The Doctor has suddenly turned invisible - what great power could have caused it? The TARDIS has arrived in the domain of the Toymaker. Let the games begin.
Watch the only existing episode - The Final Test - on BBC iPlayer:
Or purchase the recent DVD or Bluray with all four episodes animated:
Rate and review the story below:
This is an interesting one. It has some fun ideas but unfortunately it does not deliver that much in the end. It might have been better if we could see it. I still feel like this gave inspiration to the more mystical side of the show.
I was not a fan of the animation style and prefer the telesnaps of this.
This is definitely one of these stories that I like the idea of more then the actual story. And if I’m in the mood for that type of story, I’d probably watch The Mind Robber instead…
Time for my 1600 word defence of this story which was originally written when I noticed the tide of fandom turning against the story (when it had usually been seen as a highlight of the Hartnell era due to the fascination with the character of the Toymaker).
Cool idea, but sadly it just doesn’t have enough content to justify 4 episodes. So much noisy filler.
The animated version is better, but not by much.
If it wasn’t so bad, it would just be forgettable.
I watched the animated version. I did not like it.
I thought it was okay, giving it a 6/10. Michael Gough as the Toymaker does a good job, giving the story an interesting villain. It also gives the companions something interesting to do. However, I do agree that the plot is repetitive and subpar.
I also think that this episode has a great deal of interesting trivia to go along with it, like Peter Purves’ bad luck with the Trilogic Game prop, and the fact that the last episode had a continuity announcement that no infringement of copyright was intended. Do you think that Albert Ward did a good job playing The Doctor['s disembodied hand?]
Also, does anyone know the history of Sargent Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs?
I’ll have to check where I read it but I’m pretty sure someone has looked into it and they aren’t specifically based on any specific characters aside from being caricatures of Victorian soldier and cook characters.
I feel like the best video you’re going to get on the subject of the Celestial Toymaker is this one, but I’m not sure how much it talks about Rugg and Wiggs.
This one is Hartnell’s worst Story, easily in my eyes.
I am a big Fan of his Era (if you can’t see from my high and overly long Rambles of some of my favorites), this one just doesn’t work.
Granted, watching the Animation does help it a lot Considering I find it as it is pretty much unpleased to watch, the Animation helps a lot and will probably be my preferred Way to experience this Story in the Future. I love the creative Liberties taken here, having those who are trapped in the Toymaker Realm being actual Toys is a brilliant Choice, which I just adore. The Likenesses of our Tardis Teams are a mixed bag.
As for the Story itself: Where do I begin? I love the Idea, Michael Gough (also famous for playing Alfred from 1989-1997!) does give a great Performance as the Toymaker, he is definitely a Highlight! And the whole Idea is great. That said while it’s ambitious and I do like the Idea, I think at the end this is such a loud, annoying and at times boring Serial.
I like most Ideas on Paper, but this one just feels loud in the worst Way possible for me, at least. There are certainly some Bits to love, but every time I think “Maybe I should watch it again!”, I just end up going with the Mind Robber, which is a better Story that knows its limitations and uses them in the best way possible. This Story does not.
The novelization, which is the most exposure I had to this story, is so shoddily written that it is almost unreadable. No connection between scenes, stuff just happens for no reason, it’s really one of the most piss-poor books I’ve ever read, not just in Doctor Who.
It’s not a good story. I love 60s Who with all my heart but having members of the lead cast absent for entire episodes at a time can really get grating. When handled well, they get away with it, like Troughton in The Web of Fear’s second part, but this is just an endless slog of Steven and Dodo playing the most unengaging games and you feel Hartnell’s absence.
The Toymaker himself is probably the most engaging thing about the story and I do love him conceptually, though even with Gough’s performance being as good as it is, the character doesn’t really live up to his potential. I’d love to say he finally gets to in The Giggle but, well, the less said about how he was written there the better.
It’s got the makings of the very worst the era has to offer, yet I can’t score it too lowly after last year’s animation. It’s polishing a turd, sure, but it’s a very nice polish. With the 3D animation you can certainly feel how tight the budget is but it makes up for that and a lot of the story’s issues with its sheer sense of style. From the mixing of styles and look of the toys, to the more perilous games and the Toymaker showcasing his grasp over this reality, I found myself engaged - no - engrossed watching the animation. That’s really impressive and leaves me with very mixed feelings on the story.
I jumping in here with some support for this story.
It’s a solid 3,5/5 
for me. It did something that felt really special at that point. Pitching the Doctor against what is basically a god (which apparently later he had become…) wielding powers beyond human comprehension.
Watching the recon can be quite rough, especially the scenes in the Toyroom kitchen - so very much noise and yelling and basically no indication of what is going on.
The animation helps tremendously, even if I don’t particularly care for the animation style itself. But the colours add so much to the Toymaker’s realm, and you can get indicators of the true might of the Toymaker that would have been difficult to do with 60s TV technology, and a tight budget.
Michael Gough does a fantastic job in the role of the Toymaker. And having Hartnell become invisible is a quite inspired way to give your main character a week off 
Not one of the greats by any means, but a good story nevertheless that tries to push some boundaries.
I have had a real love-hate relationship with this story over the years.
I loved the novelisation when I read it as a child in the 80s. The idea of the Toymaker and his sinister toys really appealed to me at the time.
Then, I saw the sole surviving episode a few years later and was disappointed. The visuals just didn’t match up with the images in my head that I had gotten from the book. The audio soundtrack wasn’t much better. A lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing. This was one story that really needs the visuals to make it work, even if those visuals are nothing much to write home about.
I finally saw the new animated version last year and, for me, it’s the best version of the story. The visuals here most closely match what was in my head as an 8 year old. The Toymaker here actually seems like the powerful god-like villain he’s supposed to be rather than just a man in some robes.
The story itself is so-so and no amount of animation is going to change that. But, for the Doctor’s first encounter (on-screen at least) with an all-powerful villain, this isn’t a bad effort. 3/5 from me.
Looking at your avatar, that isn’t a massive surprise!
This story is, sadly, one of Hartnell’s weakest.
As others have pointed out, it suffers from having no real plot and just being a set of good and original ideas thrown together to fill out 4 episodes. The Doctor is hardly in it; Steven and Didi are forced to carry the story through a series of overlong and tedious games, and the Toymaker himself, despite a strong performance from the vest cinematic Alfred and an intriguing concept, is much more underwhelming than what received wisdom often claims him to be. Is he one of the Hartnell et greats? No, but he could’ve been.
The three missing episodes really don’t work for us as telesnap reconstructions. The soundtrack needs a visual element to remain engaging, so the animation is the superior version. Still, it doesn’t fit the narrative issues or the annoying characters, of course. I appreciate the experimental nature of the audio, and it actually manages to render some of the games in fun, mind-bending ways, but I’m not a fan of this style overall.
Oh, and this one has easily the most annoying set of supporting characters in all of Who, especially that horrible, racist Cyril kid.
So I’d say the telesnap reconstruction is a 4/10, and the animation is a 5/10.
Just to mention, my comments earlier in the thread are entirely based on the recon. I haven’t seen the animation.
I liked this one when I watched the animated version. I think the animation did a lot for it, otherwise I probably wouldn’t like it as much. It’s not one I’ll come back to for a long time, but it was a fun leap for the series to try something like this, where the doctor is somewhat missing throughout.
It will be interesting if they change something for the audiobook of it that releases later this year.
Is that something they’ve been prone to do? The ones I’ve listened to have been exactly like the print versions.