On Saturday, a long standing open secret was revealed – Neil Patrick Harris is playing the Celestial Toymaker in Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary, joining an exclusive list of anniversary villains along with Omega, Borusa and the Zygons. There’s been speculation since he was cast, but with this confirmation… I’m actually way more excited than I’ve been in the past! Obviously I HAVE been excited, but now? I genuinely think this choice of villain is inspired beyond belief. Here’s why.
Who is the Celestial Toymaker (or just Toymaker, which is his actual name)? Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 1966, the Toymaker turned William Hartnell invisible and made Steven and Dodo play games for four episodes, in a low budget surreal serial designed to save money during the absolute chaos of Season 3 and possibly even replace Hartnell if necessary. The story was wiped after broadcast, and the Toymaker, like so many other one-off villains, has been lost to time.
EXCEPT –
The Toymaker is a hugely popular villain despite a) being in ONE story, b) said story not being very well regarded and also incredibly awkward by today’s standards and c) the story is lost, except Episode 4, where Michael Gough’s performance can be seen. It’s a fantastic guest role, one of Who’s first huge guest stars, but that’s all the character is. So why is he back?
The concept for one is pretty great – an immortal being who uses mortals as his playthings out of sheer boredom – but even that’s not exclusive to the Toymaker, as later concepts like the Eternals (which he has been stated to be in some continuities) and the Gods of Ragnarok are similar. So why the Toymaker? Why him? The reason is linked precisely TO those things I mentioned – his one off nature, his obscurity, the fact the episodes have been wiped… It’s all relevant.
The 60th anniversary of Doctor Who, from what I can gather, is going to be a huge meta-commentary on fandom and the current state of television. We’re living in a world where Disney is so afraid of doing anything new to the Star Wars brand following some Internet comments about Last Jedi (ignoring how the film was a critical and commercial success with positive audience scores…) that the franchise is now just endless “look, that character from that thing”. Animated films and TV shows are being remade in live action and in some cases erased and fandom rejects anything new in favour of recycling past glories. Harrison Ford has been forced into another Indiana Jones, we’re getting a new Exorcist trilogy (oh boy, I’ll save that for later)… the examples are endless.
Enter Russell T Davies, who seems to be doing something similar. Bring back the most popular Doctor and the most popular companion, and relive past glories. Except things have changed. We now have an anniversary special that’s self aware of its own nostalgia and, more importantly, aware of how dangerous and anti-art this cyclical nature of recycle, bait, erase is.
The Toymaker IS the fandom. He’s forced the Doctor to look like that popular one from 14 years ago and he’s giving himself the rematch he wants. Who cares about a one-off Hartnell villain returning? The VILLAIN cares. He cares, and wants to be remembered. He wants to be one of the great Doctor Who villains, and has played off fandom wishes to bring him back for decades. This isn’t even the first time the character was meant to return! The Toymaker was so popular that Michael Gough was going to come back in the original Season 23! The Toymaker wants his glory, and wants his moment in the spotlight – in short, he’s every Youtube clickbaiter who wants to be able to say “I understand that reference” and insists on every Star Wars character from every random Clone Wars episode meeting. Why do Doctor Who fans want this obscure villain from a poorly regarded lost story to come back? The same reason everyone wanted David Tennant to carry the Olympic Torch in 2012 despite Fear Her being considered his worst story. Because Doctor Who fans want validation and are obsessed with self-mythology. That’s what the Toymaker represents.
The Toymaker’s original story can’t even be seen in its entirety, no one outside of nerds knows who he is – The media has been lost forever, but the fact that the concept itself won’t die and in fact refuses to die by returning – is a powerful statement on the survivability and endurance of Doctor Who. Art created by human beings can survive wiped tapes as long as there are people who remember and embrace the ideas those works of art created. In today’s climate, that’s a euphoric message. And it’s not even the first time RTD’s done this – his use of the Macra in Gridlock is similar in how their original serial is the metaphor for their long lost empire in the story.
This even factors into other parts of the special – Beep the Meep isn’t even from the TV show, it’s from the original Doctor Who Magazine comic. Only diehard nerds have ever heard of this character, and only diehard nerds have ever had an interest in Beep being brought into the TV show. So what is Beep doing here? Probably the Toymaker, trying to create the perfect Doctor Who story without acknowledging that the franchise is built on change and renewal. David Tennant, recreating obscure 70s comics and recycled concepts from the past, forever. Because to some fans, that’s all they want. They want things they recognise and callbacks they can nerd out over their friends at. Forget EVER moving forwards.
This. Is. Genius. It’s a powerful commentary on the show itself, how the show must move forwards and stop living in the past, by turning the past into a weapon. The Toymaker, long cast away into the obscure depths of Doctor Who villany, is fuelled by the out of universe fandom obsession with continuity. He uses that to become the ultimate Doctor Who villain, the one that refuses to ever let the show or character change from what it once was. And in doing so, the Toymaker can ensure his place as a legendary Who villain. Not only is it in character for what we know about the Toymaker, but it works in a meta sense – the Toymaker, by virtue of being the villain of the 60th anniversary, HAS now become mainstream and well known. Millions of new fans are going to know who he is. He’s already won, no longer an obscure oddity from the mid-60s kept alive through reconstructions and nerds who read TARDIS Wiki.
The use of the Toymaker contextualises everything about the specials. The return of Tennant, the use of Beep the Meep as perhaps the most blatantly fandom Easter Egg of all time… everything is connected to the idea of regressive storytelling that looks backward as dangerous and counter-intuitive to the ideas of stories itself, about how to survive, Doctor Who must look forward and embrace an exciting new future, whilst never fully abandoning the past or forgetting what the past 60 years has been building to. The Toymaker may want to live in the past forever, but the past should remain there, whilst being the building blocks for what’s to come. It’s the antithesis of what studios are doing in Hollywood, it’s a huge statement against that ideology of “never new”.
Bring on November. I’m now fully on board with whatever RTD’s doing. This is going to be spectacular.
Ben Williams' World 