Doctor Who: 60th Anniversary: Special 3 – “The Giggle” (2023)

*Guest star spoilers.*

This was definitely a regeneration episode, in that it’s big and fast and emotional and crammed with stuff. They’ve been beautiful regenerations episodes and overblown regenerations episodes and a little in between. Kneejerk reaction—I’m writing this literally minutes after watching the special—but I’d say this is a beautiful one with a sprinkling of in-between. There’s some utter hokiness and the messaging is super on-the-nose, but there’s an awful lot of loveliness too, and for my money, it comes down stronger on the lovely side.

The Doctor and Donna return to 2023 to find, not just London, but the entire world gone mad. The culprit lies in Earth’s past, where a certain elemental being has finally broken through into our universe. As the Doctor prepares to go against the Toymaker, backed by Donna, UNIT, and his former companion Mel(!), he’s not sure if he has what it takes to win the game this time.

I enjoyed the Toymaker in his one classic Who appearance, and he’s popped up in some ancillary stories as well. This episode made me realize, however, that what I really enjoy are the creepy, twisted games. The Toymaker himself is actually so weird—he’s canonically one of the most powerful baddies in all of Who, and he spends the millennia forcing mortals to play twisted children’s games? The episode leans into that portrayal, and I can feel Neil Patrick Harris borrowing a bit from his Count Olaf, and there are definitely scenes where my brain went, “This is so silly.” But at the same time, we see the mind games the Toymaker plays as well, tormenting the Doctor about the tragedies of his past, and the show attempts to give him a scrap of motivation if not context—honestly, a character like the Toymaker really shouldn’t have context. I like the line, “Your good and your bad mean nothing to me. All that exists is to win or to lose.”

I won’t get into the specifics of how and why the Toymaker drives the human race over the edge, but the end result is basically hyper-partisan internet trolling on steroids. UNIT describes the Toymaker-induced “madness” as “everyone thinks they’re right all the time.” The comment section fights have been brought into the streets, and everybody is overflowing with suspicions and conspiracies. It’s not at all subtle, and the premise strains at times, but it’s not a huge feature of the episode.

As has been the running theme of these specials, the villains and the crises and the running-around come second to the relationship between the Doctor and his companions, and this episode continues that theme well. The Doctor and Donna are just the best! When the Doctor admits he’s not sure if he’ll be able to save Donna from the threat of the Toymaker, she at first tries to brush it off, then says, “Well, maybe I’ll save you.” The Toymaker has the Doctor incredibly stressed, but Donna is a grounding presence, bringing him back to himself and listening compassionately as the Toymaker taunts the Doctor about his tragedies. And the scenes between the Doctor and Mel might be the single nicest reunion between a new Who Doctor and a classic Who companion. He’s sweetly delighted to see her, and even as they both get down to the business at hand, they find time to catch up a little. It’s so lovely, and I found myself really enjoying that this wonderful reunion was happening with Mel in particular, who I always liked but who’s never really been considered one of the quintessential classic Who companions.

More than any of the specials, this one really feels like a proper 60^th anniversary. I love “The Star Beast” and “Wild Blue Yonder,” and both of those often up fine nostalgia, but they’re either too niche (the Meep) or too recent (Donna and her family) to really capture the enormity of the show. With “The Giggle,” it feels like those two were the buildup to the real anniversary special. In addition to a villain from the One era and returning companions from the Seven and Ten eras, we also get a recap of the years between Ten and Fourteen, as well as references from across the show’s history. And yet, even as it honors the past, it also looks forward to the future.

Speaking of which…. Hello, Fifteenth Doctor! I’ll save my more extensive thoughts for a spoilery post next week, but we get a strong introduction to Fifteen, and I have to say, the show is in very good hands. Christmas is only a few weeks away, but I’m soooooooo excited! Ncuti Gatwa is going to be a phenomenal Doctor, and I can’t wait!