Doctor Who Episode Review: The Giggle (2023)

Synopsis: The Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) arrive back on Earth and discover everyone seems to be going crazy. With help from UNIT, they learn the human race is being driven insane by a subliminal noise known as "the Giggle." Further investigation reveals long-time Doctor nemesis, the Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris) is behind it. Unfortunately, after thousands of years traveling time and space without a break, the Doctor might be too exhausted to win.


Review: My wife and I still had some time before bed last night after watching the Doctor Who episode Wild Blue Yonder and decided to watch The Giggle as well, knowing it was the last one (at least for now) with David Tennant. After watching it, my opinion was honestly a bit mixed. While I didn't necessarily hate the episode, it also wasn't among my favorites either.

The Toymaker is one of the oldest Doctor Who villains, dating all the way back to when the show was still relatively new, and episodes were shown in black-and-white. However, he also pre-dates my fandom and as someone who only watches the show and doesn't read the comics, etc., I guess I can say it's not a character I particularly have enough familiarity with to understand just how dangerous he is in comparison to an episode with the Daleks or the Cybermen.

In fact, between the Toymaker and bringing back 1980s companion Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford), this episode really did feel like it was made more for die-hard fans rather than casual fans.

I did think the plot was OK other than the lack of familiarity. It was a bit of a social commentary about how people always want to be right (and what would happen if they were) and also reminded me a little bit of a Futurama episode I once saw. Plus, the Toymaker did seem to always be at least one step ahead, which made defeating him seem impossible.

The part about the Doctor "bi-generating" and creating Doctor 15 (Ncuti Gatwa) was kind of weird and a bit confusing. However, I did both enjoy their team up against the Toymaker and how it allowed Tennant's version of the Doctor to finally have a happy ending (while still leaving him available for future episodes if needed). The latter is something my wife especially enjoyed.

Final Opinion: As a stand-alone episode, it was only OK. However, when taken in context with the two episodes that preceded it and the way it introduced the Doctor that will be continuing the series, I think it does a decent job as a transitional episode, and I am now ready to watch the Fifteenth Doctor in his adventures.

My Grade: B+


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Here are some reviews of other Doctor Who episodes:

Doctor Who Episode Review: New Earth

Doctor Who Episode Review: The Woman Who Fell to Earth

Doctor Who Episode Review: Midnight (2008)


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