Doctor Who is one of those shows that never really went away, it just left the television. When higher-ups at the BBC who hated science fiction and wouldn’t give the show a better budget despite complaining about it being a low-budget show got their wish and cancelled it, the Doctor’s adventures continued in comics, novels, audio dramas, fan productions, and “Scream Of The Shalka”, an attempt by the BBC to bring it back as a webseries before Russel T. Davies managed to get the show back on the air. I’m still convinced that was him trying to put his Torchwood series out on the back of the Doctor, but that’s a personal theory.
However, the American TV movie that made the mistake of airing on Fox, a network that treats science fiction like dirt in their line-up, wasn’t the only time an attempt was made on this side of the pond to bring the Time Lord back. Canadian animation studio Nelvana, who had fairly decent success with their take on Star Wars with Droids and Ewoks on ABC’s Saturday morning line-up, wanted to take their own shot at The Doctor and his TARDIS. It…wasn’t a very good shot, as the following video by Harbo Wholmes shows us. You’ll think it was a Marvel Studios production by the time this is done.
I want to hear about this Ruby-Spears version. I like Nelvana but Ruby-Spears is one of those animation studios I miss from my childhood. Their action shows were good, but I could see some of the ideas that went into shows like Thundarr The Barbarian and Goldie Gold & Action Jack making good fodder for a Canadian take on Doctor Who.
I’d also like to see that series bible, given the ones I’ve reviewed on this site already. It might be fascinating but we get some idea here what they would have done for The New Doctor Who and I’m not sure it would be a good thing. The script I just want to read for myself, but going over that might be fun as well.
De Kline’s design for the Doctor I was okay with, and happy to hear they wanted to bring K9 back, at least until saw the design they were aiming for. First one looks like one of those chibi plush K9s in Nelvana’s style though still acceptable, but the other forms just don’t feel like K9. The Australian show that was forced to alter him for rights issues felt more like my favorite Companion. Not sure I cared for Raven’s first design either, especially if she’s supposed to be inspired by Ace. The second one he showed looks better, but I don’t know about “hotter”. Not even sure they needed “Opry” or however it’s supposed to be spelled. My rule with these kinds of kiddie mascot characters is “do they contribute to the team?”. I can say “yes” to characters from Godzooki to Scrappy-Doo to even Scott & T-Bob, but some characters don’t work. The little dragon in season two of Filmation’s Flash Gordon and Ferbus from Saban’s Masked Rider both come to mind. Actually forcing an antagonistic relationship with K9 for an actual good reason (Opry would disrupt his circuitry) also seems like a bad idea.
Interesting that the Daleks would be seen flying here, though in this case it was less an advancement of the levitation they showed in their battle with the Seventh Doctor and more flip out gear. I don’t hate it but that’s an odd level of advancement and not something New Who considered. I don’t know if starting with the Doctor’s most dangerous enemy is the right idea, but what were they going to use, the Dominators?
As far as the blue bowler costume making him look “too young”, maybe but he didn’t look any younger than Peter Davidson. In fact he looked a bit older. The other costume we see, the large jacket with big question marks on it, is trying too hard. Not sure what “too American” means, though. Does she mean the clothes don’t look British? How? A new Doctor makes perfect sense, just as it did for Paul McGann. Sylvester McCoy might end up being a decent voice actor, as seen heard in his Big Finish appearances but a new Doctor allows the new show to start from scratch, with the only “burden” from the previous Doctors being story ideas or comments they can use to flesh out the Doctor’s world for a new audience.
About the Time Crusaders: No. They look too Nelvana in their design. Nelvana, like many 1980s studios, had a signature art and animation style, and these guys look like rejects from Rock & Rule or some of their other original productions. For Doctor Who it doesn’t seem right, except maybe for one story arc, not as regular allies.
Bessie (the old car the Doctor tricked out during his third incarnation’s time stuck on Earth with UNIT) having more gadgets? Fits for a kids cartoon on this side of the ocean. It has a top now, which is fine. It’s not too far a change. The TARDIS console designs seen in the video…the nicest thing I can say is it’s better than the Coral or Chibnall console rooms and leave it at that. The second version works better, and my TARDIS design would include a crystal more like this one than the Chibnall design, though Lofts suggesting the console itself using rings sounds more like the Rani’s TARDIS than the Doctor’s. There’s a reason the designs all have a mobile center column and at least for the Doctor’s Type 40 That’s how it should look.
The David Cole version sucks. Just by what it describes (there’s the MCU reference, not Avi Arad) it doesn’t sound like the Doctor. Cole seemed to want to make his own show, which would have been fine AS it’s own show, but as a new Doctor Who it shows how little Cole cared for the source material. Though I’m not completely against the idea of the TARDIS having a functional Chameleon Circuit I can see a lot of complaints about that and I would ultimately side with the fans on that one. Maybe it’s normally a police box, but the Doctor can alter the form manually on special occasions, only for it to resume it’s blue cabinet form the next time it rematerialized. What he wanted to do with “Orson” can @#$%$# off right there. Again, K9 is my favorite Companion and seeing him ruined like that makes me unhappy. We won’t get into what he got wrong with the Time Lords. I’m disappointed it was the budget and merchandising that was the problem and not the re-imagining.
So ultimately I’m actually good with this show not being made. There was just too many changes by the final design and it wouldn’t feel like the same show, something we get too much of today. Too bad, because an animated Doctor Who could be interesting. I still wouldn’t mind seeing the various guides or hearing more about the Ruby-Spears version because I loved their work, but based on what I’ve seen, we dodged a bullet…oh. Sorry, Seven.
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