Doctor Who Special 3, “The Giggle”, Review!

“The Giggle” is more than a laughing send off of David Tennant’s Fourtneeth Doctor, it is a clever twist on Doctor Who, horror, humor, and history! “Wild Blue Yonder” Re:cap - The Tardis ends up in a spaceship and then dematerializes!  The Doctor and Donna explore the ship and then discover that they are at the end of the universe. They encounter the Not-Things, Not-Doctor and Not-Donna, which have their memories! 

Their limbs extend Mr. Fantastic-style, the Doctor’s jaw droops like Imhotep in The Mummy (1999), and swell up to giant size! The Doctor realizes that the ship’s captain had sacrificed himself to set up the robot, Jimbo, was slowly moving after three years to activate a bomb! The Tardis appears and The Doctor takes in the Not-Donna! The Tardis dematerializes, the ship begins to explode, Donna stands there waiting for the end. Then, the Doctor slides the Not-Donna out of the Tardis to save Donna Noble!   

He had detected that the Not-Donna was nearly perfect except an extra 0.06 milimeters in her wrist. The Doctor tries to avoid telling Donna what happened after he had left her on his adventures. They return to Camden Market and see Willfred Mott, Donna’s grandfather and also friend to the Doctor. The reunion with The Doctor calling Willfred his “old soldier” is cut short. 

Willfred says he hoped The Doctor would save them, Donna’s family is bunkered down, then there is an explosion! People are fighting with each other, then they see an airliner crashing down! Doctor Who Special 3, “The Giggle”, is written by Russell T. Davies and directed by Chayna Button. She also directed episodes of the thriller series, The Killing Kind, based on the Jane Casey novel. 

We pick up on a dark street of “Soho, 1925”, a man, Charlie, comes out of the rain to the Mr. Emporium shop. He is greeted by the shopkeeper (Neil Patrick Harris, NPH!) with a German accent, he reminds me of Baron Bomburst from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). Harris returned as Barney Stinson for the comedy series, How I Met Your Father. His performance makes me think of him as the villainous Count Olaf in the series, A Series of Unfortunate Events. The man becomes fascinating with a ventriloquist dummy, Stooky Bill. 

The shopkeeper wraps it up and notes that it is real hair from a woman who will not miss it! Suddenly, the shopkeeper changes to an American accent, a trickster! The man has bought the dummy for his employer, John Logie Baird, whom the shopkeeper knows is an inventor. He is currently working on inventing television. The Scottish engineer created the first television in 1926. The shopkeeper says, “What a wonderful game” and gives a short laugh. Baird (John McKay) rips off Stooky Bill’s head and readies his new invention.Um, the dummy head looks as creepy as Billy the Puppet from the Saw movies. 

Under the lights, the dummy starts to smolder, Baird says it looks like a photograph. Stooky Bill’s hair burns and it’s mouth falls! Baird says “Imagine if he could talk” and then we hear the laugh repeating! In the smoldering apocalypse of Camden Market, The Doctor walks the chaotic streets. He finds angry citizens, cars pushing cars, and a man about to fight a car! The Doctor stands between them and the man says he can’t drive. He says it started two days ago with “everyone thinking they’re right.” I think this ep is reflective of today’s world! 

The jeep races past The Doctor and he bumps into a man in a tuxedo (NPH). An announcement overhead tells The Doctor to stand still as U.N.I.T. vans discharge soldiers. One of them orders The Doctor into the van, but Donna orders him to take Willfred. The Doctor stares at the man in the tuxedo who waves to him. Helicopters take The Doctor to the helipad at the U.N.I.T. building around London in flames. They are met by Shirley Anne Bingham whom we were introduced to in “The Star Beast.” The Tardis is lowered to the helipad. 

DOCTOR WHO - - “The Giggle” - -  JOHN MCCAY - - James Pardon/BBC/Bad Wolf/Disney.

The Doctor welcomes Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave). She first appeared in the direct to video, Downtime (1995) which did not feature The Doctor.  appeared formally in “The Power of Three” (2012) with the Eleventh Doctor. The character is the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) who first encountered The Third Doctor in “The Web of Fear (1968). She gives him a hug and asks how they can fight the human race. 

The Doctor gets a report from, it seems all of the Doctor Who series are combined in this one ep, Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford)! She was the Companion of the Sixth and Seventh Doctor! She first started her Tardis travels with “Terror of the Vervoids” (1986). I have no idea how Davies is able to bring back the actors! The Doctor recognizes her and gives her a hug. Donna is surprised she is not the first ginger Companion! 

Shirley reports the violence started around the world two days ago! U.N.I.T. soldier says the plane crash had the pilot demanding to land whereever he wanted! The government has also gone mad, Donna says that’s normal, lol! U.N.I.T. is kept sane by the Zeedex which Kate points out the armband to The Doctor. The device was invented by The Vlinx, a robot with cables spilling from its lower half, love the designs! He is voiced by Nicholas Briggs who also voices the Daleks. 

Kate notes that the Zeedex calms the wearer from the Spike. She demonstrates and Shirley deactivates the Zeedex. The Doctor questions Kate who becomes angry that she has to take advice from an alien and rips off her Zeedex! Kate also gets angry that there are too red heads, kinda funny and kinda disturbing at the same time. The Vlinx says the Spike originates inside the mind. 

Donna is unaffected as is Melanie. The Doctor theorizes that traveling on the Tardis puts them out of synch. 

DOCTOR WHO - - “The Giggle” - -  JEMMA REDGRAVE - - James Pardon/BBC/Bad Wolf/Disney.

Donna asks about Zeedex for everyone and a newscaster, Trinity Wells (Lachele Carl), is anti-Zeedex. Yup, a jab at current social hysteria. Wells was first seen in “Aliens of London” (2005). 

The Doctor tries to work out the signal, Shirley says the signal peaks seven times, and Donna starts to work on a pad of paper. Kate notes that a South Korean satellite, KOSAT,was launched two days prior. It was the final link to covering all of Earth! Donna has worked out that the seven peaks are musical notes. 

Melanie says it is a classic arpeggio, a broken chord, I love that these women are so important in stopping the villain. She sings it and this is familiar to everyone, Shirley finds the notes in the giggle of the Baird recording. This is why Doctor Who is superior to any time travel story, weaving in history and science. The Doctor realizes that the image has been in every image on a screen! Wait!, you are seeing it now! 

The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to show the Stooky Bill recording on every computer and cell phone screen! The Doctor says it is laughing the human race. They are looking for the puppeteer and that something is coming back! The Doctor angrily says to all of them, “All of the anger out there in the streets, the lies, the righteousness, that’s human, that’s you, that’s who you are!” This is on the mark and needed more than ever today. 

The Doctor asks if the satellite can be destroyed, Kate they can use the Galvanic Beam, but says this would have “international consequences” with the leaders affected by The Giggle. She was waiting for permission and the word is given by The Doctor! He has a moment with Melanie and she updates him that Sabalom Glitz, another Companion, played by Tony Selby died slipping on a whisky bottle! She returned to Earth, but found herself without her family. 

DOCTOR WHO - - “The Giggle” - - NEIL PATRICK HARRIS - - James Pardon/BBC/Bad Wolf/Disney.

Kate meets with Donna and offers her a job with U.N.I.T. Donna asks for £120,000 and Kate agrees! Shirley gives The Doctor the exact time and place of the Baird recording and he heads to the Tardis with Donna. They appear in SoHo, 1925 and Donna asks about Melanie. He says she’s brilliant and Donna wonders why he never mentioned her. She says she saw his mind and that he is “staggering along.” The Doctor bypasses her and brings up where was Stooky Bill. 

They head to Mr. Emporium. The Doctor sees the shopkeeper through the window who moves to the side to play with him. They enter the shop, the keeper juggles balls, he says it was the first game. He throws them at The Doctor who deflects them. Donna catches the last one and the shopkeeper recognizes her. The Doctor tells her to return to the Tardis. This never happened before and the shopkeeper knows The Doctor finally knows him. Images flash of the past. 

The Doctor says it is the Toymaker! The villain first appeared in “The Celestial Toymaker” (1966) taking on the First Doctor! He was played by Michael Gough who later played Alfred in Batman (1989)! The Toymaker bows and says the second game was hide and seek, laughing as he retreats behind curtains! They chase after him to an endless corridor, Donna closes the door, and The Doctor opens it to see the corridor repeating infinitely, a trap! 

The Doctor says the Tardis to the Toymaker is a toy. He tells Donna when he was young, he made a mistake taking the Tardis to the realm of the Toymaker, “where science is a game.” The Doctor says the Toymaker returned because of him. He blames himself playing a game at the end of the universe. The Doctor says to Donna without the sonic screwdriver, the Tardis, the toys, “What am I?” He says he can’t save Donna and she says she may save him. 

The Doctor says since he beat the Toymaker the last time, he will lose this time, Donna tells him her dad, Wilfred, said, “Games don’t have a memory.” They are separated and The Doctor hears a plea. It is Charlie wrapped up on a wall and saying that he paid the price for buying the toy. The Doctor takes him down and starts to unwrap him. Then, finds out that his body is a toy, strings appear from a night sky to lift Charlie up. 

The Doctor looks up to see the Toymaker with the puppet control bars. Then, he shows his favorite puppet, The Doctor, who says, “I thought I was clever”! Donna enters the room of a clocktower and hears crying. Out of the darkness is Stooky Sue, the other puppet, who walks and talks in a rhyme. Stooky Babies descend to attack Donna! Stooky Sue also climbs on Donna, but faces a very tough Companion! Some of the best horror in Doctor Who! 

She reunites with The Doctor and they find themselves in the theater of The Toymaker. A bench sweeps them up to see The Toymaker’s puppet show. He performs for Donna showing what happened after The Doctor left her with the puppet of Amy Pond. The Toymaker says she died from a Weeping Angel. The Doctor quietly corrects him that she died of old age. 

The Toymaker then brings in the Clara puppet and then Bill, cutting their strings and then the planets with the Flux. The Doctor stands up and challenges The Toymaker to a game. They sit next to each other. The Toymaker expertly shuffles cards, NPH’s skill, and says in a British accent, playing with the universe. He says he made a “jigsaw out of your history” and then trapped The Master in his gold tooth. 

DOCTOR WHO - - “The Giggle” - - DAVID TENNANT - - James Pardon/BBC/Bad Wolf/Disney.

The Toymaker says he ran from the One Who Waits. Is its other name, He Who Remains? The Doctor asks why does every human think they are right. The Toymaker says it is the game of the 21st century. The Doctor says the game is cut for high card. Donna says he will cheat, but The Doctor says The Toymaker is bound by his rules. This is the same with The Master, honorable for a villain. The Doctor cuts for an 8 of spades. The Toymaker turns his card, King of Hearts, he wins! 

Still, the Doctor says he won the first time so it is Best of Three. The Toymaker disappears with the flourish of a red curtain and says, “Best of 2023.” Donna and The Doctor run as Mr. Emporium folds up into a suitcase, great effect, and they travel back to U.N.I.T. headquarters. The KOSAT is destroyed and there is celebration, but The Doctor puts the suitcase on Melody’s terminal. He has Donna use the U.N.I.T. mainframe, The Vlinx, can detect the energy signature to find a door that the Toymaker entered and make it an exit. 

Then, they hear Spice Girls’ “Spice Up Your Life”! The Toymaker suddenly appears in a red and white parade leader uniform; dancing with Kate and slamming her into a wall, and spinning away Melanie, and turning soldiers into balloons!  A mad reality of Jobu Tupaki from Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) at Harley Quinn levels! The Joker tricked Mister Mxyzptlk into giving him reality twisting powers in the Emperor Joker storyline! The confrontation of course leads to the end of the Fourteenth Doctor and the surpising introduction of the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), which is incredible with emotional moments. The best regeneraton ever! I can’t wait to see more travels with the Fifteenth Doctor! 

Five+ Sonic Screwdrivers out of Five! 

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