And here we are, a bit later than planned (spoilers: migraines suck) but it’s time to dive in to the last of the three Doctor Who anniversary specials, one that will end with a new face for the Doctor. While that’s the main attraction of course, the journey to get there is also a fun one. So let’s have a “Giggle” together and dive in with fifteen rapid-fire thoughts to honor our Fifteenth Doctor.
And as always, Spoilers!
1. A Rainy Night in SoHo
I’ll take any excuse to reference one of my favorite Pogues songs (RIP Shane MacGowan), but we do indeed open on a rainy night in SoHo in 1925 and a visit to a toy shop for a ventriloquist’s dummy. But this isn’t for some new theatrical, it’s part of a test for this newfangled thing called television.
The man buying the doll is Charles Banerjee, and his boss working on this television thing is John Logie Baird. And the man running the toy shop is Neil Patrick Harris with quite the sinister look in his eye.
But television? In 1925?
2. A History Lesson
Before Philo T. Farnsworth developed the modern television system we knew today, there were several experiments with television pictures. These date back to the 19th century with images through spinning discs, those discs developed by Paul Nipkow. Baird took this concept and developed it into a broadcast medium, which he did successfully on October 2, 1925. We’re not sure if it was that rainy night in SoHo, but the ventriloquist dummy was indeed part of the story (and it had a name: Stooky Bill!) The experiment we see in the episode is in fact the first television picture to be transmitted, though we do not know if Stooky Bill ended up on fire at the end.
This was a really short history lesson on early TV, but if you want to know more, the Oddity Archive has a more in depth history lesson on these early days of television.
3. Back to The Future
Now back in the 21st century, it’s anarchy in the streets of London. Everyone believes they’re right, and the conflicts that result lead to a perpetual state of rage. With the family safe (including Wilf), UNIT arrives on the scene (of course) to bring the Doctor and Donna to their own safety and figure out how the world got to this state of affairs. Any excuse to see General Kate Lethbridge-Stewart one more time is always a good thing.
But she (and NPH) are not the only guest stars here.
4. Another Ginger
Guess who’s joined UNIT in her post-TARDIS days? None other than computer programmer and health nut Mel Bush (Bonnie Langford), companion of the Doctor’s Sixth and Seventh faces. With her background, it’s no surprise she’s joined UNIT. It’s also not the first time Mel has been back on TV, having made an appearance in “The Power of the Doctor.”
I’m always happy to see companions from the mid-1980s time of the series make appearances on screen; it’s a time of Doctor Who that gave us great stories, but is often forgotten as these were quite dark stories, often cited as what led to the show’s cancellation in 1989.
And peep Donna having her nose just a bit out of joint at not being the first ginger in the TARDIS. Oh just you wait Ms. Noble-Temple. Just you wait.
5. The Giggle
With the key UNIT personnel immune from the world’s anarchy thanks to alien technology and (in the case of Bonnie and Donna, their TARDIS tenure), it’s time to figure out just what got us to this state of affairs.
And it’s nothing more innocent than a giggle, one that’s been hidden in the various screens we’ve used over the years: television, computers, tablets, phones. The giggle comes from Stooky Bill himself and that first television transmission. And with a new satellite from South Korea, the entire world is finally connected and online, bringing Stooky Bill’s nefarious giggle to all of humanity. But how did it get there?
While UNIT makes plans to shoot down the new satellite to bring order back to the world, it’s time for the Doctor and Donna to go back to that rainy night in SoHo and get some answers.
Continued below6. Crossover Potential
But before we hop in the TARDIS for some time travel: it’s not just you, UNIT HQ really does look like Avengers Tower and I was half wondering if Tony Stark was going to hop out as UNIT’s new head of IT or something.
Smell that crossover potential!
7. Back To That Rainy Night in SoHo
The search for the mystery of Stooky Bill leads them back to the toy store where he was purchased and a chilling revelation for The Doctor: that clerk is a very old and dangerous foe of his, The Toymaker.
Time for another rapid fire history lesson!
While he’s only had one appearance on television during the Third Doctor’s tenure in the appropriately titled “The Celestial Toymaker,” this villain has had quite a life in other media, particularly comics. He loves childish games, but the games always work in his favor, allowing him to have the upper hand. And this game with Stooky Bill is his greatest game of all.
Well, second greatest. With his most desired foe staring him in the face, it’s time to play one more game and defeat the Doctor.
8. A Legend … (wait for it) … ary Performance
Those who watched Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog know that Neil Patrick Harris has quite the theatrical talent, and that’s full on display here. With a little bit of a German accent from his time on stage in Cabaret as The Emcee, his performance here is full on Dr. Horrible with a taste of some of his other characters from the stage: The Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald from The Assassins, Hedwig from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Tobias from Sweeney Todd, and many more.
If the show can find a way to bring NPH back for more appearances, please do it. And let him show off some of his magic skills. Neil Patrick Harris is quite the accomplished magician, and you see some of that influence in his hand movements throughout this episode.
9. Gen X Fest
As the Doctor, Donna, and the Toymaker battle wits and (in the case of the Doctor and Donna, run for their lives), I realized that we had three GenX characters taking the lead in this series: Neil Patrick Harris (born in 1973), Catherine Tate (born in 1969), and David Tennant (born in 1971). It’s often joked that us Gen X kids (and I am indeed one, born in 1978) are the forgotten generation, when compared to the sturm und drang of millennials, Gen Z, and the Boomers.
It was unintentional, I’m sure, but thanks Doctor Who for giving us the spotlight.
10. Time to Finish the Game
The Toymaker has quite a few games to play with The Doctor, from a simple puppet show to show Donna the Doctor’s life after their travels (and confirming that The Doctor does love his gingers!) to a card game battle of wits. That last one reminded me a fair bit of The Curse of Fenric, a classic era episode that also features a battle of wits between The Doctor and another one of his oldest foes. Another silent nod to history I like – something for us old timer fans that doesn’t take away from the plot.
But back to the games here. With the Toymaker up one on The Doctor thanks to a simple card game, the stakes are tied (The Doctor having won that first game). It’s time for a tiebreaker, and the Toymaker takes his toys and goes home. Or rather, to 2023, for that one last showdown.
And in the present day, The Toymaker clearly has the upper hand, from taking over UNIT’s personnel to prevent shooting down the new Korean satellite to an amazing lip sync performance of the Spice Girls (yes, you read that right) to shooting The Doctor with a laser, seemingly killing him.
11. Bi-Generation?
With Mel and Donna by his side, the Doctor begins the regeneration process. But this one ends differently. Instead of a new face appearing after the lights and smoke that signals a regeneration, he has one command for the ladies: pull.
And as Donna and Mel pull him apart like a Christmas cracker, out comes Ncuti Gatwa!
Two Doctors! At the same time! In this economy?
Continued belowThere’s been a fair bit of sturm und drang about what’s being called a bi-generation, a supposed Gallifreyan regeneration myth, on the internet. Some call it a rehashing of similar Davies stories. Others call it a self-indulgent way for the show to hang on to one of its most popular actors. Others point out how it’s a slap in the face to Ncuti Gatwa, the first Black Doctor in the TARDIS, to have to share his debut with a white man. And all of these are valid points.
At the time I watched this, I was awed of the moment of the show doing something cool and different. Looking back, I find myself more and more agreeing with these critics. If you want to do something cool and different, there had to have been other ways to do it that don’t tie the new face to his predecessor in this way.
12. Doctor Who: The Search for Pants
I had to borrow from my friend Chris for this one. Because our first view of the Fifteenth Doctor is for the remainder of this episode . . . sans pants. The messy bi-generation thing was bad enough, but to not put a pair of pants of Ncuti Gatwa?!
Of note is that David Tennant is without his trademark Chucks. Some clever symbolism their of the duality of their personalities, one not fully formed, one trying to find a new one. But did it really have to involve one of them running around in his tighty-whities?
13. The Oldest Game
Confusion on dual Doctors aside, we still have this problem of the Toymaker to deal with, and one last game to break the tie. It’s the oldest game in the world, catch the ball. The first to drop the ball loses.
Now we know how it’s going to end, with the defeat of the Toymaker, but it’s a fun fast sequence to wrap things up and let the Doctors save the day. (And show off their athletic skills. The baseball fan in me was wondering if New York Mets owner Steve Cohen was watching because we are going to need a new third baseman…)
The Toymaker makes a single slip, the ball drops, and The Doctors win the game. UNIT puts The Toymaker in his box and in a safe space, but there’s one gold tooth remaining. That gold tooth had The Master within it, and a woman’s hand retrieves that tooth.
The return of Missy? Someone in UNIT with less than noble intentions?
14. A Doctor in Retirement
While Ten/Fourteen and Fifteen figure out how the two of them can simultaneously exist, Donna provides the solution. It’s time for the Doctor who’s always been running to stop and sit down for a moment. A long moment.
It’s been a theme over the years of Doctor Who that while The Doctor loves humans, forming extended bonds with them just isn’t in their M.O. It’s on to the next adventure, and then the next, and then the next. And maybe that’s why this face, this Tennant face, returned: one last time, one last adventure, before settling down and enjoying essentially, retirement.
With a little help from what looks like Mjolnir (smell that crossover potential again!) Ten/Fourteen has his own TARDIS for travel when the itch strikes. That TARDIS sits in the backyard of the Noble-Temple household while everyone shares a meal (including Mel!) and stories of The Doctor’s travels.
Like with the bi-generation, this does read as the show’s way of holding on to one of its most popular faces for a bit longer when they really need to let go. But it also gives The Doctor a family, something they never had before, and perhaps need to develop their humanity a bit further.
15. A Doctor On His Way
And while Ten/Fourteen settles down to the quiet life, Fifteen is getting the handle on his TARDIS. It still looks like the old one, but with one new touch: a jukebox. We’ll have to wait and see just what this new face brings to the TARDIS (and yes, he is still running around pantsless), but the wonder in his eyes as the TARDIS boots up suggests that whatever it is, it’s going to be a hell of a ride.
We’ll see you on Christmas Day for the first of the Fifteenth Doctor’s adventures. Until then, I wish you all a very happy, healthy, and safe holiday season.
