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Doctor Who Target Books (Numerical Order) #111
Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker
Somewhere outside space and time there waits the Celestial Toymaker, an enigmatic being who ensnares unwary travellers into his domain to play out his dark and deadly games.
Separated from the security of the TARDIS, the Doctor is forced to play the complex trilogic game with the evil magician. Meanwhile, Dodo and Steven must enter into a series of tests with, among others, the schoolboy Cyril and the King and Queen of Hearts.
If they lose, they are condemned to become the Toymaker's playthings for all eternity. For in the malevolent wonderland that is the Celestial Toyroom, nothing is just for fun...
Separated from the security of the TARDIS, the Doctor is forced to play the complex trilogic game with the evil magician. Meanwhile, Dodo and Steven must enter into a series of tests with, among others, the schoolboy Cyril and the King and Queen of Hearts.
If they lose, they are condemned to become the Toymaker's playthings for all eternity. For in the malevolent wonderland that is the Celestial Toyroom, nothing is just for fun...
144 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1986
10 people are currently reading
245 people want to read
About the author
Gerry Davis
34 books10 followersGerry Davis was a British television writer, best known for his contributions to the science-fiction genre. He also wrote for the soap operas Coronation Street and United!.
From 1966 until the following year, he was the script editor on the popular BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, for which he co-created the popular cybernetic monsters known as the Cybermen, who made several appearances in the series over the following twenty-two years. His fellow co-creator of these creatures was the programme's unofficial scientific adviser Dr. Kit Pedler, and following their work on Doctor Who, the pair teamed up again in 1970 when they created a science-fiction programme of their own, Doomwatch. Doomwatch ran for three seasons on BBC One from 1970 to 1972, and also spawned a novel written by Davis and Pedler, and later a cinema film and a 1999 revival on Channel 5.
Davis briefly returned to writing Doctor Who, penning the original script for Revenge of the Cybermen, in 1975, though the transmitted version was heavily rewritten by the then script-editor Robert Holmes. He also adapted several of his scripts into novelisations for Target Books. With Kit Pedler, he wrote the science-fiction novels Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters (1971), Brainrack (1974) and The Dynostar Menace (1975).
In the 1980s Davis worked in America both in television and on feature films such as The Final Countdown (1980). In late 1989 he and Terry Nation made a joint but unsuccessful bid to take over production of Doctor Who and reformat the series mainly for the American market. Gerry Davis died on August 31 1991.
From 1966 until the following year, he was the script editor on the popular BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, for which he co-created the popular cybernetic monsters known as the Cybermen, who made several appearances in the series over the following twenty-two years. His fellow co-creator of these creatures was the programme's unofficial scientific adviser Dr. Kit Pedler, and following their work on Doctor Who, the pair teamed up again in 1970 when they created a science-fiction programme of their own, Doomwatch. Doomwatch ran for three seasons on BBC One from 1970 to 1972, and also spawned a novel written by Davis and Pedler, and later a cinema film and a 1999 revival on Channel 5.
Davis briefly returned to writing Doctor Who, penning the original script for Revenge of the Cybermen, in 1975, though the transmitted version was heavily rewritten by the then script-editor Robert Holmes. He also adapted several of his scripts into novelisations for Target Books. With Kit Pedler, he wrote the science-fiction novels Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters (1971), Brainrack (1974) and The Dynostar Menace (1975).
In the 1980s Davis worked in America both in television and on feature films such as The Final Countdown (1980). In late 1989 he and Terry Nation made a joint but unsuccessful bid to take over production of Doctor Who and reformat the series mainly for the American market. Gerry Davis died on August 31 1991.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
December 13, 2018
The actual making of this serial is far more interesting that the story itself!
Commissioned by John Wiles prior to he’s departure as producer, this story had originally been intended as a way to replace Hartnell as The Doctor.
With Hartnell on holiday for two weeks, the character spends the majority of the story invisible (apart from a hand!)
This meant that the companions take centre stage, that’s one of the main positive of this story.
The main plot focuses on them having to play a series of games before being reunited with the TARDIS.
With three of the four episodes missing from the archive, I do wonder if this story would have been more successful visually.
Thankfully Hartnell reappears at the end, Innes Lloyd (Wiles replacement) eventually changed The Doctor by the process of regeneration. It’s a much better idea that help give the show its longevity.
Commissioned by John Wiles prior to he’s departure as producer, this story had originally been intended as a way to replace Hartnell as The Doctor.
With Hartnell on holiday for two weeks, the character spends the majority of the story invisible (apart from a hand!)
This meant that the companions take centre stage, that’s one of the main positive of this story.
The main plot focuses on them having to play a series of games before being reunited with the TARDIS.
With three of the four episodes missing from the archive, I do wonder if this story would have been more successful visually.
Thankfully Hartnell reappears at the end, Innes Lloyd (Wiles replacement) eventually changed The Doctor by the process of regeneration. It’s a much better idea that help give the show its longevity.
October 13, 2021
This is a novelization of the sixth serial from the third season of Doctor Who, which was broadcast in April of 1966. The Doctor was still the original, and the companions were space pilot Steven Taylor and contemporary teenager Dodo Chaplet. The original teleplay was written by Brian Hayles, and the book includes a foreword by co-author Gerry Davis explaining that the script had to be abandoned at almost the last minute and that he re-wrote it at the very last minute. Davis's co-author on this adaptation is Alison Bingeman, only the third female to have their name on a Doctor Who title (following Barbara Clegg and Jane Baker). It's not a very good story, honestly, and I can see why it was one of the very last to get a novelized Target book version. The Doctor is absent for most of the story (invisible, rather), and Dodo is annoying, as are the minions of The Toymaker, who struck me as a "yellow peril" racial stereotype. The story takes place outside of time and space with not much explanation or hope of continuity. It's not a poorly written book, just not overly engaging. For hard-core fans and completists only.
June 17, 2023
A pretty good retelling of a troubled and troubling script. The story of how this was almost scuppered and then saved by script editor Gerry Davis seems to be far more interesting than what we have but this updated/could-a-been novelisation restores a lot of what was intended and removes some of what has become dated or ineffective.
December 26, 2023
The implications of the Celestial Toymaker as a malevolent entity outside the universe that manipulates the nature of games and toys is quite fascinating and ominous. An animated version of this lost episode, https://youtu.be/Ncdtvn8H_Bk?si=CSOHw... will be available soon, which will be interesting to finally view in some manner.
February 19, 2011
First Doctor, Steven, Dodo. Novelisation of a season 3 story of which only the soundtrack and part 4 have been recovered. One of the poorer novelisations. Still engrossing, but the writing itself has frequent distracting problems. If you want to read or see every Doctor Who story you'll probably be reasonably happy with this novelisation; but if writing problems really bother you, you probably won't be.
January 9, 2021
One of the more disappointing of the late-era Target novels. This should have been the opportunity to expand on the strangeness of the TV version. Instead, it's so basic & threadbare a transcript, it makes a late 70s Terrance Dicks quickie-novelization look like "War and Peace" by comparison. So much untapped potential here...
January 11, 2019
A surprisingly bland story and read, of a surprising bland adventure that I had always thought was rated as one of the higher "lost" episodes of Doctor Who. There are a few additions to the screenplay story, but not many. Not enough to change anything worthwhile or make it more meaningful. Just kinda Meh. For a full review, visit http://travelingthevortex.com/?p=8666
May 2, 2020
I guess maybe if you're a small child in the 1960s this story could be very thrilling and a bit scary, but it has precious little appeal these days. Dodo is really the worst companion ever isn't she?
October 29, 2013
One of the more dated Dr Who books I've read recently.
August 21, 2014
These old Dr Who books are short and wonderfully campy. But this one, meh, the writing seemed to be lacking.
September 3, 2019
A somewhat lacklustre retelling of a story that owes its reputation to being a 'lost' recording...
August 3, 2024
This is number 111 in the Target catalogue. The first cover was done by Graham Potts and the second cover by Alister Pearson.
The story of the original script is a story in itself as outlined in the forward in the book. The script is credited to Brian Hayles, but stuff happened. It’s a testament to all involved that the story is as good as it is given everything that went wrong back in the day.
The novelisation contains extra sections which had to be cut from the original broadcast story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s true to the original and the extra bits are slotted in seamlessly. I love that Cyril is less annoying in the book than in the TV episodes.
The Toymaker returned for the 60th anniversary special The Giggle and was brilliantly portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris. I’ve got that novelisation, but haven’t read it yet. And what all this really makes me want is the Doctor’s first encounter with the Toymaker. It's stated that the Doctor and his companions already defeated the Toymaker once. But which companions? When did this happen? We need the first \encounter so we can have a Toymaker trilogy.
The story of the original script is a story in itself as outlined in the forward in the book. The script is credited to Brian Hayles, but stuff happened. It’s a testament to all involved that the story is as good as it is given everything that went wrong back in the day.
The novelisation contains extra sections which had to be cut from the original broadcast story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s true to the original and the extra bits are slotted in seamlessly. I love that Cyril is less annoying in the book than in the TV episodes.
The Toymaker returned for the 60th anniversary special The Giggle and was brilliantly portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris. I’ve got that novelisation, but haven’t read it yet. And what all this really makes me want is the Doctor’s first encounter with the Toymaker. It's stated that the Doctor and his companions already defeated the Toymaker once. But which companions? When did this happen? We need the first \encounter so we can have a Toymaker trilogy.
January 22, 2025
Already not a big fan of the extant episodes of The Celestial Toymaker, Gerry Davis and Alison Bingeman's adaptation is only marginally better. It obviously paints on a broader canvas, as it's not limited to very obvious studio sets and its lumbering dolls are more viscerally horrific than anything on the show. But it doesn't fix the serial's core problems, even those relating to production. For example, it still removes the Doctor from the story by making him invisible and even silent as if not having Hartnell on hand were a literary problem also. Maybe having him more active in the story would have allowed SOME explanation of the dreadfully undramatic trilogic game, which is even less interesting in prose. Steven and Dodo have some moments, since their sections are overall improved by the theater of the mind, but you still can't get me to care about a world where anything can happen and the characters are consistently breaking the rules as explained. It's just "surreal" nonsense, which on television, at least has the virtue of being visually interesting. On the page, it's just nonsense.
April 28, 2021
This novelisation of the now mostly lost First Doctor serial was a short but sweet read, a rather enjoyable one for a fan of the show such as myself. A story I have only had the luxury of watching via reconstructions, it was nice to experience the story in some form of descriptive manor.
Now, being that it's a 1986 adaptation of a script written in 1966, there are, of course, some issues with this story and the way it's written. I would be wrong not to point out the politically incorrect wording and descriptions of the title character. It's not good, but I suppose being a product of it's time, there is little one can do to change it. Still definitely puts a damper one what is ultimately a book for younger readers.
Ultimately, I admit 'The Celestial Toymaker' is a book I own because despite its flaws, I genuinely enjoy this story, especially because it is one of the more creative of the early Hartnell era. It's not the best book I've ever read, but it was definitely a nice and easy read.
Now, being that it's a 1986 adaptation of a script written in 1966, there are, of course, some issues with this story and the way it's written. I would be wrong not to point out the politically incorrect wording and descriptions of the title character. It's not good, but I suppose being a product of it's time, there is little one can do to change it. Still definitely puts a damper one what is ultimately a book for younger readers.
Ultimately, I admit 'The Celestial Toymaker' is a book I own because despite its flaws, I genuinely enjoy this story, especially because it is one of the more creative of the early Hartnell era. It's not the best book I've ever read, but it was definitely a nice and easy read.
July 26, 2021
A rather brisk adaptation of an otherwise dull Doctor Who story. It's briskness is a mercy, really. When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s as a Doctor Who fan, The Celestial Toymaker was spoken of in glowing terms by writers in Doctor Who magazine and various fanzines. I remember being intrigued by the surviving episode four when I saw it on The Hartnell Years VHS. This concluding episode is obviously the best of the four, as I find the surviving audio of episodes one to three a slog to get through. This may be because the story is so visual. However, Gerry Davis's novelisation clearly shows how repetitive the story actually is, with Steven and Dodo being put through a series of incredibly simplistic and supposedly deadly games against the Toymaker's dolls. Steven is belligerent all the way through. Dodo is irritating and gullible.
That's not to say that the story doesn't have its moments, and I enjoyed the novelisation far more than having to endure the serial on audio.
That's not to say that the story doesn't have its moments, and I enjoyed the novelisation far more than having to endure the serial on audio.
January 10, 2023
For a story called “The Celestial Toymaker,” the titular Toymaker doesn’t get a lot of page time or exploration. Still, it’s easy to see how this villain has gained such popularity among Doctor Who fans. And it’s a shame this story remains his only appearance in the tv show.
It’s hard to judge the book as an adaptation considering the serial it’s adapting is largely missing. So, on its own, it’s a fine book. Nothing particularly memorable as a story or as a Doctor Who adventure. The Doctor is largely sidelined and a lot of the Toymaker’s games don’t work as well on the page as they (presumably) did on screen. But if you’re desperate to experience this story in some way, you could do a lot worse than this. It’s a very quick read, and it’s more fun than not. Plus, Dodo and Steven get a lot to do, even if it’s kind of repetitive.
Not my favorite Target novelization by a long shot, but it’s enjoyable enough.
It’s hard to judge the book as an adaptation considering the serial it’s adapting is largely missing. So, on its own, it’s a fine book. Nothing particularly memorable as a story or as a Doctor Who adventure. The Doctor is largely sidelined and a lot of the Toymaker’s games don’t work as well on the page as they (presumably) did on screen. But if you’re desperate to experience this story in some way, you could do a lot worse than this. It’s a very quick read, and it’s more fun than not. Plus, Dodo and Steven get a lot to do, even if it’s kind of repetitive.
Not my favorite Target novelization by a long shot, but it’s enjoyable enough.
October 23, 2023
As someone who is only really familiar with the series since it returned in 2005, despite my family being fans, I decided to read this to prepare for the 60th anniversary and to familiarise myself with the character of the Celestial Toymaker. I was filled in about some of it and also read the foreword.
I decided to approach reading it by imaging it as a production and I think it works well that way.
There are lots of characters and the description of them and the action certainly come alive this way. At only 127 pages, it could be an easy read for many but for younger readers, could be a good challenge as there are many large words in there, depending on ability of course.
It's quite a basic storyline and actually there isn't much characterisation of the titular character which doesn't really help if that's what you want to research. I understand that there are other novels with this character in though.
I decided to approach reading it by imaging it as a production and I think it works well that way.
There are lots of characters and the description of them and the action certainly come alive this way. At only 127 pages, it could be an easy read for many but for younger readers, could be a good challenge as there are many large words in there, depending on ability of course.
It's quite a basic storyline and actually there isn't much characterisation of the titular character which doesn't really help if that's what you want to research. I understand that there are other novels with this character in though.
November 11, 2023
The Celestial Toymaker es uno de las decenas de episodios incompletos/perdidos de Doctor Who que, gracias a las novelizaciones de Target, podemos disfrutar sin aguantar las aburridas reconstrucciones (me encuentro enormemente agradecida por ellas, ojo, pero eso no implica que no se sientan como un aburrido pase de diapositivas del PowerPoint).
El libro no está mal, los autores logran amenizar un poco los soporíferos eventos del capítulo. No tengo mucho más que decir, ni bueno ni malo. El problema de las novelizaciones de la etapa clásica es que no aportan nada nuevo al serial original, es simplemente una novelización del guion.
En resumen, el libro está bien para “ver” el serial, si no quieres ver lo que queda del serial.
P.D: Solo 3 de los 4 capítulos del serial están perdidos, la última parte sobrevivió el paso del tiempo. ¡Ah! Y si quieres más contenido de Doctor Who en español puedes seguirme en redes sociales como ValeryValWho o en mi canal de YouTube ValeryVal :)
El libro no está mal, los autores logran amenizar un poco los soporíferos eventos del capítulo. No tengo mucho más que decir, ni bueno ni malo. El problema de las novelizaciones de la etapa clásica es que no aportan nada nuevo al serial original, es simplemente una novelización del guion.
En resumen, el libro está bien para “ver” el serial, si no quieres ver lo que queda del serial.
P.D: Solo 3 de los 4 capítulos del serial están perdidos, la última parte sobrevivió el paso del tiempo. ¡Ah! Y si quieres más contenido de Doctor Who en español puedes seguirme en redes sociales como ValeryValWho o en mi canal de YouTube ValeryVal :)
April 16, 2025
I've heard of Doctor Who but have never really been interested in it, despite the huge fan base. I don't really know a lot about the books and even less about the tv series. For me, Doctor Who falls in that category of BORING along with Star Trek and Star Wars--I know just enough about them that I don't need to delve deeper.
I found this book at the library and said, well let me give it a try. NOPE--I hated it! It was boring, confusing, and just not for me. It's space, time travel, and sci-fi--right off the bat 3 genres I don't really like and only read for challenges!
The only thing that I liked about this book--144 pages. I was able to make it through it quickly. This book was a little confusing for me, it had clowns in it, an evil magician and I have no clue what TARDIS is. Maybe because this was like #111 in the series and I've never read any of these helped with my confusion. Oh well, needless to say, I read it, didn't like it, and won't read anymore unless it is for another challenge 🤣
I found this book at the library and said, well let me give it a try. NOPE--I hated it! It was boring, confusing, and just not for me. It's space, time travel, and sci-fi--right off the bat 3 genres I don't really like and only read for challenges!
The only thing that I liked about this book--144 pages. I was able to make it through it quickly. This book was a little confusing for me, it had clowns in it, an evil magician and I have no clue what TARDIS is. Maybe because this was like #111 in the series and I've never read any of these helped with my confusion. Oh well, needless to say, I read it, didn't like it, and won't read anymore unless it is for another challenge 🤣
February 8, 2021
Somewhere between a 3 and a 4 for me. I do find it hard to rate, as I find the ideas in this book quite fascinating, as it tends towards a touch metaphysical with the being encountered, and reference other like beings. But the actual scenes / characterisation don't necessarily back up the ideas as well as they could.
It is a troubled story production wise, which has likely borne out in this, but does detract from what could have been a great story I think.
I do think though that this story does show that Steven and Dodo as a pair of companions don't really work that well together, instead they tend to grate on me during this book.
The Doctor not as present in this book, but handled pretty well I think, and some of the side characters are interesting, and can be somewhat sad reading about them, depending on how one interprets their background.
It is a troubled story production wise, which has likely borne out in this, but does detract from what could have been a great story I think.
I do think though that this story does show that Steven and Dodo as a pair of companions don't really work that well together, instead they tend to grate on me during this book.
The Doctor not as present in this book, but handled pretty well I think, and some of the side characters are interesting, and can be somewhat sad reading about them, depending on how one interprets their background.
February 6, 2023
Doctor Who : The Celestial Toymaker (1986) by Gerry David and Alison Bingeman is the novelisation of the seventh serial of the third season of Doctor Who. The Doctor’s companions are Dodo and Steven.
The TARDIS is grabbed by a supremely powerful being who subjects the Doctor and his crew to a series of games where if they lose they will be his toys forever. It’s a bit of a contrived setup and it’s a bit irritating. Greatly powerful beings like the Toymaker or Q usually are difficult to do well. The Doctor features very little in the story.
It’s really one for hard core fans. It doesn’t work well.
The TARDIS is grabbed by a supremely powerful being who subjects the Doctor and his crew to a series of games where if they lose they will be his toys forever. It’s a bit of a contrived setup and it’s a bit irritating. Greatly powerful beings like the Toymaker or Q usually are difficult to do well. The Doctor features very little in the story.
It’s really one for hard core fans. It doesn’t work well.
December 11, 2023
60th anniversary read through. It was interesting that I reached and finished this book the same weekend as the 3rd and final 60th anniversary story, the Giggle, which is a sequel and follow up to this story. It also finished my reading challenge for the year, although I’m not done reading for the year yet. It is not a great story, but has more importance due to the 2023 story. Onward to the very poorly rated and one of the least favorite stories of Doctor Who, The Gunfighters, Target #101. At least reading it I don’t have to listen to the music! It is unfortunate that The Celestial Toymaker is lost, rather than the Gunfighters.
August 23, 2021
On the one hand, it's a fairly uninspired retelling with very little in the way of new content and what does happen on television is related without much of the description that a novel allows (although I did like the Toymaker's study merging into space). On the other, it edits out one of the racial slurs present in the original, which gives it more going for it than An Unearthly Child's novelisation, at least, even if some elements of the Toymaker himself are still questionable. Ah well, I like the weirdness of the story even if this is a bit of a let-down as a novelisation.
March 12, 2020
This is certainly an enjoyable adaptation of what seems to be a fairly weak story, plot-wise. Like several of Hartnell's stories, this is basically a 1 scene per episode story ( Keys of Marinus is another). Presumably William Hartnell was on holiday for 2 weeks, as only the Doctor's hand is seen for 2 episodes and he has no lines. I'd love this story to be found though - I imagine Michael Gough's performance was the highlight of the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 11, 2021
An entertaining tale, which shows the potential for creative concepts in writing for Doctor Who. The characters like the clowns Josh & Clara had potential , as did the Heart family; but were played for laughs and lacked any threat or menace. Cyril was a much better villian. Think of it like playing a game against The Joker.
I like the surreal elements of this story, it's like an episode of The Twilight Zone.
I like the surreal elements of this story, it's like an episode of The Twilight Zone.
October 16, 2023
Given that the "cover" of the kindle edition looks like a photograph of the original 1986 book, and the formatting is a bit higgledy piggledy, methinks that Target Books delved into the archives to find a physical copy, and then scanned it in, in a hurry.
A cheeky economic decision, but I can't blame them. As it isn't available to watch, being one of the "lost stories", and even the original paperback from 1986 is £50+, making an ebook available lets the fans read the original story ahead of Neil Patrick Harris's appearances as the Toymaker in the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials.
Not, however, a great work of literary merit.
A cheeky economic decision, but I can't blame them. As it isn't available to watch, being one of the "lost stories", and even the original paperback from 1986 is £50+, making an ebook available lets the fans read the original story ahead of Neil Patrick Harris's appearances as the Toymaker in the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials.
Not, however, a great work of literary merit.
December 9, 2023
bad scan, decent story
Ready for the next 2023 Toymaker story? This book introduces a villain with great potential. I vaguely remember watching a video reconstruction of this serial and the novelization is a quick refresh. In novel form, this is a slog to read through because this story depends on its visuals in relationship to its villain.
The editor slept through the scan - bad formatting, typos and mis-scans abound.
Ready for the next 2023 Toymaker story? This book introduces a villain with great potential. I vaguely remember watching a video reconstruction of this serial and the novelization is a quick refresh. In novel form, this is a slog to read through because this story depends on its visuals in relationship to its villain.
The editor slept through the scan - bad formatting, typos and mis-scans abound.
January 29, 2024
I saw the 2023 special "The Giggle" before listening to the audiobook version of this story. The audiobook was really interesting since it uses the original audio from the Doctor Who serial. This is one of the lost episodes of Classic Doctor Who. Since it used the show's original audio, it felt more like a radio drama than a novel. I enjoyed it.
November 13, 2018
Skip it.
November 16, 2024
This is better than what remains of the TV version and if you don't look at the front cover you can avoid the racist overtones.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews