Welcome to one of the most notorious Doctor Who stories ever made… This one causes great debate for 2 main reasons:
1) It was always considered to be one of the great missing stories. In principle this should be a fantastic story. The idea of a Godlike game-player (that the Doctor has met before in some unspecified adventure) that is bored and just wants a decent opponent to play against. A heavenly toyroom in which the heroes are trapped unless they win games against the Toymaker’s other victims, all of whom are also playing for their freedom. I recall reading the novelisation as a child and loving it. Maybe the terrible writing and actual plot realisation escaped me then but anyone can see how the concept is brilliant in précis.
Unfortunately the central principle of the story is the only thing it has going for it. Steven is the only real driving force. Dodo is just plain, plain annoying. The Doctor is barely there (Hartnell was on another holiday). The script is stilted and irritating and it just holds together very, very badly.
2) Racism – plain and simple. Lets get the big one out of the way first – The use of the N word as part of the rhyme “Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo”. The use of the N word in any context is abhorrent and unacceptable. There are people that say “Yes, but it was acceptable in the 60’s”. No it was not. Ever. Move on.
In isolation, that would be bad enough but the story has an air of unpleasantness that hangs over it. As well as the obvious definition of the word “Celestial” it can also be used as a description of those of a Chinese extraction. If you called the story “The Chinese Toymaker” then that would be decidedly dodgy, in any time. That said, Doctor Who stories loved a double meaning in their title. Yes, the Toymaker is Chinese, but he’s also a celestial being in the traditional sense as well but it makes for an increasingly unpleasant picture.
Additionally, you have a Chinese central character played by a white English actor. Dodgy? Possibly. Definitely open to debate. This is an argument that is alive today – only recently the Iron Man villain, The Mandarin – has been accused of being a racist caricature. Well, if the Toymaker is racist then The Mandarin certainly is, but he’s being released in a multi-million pound film in 2013. This was a story written in 1966.
There are people who argue this story is so racist it should not be considered as “canon” (actually these same people say the same about The Ark). History has shown that Hartnell had a reputation for racism. Does this mean we write off his entire contribution to the show because of it? Maybe. But if you’re willing to write off the Celestial Toymaker and The Ark as canon because of racism but not Hartnell’s entire era then surely that’s hypocritical?
However, lets not kid ourselves that Doctor Who up to this point had been a completely politically correct affair. The Feast of Steven contains (an apparently ad-libbed but equally indefensible) reference to Arabs. There were people blacking up in other stories. None of these things have any place in a British Kids’ TV show.
The reality is this – This is a bloody awful story that completely screwed up a pretty decent central concept. It has one completely outrageous use of an unacceptable word and a lot of dubious crap you’d never get away with today – but also some stuff that is still the subject of the “Is it racist?” debate today. But we have a show that is 50 years old. 50 years is a long time and it is my humble opinion that in that time we will have had some dodgy moments. But dodgy moments in your history can make you what you are because you learn from your mistakes.
I will leave you with a quote from the West Wing (you may have noticed I do that a lot) when the President’s wife is asked if she is embarrassed about the White House’s collection of Vermeil *:
“I’m not embarrassed by the vermeil. It’s not like we spent new money on it.”
CJ reminds her of its notorious history, still Abbey is unfazed
“It’s our history. Better or worse, it’s our history. We’re not going to lock it in the basement or brush it with a new coat of paint. It’s our history.”
The only difference is, vermeil looks quite nice. The Celestial Toymaker is just crap.
*Vermeil is gilded silver. During the 18th century, Jean-Baptiste-Claud Odiot designed many objects of this sort (he was a noted silversmith). These objects were made in England, and during the process, many of the workers were blinded by the Mercury used in the process. Louis XV, had these objects melted to pay for wars against his people. Thus, they are seen as symbols of the oppression that government places on its people and the White House has a large collection of the vermeil, which is quite often used at state dinners, hence being the subject of protest and controversy. It’s not an exact comparison to the racist slur but I think it serves a point about accepting your history and learning from it.
1) It was always considered to be one of the great missing stories. In principle this should be a fantastic story. The idea of a Godlike game-player (that the Doctor has met before in some unspecified adventure) that is bored and just wants a decent opponent to play against. A heavenly toyroom in which the heroes are trapped unless they win games against the Toymaker’s other victims, all of whom are also playing for their freedom. I recall reading the novelisation as a child and loving it. Maybe the terrible writing and actual plot realisation escaped me then but anyone can see how the concept is brilliant in précis.
Unfortunately the central principle of the story is the only thing it has going for it. Steven is the only real driving force. Dodo is just plain, plain annoying. The Doctor is barely there (Hartnell was on another holiday). The script is stilted and irritating and it just holds together very, very badly.
2) Racism – plain and simple. Lets get the big one out of the way first – The use of the N word as part of the rhyme “Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo”. The use of the N word in any context is abhorrent and unacceptable. There are people that say “Yes, but it was acceptable in the 60’s”. No it was not. Ever. Move on.
In isolation, that would be bad enough but the story has an air of unpleasantness that hangs over it. As well as the obvious definition of the word “Celestial” it can also be used as a description of those of a Chinese extraction. If you called the story “The Chinese Toymaker” then that would be decidedly dodgy, in any time. That said, Doctor Who stories loved a double meaning in their title. Yes, the Toymaker is Chinese, but he’s also a celestial being in the traditional sense as well but it makes for an increasingly unpleasant picture.
Additionally, you have a Chinese central character played by a white English actor. Dodgy? Possibly. Definitely open to debate. This is an argument that is alive today – only recently the Iron Man villain, The Mandarin – has been accused of being a racist caricature. Well, if the Toymaker is racist then The Mandarin certainly is, but he’s being released in a multi-million pound film in 2013. This was a story written in 1966.
There are people who argue this story is so racist it should not be considered as “canon” (actually these same people say the same about The Ark). History has shown that Hartnell had a reputation for racism. Does this mean we write off his entire contribution to the show because of it? Maybe. But if you’re willing to write off the Celestial Toymaker and The Ark as canon because of racism but not Hartnell’s entire era then surely that’s hypocritical?
However, lets not kid ourselves that Doctor Who up to this point had been a completely politically correct affair. The Feast of Steven contains (an apparently ad-libbed but equally indefensible) reference to Arabs. There were people blacking up in other stories. None of these things have any place in a British Kids’ TV show.
The reality is this – This is a bloody awful story that completely screwed up a pretty decent central concept. It has one completely outrageous use of an unacceptable word and a lot of dubious crap you’d never get away with today – but also some stuff that is still the subject of the “Is it racist?” debate today. But we have a show that is 50 years old. 50 years is a long time and it is my humble opinion that in that time we will have had some dodgy moments. But dodgy moments in your history can make you what you are because you learn from your mistakes.
I will leave you with a quote from the West Wing (you may have noticed I do that a lot) when the President’s wife is asked if she is embarrassed about the White House’s collection of Vermeil *:
“I’m not embarrassed by the vermeil. It’s not like we spent new money on it.”
CJ reminds her of its notorious history, still Abbey is unfazed
“It’s our history. Better or worse, it’s our history. We’re not going to lock it in the basement or brush it with a new coat of paint. It’s our history.”
The only difference is, vermeil looks quite nice. The Celestial Toymaker is just crap.
*Vermeil is gilded silver. During the 18th century, Jean-Baptiste-Claud Odiot designed many objects of this sort (he was a noted silversmith). These objects were made in England, and during the process, many of the workers were blinded by the Mercury used in the process. Louis XV, had these objects melted to pay for wars against his people. Thus, they are seen as symbols of the oppression that government places on its people and the White House has a large collection of the vermeil, which is quite often used at state dinners, hence being the subject of protest and controversy. It’s not an exact comparison to the racist slur but I think it serves a point about accepting your history and learning from it.