4 Times The Toymaker Almost Returned To Doctor Who Before The 60th Anniversary (& Why They Didn’t)
57 years after his debut, the Toymaker returns to Doctor Who for the 60th anniversary, but attempts had been made before throughout the classic era.
The Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris) returns to Doctor Who after an absence of 57 years, but there were four failed attempts to bring back the cosmic trickster following his 1966 debut. The First Doctor (William Hartnell) defeated the Toymaker and destroyed his celestial toyroom in the 1966 serial “The Celestial Toymaker”, but after a long time, the classic era villain is returning to Doctor Who. The Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) face off against the Toymaker in “The Giggle”, the third of Doctor Who‘s 60th anniversary specials.
Doctor Who‘s Toymaker has mastery over reality, and can bend it to his will, turning everything and everyone into his playthings. It’s a huge concept that was never realized to its full potential in the 1966 serial, due to the budgetary constraints of the BBC in Doctor Who‘s early years. Judging by the cinematic trailer for the 60th anniversary specials, the Toymaker’s return will be realized to its full potential as the Doctor, Donna and UNIT contend with the full capabilities of the celestial being. “The Giggle” will be the first successful attempt to bring back the Toymaker since their 1966 debut, and if it’s received well then it’s likely that the character’s next appearance will be much sooner.
Patrick Troughton’s Second Doctor Almost Faced The Toymaker’s Sister
The Queen Of Time by Brian Hayles
The Toymaker’s creator, writer Brian Hayles pitched a sequel of sorts to “The Celestial Toymaker” for the era of the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton). Entitled “The Queen of Time”, the serial would have introduced Hecuba, who had the same mastery over time as the Toymaker had over reality. Rather than the celestial toyroom, Hecuba had a room full of clocks, where the Doctor’s companions were forced to participate in a series of challenges. She also had the ability to invite anyone from past, present or future to her opulent dinner parties. In Hayles’ proposed storyline, the Second Doctor was her latest guest. She also just happened to be the half sister of the Toymaker, implying a larger family of eternal beings in the Doctor Who universe.
Although the Doctor wasn’t referred to as a Time Lord until the end of the Patrick Troughton era, he and his TARDIS was still of interest to Hecuba. As the Queen of Time, she wanted to take the Doctor as her husband. As in “The Celestial Toymaker”, the plot of Brian Hayles’ spiritual sequel revolved around the Doctor and his companions playing various games with the TARDIS as the prize. Presumably, this was why Hayles’ outline was rejected by the Doctor Who production team, as it was all too similar to his previous story. “The Queen of Time” was later adapted for an audio drama as part of Doctor Who‘s 50th anniversary.
