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Chapter XXIII: Doctor Who: The Animated Series Season 1
The creation of Doctor Who: The Animated Series was primarily due to the shifting demographics of the main Doctor Who show. Under Cartmel and Gaiman, the audience had shifted from being primarily families to being mainly teenagers and young adults. While the viewing figures remained rather stable, many of the executives at NBC felt that they were losing out on some of the potential audience.
Concept art for the proposed NBC-Nelvana Doctor Who animated series.
Nelvana had some interest in creating a Doctor Who show, and their pitch involved a version of the Doctor that was somewhat ambiguous with regards to the incarnation, taking inspiration from multiple different incarnations of the Doctor, particularly the Fourth and Sixth. Nelvana had had some success as of late with the The Magic School Bus series, starring Lily Tomlin, and there were some executives at NBC that worried that their Doctor Who series would bear too many similarities.
Concept art for the "Nelvana Doctor".
In addition, Amblin and Universal still held the rights to the Sixth Doctor and his companions, and amidst a market that seemed to be clamouring for more Doctor Who, there was an interest in putting them to use. Therefore, the decision for NBC, Universal, and Amblin to work together in creating a new animated show aimed primarily at family audiences was an obvious one. By making the show animated, they would not only reduce much of the cost of creating it, but would also give them opportunities for stories that the live-action show did not have.
Production of the show was handed over to Greg Weisman and Dwayne McDuffie. Weisman was fresh off of the Gargoyles TV series, one of Disney’s few financial successes of late, while McDuffie was one of the main writers for the upcoming Warner Comics Doctor Who line. Both would write stories for the show, but two people alone did not a writing staff make.
Thankfully, due to the high profile nature of the franchise, getting in writers was no issue. Weisman tapped husband-and-wife team Michael and Brynne Chandler Reaves, with whom he had worked on Gargoyles. McDuffie contacted John Semper, who had been the primary writer of the now-finished Spider-Man animated series. Soon enough, sixteen stories had been penned for the twenty-six episode first season. Of particular note were the first and last stories, Identity Crisis and The Doctor Must Die!, both of which were given limited theatrical releases.
In addition, it was far easier to bring in more high profile actors to the franchise, especially as now, all that they needed to do was come in and record their lines and get paid. David Bowie would join the cast of Identity Crisis, playing William Shakespeare, joined by Tim Curry and Miriam Margolyes. Bowie’s presence in the cast would help to build some hype around the series, as would the return of Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox.
Marty in his room aboard the TARDIS, taken from Conglomerate, Part One.
Of course, the circumstances around Lloyd and Fox’s returns were more complex. In truth, they would only be voicing their characters in the first and last stories, their roles filled by Dan Castellaneta and David Kaufman in the remainder of the episodes. They would be joined by Pamela Segall-Adlon as Marty’s girlfriend Elyse Parker, and Kate Mulgrew as Agnes Hortensia of Ravenna, the first Doctor Who companion to be from the audience’s past since Victoria Waterfield in the classic series.
Neither Lloyd nor Castellaneta were interested in a second season, so the decision was made to recast, with an alternate Seventh Doctor, firmly establishing the animated continuity as being separate from the live action one.
Marty and his cousin Ernie, taken from Through the Looking Glass, Part One.
A notable return would be Carole Ann Ford, who played the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan at the start of the show, and Peter Purves, who played Steven Taylor. Neither would be reprising their role. Ford would be playing a fashion designer called Zorelle and the Rutan Host’s Great Mother in the story Shakedown, which would also see Terrance Dicks’ return to the show. Purves would be voicing a terrorist in a prequel to one of the serials he featured in, The Ark.
Marty and the Doctor navigate with a lantern, taken from The Brownout. Note the very literal sonic screwdriver.
The series was able to be produced far faster than its live action counterpart, in no small part due to the reduced runtime of the episodes (25 minutes animated vs. 45 minutes live action). The stories were ready for release in the 1997-1998 US television season, making up for Doctor Who’s awkward mid-season placement due to the BBC’s insistence. In fact, the BBC had little to do with the show beyond giving it the green light, and broadcasting it in the UK.
Marty is confused, taken from Educating Agnes.
Season One of Doctor Who: The Animated Series was first broadcast on September 20th, 1997. It received positive reviews.
List of Episodes of Season One of Doctor Who: The Animated Series: (all stories by @The Chimera Virus)
Voice Cast of Season One of Doctor Who: The Animated Series:
The generally positive reviews of the show led to a second season being commissioned, though major cast changes were abound. Though the viewing figures were perhaps not quite as high as NBC or Universal had hoped, they had succeeded in both diversifying the franchise and bringing back much of the family audience that they felt that they had lost. The show was a success.
Part III, Chapter XXIII: "You're Looking Animated!"
"I think that out of all of the different Doctors in all of the canons, the Sixth has to have had the roughest time of it. Think about it, he had to spend decades on Earth without a functioning TARDIS, and even when he fixed it, it rarely hit the right time period. And to top it all off, the poor sucker got killed off twice. Talk about a run of bad luck."
- comment taken from a video titled "Which Doctor had the Roughest Time?"The creation of Doctor Who: The Animated Series was primarily due to the shifting demographics of the main Doctor Who show. Under Cartmel and Gaiman, the audience had shifted from being primarily families to being mainly teenagers and young adults. While the viewing figures remained rather stable, many of the executives at NBC felt that they were losing out on some of the potential audience.
Concept art for the proposed NBC-Nelvana Doctor Who animated series.
Nelvana had some interest in creating a Doctor Who show, and their pitch involved a version of the Doctor that was somewhat ambiguous with regards to the incarnation, taking inspiration from multiple different incarnations of the Doctor, particularly the Fourth and Sixth. Nelvana had had some success as of late with the The Magic School Bus series, starring Lily Tomlin, and there were some executives at NBC that worried that their Doctor Who series would bear too many similarities.
Concept art for the "Nelvana Doctor".
Production of the show was handed over to Greg Weisman and Dwayne McDuffie. Weisman was fresh off of the Gargoyles TV series, one of Disney’s few financial successes of late, while McDuffie was one of the main writers for the upcoming Warner Comics Doctor Who line. Both would write stories for the show, but two people alone did not a writing staff make.
Thankfully, due to the high profile nature of the franchise, getting in writers was no issue. Weisman tapped husband-and-wife team Michael and Brynne Chandler Reaves, with whom he had worked on Gargoyles. McDuffie contacted John Semper, who had been the primary writer of the now-finished Spider-Man animated series. Soon enough, sixteen stories had been penned for the twenty-six episode first season. Of particular note were the first and last stories, Identity Crisis and The Doctor Must Die!, both of which were given limited theatrical releases.
In addition, it was far easier to bring in more high profile actors to the franchise, especially as now, all that they needed to do was come in and record their lines and get paid. David Bowie would join the cast of Identity Crisis, playing William Shakespeare, joined by Tim Curry and Miriam Margolyes. Bowie’s presence in the cast would help to build some hype around the series, as would the return of Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox.
Marty in his room aboard the TARDIS, taken from Conglomerate, Part One.
Of course, the circumstances around Lloyd and Fox’s returns were more complex. In truth, they would only be voicing their characters in the first and last stories, their roles filled by Dan Castellaneta and David Kaufman in the remainder of the episodes. They would be joined by Pamela Segall-Adlon as Marty’s girlfriend Elyse Parker, and Kate Mulgrew as Agnes Hortensia of Ravenna, the first Doctor Who companion to be from the audience’s past since Victoria Waterfield in the classic series.
Neither Lloyd nor Castellaneta were interested in a second season, so the decision was made to recast, with an alternate Seventh Doctor, firmly establishing the animated continuity as being separate from the live action one.
Marty and his cousin Ernie, taken from Through the Looking Glass, Part One.
A notable return would be Carole Ann Ford, who played the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan at the start of the show, and Peter Purves, who played Steven Taylor. Neither would be reprising their role. Ford would be playing a fashion designer called Zorelle and the Rutan Host’s Great Mother in the story Shakedown, which would also see Terrance Dicks’ return to the show. Purves would be voicing a terrorist in a prequel to one of the serials he featured in, The Ark.
Marty and the Doctor navigate with a lantern, taken from The Brownout. Note the very literal sonic screwdriver.
The series was able to be produced far faster than its live action counterpart, in no small part due to the reduced runtime of the episodes (25 minutes animated vs. 45 minutes live action). The stories were ready for release in the 1997-1998 US television season, making up for Doctor Who’s awkward mid-season placement due to the BBC’s insistence. In fact, the BBC had little to do with the show beyond giving it the green light, and broadcasting it in the UK.
Marty is confused, taken from Educating Agnes.
Season One of Doctor Who: The Animated Series was first broadcast on September 20th, 1997. It received positive reviews.
List of Episodes of Season One of Doctor Who: The Animated Series: (all stories by @The Chimera Virus)
- Identity Crisis, Part One
- Identity Crisis, Part Two
- Identity Crisis, Part Three
- Starcrossed
- The Will of Cernunnos
- Shakedown, Part One
- Shakedown, Part Two
- The Fossilist, Part One
- The Fossilist, Part Two
- The Solar Sailors
- Disciples of Hercules, Part One
- Disciples of Hercules, Part Two
- Medical Mystery
- Educating Agnes
- Through the Looking Glass, Part One
- Through the Looking Glass, Part Two
- The Plant That Knew Too Much
- Batter Up!
- Conglomerate, Part One
- Conglomerate, Part Two
- The Brownout
- All the Stars in the Sky, Part One
- All the Stars in the Sky, Part Two
- The Doctor Must Die! Part One
- The Doctor Must Die! Part Two
- The Doctor Must Die! Part Three
Voice Cast of Season One of Doctor Who: The Animated Series:
- The Sixth Doctor – Dan Castellaneta (Christopher Lloyd for episodes 1-3 and 24-26)
- Marty McFly – David Kaufman (Michael J. Fox for episodes 1-3 and 24-26)
- Elyse Parker – Pamela Segall-Adlon
- Agnes Hortensia of Ravenna – Kate Mulgrew
The generally positive reviews of the show led to a second season being commissioned, though major cast changes were abound. Though the viewing figures were perhaps not quite as high as NBC or Universal had hoped, they had succeeded in both diversifying the franchise and bringing back much of the family audience that they felt that they had lost. The show was a success.
- Timelordtoe
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