Fair point. I had forgotten that.
New Doctor Who animated series announced but...
- Thread starter Rich Watson
- Start date
There's no reason to assume a Doctor Who cartoon for preschoolers would use any existing Doctor, since after all the preschoolers would have no prior knowledge of the series. Given the precedents of Scream of the Shalka and the 1990 Nelvana animated series pitch, I think there's a good chance they'd create their own original version of the Doctor, maybe with an amalgam of attributes from past Doctors. There's a good chance their Doctor would wear a long, colorful scarf.
Looking at the pitch document it's purely a BBC production, no Bad Wolf involvement, so very much its own thing.
And will probably end up closer to the original educational aspirations of the series than it's been in 60 years.
And will probably end up closer to the original educational aspirations of the series than it's been in 60 years.
Doctor the Explorer?
For anyone who doesn't want to click through, the part relevant to people who don't run an animation studio is the Editorial Brief:The actual pitch document for the series is publicly available to read. So don't trust anyone claiming to know what it's about since it's being left wide open.
Doctor Who pre-school animation: invitation to pitch
Deadline for initial responses: 10 July 2025www.bbc.co.uk
Doctor Who is an iconic character with a 60 year history within British TV and culture, who is also known around the world. In addition to the flagship live-action series there have also been many Whoniverse extensions for both core audiences and those of a different demographic including Class for BBC Three and The Sarah Jane Adventures for CBBC.
We are commissioning a new animated Doctor Who series for CBeebies. This interpretation of Doctor Who should be appropriate for the CBeebies audience. We are keen to retain the following attributes. The Doctor:-
- is hugely intelligent, especially with scientific knowledge
- is aspirational for our audience
- travels through time and space saving individuals, civilisations, and planets
- is an alien with two hearts from the planet Gallifrey
- has a strong moral compass
- avoids physical combat, relying on intelligence, humour, and diplomacy to resolve conflicts
- has a TARDIS and a Sonic Screwdriver which should feature in the series
The Doctor will attract a range of friendly and relatable companions who join in on the adventures and provide additional points of view as they collectively solve problems.
It also wouldn’t be Doctor Who without villains and monsters, but these should be more mischievous or bumbling, rather than menacing, and provide the Doctor with challenges that can be overcome in a non-threatening way. A list of existing villains and foes for you to choose from will be provided to suppliers who register to pitch.
We are open to your vision of animation style – or styles – that allow you to bring Doctor Who to life for a younger audience of 4- to 6-year-olds. The order is for 52 x 11’ episodes but we are open to exploring 2-parters where this would benefit the narrative. When developing your proposal please also consider additional suggestions for new ways to engage the audience and strengthen brand loyalty.
We are looking for creative and talented producers who are passionate about Doctor Who and can re-envision the character and world for a younger audience. The stories should be simple, adventurous, and energetic with empowering messages woven seamlessly into the plot. Moral lessons and educational themes could also be introduced, but never to the detriment of fun, action, and age-appropriate humour.
52 11-minute episodes is a total of about 9 and a half hours. That is spread over two years, so it's not quite going to make for more pre-school Doctor Who than flagship Doctor Who these past few seasons.
I'm at once intrigued and mortified to imagine a "mischievous and bumbling" Dalek. "Ir-ri-tate! Ir-ri-taaaate!"
I HAVE DROPPED THE TIME DES-TRUCT-OR!! WHOOPS! I HAVE FAILED!
Visions of the Marvel Comics days with the Thanos-Copter.
Doctor Who-Well here we go. The long way round…..
I do think this a great character brief for the Doctor! No notes from me.
Or "Seek loc-ate ed-u-cate!"
I'm nonplussed by this, that's if it actually goes ahead.
Star Trek, Star Wars, TMNT, and Batman each had either child-friendly, or family-oriented, animation show.
After that, each of those franchises would have their most mature live-action iterations yet.
So, I don't have a concern that this animated series will be the way of things moving forward.
If anything, it's just the BBC wanting to keep the franchise breathing.
My view...just let it rest. Let people miss it.
Star Trek, Star Wars, TMNT, and Batman each had either child-friendly, or family-oriented, animation show.
After that, each of those franchises would have their most mature live-action iterations yet.
So, I don't have a concern that this animated series will be the way of things moving forward.
If anything, it's just the BBC wanting to keep the franchise breathing.
My view...just let it rest. Let people miss it.
"Nonplussed" means confused or baffled, so bewildered by something that you can think of nothing more (non plus) to say or do about it. It sounds to me like you're trying to say the opposite, that you're unconcerned about it.
Personally I think it's probably a good idea, as Doctor Who is a suitable franchise to get young children into and other franchises have been doing things like this for years. There are a ton of DC Universe and Star Wars cartoons for younger children that I'm not even aware of, and they've been happily doing their thing without bothering anyone. Okay, the Batwheels cartoon haunts my nightmares, but other than that they don't bother anyone.
Though when/if Doctor Who comes back to live action, I think what it really needs is another Sarah Jane Adventures to go along with it. A live action sci-fi adventure show in the Doctor Who universe aimed just a little younger than Doctor Who.
I don't think it's entirely coincidence that Doctor Who was at its most acclaimed when Sarah Jane and Torchwood were running alongside it, as it set boundaries for what Doctor Who's tone was supposed to be. Slitheen stories could go to Sarah Jane, jokes about sex with a paving stone were a better fit for Torchwood etc. Church on Ruby Road, Space Babies, Devil's Chord etc. would've been right at home on a more childish show, and probably better appreciated.
Though when/if Doctor Who comes back to live action, I think what it really needs is another Sarah Jane Adventures to go along with it. A live action sci-fi adventure show in the Doctor Who universe aimed just a little younger than Doctor Who.
I don't think it's entirely coincidence that Doctor Who was at its most acclaimed when Sarah Jane and Torchwood were running alongside it, as it set boundaries for what Doctor Who's tone was supposed to be. Slitheen stories could go to Sarah Jane, jokes about sex with a paving stone were a better fit for Torchwood etc. Church on Ruby Road, Space Babies, Devil's Chord etc. would've been right at home on a more childish show, and probably better appreciated.
Yep, that's what I meant.
I wrote "not fussed", and my autocorrect has changed it to nonplussed. Fail to proofread on my part.
Ah, okay.
I don't understand why people even use autocorrect, since it usually seems to be more like auto-incorrect.
Probably because it's on by default and you have to go out of your way to turn it off. The mistakes usually aren't bad enough to push someone over the threshold of finding the setting.
I thought the usual default was just to make suggestions or highlight unrecognized words, not to make changes without permission. But then, I tend to turn off spellcheck and such right away with new software, so maybe I just don't have experience with how it operates.
I'm sure there are at least a few hardcore fans who will check it out no matter what. Hell, I'm a childless adult, and I've been tempted to check out Young Jedi Adventures and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends.
I'm thinking number three is probably the most likely, it's probably best to just let the show do it's own thing off to the side, while the main show goes about it's business. My preference would be 2, but that seems unlikely, although if Big Finish is anything to go by, there are probably a few past Doctors who'd be willing to come back.
That's the usual default on desktop, but on mobile I believe it usually defaults to on.
