This one episode adventure is obviously
inspired by season 6's The Mind Robber in which the
Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves in the Land of
Fiction and face a number of surreal adventures.
Another clear inspiration is that
childhood Christmas staple- The Wizard of Oz in that the
Doctor and his companions once taken into the Toymaker's
realm temporarily lose their 1960s monochrome.
The monochrome scenes were shot in
colour and then the colour removed in Photoshop. At the
time, the only previous 1960s story had been
Land of the Dinosaurs,
which was all shown in black and white.
The scenes inside and outside the
Toyshop used no sets. They were filmed on a blue
background with the backdrop filled in after.
The giant cards used were (obviously) an
ordinary pack of playing cards.
The story was shot in 2002 but not edited in
time to make the Christmas spot for that year. Rather than have
a Christmas story in the middle of the year, it was decided to
hold it over for December 2003.
The Toymaker's snowglobe was created
entirely in photoshop during the editing process.
Similarly, the silhouttes of the Doctor and his
companions as the Toyshop is destroyed were also painted
digitally.
The Toymaker's spherical monitor is a
white polystyrene ball overlaid with an image from the
story that uses the photoshop filter "spherise".
The Celestial Toymaker first appeared in the
story of the same name in 1965. He was supposed to reappear in a
1986 story The Nightmare Fair, this time battling the 6th
Doctor but the story was never made. He has appeared in numerous
books. The title The Celestial Toyshop was used for a 2nd
Doctor comic in the 1960s.
The story is set in Season 6 due to the
appearance of Zoe Herriot (The Wheel In Space- The War
Games). The story takes place sometime after The Mind
Robber since Jamie mentions the story. Jamie is also
quick to name drop other monsters from the Troughton
era- Ice Warriors and Yeti.
