The time travelers leave The Ark, only to discover that The Doctor has now become invisible. The Tardis lands inside the Celestial Toymaker's domain. The Toymaker forces The Doctor to play the Trilogic game for his freedom. Meanwhile, Steven and Dodo are forced to play several games simultaneously, with the object of retrieving the Tardis.
The Doctor is unseen through much of this story, being made invisible by the Toymaker, with the exception of his right hand, which allows The Doctor to continue to play the Trilogic game. Thus, it falls to Steven and Dodo to mostly carry this story. The games that Steven and Dodo are forced to play are mostly kid's games. The Toymaker's minions, however, will try to cheat or play underhanded which presents a challenge to Steven and Dodo. They also have a time limit as well, as they must finish their games and retrieve the Tardis before The Doctor finishes the Trilogic game. The Toymaker will also sometimes speed things along, jumping The Doctor ahead several moves, thus cutting down the time that Steven and Dodo have to complete their task.
Most of the Celestial Toymaker is missing, with the exception of the fourth and last episode. Therefore, I chose to view the reconstructions for episodes 1-3, and the actual fourth episode on DVD. I did enjoy the character of the Toymaker played by Michael Gough. Gough is, of course, best known for playing the butler Alfred Pennyworth in the Batman films from 1989-1997. Gough makes the Toymaker into a great villain, and someone worthy to match wits with The Doctor.
Outside of the Toymaker himself, I wasn't as overly enamored of the rest of the story. Steven and Dodo's games simply felt like distractions, when I was much more interested in the battle of wits between The Doctor and the Toymaker. Sadly, there really isn't much to this battle of wits, as The Doctor is invisible through most of the story.
The Celestial Toymaker is one of those stories that must have sounded clever on paper, but just doesn't come off in the final product. It really doesn't help matter with The Doctor missing in action for a major portion of the story. I will give this story a slight nod above The Ark, however and that's simply because of Michael Gough's wonderful portrayal of the sinister Toymaker.
