Poll: Rate & Review The Celestial Toymaker

As the years go on, this story seems to become less and less well regarded. I remember years ago how people would rave about it, but these days it's pretty much mocked for how 'bad' it is. I really don't think it is, though. I think the biggest problem that this story has is that, as Ex points out, this story is very, very visual. From costumes to sets to the games etc, it really is one of those stories that you have to see to get the full enjoyment from. Unfortunately, the fact that we can't seems to take a lot of the fun out of it.

The plot itself is so adventurous and fresh for the show that I think they could have taken some really crazy ideas and just run with it, but at times it felt quite constrained, perhaps by budget or imagination or even someone higher up telling them to rope it in. It just felt like there was even more story in there and potential ideas just waiting to get out.

The characters are great, though the voice of Clara grates on me every single time I watch the recon. I love Cyril. He's this weird camp joker who looks like he'd be quite fun but he has this air about him that makes it seem like he could murder you at any minute. He is one of the few characters where they really get that tension and menace right. The Toykeeper is also brilliant and one of the classic villains who I would most love to see return in the new series.

In all I've given it a four.