The Celestial Toyroom, (TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Brian Hayles, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1966)., etc.) also known as the Toyroom, (COMIC: The Greatest Gamble [+]John Peel, DWM backup comic stories (Marvel Comics, 1981)., Relative Dimensions [+]George Mann and Cavan Scott, Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor (Titan Comics, 2015).) the celestial toyshop, (PROSE: Divided Loyalties [+]Gary Russell, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).) simply the Toymaker's domain (COMIC: Relative Dimensions [+]George Mann and Cavan Scott, Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor (Titan Comics, 2015)., TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).) or the Toymaker's realm, (PROSE: Divided Loyalties [+]Gary Russell, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).) was a world controlled by the God of games known as the Toymaker, and created by his own will. (TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Brian Hayles, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1966).) The Fourteenth Doctor described it as "a hollow beneath the Under-Universe". (TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
Although it could also be described as a "magic box" and had similar characteristics, (COMIC: Relative Dimensions [+]George Mann and Cavan Scott, Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor (Titan Comics, 2015)., TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).) including being partially controlled by the Toymaker's ring (PROSE: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Gerry Davis and Alison Bingeman, adapted from The Celestial Toymaker (Brian Hayles), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1986).) much as the Doctor's signet ring interfaced with his ship, (TV: The Web Planet [+]Bill Strutton, Doctor Who season 2 (BBC1, 1965).) the Doctor emphasised to Donna Noble that the Toymaker's domain was not a TARDIS. (TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
Nature[]
The Toyroom was seemingly located within the universe, as the barriers that protected the Toyroom, which seemed to completely surround it, separated it from an ordinary starfield; (COMIC: Relative Dimensions [+]George Mann and Cavan Scott, Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor (Titan Comics, 2015).) indeed, when the Toyroom was destroyed following the Toymaker's defeat to the First Doctor, the Toyroom fell away to reveal ordinary space. However, it constituted a "world" of its own (TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Brian Hayles, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1966).) with the Fourteenth Doctor, who dismissed Donna Noble's suggestion that it might have been the Toymaker's "own TARDIS", describing it as "a hollow beneath the Under-Universe, where science is a game". (TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).) During his original visit to the Toyroom, the young Doctor had similarly thought of it as a "bizarre dimension where nothing was logical". (PROSE: Divided Loyalties [+]Gary Russell, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).) By one account, the Toyroom was a sliver of reality that he could occasionally step out of, but he wouldn't survive for long outside of this dimension. This was a result of the rules set down for him in the childhood of the universe. (AUDIO: The Magic Mousetrap [+]Matthew Sweet, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2009).) Outside the Shop was a void; anyone who tried to leave the Shop entered again as if in a loop. The windows could repair themselves. (AUDIO: Solitaire [+]John Dorney, The Companion Chronicles (2010).)
If the Toymaker ever lost a game, he would "pay the price" by losing his Toyroom, which would disappear. He would then have to build another, although he was all right with this as he got bored with the Toyroom after a while. He would, however, destroy the person who caused this. (TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Brian Hayles, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1966).) There was a "part" of his realm which would always endure — albeit in "ruins" — unless the Toymaker himself was destroyed. This part of the celestial toyshop would be his starting point for rebuilding a new Toyroom. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties [+]Gary Russell, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).) By the time of his encounter with the Twelfth Doctor, however, a weakening Toymaker was unable to fully rebuild the Toyroom from nothing, requiring outside material borrowed from the Doctor's TARDIS to do so. (COMIC: Relative Dimensions [+]George Mann and Cavan Scott, Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor (Titan Comics, 2015).)
The Toyroom was filled with toys and traps which the Toymaker used to play against the opponents he brought there, including some toys who would interact with and play against his opponents. Anyone who lost the games became a plaything of the Toymaker forever. (TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Brian Hayles, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1966)., COMIC: The Greatest Gamble [+]John Peel, DWM backup comic stories (Marvel Comics, 1981)., etc.) The Toymaker had complete control over the Toyroom, including its gravity. (COMIC: The Greatest Gamble [+]John Peel, DWM backup comic stories (Marvel Comics, 1981). Page 42.) When the Toyroom began to deteriorate given its vast age, the Twelfth Doctor was also able to exert control over the toys in the Toyroom as the Toymaker's powers began to wane. (COMIC: Relative Dimensions [+]George Mann and Cavan Scott, Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor (Titan Comics, 2015).) Time also had little meaning inside, as the passage of days was indistinguishable from the passage of years. (COMIC: The Greatest Gamble [+]John Peel, DWM backup comic stories (Marvel Comics, 1981). Page 42.)
History[]
Origins[]
According to the First Doctor, the Celestial Toymaker, a native of the same universe as the Doctor, created the Toyroom himself as "a universe entirely in his own vision". He began drawing people in "like flies" to become a part of his world, with him and his games becoming "notorious across the universe". (PROSE: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Gerry Davis and Alison Bingeman, adapted from The Celestial Toymaker (Brian Hayles), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1986).) According to other accounts, the Toymaker predated the Doctor's universe (AUDIO: Black and White [+]Matt Fitton, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2012).) and he became imprisoned in the Toyroom in "the childhood of the universe". (AUDIO: The Magic Mousetrap) The Toymaker later indicated that the Toyroom was "ancient". (COMIC: Relative Dimensions [+]George Mann and Cavan Scott, Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor (Titan Comics, 2015).)
The First Doctor suggested that by the time of his encounter with him with Dodo and Steven, the Toymaker had already "occasionally los[t]" several times, which destroyed his "world" and forced him to rebuild it over again. Indeed, by the time of that battle, the Toymaker claimed that he was "bored with this one" and looking forward to redesigning it from scratch once someone won against him. However, he also indicated that he was a "bad loser" and made a habit of "always destroy[ing] the destroyer". (TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Brian Hayles, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1966).)
Toyroom visited by the First Doctor[]
During his time of wandering the Earth to sample its games, (PROSE: The Nightmare Fair [+]Graham Williams, adapted from The Nightmare Fair, Target Missing Episodes (Target Books, 1989).) the Toymaker lured many people of varying cultures to the Toyroom, transforming them into his "toys"; on one such instance, he led gambler Gaylord Lefevre there on the pretence of private game of cards in a cabin of the paddle steamer Lefevre was travelling in. They passed the Toymaker's collection of people before entering a room to play their game. After the Toymaker transformed Lefevre into a toy after he attempted to cheat the Toymaker, an unknown amount of time passed before the Toymaker lead a Roman soldier into the Toyroom for another game. (COMIC: The Greatest Gamble [+]John Peel, DWM backup comic stories (Marvel Comics, 1981).)
The Toyroom destroys itself, with only a few fragments left drifting in normal space. (TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Brian Hayles, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1966).)
The Toymaker once trapped the First Doctor, Steven and Dodo in the Toyroom and forced them to play games to win their freedom. The travellers eventually defeated the Toymaker, with the effect of destroying the Toyroom; Dodo suggested that this was a desirable end, even though it would mean the destruction of all living things within save for the Toymaker, as she deemed that it was "really a very sad place". The Toymaker initially hoped that the Doctor would sacrifice himself to destroy the Toyroom, but the Doctor found a way to make his final move from within the TARDIS, taking off at the very moment of the Toyroom's destruction. (TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Brian Hayles, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1966).)
White toyshop visited by the Fifth Doctor[]
Despite the Toymaker's earlier claim that he was bored with the present version of the Toyroom and intended to rebuild it very differently, (TV: The Celestial Toymaker [+]Brian Hayles, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1966).) the Toymaker's realm still looked fairly similar, and was populated with largely the same toys, when the Fifth Doctor and his companions were drawn into another tangle with the Toymaker. However, he referred to it as his "celestial toyshop" preferentially, though he did occasionally call it his "toy room". The better part of the Toyroom was a white void, though it contained an area which took the form of a multi-coloured giant chessboard.
(…) as far as he could see the ground was a series of bizarre splashes of colour that seemed random and indistinct. They stretched away in every direction and the furthest ones he could see appeared to be squares. It was like a grotesque, child's version of the countryside, he realised. Like tiny fields, all of differing colours rather than just grass, mustard or turned earth. The corners of each one were marked by vast oak trees that looked dark and aged, vast branches spreading sideways.
When trying to urge the Fifth Doctor to join him forever, the Toymaker confessed that he was unsatisfied with this unoriginal incarnation of the Toyroom, blaming it on the failing imagination of the Rallon part of his gestalt being. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties [+]Gary Russell, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).)
I grow bored of white, Doctor. Next time, I might go for a more rustic look — wooden beams, a coal fire. Something that would fire your imagination. Rallon's has got weary, Doctor. A white void is the best he can do. Pitiful, really.
After the Fifth Doctor won the game, this Toyroom began "breaking up" like a jigsaw puzzle until only ruins were left. The Toymaker ordered the realm to "rebuild" with one word, then left with Stefan for Blackpool, deciding to spend a bit of time on Earth while he waited for the new Toyroom to generate itself. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties [+]Gary Russell, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).)
Indeed, the Toymaker was not based out of any incarnation of the Toyroom when the Sixth Doctor met him in Blackpool. (PROSE: The Nightmare Fair [+]Graham Williams, adapted from The Nightmare Fair, Target Missing Episodes (Target Books, 1989)., AUDIO: The Nightmare Fair [+]Graham Williams, adapted from The Nightmare Fair, The Lost Stories (Big Finish Productions, 2009).)
Toyroom visited by the Eighth Doctor[]
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The Eighth Doctor and Izzy progressed through the Celestial Toyroom after finding that the Toymaker had trapped the area around Stockbridge, going through games of Snakes and Ladders and Hangman before the Toymaker revealed his possession of the Imagineum, which he used to create a duplicate of the Doctor, placing them in a game of gladiatorial chess while Izzy and Maxwell Edison had to navigate a game of mousetrap. The Toyroom began to dissipate after the Doctor used the Imagineum to create a duplicate of the Toymaker, who then began to play against him in a stalemate as he faded back into the Dark Places whence he came from. (COMIC: Endgame [+]Alan Barnes, DWM Comics (Marvel Comics UK, 1996).)
Toyroom visited by the Tenth Doctor[]
The Toymaker once toyed with the Tenth Doctor, some Daleks, the TARDIS, a Cyberman, and an Adipose, while tempting a new victim with the Trilogic Game. (POEM: The Toymaker [+]James Goss, Now We Are Six Hundred (Harper Design, 2017). Pages 32-33.)
Toyroom rebuilt by the Twelfth Doctor[]
The Toyroom confesses to the Twelfth Doctor about the deterioration of the Toyroom. (COMIC: Relative Dimensions [+]George Mann and Cavan Scott, Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor (Titan Comics, 2015).)
When the Toyroom became old and began to break down, the Toymaker feared that he would be "loose in a wild, unforgiving universe", which to him was an "infinite horror". He lured the Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald inside on the pretence of a party invitation from Susan, wanting to steal the TARDIS in order to keep the Toyroom contained. After escaping the clutches of toys based on Amy Pond, Rory Williams, Sarah Jane Smith, Susan, Steven Taylor, Bernice Summerfield, Cinder, K9 and Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, the Doctor and Clara travelled between christmas cards before reaching one with Krampus, who chased them through Candy Land and Snakes and Ladders until the Doctor was able to charm the snakes from the game with his recorder to ensnare the mythological beast. The Doctor and Clara found themselves in a room with a massive Christmas tree when the Toymaker began flying towards them in a toy biplane, which the Doctor crashed by controlling a bauble to collide with it.
The Toymaker attempted to trap the Doctor and Clara in a box made of playing cards, then they battled with armies made of toys: the Doctor controlled a Voc robot, a Daffodil Man Auton, a playing card based upon the Tenth Doctor, Bessie, K1, and plastic soldiers, while the Toymaker controlled peg dolls, the toy Susan and Alistair, a vicious teddy bear, a toy robot, a rocking horse, nutcrackers, a clown jack in the box, and a dragon. After realising they were equally matched, the Doctor instead challenged him to a game of Truth or Dare, allowing the Toymaker to "win" the TARDIS. After it materialised around the Toyroom, the Doctor rebuilt it with the Zero Room and the jettisoned it into space, allowing the Toymaker to have his "magical toy box". (COMIC: Relative Dimensions [+]George Mann and Cavan Scott, Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor (Titan Comics, 2015).)
Domain encountered by the Fourteenth Doctor[]
The corridors within the Toymaker's domain as visited by the Fourteenth Doctor. (TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
While visiting the edge of the universe, the Fourteenth Doctor invoked the superstition of salt to hold back the Not-things, (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One, 2023).) the initiation of a game that resulted in the Toymaker being able to "find his way into reality". Entering N-Space in 1925, he had his "domain", now contained within a red toybox, manifest as a dimensionally-transcental toyshop in Soho, "Mr Emporium". Though the storefront appeared normal, the back of the shop was a labyrinth of wooden corridors, with a different twisted toy behind each door. After winning a game against the Fourteenth Doctor within his domain, the Toymaker decided to set their third game in 2023. While he directly transported himself forwards in time, the toyshop folded in on itself until only the box was left.
The Doctor and Donna Noble took it with them to the 21st century, where they left it in UNIT's care. Manifesting doors similar to those within the toyshop, the Toymaker temporarily superimposed his domain over the UNIT building, making it controlled by the rules of play. However, after losing the final game to the bi-generated Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors, the Toymaker had to accept the forfeit of being "banish[ed] from existence forever"; as his own power turned against him, he was flattened into a folded cardboard figure, and trapped within the red toybox by Melanie Bush. Kate Stewart then ordered the box taken to the "deepest vault" and "bound in salt". However, the Toymaker's domain "lingered" over the UNIT building for a few minutes more, leaving in a "state of play" which made it possible for the Fifteenth Doctor to bi-generate his TARDIS by whacking it with a mallet. (TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)