentions that he and Fourteen are "doing rehab out of order", and that he's only fine because Fourteen "fixed [himself]" after all the trauma they went through. Given that the rules of bi-generation are [[AmbiguousSituation left somewhat unclear]], the implication is that Fifteen comes from a later point in the Doctor's personal timeline, corroborated by both Fourteen and Donna calling him the older Doctor, and that Fourteen will eventually regenerate into him and then appear from out of his younger self. |
| 181 | * FreezeFrameBonus: Upon close inspection of the Toymaker cutting the strings on Clara's puppet, one can notice that he left one strand uncut. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent It references Clara's suspended heartbeat after being yanked out of the moment before her death, which rendered her immortal.]] |
| 182 | * FriendToAllLivingThings: In the epilogue, it's revealed the Doctor has a soft spot for moles and set up a force field to protect the ones in Donna's garden from Wilfred. |
| 183 | * GhostButler: The doors in the Toymaker's domain all slams shut by themselves behind the Doctor and Donna. And they either can't be opened, or don't lead back to the same place if they can. That's how the Doctor and Donna ends up separated. |
| 184 | * GodIsDead: Or at least, out of commission. The Toymaker claims he challenged God to a game, God lost, and is now stuck in a jack-in-the-box. |
| 185 | * GoingCommando: Downplayed during the bi-generation, but since the clothes aren't duplicated and Fifteen ends up with the pants, that means Fourteen is technically doing this trope during the final confrontation and its aftermath. |
| 186 | * GratuitousFrench: The Toymaker hits the Doctor with this on their first encounter, encouraging the Time Lord to dance with him before revealing his identity. The Doctor brushes him off, but looks back at him once it becomes apparent that he isn't an ordinary person. |
| 187 | -->'''The Toymaker:''' Oh, ''excusez-moi, Monsieur! Je suis terrible.''[[labelnote:Translation]]excuse me, sir! I'm terrible.[[/labelnote]] But perhaps you will dance ''avec moi?''[[labelnote:Translation]]with me?[[/labelnote]] Ooh la la... |
| 188 | * GratuitousGerman: The Toymaker loves using this, from his thick German accent to saying "das ist ein", "ein", "ja" and "und" in otherwise English sentences. He goes one step further by using German grammar haphazardly, such as the prefix "ge-" ("It is ge-raining, is it not? We have everything you can be ge-wanting!") and pluralisation ("hobbyhorsen" and "snaken und ladders"). |
| 189 | * GreaterScopeVillain: The Toymaker retroactively ends up being one to the Doctor with the revelation that he's been messing with the Time Lords' history and made a jigsaw of the Doctor's past. |
| 190 | * GunsAreWorthless: The Toymaker makes every gun UNIT has fire off rose petals. Doesn't stop them trying to fire anyway, resulting in the room being covered in them (and him making a petal angel). |
| 191 | * HasAType: The Toymaker pokes fun at the Doctor for having a thing for red-headed companions when he recaps Amy Pond's story. |
| 192 | * HatePlague: A unique one: the plague doesn't remove moral inhibitions, rather it convinces people that they're ''always'' right about everything and makes them completely unwilling to listen to reason or compromise on anything. |
| 193 | * HistoricalDomainCharacter: John Logie Baird, the Scottish inventor of the television, is crucial to the plot, even if the Doctor never directly crosses paths with him. |
| 194 | * HonoraryUncle: Fourteen calls Rose his niece, which she likes. |
| 195 | * HorrifyingTheHorror: The Toymaker claims to have fought the Master, the Black and White Guardians, and ''God himself'', and beat them all. But he says there is ''something'' out there ("The One Who Waits") that even ''he'' wouldn't dare to face, and ran from instead. |
| 196 | * HumanoidAbomination: The Toymaker's nature as an alien force [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith wearing a human disguise]] is played into far more here. According to the Doctor, he comes from a different universe working on a different set of laws, and his powers ''don't'' work by manipulating atoms, instead through something less comprehensible. When the Doctor calls him small in an appeal for a sensible use of his immeasurable power, the Toymaker literally bristles at the choice of words and his whole form is seen [[GlamourFailure wavering slightly as in a heat shimmer]]. Not to mention the tiny extra teeth he seems to suddenly have whenever he's flashing his widest grin. |
| 197 | * HumanityIsInfectious: [[PlayedForHorror In a twisted, horrifying parallel to the Doctor]], the Toymaker has become a fan of humanity since being let back into N-Space. He's absolutely fascinated and delighted by how humans have turned ''everything'' into a game, from sporting events to gambling and even ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}''. It's all so amusing to him and he has come to regard Earth as his ultimate playground. Of course, being a fan of humanity doesn't mean he ''isn't'' above driving the entire planetary population insane with his HatePlague for shits and giggles (as, after all, there ''will'' be winners and losers from such a global brawl). |
| 198 | * HumansAreBastards: |
| 199 | ** The main crux of the Toymaker's speech when he again encounters the Doctor and Donna: |
| 200 | --->''The Toymaker:''' Stone Age man. He picked up ein rock. He said "[[GratuitousGerman Oh! Das ist ein ball!]]" He throwed it, und he killed a man. He said "Oh, what fun!" And now, everybody loves the balls! |
| 201 | ** ''The Doctor'', [[AllLovingHero of all people]], goes on a tirade about this when he learns about the Giggle, noting that it's not making anyone do anything that humans haven't already been doing for millennia. |
| 202 | * HydraProblem: The Doctor bi-generates into two Doctors when The Toymaker kills him. The Toymaker suggests [[ComedicSociopathy repeatedly killing them]] to make a [[MesACrowd whole field of Doctors]] to play with. |
| 203 | * ImmediateSelfContradiction: The Fifteenth Doctor explains his and the Fourteenth Doctor's unique co-existence as "bi-generation" before immediately saying that bi-generation is only a myth, presenting himself as evidence otherwise. |
| 204 | * ImproperlyParanoid: One of the effects of the Giggle. Under its influence, Kate accuses Shirley of faking her disability, gets suspicious of the Doctor just for being an alien, and insists that Donna and Mel must be part of a conspiracy because they're both redheads. This makes the crisis difficult to solve because the infected refuse the Zeedexes that can return them to sanity. |
| 205 | * InLoveWithYourCarnage: As much as the Toymaker likes the idea of playing an infinite number of games with the Doctor, he likes playing games with all of humanity ''even more'', because of how destructive they can be. It's part of the reason why he created the Giggle in the first place and infected all of humanity with a HatePlague that makes everyone believe they are in the right. |
| 206 | * InsaneTrollLogic: A pedestrian infected by the HatePlague argues that, since he paid his taxes, he owns the road he's currently standing in the middle of, meaning he can do with it what he likes. Even though he can't drive and is at risk of being run over. |
| 207 | * IResembleThatRemark: The pedestrian in the road details how everyone's gone mad, thinking they're always right. |
| 208 | -->'''Pedestrian:''' ...but not me. [[HypocriticalHumor I've always been right!]] |
| 209 | * KilledOffScreen: |
| 210 | ** According to Mel, Sabalom Glitz lived to the ripe old age of 101, before he [[DroppedABridgeOnHim fell on a bottle on whiskey]] and was given a Viking's funeral. |
| 211 | ** Sarah Jane is finally confirmed to have passed away in the main continuity of the show, her death having previously been covered in [[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresSpecialFarewellSarahJane an unofficial webisode]] that was seemingly contradicted by "[[Recap/DoctorWho2022CENThePowerOfTheDoctor The Power of the Doctor]]". |
| 212 | * {{Leitmotif}}: More returning tracks: |
| 213 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5NRQbUFisg "The Shepherd's Boy"]], as the Doctor rides the helicopter to UNIT Tower |
| 214 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBe-R434CPY "UNIT Rocks"]], as the Doctor lands on the helipad, and when he talks to Mel about her return to Earth. |
| 215 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW7pIDSabQs "The Sun's Gone Wibbly"]], as the Doctor exposes Stooky Bill's subliminal presence in every screen on Earth. |
| 216 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4OgYrlnrDQ "Final Days"]] as Shirley tells the Doctor and Donna when Stooky Bill's footage was recorded and when the two Doctors challenge the Toymaker to a third game. |
| 217 | ** Donna's Theme, after she beats Stooky Sue to a pulp. |
| 218 | ** For the Toymaker's puppet show, variations of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l81q7VBvPlQ "Amy's Theme"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IrMWUAvK4E "Clara?"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTuQPrANJho "Bill's Theme"]] play as the Doctor is reminded of their fates, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFrU-r5SVn4 the Flux motif]] is rolled out again as the Toymaker taunts the Doctor about its aftermath. |
| 219 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP-u51WQnck "Hologram"]], when the Doctor begins to regenerate. |
| 220 | ** "Every Christmas is Last Christmas" returns as the Doctor considers staying with the Nobles. |
| 221 | ** "The Doctor Forever", as the Doctor inspects Fifteen's TARDIS. |
| 222 | ** And finally, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONkZSnEQY8s "Fifteen"]] is introduced as that incarnation takes off in the TARDIS for parts unknown. |
| 223 | * LoopholeAbuse: On both the Doctor and the Toymaker's end: |
| 224 | ** The Doctor plays cut -- "the simplest game of all" with the Toymaker -- [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose if he wins, he wins. If he loses, he invokes the]] RuleOfThree, with the Toymaker having won one game and the Doctor having won the other, leaving the game to continue. |
| 225 | ** This is also the impetus for the Toymaker to kill Fourteen: Since he's played one game with the First Doctor and one with the ''current'' Doctor, it's only fair for him to play with the ''next'' one in Fifteen. Ironically, this might have violated the rules of the game since he's technically still playing against Fourteen, thus [[CreateYourOwnHero causing the bi-generation]] instead of a simple regeneration. |
| 226 | ** The Toymaker's rules normally account for his games being one on one. Since Fourteen and Fifteen are technically the same person, this allows them to gang up on him with a two on one challenge. |
| 227 | ** The Fifteenth Doctor duplicates the TARDIS by noticing a very tiny loophole in that they won the Toymaker's final game together, so clearly ''he'' must get a prize too. |
| 228 | * LossOfInhibitions: According to the Toymaker, his HatePlague works by making everyone think they're right all the time and just double down when disagreed with. |
| 229 | * MagiBabble: The closest we get to an explanation of the Toymaker's powers is that he "exists outside of the binary of order and chaos on the axis of play". To be fair, the Doctor's interrupted half-way through the explanation, but still. |
| 230 | * MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: As the Doctor argues with the pedestrian unwilling to move out of the way of the car, the camera's focus suddenly shifts to the Toymaker dancing in the background and taking notice of the Doctor. |
| 231 | * MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: In close-ups (particularly shown when displaying his gold tooth containing the Master's essence), the Toymaker has rows of small teeth, impossibly packed into his jaw. |
| 232 | * MultipleChoicePast: The Toymaker states that he turned the Doctor's past into a jigsaw, thus explaining the varying amounts of contradictory backstories the Doctor has. |
| 233 | * MultipleHeadcase: During the bi-generation, the Doctor briefly becomes one body with two heads; Fourteen's on the right and Fifteen's on the left. |
| 234 | * MundaneMadeAwesome: How the Toymaker is finally defeated? A game of catch, with ''the future of the human race'' at stake. |
| 235 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Kate is (quite reasonably) horrified when she's cured of her Giggle-induced madness, spending the first few seconds frantically apologizing to her teammates before recovering herself. |
| 236 | * MythologyGag: |
| 237 | ** "Celestial" was dropped from the Toymaker's name, but the Doctor suggests that the two of them could be "celestial" when trying to convince the villain to give up on his evil ways. |
| 238 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd Yet again]], a Doctor played by Creator/DavidTennant creates a second Doctor and effectively retires with one of his most beloved companions after leaving himself a TARDIS. Except ''this time'', it's the '''''other''''' Doctor who continues travelling with the TARDIS. |
| 239 | * NeverTrustATrailer: The shot of Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor asking "What the hell is going on here?" appeared in the trailer attached to the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWho2022CENThePowerOfTheDoctor The Power of the Doctor]]", but showed an abstract background similar to the Edge from that episode. When the scene happens in this episode, he's standing on the landing pad of the UNIT building with Kate and Shirley visible behind him. |
| 240 | * NewMediaAreEvil: Exaggerated to its logical conclusion; the Toymaker implanted his giggle into Stooky Bill to be put on the very first working television screen invented by John Logie Baird. It's propagated to ''every screen'' created since, playing on loop unbeknownst to everyone, subconsciously influencing humanity until reaching its zenith nearly a century later, when they established a complete global network, finally driving them over the edge into madness. The Toymaker also takes a moment to condemn video games in his rant about humanity's many games. |
| 241 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: In the previous episode, the Doctor worried how invoking a superstition at the edge of the universe might have let something in. As he later realizes, it wasn't so much some''thing'' as it was some''one''. The salt trick he used against the Not-Things ended up creating a doorway for the Toymaker to step through. |
| 242 | * NoodleIncident: |
| 243 | ** According to Donna, Rose came out as trans after Donna was teaching her to play the recorder and she ultimately decided "this is not who I am" six months into it. |
| 244 | ** Mel mentions that she got a "lift from a Zingo" back to Earth after Glitz's death and refuses to specify what that means. The Doctor and her make it private joke in the epilogue. |
| 245 | ** The Doctor once took Rose to Mars behind Donna's back. |
| 246 | * NothingIsTheSameAnymore: Not only are there now ''two'' Doctors coexisting at the same time, Fourteen invoking a superstition at the edge of the universe means myths and fantasy are now becoming reality, with the Toymaker and the bi-generation just being two. WordOfGod has stated the show will be taking "a sly step towards fantasy", with the goblins Fifteen will face in the "Next Time" teaser being one such instance. |
| 247 | * NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer: A non-verbal one -- when mentioning how Clara was killed by a bird, the Toymaker gives a mocking "sure, lets go with that" expression. |
| 248 | * OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Prior to coming to Earth, the Toymaker encountered, challenged, and actually beat the Master. And claims the same with the Black and White Guardians, and ''God'' Himself. |
| 249 | * OhCrap: The Doctor during the confrontation in the Toy Shop, as he gradually realizes who exactly they're dealing with here -- and just how much trouble they're all in now. |
| 250 | * OneSteveLimit: The Toymaker makes sure to clarify that the Doctor's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E1ThePilot former companion]] was "not Stooky Bill, but [[GenderBlenderName Lady Bill]]." |
| 251 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Upon meeting the Toymaker again, the Doctor near-immediately tells Donna to go back to the TARDIS, [[LampshadeHanging which Donna notes he never tells her to do.]] |
| 252 | * OohMeAccentsSlipping: Charles Banerjee, in response to the Toymaker's veiled assertion that he must be "[[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain used to sunnier climates]]", asserts that he was born in Cheltenham and notes that the Toymaker's German accent seems to have disappeared. |
| 253 | * PassingTheTorch: For the first time in the show's history, we get to see the Doctor pass the adventuring reins to his newer incarnation face-to-face, instead of just revisiting inside the mind. |
| 254 | * PlotArmor: The Toymaker casually offs UNIT {{Red Shirt}}s, but limits himself to creeping out Shirley with his antics and manhandling Kate and Mel. |
| 255 | * PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The Toymaker makes a casually racist comment to Charles Banerjee in his opening scene, as well as putting on over-the-top foreign accents while talking. He also refers to Donna and Mel as "handmaidens" while they go to comfort the Doctor during his regeneration. He even shoots a venomous glare towards the Fifteenth Doctor at the mere sight of him. |
| 256 | * PoorlyDisguisedPilot: Downplayed with UNIT. With [[https://deadline.com/2023/03/doctor-who-spin-off-emerge-jemma-redgrave-russell-t-davies-great-thing-ive-ever-made-1235299996/ confirmation]] earlier in the year that a potential UNIT spinoff was in development, it's not hard to see the new Unit HQ and the current staff (Shirley, Mel, Ibrahim and the Vlinx) as being setup for a potential backdoor pilot. |
| 257 | * PuppetPermutation: When the Fourteenth Doctor finds Charles Banerjee trapped in the Toymaker's domain, he's been reduced to a human head on a puppet's body. He's then hoist aloft by strings as the ceiling vanishes and the Toymaker looms over them. |
| 258 | * PutOnABus: Due to the bi-generation, the Fourteenth Doctor gets to live on Earth with the Nobles and could possibly appear again later. |
| 259 | * RealityWarper: The Toymaker's whole schtick. |
| 260 | ** In his shop, he's seen juggling three balls when the Doctor and Donna confront him. Throughout the conversation, he throws balls at them when the shot cuts away from him, but whenever the shot cuts back to him, he's still juggling three balls. |
| 261 | ** Shown even more blatantly during his attack on UNIT Headquarters, where he teleports around and turns people into balloons and bullets into rose petals before vanishing through a non-existent trapdoor. |
| 262 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: The Doctor explains the Giggle transmission was only as effective due to certain human flaws, issuing a harsh judgement previously kept to himself: |
| 263 | -->'''The Doctor:''' Don't go thinking you've got an ''excuse''. The human race might be clever and bright and brilliant, it's also savage and venal and relentless. All that anger out there on the street, the lies, the righteousness -- that's human, that's you! That's who you are. Using your intelligence to be stupid. Poisoning the world... |
| 264 | * RefreshinglyNormalLifeChoice: In the end, Fourteen gives up his adventures to Fifteen, choosing instead to live a normal life as a member of Donna's family. When Donna asks if he regrets it, he gleefully tells her that he's never been happier in his life. |
| 265 | * RememberTheNewGuy: UNIT has a being called the Vlinx working for them. It's never explained [[AmbiguousRobots what the Vlinx is]] or where it came from. |
| 266 | * TheReveal: |
| 267 | ** The Toymaker has been messing with the Time Lords' history and made a jigsaw of the Doctor's past (thus providing an in-universe explanation for inconsistencies and contradictions across 60 years). |
| 268 | ** The mystery of why Fourteen regenerated into an older version of Ten during "The Power of the Doctor". Just as with [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E5TheGirlWhoDied Twelve]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E2TheFiresOfPompeii and Caecilius]][[note]][[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E1ArcOfInfinity (or Sixth and Maxil, if you wanna go even further)]][[/note]], it's revealed (or at least Donna theorizes) it was the Doctor's subconscious trying to send himself a message: that in the wake of Thirteen's trauma (on top of the Time War and everything else the preceding Doctors had all been through) his HeroicFatigue had finally hit critical mass. It was time to ''stop'' running from his past and finally come home (which is also why the TARDIS intentionally brought him back into Donna's life again). |
| 269 | * RhymesOnADime: |
| 270 | ** The Toymaker, taunting the Doctor before summoning a manifestation of the Time Lord as a puppet: |
| 271 | --->'''The Toymaker:''' Do you like my puppets, Doctor? Do you like my fun? All of them have played and lost, but here's my favorite one! |
| 272 | ** All of Stooky Sue's lines when attacking Donna. Donna herself gets in on the fun before destroying her. |
| 273 | --->'''Donna:''' [[BondOneLiner Hello Stooky, my name's Donna. Now I think you're a goner!]] |
| 274 | * RuleOfThree: The "What?!" reactions to the Doctor's bi-generation (first the Doctor himself, then Donna, and then finally even the Toymaker). |
| 275 | * SarcasmMode: The Toymaker puts on a puppet show to viciously mock the Doctor for Amy, Clara and Bill dying as their final reward for travelling with him. The Doctor responds each time with their actual, slightly-less-bitter fates; receiving there dismissive responses of "''Well, that's alright then!''" The Toymaker ends the charade by referencing the Flux and its casualty-count of ''half the universe.'' [[LetsGetDangerous The Doctor has no retort for that one and challenges the Toymaker to a game.]] |
| 276 | * SealedEvilInACan: |
| 277 | ** The Master's essence in the Toymaker's gold tooth. |
| 278 | ** This also happens to the Toymaker once he's defeated and sent back to his own realm. |
| 279 | * SeenItAll: Kate, as seen in the page quote. |
| 280 | * SequelEpisode: To "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E7TheCelestialToymaker The Celestial Toymaker]]", picking up the Toymaker's storyline for the first time in 57 years (at least on the TV side of the franchise) and pitting him against the Doctor for their long-awaited rematch. |
| 281 | * SequelHook: |
| 282 | ** The Toymaker mentions the One Who Waits, someone even he would not challenge, as well as the Toymaker's own soldiers, still unseen. |
| 283 | ** The Toymaker reveals that the Master is trapped in his gold tooth, having lost a game for his life. At the end of the episode, the tooth in question is left behind after the Toymaker's defeat, and like Harold Saxon's ring in "Last of the Time Lords", a mysterious woman is shown covertly taking the tooth with the Masters' {{Evil Laugh}}s overlapping. |
| 284 | ** The Doctor orders UNIT to destroy the South Korean satellite that was the apparent cause of the HatePlague and is warned that doing so could cause an international incident, as well as breaking a global communications network. |
| 285 | * SeriousBusiness: When Donna raises the concern that the Toymaker can simply cheat to win against the Doctor, the Toymaker takes visible offense. The Doctor then explains that he ''has'' to play fair, as he's utterly bound to abide by the rules of the game in order to keep existing. |
| 286 | * ShapedLikeItself: Mel says that to get back to Earth she got a "lift off a zingo". The Doctor asks what a zingo is. Mel replies "it's a thing you get a lift off". |
| 287 | * ShoutOut: |
| 288 | ** The new UNIT HQ seems to have been loosely inspired by Avengers Tower from the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. |
| 289 | ** Likewise, the Toymaker's dread of "the One Who Waits" echoes [[Series/Loki2021 Loki's]] fear of "[[Characters/MCUKang He Who Remains]]". |
| 290 | ** The Toymaker's German accented theatrical show-off is very reminiscent of Joel Grey's Emcee character from ''Theatre/{{Cabaret}}''. Doubles as ActorAllusion since Neil Patrick Harris played the Emcee on Broadway. |
| 291 | ** "[[Film/{{Airplane}} Shirley, you cannot be serious!]]" |
| 292 | ** The planet puppets that The Toymaker cuts down re-enacting the Flux's effects in his puppet show has a similar face to the moon in Creator/GeorgesMelies's ''Film/ATripToTheMoon''. |
| 293 | ** "Ooh, I am liking this! The gun mit the laser [[Film/{{TheProducers}}und the bang und the boom!]]" |
| 294 | ** The Toymaker supposedly turning God into a Jack-in-the-Box may be a reference to the classic ''[[Series/TheTwilightZone1959 Twilight Zone]]'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S3E8ItsAGoodLife It's a Good Life]]". |
| 295 | ** The bi-generation visual is almost identical to a similar shot from "[[Recap/CommunityS4E03ConventionsOfSpaceAndTime Conventions of Space and Time]]," itself filled with Doctor Who spoofs. |
| 296 | * ShutUpKirk: When the Toymaker takes control of the Galvanic cannon, having tossed its attendants off the roof, the Doctor wonders why [[RealityWarper such a powerful being]] is so petty when [[YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood he could do so much good]]. The Toymaker responds that it's [[HumanoidAbomination merely the face of a ceaseless void]] that's AboveGoodAndEvil and [[BlueAndOrangeMorality only recognizes winning or losing]]. |
| 297 | * SoftReboot: To the franchise as a whole. With the "bi-generation", either or both of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors can be considered fresh versions of the character (even beyond what is typical for new incarnations), with Fourteen being given a proper send-off while Fifteen exists in parallel, though the rules for the bi-generation are still vague and imply a StableTimeLoop (see below). This also explains Davies' pre-release comments about how the upcoming Series 14 was also considered to be "Series 1" or "Season 1" of a new production era. |
| 298 | * SpellMyNameWithAThe: |
| 299 | ** An audible variant: the person signalling the Doctor over UNIT's loudhailer calls him with "Attention, the Doctor!" |
| 300 | ** The robot working for UNIT is always referred to as "the Vlinx", never just "Vlinx". |
| 301 | * SpottingTheThread: Donna has a history of doing this, but this episode provides perhaps her defining example. Upon seeing the brainwave patterns of those affected by the hate plague, she immediately surmises that it's a piece of music, which turns out to be correct. This allows the Doctor and UNIT to uncover the Giggle, which proves to be the source of the problem. Notably, UNIT was unable to do this after two days of constant investigation, with those present including certified geniuses Mel, Shirley, and Kate. Kate is, in fact, ''so'' impressed that she immediately offers Donna a job that pays £60,000 a year, and happily accepts when Donna asks for £120,000 a year and five weeks holiday. |
| 302 | * SquashedFlat: Once the Toymaker is defeated, he is compressed to a 2D form and folded like origami to be banished inside of his toy box. |
| 303 | * StableTimeLoop: Implied by the ForegoneConclusion that Fifteen discusses before he leaves. By retiring and settling down with the Nobles, Fourteen will finally have the time and space to begin mentally and emotionally healing. Eventually, Fourteen will regenerate into the now-healed and reinvigorated Fifteen. Once that happens, Fifteen will then be pulled back in time by the bi-generation -- thereby emerging into the climax of "The Giggle" and setting off the events of his preceding incarnation's rehabilitation. |
| 304 | -->'''Fourteen:''' But you're fine.\ |
| 305 | '''Fifteen:''' I'm fine because you fixed yourself. |
| 306 | * StealthHiBye: {{Defied|Trope}} when Fifteen attempts this after duplicating the TARDIS. Moments after stepping into his own TARDIS, Fourteen realises what Fifteen is about to do and hurries to stop him so they can have a proper goodbye. |
| 307 | * SurprisinglyHappyEnding: Most departure stories for either a Doctor or companion are distinctly bittersweet, but the Doctor's bi-generation means that, while Fifteen can continue his own adventures, Fourteen continues to exist as an independent entity with a TARDIS of his own. Rather than continue, he instead opts to retire to Earth, albeit with occasional trips in the TARDIS. On her part, Donna takes a high-paying job with UNIT, with her memories intact, and with her best friend at her side, finally fulfilling her wish to be with him forever. Their final scene together sees them happily having dinner with Donna's loving family and Mel, with every indication that the Doctor and Donna's strong friendship will last a lifetime. Notably, this makes Donna and Mel the very first companions to remain a constant presence in the Doctor's life after their adventures end. |
| 308 | * SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Mel notes that, when she returned home after an unknown amount of time away, she had no life to return to, as enough decades had passed for her family to die off and her possessions to be repossessed. |
| 309 | * TakeThat: |
| 310 | ** Kate notes that the HatePlague is also affecting politicians and shows a clip of an MP saying he doesn't care about his constituents. Donna snarks that there's no change there. |
| 311 | ** Trinity Wells (the very American newscaster from Davies's first run) has her own [[PompousPoliticalPundit Alex Jones]]-style show where she decries UNIT's mass distribution of Zeedex bands, stating that they are used to "[[ConspiracyTheorist control us and monitor us and microwave our brains]]" before proudly declaring herself "anti-Zeedex" (which also calls to mind anti-vaccine conspiracy theories). |
| 312 | ** Kate accuses Shirley of faking her disability in her [[BrainwashedAndCrazy ableist, Giggle-induced tirade]], pointing to her ability to briefly stand. This is a jab at real-life people who disbelieve disabilities for similar reasons. |
| 313 | ** The entire concept of a HatePlague that causes everyone on the planet to always believe they're completely right at all times, effectively turning every issue into a zero-sum game, is a fairly big TakeThat against the polarized cultural and political climate from [[TheNewTens the mid-2010s]] (or even before) through the present day of [[TheNewTwenties the 2020s]]. |
| 314 | ** The Toymaker is a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain and at one point is shown making a venomous stare towards Fifteen, likely disapproving of the Doctor regenerating into a black man, a clear jab at the "anti-woke" culture that has been ever infuriated at the show's general progressiveness and introduction of minority characters. |
| 315 | * ThemeMusicPowerUp: The first out-and-out statement of the Fifteenth Doctor's theme comes when the Fifteenth Doctor sets off for parts unknown in his TARDIS. |
| 316 | * ThisIsGonnaSuck: The Doctor's reaction when "Spice Up Your Life" starts playing and he realizes the Toymaker's breached UNIT HQ. |
| 317 | -->'''The Doctor:''' Oh, I think he's here... |
| 318 | * ThouShaltNotKill: A surprisingly non-nonchalant aversion, given this series -- while trapped in the Playroom, Donna calmly but quite seriously tells Stooky Sue that if she's some kind of trap then she'll kill her, a threat she ultimately follows through on. Granted, Stooky Sue is an animated doll, but still. |
| 319 | * TimeyWimeyBall: In-universe, only two days have passed across "The Star Beast" and "The Wild Blue Yonder". Yet despite having been loose in our reality for mere days, the Toymaker's managed to somehow implement a century-spanning long game, challenge and best the various heavy hitters of the Whoniverse, take the time to play Yahtzee with the Doctor's personal history, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking run a toy shop in the middle of Soho]] on the side for shits and giggles. This can be justified given his alien nature and, more importantly, RealityWarper abilities. |
| 320 | * TooCleverByHalf: The Toymaker delights in mocking the Doctor for being this. Ironically, he ends up being this by finding a LoopholeAbuse that justifies his killing of the Fourteenth Doctor to play against a new version... triggering the bi-generation, and ending up facing two Doctors instead of one. |
| 321 | * UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Downplayed with the Vlinx. The Doctor takes note of them when he sees them, but the obviously-non-human Vlinx is simply treated as another UNIT employee with neither intrigue nor fanfare sent in their direction. |
| 322 | * VaguenessIsComing: There is something, "The One That Waits", that scares even the Toymaker. We don't learn anything about what this is. There's also an unknown person trying to revive the Master. We don't learn anything about who they are either. The Toymaker also mentions that his "legions are coming". As of May 2024, we only know about [[spoiler: the Toymaker's legions, or at least part of it, with [[Recap/DoctorWhoS40E2TheDevilsChord Maestro]] being part of the pantheon]]. |
| 323 | * VillainousValor: The Toymaker reacts with near offence at the suggestion he'd cheat (although that's not due to moral objections, but being based on game it's against his very nature to do so, not to mention actually impossible for him). |
| 324 | -->'''Donna:''' Won't he cheat?\ |
| 325 | '''The Doctor & Toymaker:''' ''[in unison]'' No.\ |
| 326 | '''Toymaker:''' Shame! |
| 327 | * VillainsOutShopping: After entering N-Space through the frayed edges of the universe, the Toymaker has spent his time battling gods, burning his will into all human media, and running a small toy stop in Soho. |
| 328 | * WhamLine: |
| 329 | ** When the shop owner asks if the Doctor remembers him, the Doctor stares at him coldly and only say his name... |
| 330 | --->'''The Doctor:''' ''[[TheBusCameBack The Toymaker.]]'' |
| 331 | ** After getting shot by The Toymaker, The Doctor begins to glow, leading the audience to believe that he's going to regenerate into [[Creator/NcutiGatwa the next Doctor...]] But then, the glow stops... Donna and Mel ask him what's going on: |
| 332 | --->'''The Doctor:''' Could you... ''pull?'' |
| 333 | * WhamShot: The Toymaker forces the Fourteenth Doctor to regenerate using UNIT's Galvanic Beam. Fourteen begins the regeneration process, with Mel and Donna at either side -- and then the process abruptly ''stops''. Fourteen asks his companions to pull, and soon enough, the Fourteenth literally ''splits'' into two, with him and the Fifteenth Doctor co-existing! |
| 334 | * WickedToymaker: While the Toymaker's been tweaked and updated for his 21st century return, this is still his core shtick. |
| 335 | * WinkDing: A "ding" plays when the Toymaker winks at the Doctor and Donna... because of course it does. |
| 336 | * TheWorfEffect: The Toymaker challenging and besting the Master and several other ''Doctor Who'' heavy hitters off-screen instantly establishes his VillainCred for modern audiences not familiar with "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E7TheCelestialToymaker The Celestial Toymaker]]", while also showing for old school fans that the being has remained a dangerous threat in the interim. |
| 337 | * YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood: Invoked by the Doctor during the climax, who wonders ''why'' the Toymaker's so small and why he wastes his incredible abilities on such petty matters when he could instead accomplish real good with them. |
| 338 | ---- |
| 339 | '''[[center:[[WillReturnCaption DESTINATION]] [[Recap/DoctorWho2023CSTheChurchOnRubyRoad CHRISTMAS]]]]''' |
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