I love LEGO. I imagine most kids do. Perhaps it’s the creative process of assembling something from scratch. There is something very imagination freeing about sitting in front of a pile of bricks and beginning to BUILD. I love playing the LEGO video games. Some have been better than others (LEGO Batman has been particularly frustrating compared to the ease of LEGO Star Wars) but they’re all fun and enjoyable.
Earlier this month, we reported on the new Doctor Who building sets that came out, and that got me to thinking about the potential for a Doctor Who game. Then it came to me in a dream last night. A man appeared on a flaming pie. He took my hand and led me to a grove of LEGO trees. In the middle of the grove was a blue box. A LEGO TARDIS. The doors opened, and the secrets of the cosmos spilled out. Admittedly, this is fan boy day dreaming, BUT this is what I saw:
1) LEGO tie-ins feature an exciting and fun universe. – What could be more exciting and fun than Doctor Who? Just think of the backdrop this game would have!
2) LEGO games are not just about smashing things and re-building them (although that makes for a good chunk of it), they also feature puzzles to solve. – The Doctor taught Sherlock Holmes everything he knew. Think about the type of problems and puzzles the games put forth. As the universe’s greatest problem solver, the Doctor’s a natural.
3)LEGO games have a wide and impressive group of colorful characters who have special abilities. – I can see them now. Obviously we have all 11 Doctor’s, with fun costumes and the sonic screwdriver could be used to change computer polarities or open doors (minus Doctor’s five, six and seven) but, he wouldn’t resort to hand-to-hand combat when challenged by the bad guys. The companions would have to do that. And think of the list of companions and what they could do! Healers like Harry Sulivan and Martha Jones could restore hearts, K-9 (eee! Just think of a little LEGO block K-9!) could access computers and stun people, Captain Jack could have a ray gun and be invincible, Leela could find and track otherwise invisible footprints, Ace and her baseball bat could smash stronger bricks and The Brigadier and U.N.I.T. family could all have guns (which of course would be highly ineffective against most of the monsters.)
4) LEGO games have a wide and impressive group of enemies to go against. – Who has a better “Rogues Gallery” of villains and monsters than a show that’s been on for 40 plus years? Daleks (would of course be mobile shiny metal and impervious to bullets, they have to be destroyed with explosives), Cybermen (when broken, all their individual parts continue to attack!), The Master, The Rani, The Autons, The Weeping Angels (which like the ghosts in the Super Mario Brothers haunted houses, can only attack you from behind), The Yeti, the list is practically endless!
5) LEGO games features several multi-part story arcs that make up the adventure. – This is perfect format for Doctor Who, imagine a story that starts with William Hartnell and progresses all they way up to Matt Smith, each chapter giving you different villains to fight, a different Doctor and companions to champion.
6) LEGO games have gone the route of Super Mario World, with “Hub Worlds” that access different adventures. – What could possibly make for a better hub than the TARDIS console room, a nexus point with access to all of time and space?
7) LEGO games have a quirky and fun sense of humor. – Um, hello, it’s Doctor Who. Douglas Adams used to submit scripts, remember?
8) LEGO games are family friendly. – Doctor Who started (and in some ways maintains) it’s position as a “kids show”.
I am beyond jazzed for this project, and it doesn’t even exist. It’s probably not even a glimmer on Traveler’s Tales horizon. I know coming up next for the LEGOverse is LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, and I’ve heard rumors that Superman, Lord of the Rings, and Pirates of the Caribbean are all potential next projects. But how do we get Doctor Who added to that slate? Time to chime in fans! Time to start bombarding LEGO and Traveler’s Tales and BBC and anyone who will listen with requests for this game!
