Disney
and the Doctor
by
Arthur E. Vassar
I love
a good mash-up... especially when it involves a couple of my favorite
subjects, Disney and Doctor Who. Suffice it to say I absolutely loved
this mash-up of Disney Princesses as the Doctors (from artist Amy
Mebberson) that came out of the 2012 New York Comic-Con.
There are so
many cool details (especially Rapunzel's hair doubling for Doctor
#4's scarf!) in this picture. Then there is this past years Disney
Heroines as Companions (from artist Karen Hallion), of which this is one image of ten.
It set me to
thinking about whether there were any connections between Disney and
Doctor Who, and there are lots...
Disney
Parks in the Whoniverse
There
are many references in the TV series, audio dramas, and books to
Disney parks. In the
episode “Delta and the Bannerman”, Nostalgia Tours was bringing a
party of Navarinos to Disneyland but they wound up crash landing in
Wales. In the book “Winner Takes All”, the Ninth Doctor
(Christopher Eccleston) told Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) that he was
not impressed with Disneyland and could take her somewhere with real
talking mice. In the book “Urrozdinee”, the titled theme park was
EuroDisney (Disneyland Paris' original name), but in the 22nd
century.
In the
audio drama “The Nightmare Fair”, the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker)
was pondering where he could go on Earth to have good time, so his
companion Peri (Nicola Bryant) suggested Disneyland. In the episode
“The Girl Who Waited”, the Apalapucia quarantine centers
contained a replica of Disneyland on the planet Clom including the
“Warpspeed Death Ride” roller coaster. In the book “Kursaal”,
the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) described the titled planet to
Samantha Jones (only appeared in written form), as a cross between
Disneyland and Babylon 5.
During
the 1970's, the BBC looked into filming a story at Disneyland with
the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) but
these plans were shelved due to budget issues. Even the Doctor's dog
K-9 was not immune to a Disney connection. His live-action/computer
animation series that started in 2010 aired on Disney XD in
the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Poland, Italy and The Netherlands and
Disney Channel CEE in Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, Hungary
and The Czech Republic.
You
say you want a Doctor... tell you what I'm gonna do...
The
Second Doctor, portrayed by Patrick Troughton, played the character
of Roach (one of the pirates attacking the stockade) in the Disney
live-action film Treasure
Island.
Jon Pertwee, who played the Third Doctor, was the in the Disney
live-action film One
of Our Dinosaurs is Missing
as The Colonel. The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) was the guest host, as
the Doctor, in an episode of the television series Disney Time in
pre-filmed inserts introducing clips from Disney shorts and films
(including Blackbeard's
Ghost, Jungle Book, African Lion,
etc. He also appeared as Anatole Blaylock in the Remington
Steele (ABC-TV, owned by Disney)
episode “Hounded Steele”.
The
Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker, no relation to Tom) appeared as Harry
George Chauvel in the Young
Indiana Jones Chronicles
(LucasFilms, now owned by Disney) episode “Palestine, October
1917”. John Hurt who recently was unveiled as The War Doctor (from
the Time Wars storyline) has many Disney connections. Chronologically
they are the live-action film Night
Crossing
(Peter Strelzyk), The
Black Cauldron
(voice of the Horned King), The
Tigger Movie
(Narrator), Valiant
(Felix), and Indiana
Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull
(Professor Oxley). The Ninth Doctor, portrayed by Christopher
Eccleston, was the villain Malekith in the recent Marvel film Thor:
The Dark World. Finally,
David Tennant who portrayed the Tenth Doctor was the voice of Huyang
in two episodes of Star
Wars: The Clone Wars.
You
want more... How about companions and guest stars...
James
Corden (who portrayed Craig Owens) in the Doctor
Who
episodes “The Lodger” and “Closing Time” will be playing The
Baker in the upcoming Disney film of the musical Into
The Woods.
Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) had an uncredited appearance in Evita
(Hollywood Pictures, imprint of Disney) as a girl wanting Juan
Peron's autograph. Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) is going to be playing
Nebula in the upcoming Marvel film Guardians
of the Galaxy.
Alex Kingston (River Song) was in the ABC-TV series Flash
Forward
(playing Fiona Banks) as well as the film The
Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
(Adele) for Miramax (which Disney owned after its release).
Ben
Browder of Farscape
and SG-1
fame did turns for Doctor
Who
(Isaac in the episode “A Town Called Mercy”) and Disney (Eric in
an episode of Grace
Under Fire
(ABC). John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness) was the voice of The
Stranger in the Marvel animated series The
Super-Hero Squad Show.
Bill Nighy, who portrayed Dr. Black in the episode “Vincent and the
Doctor”, was Davy Jones in the Pirates
of the Caribbean
franchise, the voice of Sabre (G-Force) and Slartibartfast
(Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy,
Disney film). Speaking of Hitchhiker's Guide, it was written by
Douglas Adams who also wrote scripts for nine episodes of Doctor
Who
and script edited 20 episodes of the show.
John
Cleese (of Monty Python fame) is the one with the oldest Doctor Who
tie (1979), and many Disney connections. He was a visitor to an art
gallery in the final part of the “City of Death” storyline. His
Disney connections are as follows: The Great Muppet Caper (Neville),
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (Toad's lawyer), George of the Jungle (voice of
Ape named Ape), the Narrator for Mickey's Magical Christmas, Mickey's
House of Villians and House of Mouse; Around the World in 80 Days
(Grizzled Sergeant, Walden Media, distributed by Disney), Valiant
(Mercury), and the Narrator for the most recent Winnie the Pooh film.
Lastly is Neil Gaiman, who wrote the Doctor Who episodes “The
Doctor's Wife” and “Nightmare In Silver”. His 2008 novel The
Graveyard Book
(which won the Newbery award for Best Children's book of the year)
has been optioned by Disney, and it looks to be directed by Ron
Howard.
Finale...
Marvel
Comics (which is owned by Disney) had the comic publishing rights to
Doctor Who in Britain from 1979 to 1996, during which time they
issued Doctor Who Magazine, Doctor Who Special, Doctor Who Yearbook,
Doctor Who Classic Comics, and some graphic novels. This also brought
a chance for the U.S. fans of the Doctor to enjoy him in various
appearances throughout the Marvel Universe (making him know as The
Doctor – Earth 5556).
Let
me close this article by saying that I have surely missed some
actors/actress contributions to this Disney/Doctor Who connection
convention, for that I apologize. But one last story to share...
During the 1980s and 1990s, Disney (under Michael Eisner) began to
acquire other media entities (ABC and ESPN) which followed through to
the early 2000 acquisition of The Muppets, and lastly Marvel and
Lucasfilm. But in that earlier time frame was when we first started
seeing Lucas mix with Disney in the form of Star Tours. But what if
that hadn't happened... It turns out that around that time Disney
actually tried to acquire the Doctor Who franchise and video library
from the BBC. They had planned to have put in a walk-through
exhibition of the inside of a TARDIS in Tomorrowland. Also, whenever
a new Doctor was to be announced, the press conference would have
been held in Tomorrowland.
Until next Time and Relative Dimension in
Space!
