To say that the Doctor Who animation line has been a huge success would be a huge understatement as it's been going on for well over ten years now. With the latest missing episode to be fully animated having just been released on DVD and Blu-Ray and well since there is a little tradition on this blog with me reviewing them as soon as I can do you all just knew that I had to check this episode the very first chance that I got and so then join me as i review that sees The Doctor play games with the episode in question being called simply just "The Celestial Toymaker" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when The Doctor , Steven and Dodo find themselves at the mercy of a bring known only as The Toymaker then the trio must complete various games in order to escape him once and for all. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty rather on the weak side of things as it was hard to tell what the actual plot of the episode was even meant to be at times as it just felt like that the writer was just making stuff up as he went along but with that being said tho this episodes plot did show moments of greatness like the fact that The Toymaker can seemingly travel to anywhere he wants at will which would have made for a really sequence in the plot of the episode but for some reason the episode is instead more focused on Steven and Dodo and them trying to get the Tardis back then it is in actually telling a really well done plot and while the stuff with Steven and Dodo is good to see in small doses here it takes away screen time from The Doctor who feels like an afterthought and while yes there are logistical reasons for this it also has the add on effect of making this episodes plot just seem random and weird for the sake of being random and weird with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is William Hartnell as The Doctor , Peter Purves as Steven Taylor and Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet. Also starring in this episode is Peter Stephens as Cyril , Knave Of Hearts and The Kitchen Boy , Campbell Singer as Joey , King Of Hearts and Sergeant Rugg , Carmen Silvera as Clara , Queen Of Hearts and Mrs. Wiggs , Reg Lever as Joker and Batman star Michael Gough as The Toymaker.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Which considering who is playing The Doctor and who is playing the The Toymaker isn't something that's all that surprising even more so when you take into account that the actors playing the shows main leads at this point had been in the show for quite a while at this point with even William Hartnell having been in the role of The Doctor since episode one of the show and so it is understandable that they would turn in good performances in this episode as they really would have known how best to perform there respective characters and how there respective characters would act in any given situation but what lets the acting down quite a bit is that the acting that fro those that are playing the characters that are servants of The Toymaker as there acting does come across as being quite wooden and robotic at times which fair enough might be the point but it is still something that does effect this episodes acting quality with the acting that's in this episode also not really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so bad as it gives none of this episodes actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there respective characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does help to lower the overall quality if the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Shapeshifter Studios. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad but at the same time tho it also wasn't all that good either as while the 3D CGI does allow for the lip movements to be better matched then what they previously could have been it also gives us alot of freaky imagery and overall just looks cheap and while having freaky looking imagery is kind of the point given that this episode takes place in a world where next to nothing makes sense it does also make the product look off putting as well and while doing this episode in particular in this style does indeed make sense as this story does allow itself to have some creatively creepy looking visuals it's not a style that would work for all classic Doctor Who stories which means that if the BBC are to go this route for more animated episodes then they are going to have make sure that the story that they are animating requires visuals that look this creepy as otherwise all your going to do is just put people off of buying these DVD's and Blu-Ray as after all who is going to want to buy a DVD or a Blu-Ray that has alot of really creepy looking animation and characters designs in it.
As of this writing there is only one episode of this story still with us and that is episode four "The Final Test" which is in all honesty the best of the bunch. As that's the episode that has the most tension and actually features more of William Hartnell in it but at the same time tho it would be nice if the rest of this episode was to be found just so that we the audience can actually see this episode the way that was intended to be seen and not have to rely on somebody else doing the animation for it but given that the remaining three episodes are lost at best ad at worst destroyed it means that for now this animation is the closet that we'll get to ever seeing this story in it's completed form but with that said given just how average the rest of this episode is maybe it's best that the rest of this serial is lost as that means that people that are watching this show just to complete it can watch one solid episode instead of watching three average episodes and one solid episode as all that does is bring the overall viewing experience down quite alot as while there are some entertaining aspects in these first three episodes there all lacking that certain something that makes them feel like a Doctor Who episode where as the fourth episode whilst it is still lacking that extra special it at least has a tense final act where you don't really know what's going to happen next and it's that aspect of the episode that does make it better then the other episodes of this story.
What was really strange about this story is the fact that The Doctor barely features in it and while yes they do have a logistical reason for that in that William Hartnell booked a two week holiday it still creates this rather odd situation where we the audience are left watching The Doctor's hand in alot of his scenes and because of the fact that The Toymaker has also taken away his ability to talk as well as make him invisible we don't hear him either. As a result of that is the fact that The Doctor isn't as proactive in the plot as this version of the character was alot of the time as here he's just sitting back and watching his friends go from one dangerous game to the next instead of trying to find out ways no matter how small that they are to help them and it's not like in alot of other stories from around this same time period where if the actor playing The Doctor took a holiday that you really don't miss the character in the any of the story that they were filming at the time here because of the fact that they continuously cut back to The Doctor and The Toymaker playing there game us the audience really do miss The Doctor as a character and while William Hartnell's health was in a sharp decline at the time of filming the makers of this show really should have come up with a way to keep his version of The Doctor present and proactive and not have him literally disappear for two our of the the four episodes and while they did have a plan to have the character come back but played by a different actor and idea that was very quickly shot down it does show that they also really were onto something as they'd basically do the exact same thing when William Hartnell regenerated into Patrick Troughton as the end of The Tenth Planet a year later.
One of the more brighter aspects of this episodes is that of The Toymaker himself who is just such a gleefully menacing villain. With the character having the power to do whatever he chooses to whomever he chooses which means that when are characters are playing a game for there life then should they loose then they could become one of his servants and be remain trapped with him forever and it also means that all of our characters have remain on there toes as you never really know what The Toymaker is going to do next and what he's going through at you next something that the episode The Giggle actually got right as The Toymaker is the most unpredictable person in the room and yet the smartest person in the room in fact at one point script editor Donald Tosh actually said that The Toymaker was going to be revealed as a member of The Doctor's own race of people which is something that does make sense as even in this episode both The Toymaker and The Doctor say that they've met each other before this episode and so it would make sense for him to be a member of the Time Lords and heck you could even consider him the prototype for The Master as the two of them do share many similar characteristics as well and while The Master might be the better written villain it is still interesting to see the same kind of character actually debuted in the show about five years or so before he made his debut during the Jon Pertwee of Doctor Who.
Now then while I cannot for the absolutely life of me remember whatever this episodes grand total running time even was I do know that for a fact that this episode really does have an exact grand total running of roughly one hour and forty minuets. Which each episode being around about twenty five minuets in length with the story as a whole being four episodes in length which does work well enough in this episode as this episode really does have the absolutely right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time with it also being the right amount of episodes as well as there's no way in heck that you could stretch this story out even by one extra episode as the plot of the episode could end up being stretched thin and each episode in this story would start to become a bit repetitive at that point in time as well but at the same time tho with the extra running time it would mean that we'd get William Hartnell back in the plot of the episode much more sooner then what we already do in this episode and as a result of that is the fact that it would mean that The Doctor himself would be able to come alot more proactive in the episodes plot instead of just standing there playing a game with The Toymaker but tho that would mean that alot of the episodes would feel like filler and would ultimately end up hurting the story as a whole rather then helping it but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually feature / presented to us inn this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. As even tho alot of this episodes action does come in the form of whatever game that the characters of Steven and Dodo are playing at the time it is fun trying to see them work out not only The Toymakers riddles but also how to survive this game just so that they can become one step closer to getting the TARDIS back with the best game in the whole episode being the hopscotch game as that game at least in this episode gets very intense as your just waiting for the games villain Cyril to play some sort of dirty trick on Steven and Dodo and just seeing it build and build to the point where you can't wait to see there next scene was something that was really done but what let the action down in this episode is the fact that it's not really made all that clear just how The Toymaker lost his game with The Doctor as it is something that does get a bit confusing and it makes there battle of the minds seem more like an after thought which is something that does make alot of sense as The Doctor himself was oddly enough treated like an after thought in this very episode as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while it is great to finally see this story in it's entirety this story is just nothing more then an average story that could have been done alot better this is despite the fact that even for classic Doctor Who this episode also had a really small budget amongst other things as well all of which combine to make a story that is just nothing more then an average episode of Doctor Who in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where In personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Doctor Who fandom wiki page , Amazon . Co . Uk and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.