In a very interesting, rather strange merging of brands, the BBC announced today that its flagship program, a little thing called Doctor Who, you may have heard of it, will begin airing on Disney XD (a.k.a. the Disney Channel for older kids) beginning in June. The network already airs programs like Star Wars Rebels and will begin showing a new Fantastic Four which is set to debut May 9th, before which they’ll show the Who episode “New Earth” as a primer. Really, it’s the channel where Disney can put more action-driven programming on the tube, which does seem like it’d be a good fit for Doctor Who which has action and scares but is also family-friendly.
What makes this all the more intriguing is that XD will only be showing the three full series featuring Tenth Doctor David Tennant. That’s right, not even from the beginning of New Who; just from Series 2 to Series 4, “New Earth” to “Journey’s End.” Curious, especially to forsake the beginning of Tennant’s actual term with “The Christmas Invasion.” I’m sure things will get cut out, but considering “The Stolen Earth,” the first part of Series 4’s finale, has Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister (yes, we know who you are) who only appears in Series 1 and “The Christmas Invasion,” there might be some confused kids out there. And how are they going to explain Captain Jack?!
Beginning Saturday, June 13th, and going through Saturday, June 20th, XD will air eight episodes per day, in marathon chunks, and on the 14th, episodes will be available to watch via the Watch Disney XD app.
Matt Forde, EVP Sales & Co-productions, TV, BBC Worldwide North America, had this to say about the partnership: “Disney XD is recognized for its family-friendly programming making the channel a great partner to introduce the David Tennant seasons of Doctor Who to a new generation of viewers.”
Not sure how I feel about those new viewers only getting the David Tennant viewpoint, but this will perhaps lead them to seek out more since, you know, there have been 30 other seasons, 5 in the new series alone, to discover.
What say you? Is the TARDIS big enough for the Disney crowd or should the whole thing be sonic screwdriver’d away? Let us know below!
