Dr. Who is Turning Japanese… Sorta

There some things that go great together: peanut butter and jelly, Siskel and Ebert, fire and orphanages, ice-cream and… more ice-cream! Some things however, just no matter how hard we try, will never mix well: Republicans and Democrats, tasty food and good health, clowns and movies (*shudder*). If we try hard enough to see how these incompatible things could work, we might possibly even see a decent Dr. Who animated series!

The poor Doctor has tried several times to make the leap into an animated series worthy of his interstellar fame, but time and again the “magic formula” never seems to live up to the hype. Only five “true” animated projects have been produced, most recently the 7-part series Dreamland in 2009. All of them are shorts made a bit like the Star Wars: Clone Wars miniseries in episodic fashion.

Thankfully, fans who share this animated spirit have taken the time to animate everything from audio novels, “lost episodes” and other fan fiction stories. One in particular that really jumps out is a unique fan-made “anime” by Paul Michael Johnson (aka “Alponk45” or “MightyOtaking”). Fusing bits of the third Dr. Who series and some Japanese anime, he created the audio that went into his short, in which the Darleks and Cybermen fight over Tokyo with a little help from the evil Master.

Johnson goes all out with very fluent, original stuff and some action scenes that make you believe it could have been a real project! I have to say that I wish some Japanese studio would work out a deal with BBC to make a Doctor Who anime, because I already know that both are really good tastes that go great together… and please use Paul Michael Johnson to direct it!