10 Greatest CGI Moments In Doctor Who History

5. The Toymaker Flat-Packs (The Giggle)

Doctor Who The Giggle
BBC Studios

By the time the 60th anniversary rolled around, CGI technology had expanded wildly since 2005 and so too had the Doctor Who budget. Now under the Disney umbrella, the possibilities were near-endless in what could be achieved. While some uses of CGI left me baffled as to what the hell they were thinking – looking at you, corridor scene in Wild Blue Yonder – others left me equally baffled as to how on earth they managed to achieve it.

This is absolutely the case with the Toymaker’s final moments in The Giggle. After the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors defeat the Toymaker in an epic game of catch, he suddenly begins to flatten and fold up, before falling into his boxed prison. What’s so impressive about this scene is how seamless the merging of real life and CGI is. Neil Patrick Harris is delivering dialogue throughout this transformation which blurs the lines even further. You cannot tell where the practical performance ends and the CGI begins.

To this day, my mind is still boggled by this sequence. Full of the tongue-in-cheek charm so intrinsic to Doctor Who while also showcasing immense skill from the VFX team. This demonstration brought optimism for what Disney Doctor Who would look like moving forward... and then came along Space Babies a few months later.

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Ellie has been part of the WhatCulture team since 2021 where she began as a freelance presenter for the WhoCulture channel. As a diehard Whovian with a BA (hons) degree in Drama and Acting, this role was the perfect opportunity for her to combine her screen presence training with her extensive Doctor Who knowledge. From there, she branched out to various other WhatCulture channels, including TrekCulture, and became a full time Content Producer/Video Presenter in 2023. Ellie is now a regular fixture on both WhoCulture and TrekCulture and has become a well respected public figure within both fandoms, building up a substantial following across her social media platforms and being given the opportunity to represent the channels and the wider communities at several industry events. Her favourite Doctor Who character is River Song and her favourite Star Trek character is Captain Janeway - which tells you everything you need to know about how she approaches her role within a generally male dominated field.