Doctor Who Is NEW!: The Giggle

After what seemed like an interminable wait of over a year, it's now all over too soon, the 3 specials celebrating the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who.

This past Saturday was "The Giggle" which gave us the return of a classic villain not seen since the 1960's and a regeneration like none other in the history of Doctor Who.

It's time for this week's installment of Doctor Who Is NEW! as  we explore the wonders, the mysteries and the utter total madness that is "The Giggle".   

What exactly is...the Giggle?

It's a signal that invades the mind that makes everyone in the world think they are right about everything all the time.

Yep, the WHOLE world is filled with pundits on Fox News.  

It's a nefarious scheme that goes back to the invention of television in 1925 and the purchase of a puppet from a strange toy shop and it's sinister proprietor with a really bad German accent. 

From his first appearance, Neil Patrick Harris just owns the role of the Toymaker, an amalgamation of all that is strange, weird, morbidly funny and deadly.  

The Toymaker says he defeated the Master in a game of chance and how the Master is embedded in a gold tooth.  

But as much fun as it is to watch Harris as the Toymaker, the big draw continues to be the chemistry between David Tennant and Catherine Tate as the Doctor and Donna Noble.  Donna has a unique gift of seeing past the Doctor's bluster and bravado as he rushes from one crises to the next. She knows when he's hurting even if he won't take one damn second to deal with it. 

The Toymaker puts on a puppet show to demonstrate to Donna what happened to the Doctor in the intervening years since she last saw him (as the 10th Doctor) and his return (as the 14th). The fates of Amy Pond, Clara Oswald and Bill Potts are recapped (damn, Moffat was hard on his companions) and half of the universe (yep, the Flux is name checked again).  

The Doctor and the Toymaker are set up for a big final confrontation, one last game to decide the fate of everything. Which means some garish costumes and epic dance choreography set to the music of the Spice Girls.  

By the way, Donna is not the only former companion on hand. Working for UNIT is Mel Bush (Bonnie Langford) who travelled with the 6th and 7th Doctors back in the classic series. Of all the companions from the original series one might want to see, Mel was NOT one of them; she was SO annoying. But Mel has matured a bit and no longer has that squeaky inflection in her voice. 

The fan boy in me was ecstatic when she brought the Doctor up to speed on what happened to Sabalom Glitz, a notorious con man and space adventurer Mel joined up with when she left the TARDIS. Glitz is dead now (bummer) but he got a Viking funeral which Glitz would've loved (cool!).  

In the showdown between the Toymaker and the Doctor, our villain decides he wants to play with the next Doctor.  So he shoots the Doctor through the chest with a laser beam.

Well, we knew our time with David Tennant was limited and sooner rather than later it would be time for Ncuti Gatwa to step up as the Doctor. 

With Donna and Mel on either side of him, the Doctor begins to glow and then...

And then....

We get Ncuti Gatwa... AND David Tennant?!?!?

WHAT?!?!?  

What is an anniversary special without a multi-Doctor angle?

Ncuti's Doctor splits off from David's and... they share the clothes.

David gets the trousers, white under shirt and vest.  Ncuti is wearing the dress shirt, tie, shoes and socks and white boxer briefs.  (Despite what the 12th Doctor told Osgood, his underpants do not have question marks on them.) 

The two Doctors defeat the Toymaker in a game of catch and he vanishes. Except for his gold tooth which is retrieved a mystery woman's hand. (The same way the mystery woman retrieved the Master's ring at the end of "The Last of the Time Lords".)

In his brief moments on screen, Ncuti Gatwa is immediately charming. I've got a good feeling about this guy's turn as the Doctor. 

But what about the Doctor he regenerated from? That guy's still hanging around.  Ncuti's Doctor creates a 2nd TARDIS and hands his predecessor the keys. THE Doctor (Ncuti) still has work to do and a universe to look after. His previous self (David) has been through a lot and deserves a rest. 

The special ends with David's Doctor sitting with the Noble family at a backyard picnic with Donna, Shaun, Rose and Sylvia and Mel joins them too. His TARDIS is parked beside Rose's shed. Except for a couple of hops in the TARDIS to New York City and to Mars, this Doctor is content to just... be here with his family.  

Awww!   

Which opens up a whole bunch of questions but you know, I will let those questions be for a bit.  

Next week's Doctor Who post will look at the three 60th anniversary specials in total. What did Russell T Davies set out to do and what did he accomplish?  

Until next time, remember to never be cruel, never be cowardly, and that hate is always foolish, and love is always wise.