When I was a kid, there was nothing cooler than the crossover. Characters from different fictional universes appearing together was always ratings gold as far as I was concerned. GI Joe meeting up with Transformers? Proto-geek paradise. Daffy Duck playing piano alongside Donald? Exquisite. Any fellow nerd who has ever salivated over the idea of Marvel vs. DC, or Alien vs. Predator, or the U.S.S. Enterprise taking on a Star Destroyer can relate. Sure, not all crossovers are created equal, but they we still almost always exciting.

Good thing, then, that I wasn’t a child in Britain in 1975 when the fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker, crossed over from Doctor Who to appear on Disney Time; the fusion of these two universes would have been so incredibly cool that I might not have survived. Disney Time was an annual or semi-annual special that appeared on the BBC from 1970-1983 during Christmas and other major holidays. It involved a number of clips from Disney animated shorts and animated or live action features, all linked together by live-action interstitials featuring various celebrities. Baker appeared in character as the Doctor for the Christmas, 1975 special.

The video is of poor quality, and the actual Disney clips have been removed, but you get the idea…

I have to say that aside from wanting more Doctor with my Disney, Disney Time itself is a pretty good concept. The studio is sitting on a vast archive of material, none of which it is utilizing. I grew up on this sort of thing, fed a daily dose of Disney thanks to the syndicated Wonderful World of Disney, but where today will kids get to see True-Life Adventures or Blackbeard’s Ghost? Maybe a regularly-occurring clip show like this would be one answer, and even though Baker has long ago hung up his scarf I’m sure the eleventh Doctor would be glad to make an appearance…

I’m sure between ABC, ABC Family, the Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Junior, they could find some place to put it.

And although I never knew one of my life-long goals was to hear the Doctor talk about the Apple Dumpling Gang, I’m glad to have finally experienced it.