The Doctor opens his eyes and rubs his head. He’s feeling very groggy, as if he’s been ripped through time. He looks at his surroundings and sees an explosion of colours – bright green grass, a deep blue sky, a yellow brick road, and in the distance, almost as if it has been painted there, an emerald city. Frowning, the Doctor stands up. Everything here is flat and two dimensional and flickering vaguely, as if the whole world around his is a projection. The Doctor sees a young girl standing next to him. She’s dressed in a blue and white chequered dress, and has her dark hair in bunches. She looks at him and smiles. ‘Look Toto,’ she says. ‘He must be the Wizard of Oz.’ The Doctor looks at her, quite stunned. ‘What? What? What!?!’

 

 

Martha walks into the console room and catches her breath. It looks like Santa’s grotto. Well, more like Santa’s grotto, she should say. The Doctor has reprogrammed the TARDIS to display Christmas decorations, but in true Doctor style, it’s really overboard. Lights, baubles and tinsel everywhere! But no Doctor. Maybe he’s popped out to get her some Christmas presents. No, hang on; someone is crouched behind the console. She walks round to see … a lion? But not just any lion – the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz. And he’s scared.

 

The Doctor is trying to think what has happened. He was travelling in the TARDIS with Martha – check! Reprogramming the TARDIS console room interior design to include decorations, lot of – check! Hit by a huge wall of psychic energy – check! Then he woke up here, in this two dimensional, projected world, surrounded by characters from ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ In fact, he remembers thinking that the film is always on at Christmas, even on Kallandra Prime! Someone has trapped him here, someone powerful enough to penetrate the TARDIS, someone who has a grudge with him. So there are at least a hundred or so possibilities… ‘Dorothy,’ the Doctor chirps. ‘I’m betting you’re going to the Emerald City. Best get started!’

 

 

Martha smiles her nicest smile. She’s often worked hard on her bedside manner, mainly though she thought she’d be using it on patients rather than 2D projections of fictional characters, but then she never expected to be travelling around the universe with an alien in a police box! The Cowardly Lion has eventually managed a smile back. He’s a little embarrassed though. Martha tries to lay a reassuring hand on his shoulder, but it passes straight through. Just as she suspected – he’s an image, and shouldn’t really exist, but he does. So if he’s supposed to be in the film and the Doctor is here; but if he’s here and the Doctor isn’t, then maybe – just maybe – the Doctor is in the film. She smiles again at the Lion and says she’ll be back in a minute as she runs off towards the TARDIS library.

 

Martha looks at the screen. She found the Wizard of Oz, the ‘classic’ version as the Doctor calls it, in the TARDIS library. She’s put it into the TARDIS console, and it played! She can see Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow and … the Doctor! She shouts at the screen to see if the Doctor can hear her, and to her surprise he turns to face the screen. The Doctor presses himself against the screen and explains to her that a very powerful enemy has trapped him inside the 1939 film ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ Yes, the one with Judy Garland. Yes, and that witch. Oh, and yes, those flying monkeys. And not just that copy, but every copy of the film. Martha thinks that the Doctor has some very bizarre enemies. The Doctor asks Martha to get the TARDIS to scan the DVD to see if it can locate the source of the trap. She needs to land the TARDIS there to see whether she can free him. He’s depending on her. He smiles at her, and she suddenly feels that if the Doctor needs her help, then she’ll succeed.

 

 

The Doctor feels a sharp pain in his backside and spins around to see the Wicked Witch of the West. ‘Oh,’ he grins. ‘I’ve always wanted to meet you!’ giving her a peck on the cheek. The Doctor is thrown back violently by a wave of energy, tumbling him to the floor. She says that she has waited for the Doctor for a long time. The Doctor suddenly realises that the Witch is more than just another character. There’s something very dangerous about her. She says that this is revenge from her master, an old adversary the Doctor should never have crossed. The Doctor asks her for a clue as to exactly which one, but his joke is lost on her. She has a challenge for him. He needs to get his companions to the Emerald City – simple really. But there is a catch – he is now a character here too, and can die just as easily as any other. It makes no difference how he thinks it ends – anything can happen. The Doctor has fallen silent, and Martha tries to talk to him, but he can’t hear. The Witch has blocked him from talking to outside the film.

 

The TARDIS materialises inside a space station. Martha and the Cowardly Lion exit to see that the space station appears to be a museum – this section appearing to be about pop culture in the early ‘Microchip Age’ as they call it. With the Doctor trapped, and Martha stranded on a space station, things couldn’t get any worse. Still, at least she’s standing right next to a James Bond waxwork!

 

 

The Doctor has managed to get Dorothy and the Scarecrow to loosen up the Tin Man. He has used the sonic screwdriver to disintegrate the rust that has frozen him, saying that they don’t have time to use the oil can. He says that they can now make their way towards the Emerald City, so that Dorothy can get back to Kansas, the Scarecrow can get a brain, well a diploma, and the Tin Man a heart! And he can get face-to-face with whoever has trapped him here. His face turns from a look of thunder to a smile as he says to his companions that they need to follow the Yellow Brick Road. ‘And watch out for flying monkeys!’ he adds.

 

 

Martha hears a commotion behind her and sees a party of alien visitors being led into the room. The Lion has disappeared – scared obviously – leaving Martha to face the curator. After a few feeble, but apparently accepted, excuses, the curator moves on the talk to his party about some 21st Century films. Martha notices the Lion is here, but he’s in one of the reflective panels near to her. He explains that he can hide in the reflections, and he’d prefer to stay here for the moment. Something steals Martha’s attention. It’s a chrome bust of a man dressed as a Chinese Mandarin. It seems real, for some reason, as if the bust itself has a mind. The plinth beside it reads ‘The Celestial Toymaker’. A voice beside her says that the Celestial Toymaker was once a great and powerful man who used to trap space travellers in his games. There are stories that he was immortal, until he was defeated by one of the travellers he trapped. After that, his powers seemed to fade away and he was no more. This whole space station – celebrating entertainment across the centuries – was built according to his last wishes.

 

 

Martha realises something. She asks whether this traveller used to travel in a big blue box and go by the name of ‘the Doctor’… The alien beside her, who has been talking to her, says that yes, he thinks he was… A loud screaming sound penetrates the room as a tear opens in the fabric of space, right in front of her eyes. Alien creatures emerge from the gap. They are nothing like anything she’s seen before. Spindly creatures with a huge spade shaped head, and a huge black eye that seems to stare right into her mind. The creatures strike at their nearest prey, the curator, killing him, and forcing the rest of them into a corner of the room. They then examine the TARDIS very closely indeed.

 

The Doctor realises that the Yellow Brick Road leads into a dark forest. The Doctor reads a sign: ‘Haunted Forest. Witches Castle 1 mile’ ‘I’d turn back if I were you.’ Reads Dorothy, really scared. The Doctor grins ‘One of my favourite bits!’ Just as he’s about to lead them on towards the castle, he’s grabbed by flying monkeys and whisked into the sky.

 

 

Martha is crouched next to a large creature she knows to be a Raxacoricofallapatorian. She’s heard the story of how the Doctor (and Rose – sigh!) faced them in Downing Street and then Cardiff. She’s heard how powerful they are supposed to be. Still, it’s making no effort whatsoever to challenge the monsters. Two of the monsters are feeling the TARDIS, trying to find a way in. The third is looking directly at one of the museum visitors, who is screaming and holding his head. Someone else who’s sitting next to Martha says that the monsters are called the D’Akora – aliens with the ability to strip back people’s minds with a stare of their eye. Martha needs a distraction to get close to that bust of the Toymaker. She’s sure it has something to do with the trap, and she’s gonna smash it to bits. She wonders what could distract or scare monsters who’d scare even a Raxacoricofallapatorian. Martha smiles – she’s got just the man!

 

 

The Doctor faces the Witch as she looks down at her captive. The Witch says that this was even easier than she suspected. Behind the Witch three dark shadows creep forward. It’s the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Dorothy. But it’s too late – the Witch has seen them. She spins around and sets fire to the Scarecrow. ‘That’s my cue!’ says the Doctor as he throws water at the Witch. ‘I’m melting!’ she screams as her body fades into steam.

 

Martha tells the Lion he can do it! He’s 2D – they can’t hurt him. And more importantly they can’t read his mind – he’s a fictional character. She asks him to be brave – just for her! The Lion appears in front of the nearest D’Akora, who immediately tries to fix him with its eye. The monster recoils back as it is confused as to the emptiness of the Lion’s mind. Martha grabs the James Bond statue and says ‘Time to save the Universe, Mr Bond’ and smashes the bust of the Toymaker, shattering it.

 

 

An alien stands where the Witch was. It’s an Elosiaki. It all fits together now. The alien is from a race that exists only in two dimensions. The Elosiaki says that he was forced by the Celestial Toymaker into creating this trap – to allow a 3D captive to exist in a 2D world. He says the Doctor is needed – he can go home now. The Doctor looks confused. The alien points to the Doctor’s feet. ‘Ah!’ realises the Doctor – ‘Red trainers!’ Clicking his heels three times, the Doctor fades, waving to his friends. ‘Brilliant to meet you all!’ he says. But they cannot see him anymore.

 

The Doctor appears where the Lion was standing. The three D’Akora are staring at him, suddenly confused. They fix their stares on him and try to peel open his mind. The Doctor closes his eyes in deep concentration. He tells Martha to open the TARDIS doors and get everyone safe outside the room. Martha gets everyone outside the room as she sees the Doctor doing his best to hold off the three D’Akora. With Martha and the visitors safe, the Doctor runs into the TARDIS, followed closely by the D’Akora.

 

The Doctor is inside the TARDIS and looks directly at the D’Akora. They start to scream and back slowly away from him. He tells them that he’s much stronger in here – he’s linked up to the TARDIS inside his mind. He wonders how they like their minds being stripped away as they have done to others. A small rift appears within the TARDIS and the D’Akora flee.

 

 

Soon after, the Doctor and Martha are sitting in the TARDIS. Martha is putting some baubles on the tree. The Doctor says that the TARDIS could have done that, but Martha says it needs her touch! The TARDIS’s taste is a bit … old fashioned. ‘See what your fashion taste is like when you’re over 1000!’ replies the Doctor. Martha asks what happened to the D’Akora. The Doctor explains that the D’Akora exist in another dimension and are attracted to sources of psychic energy, just like the TARDIS. Inside the TARDIS he could defeat them, but he says that outside it’s a different matter. He hopes they don’t meet them again. Martha asks whether the Celestial Toymaker will try to trap the Doctor again. The Doctor says that the Toymaker has faded from time and space. The trap was a last chance for revenge. And it would have worked if it wasn’t for Martha! ‘And some friends…’ Martha adds.

 

The time travellers look at the screen so see Dorothy, the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man merrily dancing down the Yellow Brick Road through the Land of Oz...

 

Toymaker sculpt by Neil Sims

 

‘The Wizard of Oz’ and all characters copyright MGM.

This story is a homage to the wonderful film and the creative team who created it!

 

Merry Christmas!