The Giggle (Doctor Who 14.3)

[unfeathered]

Insta-reaction here: https://unfeathered.dreamwidth.org/378395.html

Right, I need to talk about the actual episode, not just the Fourteen/Fifteen thing. I’m not sure how much I really have to say about it, actually. The story as a whole didn’t really grab me, and I actually sighed when the Doctor and Donna got sucked inside the Toymaker’s realm. At least that didn’t last too long, though the whole thing about them getting separated by a door was just so obviously going to happen! I was yelling at them to stay together, hold hands or something, don’t leave her behind! Again, at least it didn’t last long, though the attack of the dolls was ridiculously creepy.

Loved the whole Spice Girls bit. That was hilarious, whilst also being rather chilling. Very Simm!Mastery. (Perhaps the Master was exerting influence through the gold tooth.)

More Mastery vibes in the Doctor’s appeal to the Toymaker to go and play/fight elsewhere, which felt incredibly like his appeal to Simm!Master way back when! Not sure if that was an intentional rip-off but it didn’t work nearly as well here because obviously he has nowhere near the history with the Toymaker that he has with the Master!

I haven’t got much else to say yet about Neil Patrick Harris. He was very good in the role, but I felt he didn’t really get the chance to shine as much as I’d expected from all the hype? I don’t know, perhaps I’ll notice more on a rewatch.

Random note: I totally felt like I expected to see Crowley and Aziraphale in the Toymaker’s shop rather than the Doctor! I wonder if DT got confused about which role he was playing?


Okay, onto the regeneration, then. I have to admit that my main thought as it began was “I hope we don’t get ‘I don’t want to go’ again”, and we DIDN’T! It was nice to see that the Doctor had grown as much as he’d seemed to in the last couple of episodes, what makes him different as Fourteen, and that this time he was finally okay with ‘going’. Even if, in the end, he didn’t.

Still not sure what to think of DT now being the Doctor for as long as anyone wants him to be, but I guess if it’s kept for special occasions that could be cool. I saw someone suggest that he might turn up in the Disney UNIT spinoff that's apparently happening, which would make a lot of sense given that Donna's just accepted a job with them. (And I loved Donna casually doubling the asking price for a job at UNIT and getting it accepted. You go girl!)

Also, it was Fourteen’s new TARDIS that got the wheelchair ramp, wasn’t it? Just for Shirley in her wheelchair? :-D I have to say, I wasn’t looking forward to a UNIT spinoff, as I find Kate Stewart just incredibly boring to watch (Osgood had so much more energy, but she seems to have disappeared) but with Shirley, Donna, Mel and potentially a bit of Fourteen, that suddenly seems a LOT more interesting!

Also, is this now a whole new SlayerDoctor line or is it a one-off? I also saw someone suggest that once Fourteen’s ‘rehab’ is done he’ll just fold back into the timeline and emerge as Fifteen? But anyway it’s totally reminding me of the whole “there’s a whole new Slayer line running through Faith now” thing! (And I have also seen it mentioned that of course this line could be the one that returned to Tom Baker’s face in The Day of the Doctor.)

If, possibly, this is the last we see of Fourteen, I rather love that he ends with dinner with his friends – the very thing that Ten ran away from in his very first episode (Christmas dinner with Jackie and Rose). Full circle – neat. How sad was it that Bernard Cribbins couldn't be there, though? :-(

P.S. Over the years, I have written soooo many fics and roleplay threads that have had to make assumptions about what kind of underwear the Doctor wears. Now, at last, it is canon. :-D

P.P.S. The gravity/mavity thing never got resolved, did it?

ETA: comments in astrogirl's review (as usual): here
And in shivver's review: here

Comments

[shivver]

> which felt incredibly like his appeal to Simm!Master

I had immediately thought about the Simm!Master during the Spice Girls bit (which was an incredible sequence), but hadn't recognized it in this appeal. I knew it had happened before but didn't actually make the connection. Another callback to the Simm!Master - the retrieval of the gold tooth at the end.

> I expected to see Crowley and Aziraphale in the Toymaker’s shop

When that scene began, I was watching the background to see if the layout was the same or if any of the props were the same, but I didn't see anything definitive. I would have liked to have seen a Good Omens reference in DW, since GO has done so many to DW.

> I wasn’t looking forward to a UNIT spinoff, as I find Kate Stewart just incredibly boring to watch

I had forgotten about the UNIT spinoff, partly for the same reason as you (and partly for other reasons that I don't like the character). But you've made me very happy with the suggestion that Shirley will be in it, because she's excellent. I don't really think that Kate makes a good lead for a TV show (no fault of Jemma Redgrave; the character is just weak), but I can picture the show being focused on the agents with Kate in a supporting role as the director that sends them out.

I love the idea of Fourteen's line becoming the Curator! And what you pointed out about the dinner brings us right back to Ten's first episode. Excellent.

[unfeathered]

Another callback to the Simm!Master - the retrieval of the gold tooth at the end.

Ooh, yes, I forgot to put that in my review because while I noticed the shot of the tooth on the ground, I didn't actually notice anyone picking it up (must have looked away at the wrong moment). But I've seen people mention it and yes, absolutely a callback to TTOTTL!

Kind of nice to have the Master referenced so much even if he wasn't in this anniversary special. (He starred in last year's one, of course, so that's fine.)

I would have liked to have seen a Good Omens reference in DW, since GO has done so many to DW.

Excellent point. Sooo many in GO! Perhaps this was a reference, just a very, very subtle one?

Re. UNIT spinoff - I literally know nothing about this apart from that apparently it's happening, but it would seem to make sense that the UNIT ensemble established in these three specials would be set up for that.

Glad to see someone else agree with me about Kate too. I feel very similarly towards her as I do towards Thirteen - both Jemma Redgrave and Jodie Whittaker are excellent actresses, but neither was given good material and neither, I personally feel, really fit in with Doctor Who. They're both too series, and missing that warmth and twinkle that both The Brigadier and all the previous Doctors had - and the next Doctor looks like he's got it too. Just bad writing and casting, I feel.

But yes, Kate in a supporting role as the boss would work brilliantly! God, I do hope that's the direction they take!

[shivver]

Hey there! I just rewatched the episode and it was Fifteen's TARDIS that got the wheelchair ramp. So, perhaps Shirley will appear more often in the main show, not in the UNIT show.

I enjoyed Thirteen, but yes, I can definitely agree she didn't have the charm that most of the Doctors have had. Kate... yes, poor material. The only time she's gotten to be a strong person was in "The Power of the Doctor", creating the plan to destroy the building and facing the Cybermen. Every other time - including here in "The Giggle" - she's just there to despair and let the Doctor (or Osgood!) figure out what to do.

[shivver]

Oo, now I'm not sure. The transcript says that the wheelchair ramp was in Fourteen's TARDIS. I really thought that it was in Fifteen's, but two out of three wins. :)

[shivver]

And now I've watched it again, and the transcript is wrong. The wheelchair ramp is in Fifteen's TARDIS - after the TARDIS is duplicated, Fourteen goes to the new one, comments on the ramp and sees the jukebox, then leaves and goes into his own TARDIS.

Okay, I shall now shut up about such a trivial detail. :P

[unfeathered]

Well, thank you for clarifying that! I have yet to have enough time and brainpower at the same time to rewatch the second and third episodes yet but when I do I'll have to look out for that!

And it's definitely not a trial detail, especially not when you're a fanfic writer, even if it's only a very occasional one these days.

[shivver]

I just can't stop thinking about these three episodes, and "The Giggle" is really growing on me (though it's not nearly as drop-dead amazing as "Wild Blue Yonder" is; TG definitely has its problems). I'm mostly obsessed about that wheelchair ramp because I want to know which Doctor Shirley will get to travel with onscreen... ;)

[unfeathered]

I don't blame you - it is a pretty big thing! Although I guess once one TARDIS has thought of creating a wheelchair ramp, the other might just follow...

[trobadora]

I honestly just found the Toymaker boring. He really shouldn't have been!

I'm confused about the regeneration too and hope it'll be clarified at some point. Unfortunately I don't think I can really sort out how I feel about it until I know what I'm supposed to take away from it ...

[unfeathered]

Oh good, glad it wasn't just me who was underwhelmed by the Toymaker after all the hype!

To be fair, though, he was really good. He just got upstaged by the two Doctors and Donna! :-D

[trobadora]

The actor was fine! But I feel like the script let him down, since all his games were so pedestrian. He didn't really do anything iconic that we haven't seen before. Even the musical number - Simm's had more resonance.