Have you ever wondered what Doctor Who would be like if directed by Tim Burton? Of course you have.

Well, we can now have a glimpse of what-might’ve-been, thanks to Brian Belanger – known to Deviant Artists as Illustrator X.

His coffin-esque TARDIS is suitably grim, and the Doctor pulling Amy along has something of The Nightmare Before Christmas about it. The artist says:

Hey, who’s to say that Matt Smith won’t regenerate into Jack Skellington?

Burton is an award-winning writer, director and producer, whose cult work includes Edward Scissorhands, Batman and James and the Giant Peach. He has quite the following, and it seems that name-dropping blockbuster directors is the thing to do at the moment; various reports have mentioned Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings; King Kong) and Danny Boyle (the Olympics; Slumdog Millionaire) in relation to Doctor Who. Of Boyle, Matt Smith said:

I would just have a heart attack if he came anywhere near Doctor Who. I would love it. I just think he is the most brilliant director. I completely admire his work.

Personally, I’d imagine Tim Burton’s Doctor Who to be like a darker Revelation of the Daleks, plus a tinge of Frontios, with the Doctor discovering a planet ruled by apes. The Doctor’s final line would be, ‘Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.”

Oh, and it’d have Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in it. Naturally.