April 17, 2025
Get ready for ‘Lux’ by stepping into the world of animation with the Doctor...
In Season 2 adventure Lux, the Doctor and Belinda face the formidable Mr Ring-a-Ding – a cartoon come to life!
However, it’s not the first time the worlds of animation and Doctor Who have collided, so we’re taking a look back at some of the Doctor’s other animated adventures...
Scream of the Shalka (2003)
Presenting an alternate Ninth Doctor, played by Richard E Grant, who travelled with an android Master, this Flash-animated adventure premiered on the Doctor Who website as part of its 40th anniversary celebrations. The serial featured the Doctor’s battle with the Shalka Confederacy, as well as a new companion, barmaid Alison Cheney.
Featuring many future Who alumni, including a cameo from David Tennant, Scream of the Shalka appeared to be contradicted by the events of Rose – although this Doctor later appeared in the hologrammatic projections of the Doctor’s past selves when aboard Rogue’s ship!
The Infinite Quest (2007)
After the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones stop evil pillager Baltazar from compressing the Earth’s population into diamonds, he leads them on a treasure hunt across oil-drenched planets, to the icy surface of prison planet Volag-Noc, and finally to the Infinite: a ship that can grant your heart’s desire.
Originally broadcast in three-minute segments on children’s spin-off Totally Doctor Who, and produced by legendary British animation house Cosgrove Hall, this was the first fully-animated New Who adventure – and brought us the robot bird Caw!
Dreamland (2009)
The Tenth Doctor’s second animated adventure finds him in 1950s America – much like the Doctor and Belinda in Lux!
Discovering that anyone approaching top-secret army base Dreamland disappears, the Doctor teams up with Cassie Rice and Jimmy Stalkingwolf to find out just what’s going on – which turns out to be an alien army beneath the New Mexico desert.
Oh, and there’s also the survivors of an extraterrestrial war, with a weapon strong enough to destroy the Earth imprisoned in the base. All in a day’s work for an animated Doctor… right?
DALEKS! (2020)
It’s not just the Doctor who occasionally gets the animated treatment – his greatest enemies also have their own series! Premiering on the Doctor Who YouTube channel in 2020, DALEKS! takes place as one story within the multimedia adventure Time Lord Victorious.
The Daleks' plundering of the Archive of Islos unearths something ancient and deadly. Soon Skaro is under attack and the Dalek Emperor is on the run! Can the Daleks defeat their adversaries and regain their planet, even with help from an old enemy?
The Celestial Toymaker (1966/animated in 2024)
While many of the Doctor’s early adventures in the TV series are sadly lost to time, thankfully some live on in the form of animated reconstructions. This lost serial was the first appearance of the Toymaker (who we last saw being defeated by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors on top of UNIT) and was fully animated in 2024 using the surviving soundtrack audio.
The First Doctor, Steven Taylor and Dodo Chaplet are forced to play a series of games to escape the Toymaker’s clutches and make it back to the TARDIS, encountering the King and Queen of Hearts and Joey the clown along the way.
The Abominable Snowmen (1967/animated in 2023)
Also missing from the archives, this adventure saw the Second Doctor, Victoria Waterfield and Jamie McCrimmon facing off against the Great Intelligence and the Yeti for the first time!
These monsters would all make a reappearance: the Yeti in The Web of Fear and the Great Intelligence in The Snowmen – where he was played by 'Shalka Doctor', Richard E Grant.
The Savages (1966/animated in 2025)
The latest animated missing serial, the First Doctor, Steven Taylor and Dodo Chaplet find themselves on a distant planet and in the middle of a conflict between the Elders and the Savages.
Marking the final appearance of Steven, and one of the many times the Doctor has found himself dealing with the unexpected consequences of technology, it has been animated in glorious technicolor- or you can watch in black and white for the full 60s experience!
Can the Doctor defeat Mr Ring-a-Ding, or will the Time Lord join their animated selves – permanently? Find out on Saturday 19th April in Lux...
