Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 14, 2024

When is a lost episode of a venerable television series not really lost? In the case of Doctor Who, it's evidently when both video and audio of only one or two episodes of a "serial" are still extant, but the soundtracks for the entire serial remain intact. That unfortunate example of poor curation has ended up providing BBC with an opportunity of sorts, as it has taken to offering animated versions of several early Doctor Who outings where video of the entire serial simply is no longer available (or at least is undiscovered). Kind of interestingly if also perhaps a bit frustratingly, these "reimagined" animated versions have been a staple across the pond for some time, but have only been matriculating to the "colonies" bit by bit. So far, Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowmen, Doctor Who: Galaxy 4 and Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace have been released on Blu-ray, now joined by this decidedly odd production from 1966 that may, as some of the supplements allude to, actually benefit from an animated version, since the show's pretty skimpy budget didn't really allow for a full "funhouse" (?) experience in the live action version. Also perhaps of some interest for those who have been following and maybe even collecting these animated updates, The Celestial Toymaker was done by a small crew in Australia who opted not to go for the same 2D look of the previous releases from BBC, and who in a supplement actually mention aiming for a "painterly" appearance rather than "photorealism". In that regard, I'd hardly accuse any of the previous animated efforts of having indulged in "photorealism" at least with regard to the actual animated elements like characters, though as I mentioned in the Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowmen Blu-ray review, that production did seem to use some actual photos for things like background plates and the like.

This is a rather fun set of episodes, especially for this early phase of Doctor Who when, if we're being completely honest, it was probably more of a "kiddie show" with some kind of hilariously lo fi production qualities. The Toymaker (Michael Gough) has rendered the Doctor (William Hartnell) invisible to Steven (Peter Purves) and Dodo (Jackie Lane), though he is visible inside what seems to be the Toymaker's lair. The episodes ping pong between Steven and Dodo encountering all sorts of Alice in Wonderland-ish characters, while the Doctor attempts to solve logic puzzles created by the Toymaker, solutions which will (hopefully) aid in his ability to escape and reunite with his companions.

Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of BBC with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.33:1 (for the black and white version) and 1.78:1 (for the color version). There's some discussion in both the commentary tracks as well as the making of featurette about this outing's "new, improved" 3D rendering, which replaces the old school (if still computer generated) 2D imagery from the previous animated Doctor Who productions. I'm frankly not sure it was a great decision, as the look of this may tend to remind some of less than artful video games from the veritable days of yore. The lackluster appearance of the human characters (which often feature kind of bizarre shadings on faces in particular) is offset pretty dramatically, though, by the wacky and whimsical characters that Steven and Dodo have to deal with, and it's here that the 3D rendering probably shows its promise the best. Some of the characters, like a "living doll", feature really precise detail where the supposed fabric of the doll is almost palpable. Other elements, like some of the circus like props some of the clowns and other characters utilize, tend not to have a ton of detail. Colors in the color version are nicely robust and add to the carnival like flair of the serial.

Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono audio that is consistent with all of the other animated releases, with the possible exception of Doctor Who: Galaxy 4, which rather incredibly evidently had its audio provided by a fan rather than the BBC archives. While there's a certain flatness and boxiness on hand, all elements from dialogue to score to sound effects are offered without any major issues. Optional English subtitles are available.

Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One features the animated version of the serial in black and white and in 1.33:1 (see most of the even numbered screenshots), along with these supplements:

• Photographic Reconstruction Episode One (SD; 25:45)


• Photographic Reconstruction Episode Two (SD; 25:52)


• Photographic Reconstruction Episode Three (SD; 25:42)

Note: All three of the above can be played with either the original soundtrack or with (pretty sporadic) narration, which offers a kind of audio descriptive service.


• Audio Commentaries on each episode feature Toby Hadock along with a round robin of participants, including Peter Purves, Dudley Darby (camera operator), Delia Lindon (actress), Sylvia James (makeup assistant), and David Devjak (producer of the animated version).


• Surviving Original Episode Four (HD; 25:01) also features an optional commentary with Toby Hadock, Dudley Darby and Peter Purves.

Disc Two features the animated version of the serial in color and in 1.78:1 (see most of the odd numbered screenshots), along with these supplements:

• Escape Room First Doctor (HD; 1:16:59) is a perhaps unintentionally hilarious effort on the part of an undeniably elderly trio of actors from the first doctor's tenure who are attempting to get out of an escape room. This outing (which is evidently part of a whole series of such escape room antics featuring different eras of actors) offers Maureen O'Brien, Peter Purves, and Lisa Bowerman. Ms. O'Brien's inability to hear anything only adds to the chaos.


• Making of the Animation (HD; 10:32) has some brief interviews with several animators and producer David Devjak.


• Sylvester McCoy Intro (SD; 1:00) is a brief piece which evidently aired before a broadcast of the still existing fourth episode.


• Carmen Silvera Audio Interview (HD; 10:12)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 8:30)


• Audio Commentaries on each episode feature Toby Hadock along with a round robin of participants, including Peter Purves, Dudley Darby (camera operator), Delia Lindon (actress), Sylvia James (makeup assistant), and David Devjak (producer of the animated version).

Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The entirety of my math skills tend to be most obvious in my musical endeavors, but when I was a kid I got a so-called "Tower of Hanoi" as a present, and it didn't take me too long that moving a disc two down from whatever one you really wanted to move was the way to go, and in fact looking at the individual discs in the tower in an "every other one" approach allowed for a 100% solution rate in record time. Doctor Who encounters his own tower (as do the hapless participants in the escape room feature on Disc Two), and kind of comically seems to have the same initial lack of math skills that I unabashedly admit to. The "logic puzzles" here offer some intermittent fun, but the real energy of this set of episodes is in the bizarre funhouse that Steven and Dodo find themselves in. Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker is probably my favorite of the animated "upgrades" of "lost" Doctor Who serials BBC has been offering. Technical merits are generally solid (video probably more than audio), and the supplements are a lot of fun as well. Recommended.