The Celestial Toymaker was a novelisation based on the 1966 television serial The Celestial Toymaker.
Publisher's summary[]
1986 Target Books edition[]
Somewhere outside space and time there waits the Toymaker, an enigmatic being who ensnares unwary travellers in 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...
1992 Target Books edition[]
THE TOYMAKER NODDED SLOWLY. 'I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU FOR SUCH A LONG TIME, DOCTOR...'
Somewhere outside space and time there waits the Celestial Toymaker, an enigmatic being who ensnares unwary travellers in 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. For in the malevolent wonderland that is the Celestial Toyroom, nothing is just for fun...
Written by Who veteran Brian Hayles, The Celestial Toymaker featured William Hartnell in the role of the Doctor; this novelisation contains a foreword by Gerry Davis which tells of some of the difficulties which faced the cast and crew while making this story.
Chapter titles[]
- Trapped
- Bring On The Clowns
- Snakes and Ladders
- The Hall of Dolls
- Siege Perilous
- The Last Deadly Sister
- Enter Mrs Wiggs and Sergeant Rugg
- The Ballroom
- The Final Test
- Stalemate
Deviations from televised story[]
- The Toymaker's backstory is expanded upon; the Doctor describes him as a native to the same universe as himself, and that he had "lasted" for "thousands of years". He created the Celestial Toyroom himself as "a universe entirely in his own vision". He and his games have allegedly become "notorious" in the universe, where he would "manipulate people and turn them into his playthings".
- The Toymaker is described as wearing a sapphire ring, similar to the Doctor's signet ring, which he uses to control his creations.
- The Doctor tells Steven and Dodo that "this Toymaker" is "immortal, like all toymakers", explaining that "the urge to create toys that are ultimately destructive [was] unfortunately part of [their] universe", such that the world is metaphorically full of "destructive toymakers" like him.
- The cliffhanger leading into The Gunfighters is omitted, with the novel ending on the Doctor's statement that they will encounter the Toymaker again, and his starting to work on teaching Dodo to improve her elocution.
- Additional scenes compare the toys to nuclear weapons.
- Steven likes reading books about military history and recognizes Rugg's army sergeant's uniform as being from the time of the Napoleonic Wars.
- Dodo went to a school where her uniform included a beret, gymslip and black stockings. She was in her living room in her uniform when a man shook his head to let her know that her mother had died, after which she turned away and hid her face as she cried.
- Dodo enjoys ballet and likes winning an argument.
Writing and publishing notes[]
- A foreword by Gerry Davis (Los Angeles, 1985) explains that “for this book version we were able to resurrect some extra material which had to be cut from the TV serial” which he also explains was written hurriedly in an emergency.
- Davis was very keen to get the commission for this, eagerly awaited novelisation, which he then gave to Alison Bingeman.
- Bingeman's credit makes this the first novel in the history of the Target Books series to be written (or, in this case, co-written) by someone who had not either written scripts for Doctor Who or had been part of its production team. In the next few years several other novels by such "third parties" would be published by Nigel Robinson and John Peel.
- The back cover includes colour details of Fantastic Doctor Who Poster Offers!
- The cover for the original Target Books edition features the artwork of Graham Potts.
Additional cover images[]
Cover by Alister Pearson
British publication history[]
First publication:
- Hardback
- W.H.Allen & Co. Ltd. UK
- Paperback
- Target
Re-issues:
- Paperback: Target / Virgin Publishing Ltd. UK December 1992 Cover by Alistair Pearson (£2.50 UK)
Audiobook[]
This Target Book was released as an audiobook on 3 April 2025 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Peter Purves.
The cover blurb and thumbnail illustrations were retained in the accompanying booklet with sleevenotes by David J. Howe. Music and sound effects by Simon Power.
External links[]
to be added