DWMKGF (TV series)

DWMKGF (also known as Doctor Who, Mortal Kombat and Gravity Falls) is a British-American science-fiction, action-adventure and fantasy TV crossover series produced by BBC Studios, NetherRealm Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios, and created by Steven Moffat, Edward Boon and Alex Hirsch.

The series serves as a television crossover specials trilogy set between the universes of the British science fiction series Doctor Who, the American fighting media franchise Mortal Kombat and the American animated television series Gravity Falls.

The series ran from July 9, 2016, to January 1, 2019, airing 3 seasons, 40 episodes and 1 television movie, entitled DWMKGF: Fight for Freedom, which aired on January 1, 2019. The television series consisted of three 13-episode-long stories, with the television movie being preceded by a television short entitled End of the Line.

Premise
The series revolves around the adventures of a time and space traveller known as The Doctor (played and voiced by Tom Baker), 12-year-old Oregon tourist trap employee Dipper Pines (played and voiced by Jason Ritter) and EarthRealm fighting champion Kung Lao (played and voiced by Will Yun Lee) and their friends, after their respective universal realities suddenly collide and merge, and they are trapped by a collaboration between their arch enemies: the Time Lord known as The Master (played and voiced by John Simm and Michelle Gomez), emperor and warlord of the Outworld Shao Kahn (played and voiced by Frank Welker) and two-dimensional psychotic demon Bill Cipher (voiced by Alex Hirsch). They must combat through each of their arch enemies throughout their realities before their universes can be separated, with help from their friends along the way.

Main characters

 * The Doctor (played and voiced by Tom Baker) - A Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, he travels in time and space with companions in a time machine disguised as a blue British police box known as the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space). He is known throughout his respective universe as a hero who has defeated monsters and saved countless civilisations. He also has the ability to regenerate when injured or dying by changing into a new body. By the time he meets Dipper Pines and Kung Lao, The Doctor is in his fourth incarnation and is travelling with companions Romana and K9. He acts as a mentor to Dipper and Mabel Pines, and learns many fighting styles from Kung Lao and his companion Sub-Zero. He faces a life-threatening challenge when his arch enemy, The Master, regenerates into a more powerful incarnation, who, with the aid of the Daleks and Cybermen, begins the First Great Time War, and separates The Doctor from his friends to go against him in a battle that takes them across the entire planet of Gallifrey.
 * Kung Lao (played and voiced by Will Yun Lee) - A martial artist and fighting champion renowned throughout the EarthRealm in his universe, he is a former member of the White Lotus Martial Arts Society and one of the descendants of the Great Kung Lao, a Champion of Mortal Kombat. He is a renowned fighter throughout his homeland of Earthrealm and is fluent in fighting styles including Mantis, Shaolin Fist, Kenpo and Wing Chun. Being a warrior, he is armed with a Razor-Brimmed Hat, a Battle Axe and a Broadsword. He has fought against his arch enemy Shao Kahn many times, and does not think twice before deciding to confront him once again. He is travelling with fellow Mortal Kombat fighter Sub-Zero when he is thrust into the adventure with The Doctor, Dipper Pines and the rest of the group. He proves himself to be a strong and wise leader when he leads the group across the EarthRealm and NetherRealm to make it to the Outworld to battle the evil Shao Kahn and his accomplices.
 * Dipper Pines (played and voiced by Jason Ritter) - A tourist trap employee at the Mystery Shack in Gravity Falls, Oregon, he is the twin brother of Mabel Pines and a junior explorer who is always raring for a new adventure. He is renowned throughout Gravity Falls, considered to be wise beyond his years and cannot wait to grow up to be a man. He is armed with the legendary 'Journal 3' which has become a true lifeline for his adventures. Dipper and his sister are staying with their Uncle Ford for the summer holidays during the events of the first series, before joining The Doctor, Kung Lao and the rest of the group in the fight to separate the collided universes. He looks up to Romana and Sub-Zero as role models, and is often taken under Sub-Zero's wing on their adventures. When the Weirdmageddon event happens for a second time, Dipper and his sister don't hesitate to help their new friends combat the dreaded Bill Cipher once again.
 * Bill Cipher (voiced by Alex Hirsch) - A powerful, interdimensional dream demon that can be summoned and released into somebody's mind, and the arch enemy of Dipper Pines. He resembles a one-eyed, yellow triangle with a top hat and a bow tie, superficially similar to the Eye of Providence. He can read people's minds and memories, shift forms, warp reality, maintain cross-dimensional awareness, possess bodies, encrypt and decrypt codes, and shoot laser energy blasts from his eye and fingers. Throughout their battles, Cipher has tricked Dipper countless times and Pines has vowed to get rid of him eventually. Cipher's alliance with The Master and Shao Kahn is discovered to be a foretold legend hidden for a trillion years throughout Cipher's existence and plans to get his own way from the deal and eliminate all of the Pines in Gravity Falls. He attempts to convince Kung Lao and The Doctor to share in his power as his accomplices, but Dipper and his sister Mabel help them resist his mind games and the heroes finally join together in a combined effort to defeat him.
 * Shao Kahn (played and voiced by Frank Welker) - A brutal warlord and the emperor of the mystical Outworld realm, he is feared by many for his godlike strength and knowledge of black magic, and he seeks to conquer all of the realms of the Mortal Kombat universe and merge them with Outworld. He was at first an advisor to the emperor of Outworld, but later poisoned him and took control of the realm and the armies belonging to the emperor. A terrifying figure, he is armed with a War Hammer primarily, but also carries a Spear and a Staff. He has a long and bloody history with Kung Lao and the rest of the Mortal Kombat fighters, and will not stop at nothing to see them and all who oppose him eliminated. He shares a significant factor of hatred in his personality with The Master, but simply sees Bill Cipher as a power-crazed, psychotic demon, however he is willing to work with Cipher only to achieve his own goals.
 * The Master (played and voiced by John Simm and Michelle Gomez) - A renegade Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, he is the same species as his arch enemy, The Doctor, and has the ability to regenerate when his body is either damaged or dying. His ambition is to control the universe, and eliminate the Human race on the planet Earth to make The Doctor suffer. During the series, The Master's incarnation is known as the 'Harold Saxon' incarnation, however he later regenerates into a female known as 'Missy'. Between the events of The Mondasian Colony and his latest regeneration, he travels back in time to attempt to kill the Time Lord Rassilon who had orchestrated his entire life as a puppet of the Time Lords. However, he cannot do this when his universe collides with that of Shao Kahn and Bill Cipher, and must make an alliance with them. He regenerates into Missy after the First Great Time War begins.
 * Romana (played and voiced by Lalla Ward) - A Time Lady from the planet Gallifrey, she is the same species as her best friend, The Doctor, and like all Time Ladies, she has the ability to regenerate when her body is damaged or dying. She is extremely intelligent, having graduated from the Time Lord Academy with a triple first, and occasionally outsmarts The Doctor. She first joined The Doctor and their robot dog K9 during the events of The Key to Time, and her bossy, prideful and dismissive attitude did not mix very well in the TARDIS. Soon after however, she regenerated into a likeness of Princess Astra of Atrios, and her personality suddenly became more laid-back, relaxed and humorous. She is still in this incarnation when she meets Dipper Pines and Kung Lao. She develops a friendship with Dipper's sister Mabel, and fiercely protects the young girl during the battle against Shao Kahn. She soon begins to develop romantic feelings for Sub-Zero, and seeks advice from Mabel and Kung Lao, but she doesn't reveal those feelings to him.
 * Mabel Pines (played and voiced by Kristen Schaal) - A tourist trap employee at the Mystery Shack, she is the twin sister of Dipper Pines. She is an eccentric, buoyant, and energetic optimist, who expresses herself through an assortment of colorful knitted sweaters, as well as her skills in various arts and crafts. Her outgoing, curious personality often helps Dipper solve mysteries, though her silliness is often seen as a burden. Mabel enjoys preteen novels and seeks romance (especially in vampires). Despite what she sees as dating obscurity in Gravity Falls, Mabel stays optimistic. She won a pig she named Waddles at a summer fair, and ever since then the two have been inseparable. Mabel is frequently instrumental in helping her brother solve the mysteries of Gravity Falls and has played a pivotal role in all four of the fights that the twins have had against the main antagonist, Bill Cipher. When she and Dipper join The Doctor, Kung Lao and the rest of the heroes at the end of the first series, she develops a heartwarming friendship with The Doctor's friend Romana.
 * Sub-Zero (played and voiced by John Tobias) - A fighting champion and martial artist from the EarthRealm, he is a Grandmaster warrior of the Lin Kuei assassin Clan who possesses the innate ability to control ice in many forms. Two warrior brothers took the identity of Sub-Zero, Bi-Han, the elder of the two, and Kuai Liang. Sub Zero shares a bitter rivalry with the undead specter Scorpion due to Bi-Han killing him prior to his resurrection, and Kuai Lang later attempting to avenge Bi-Han's death at Scorpion's hands. In contrast with his older brother's more anti-heroic and later villainous personality, the second Sub-Zero typically adapts a heroic persona as one of the fighters helping defend Earthrealm against various threats. He is fluent in fighting styles Shotokan and Dragon, and can transform ice into abilities such as Ice Blast, Ground Ice, Ice Clone and Ice Shower. He is training with fellow Mortal Kombat fighter Kung Lao when he is thrust into the adventures with The Doctor and Dipper Pines.

Supporting characters

 * Grunkle Stan (voiced by Alex Hirsch) - The great uncle of Dipper and Mabel Pines. He runs and lives in the Mystery Shack, a tourist trap which is billed as "the world's most bizarre museum". Grunkle Stan is a salesman first and foremost, putting most of his effort into showmanship, and is eager to sell the Shack's knick-knacks, trinkets and baubles for exorbitant prices. Because of his drive to make money, his methods of obtaining it aren't always legal. Stan usually wears a fez, carries around an 8-ball topped cane, and infrequently wears an eyepatch over his glasses – the last of which is expressly for personal image. He frequently sends the twins on what they consider to be outrageous and unpredictable errands, but he is protective of them and loves them unconditionally. After the events of the Second Weirdmageddon, he sums up the emotional courage to part ways with Dipper and Mabel once again when they join The Doctor and Kung Lao on their quest to save their universes.
 * Soos Ramirez (voiced by Alex Hirsch) - The 22-year-old Hispanic handyman at the Mystery Shack. A friend of Dipper and Mabel, Soos is a portly, adventurous, lovable man-child with buck teeth frequently compared to those of a beaver. He often drives the twins around town when they need. He's rather clumsy, not the brightest in the group, and often makes mistakes. Despite this, he has a wide variety of talents, including engineering, DJing and pinball, and enjoys anime gun-swords and bonding with Dipper by doing "boy stuff" such as heating hot dogs in a microwave until they explode. He says "dude" after almost every sentence.
 * Wendy Corduroy (voiced by Linda Cardellini) - A mellow, tomboyish, laid-back 15-year-old part-time employee at the Mystery Shack. She is Dipper's crush, and several episodes focus on his misguided attempts to impress her. Wendy has stated that she had many boyfriends in the past, including one ex-boyfriend with whom she cannot remember breaking up. Wendy is the oldest and tallest child in her family; her father is Manly Dan, one of the local lumberjacks of Gravity Falls. She proves herself to be her "father's daughter", having experience as a lumberjack, tremendous physical strength, and apocalypse survival skills, which prove useful in dangerous situations. Being a typical sociable and nonchalant teen, she has many friends who are around her age. When Dipper once again leaves Gravity Falls with The Doctor and Kung Lao, he shares a fond farewell with Wendy.
 * "Uncle" Ford Pines (voiced by Alex Hirsch) - Stan's six-fingered long-lost identical twin brother and the mysterious person who wrote all three of the famous Journals. During Dipper and Mabel's first vacation in Gravity Falls, he recounted his friendship with Bill Cipher and how he attempted to create a teleporter to enter his realm. In the present, when he learned of Bill's plan to invade the mainstream dimension, he destroyed the teleporter, but at the cost of a dimensional rift leaking out of it, which he contained. During the First Weirdmageddon, he attempted to defeat Bill, but was captured, petrified and his journals are destroyed. He was later freed and restored of his humanity. After the Weirdmageddon, he tells Stan that he found some remaining anomalies and offers him to go sailing around the world to find them, which Stan accepts. He is not present during the Second Weirdmageddon, but returns to Gravity Falls during the events of the television movie, where he joins Dipper, Mabel, The Doctor, Kung Lao and the rest of the heroes to fight Bill Cipher once again.
 * Sheriff Blubs (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) – The sheriff of Roadkill County (the county that Gravity Falls is located in). He is shown to be rather lazy, often choosing to sit around and drink coffee instead of pursuing a case. Despite his apparent lack of police skills, he believes himself superior to all, and often looks down on the twins, which undermines their mystery-solving abilities. His lazy personality seems to stem from the extremely low crime rate in Gravity Falls, which is demonstrated when his aide, Deputy Durland, once comments on how unused their equipment is.
 * Pacifica Elise Northwest (voiced by Jackie Buscarino) - Pacifica is the most popular girl in Gravity Falls. She comes from a wealthy family, being the great-great-granddaughter of the supposed founder of Gravity Falls, Nathaniel Northwest  – the real founder of Gravity Falls being Quentin Trembley (8 1/2th President of the United States). Pacifica is an unfriendly, sarcastic, and spoiled girl who is Mabel's primary rival. Pacifica looks down on Mabel and thinks her eccentric personality is annoying and immature. She uses people's insecurities to manipulate them into doing whatever she wants and despises Mabel for standing up against her. She gets her comeuppance when Dipper reveals to her that her entire family's prestige is built on a lie, horrifying Pacifica.
 * Waddles (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) – Mabel's pet pig. She won Waddles at the fair, and ever since then the two have been inseparable. It is shown that Waddles enjoys spending time with Mabel just as much as she enjoys spending time with him. Waddles allows Mabel to dress him up as a businessman and take humorously captioned pictures of him in the style of "lolcat" internet memes and bursts from Stan's shirt. Waddles and Mabel are shown to be inseparable, and Mabel has been known to cry when they're separated.
 * Raiden (voiced by Richard Epcar) - The protector of Earthrealm. He fulfills his duty by selecting and training the warriors who defend Earthrealm from various threats, while also participating directly the realm's defense. Raiden generally serves as a mentor figure to the Earthrealm fighters, although he sometimes assumes a darker role, which sees him become more ruthless in his protection of the realm. When Earthrealm was young, Raiden was it's protector. He fought the rogue Elder God Shinnok, who wished to overthrow his fellow gods, in a war that threatened to destroy Earthrealm. With the aid of the Elder Gods, Raiden managed to defeat Shinnok, then banished him to the Netherealm and secured his amulet of power in a secret location — a Temple of the Elements. Years later, he is invited to a Mortal Kombat Tournament, and takes a human form to compete. He is reluctant about agreeing to take young Dipper and Mabel Pines into battle against Shao Kahn and his accomplices, but with reassurance from his long-time friend Kung Lao, he begins to make them feel very welcome.
 * Xia and Chen Lao (Xia voiced by Gemma Chan; Chen voiced by Anya Chalotra) - The two secret twin daughters of Kung Lao. Years ago, Kung Lao had a secret affair with an unknown American woman, and Xia and Chen were the result, being given the birth names Pheobe (Xia) and Rosie (Chen). After their birth, Kung Lao severed all links with his daughters and their mother, feeling he was unprepared to become a father, so Pheobe and Rosie lived with their mother in America. Years later, as Kung Lao returns with The Doctor and Dipper Pines, Pheobe and Rosie, now adolescents, arrive in EarthRealm under the aliases Xia and Chen to train as Mortal Kombat warriors, and also to convince their long-lost father of their true identity. At first, Kung Lao seems oblivious to their identity, as Xia and Chen were not his daughters' birth names. They eventually ask Kung Lao to join in the fight against Shao Kahn having already shown their potential. As they travel through the NetherRealm and Outworld, battling enemies and saving lives, Kung Lao becomes more wary of the two girls' identities. It is only during the final battle against Shao Kahn that Kahn reveals the true identity and background of the girls, then proceeds to kill Chen, after she sacrificed herself to save her father. Devastated having lost her sister, Xia and her father swear vengeance, and Kahn is soon defeated. A funeral is held for Chen after the battle. Xia is asked by her father if she'd like to join him, The Doctor and Dipper Pines on their ongoing adventure. She respectfully declines and, after they make peace, decides to remain in EarthRealm.
 * K9 (voiced by John Leeson) - A mobile computer robot dog created in the year 5000 by Professor Marius, he is a companion of The Doctor and Romana. He was originally created when Marius could not take his own Earth dog into space with him, so he constructed K9. However, when Marius could not take him back to Earth, K9 decides to join The Doctor and his then-companion Leela, and remains with them until the events of the Sontaran Invasion of Gallifrey, when Leela decides to leave The Doctor. However, he soon replaces K9 with a new model after the original's departure, and he travels with The Doctor and Romana. He has abilities such as firing a laser beam set to stun or kill, rotating ear-probes and a wagging tail antennae. He addresses whoever is directing him as "Master" or "Mistress" depending upon gender, and uses the formal "affirmative" and "negative" rather than "yes" and "no". He is separated from The Doctor and Romana when their universe, and the universes of Dipper Pines and Kung Lao collide, before he and the TARDIS reunite with The Doctor and Romana during the third season.

Season 1: The Rise of Bill (2016)
The first season, written entirely by Alex Hirsch, aired from July 9 to October 1, 2016, and revolved around the protagonists coming together for the first time in the Gravity Falls universe and the battle against demon Bill Cipher, his interdimensional nightmare creatures and the Second Weirdmageddon.

Season 2: Kahn's Deadly Alliance (2017)
The second season, written by Edward Boon, aired from April 1 to June 24, 2017, and focused on Kung Lao and fellow Mortal Kombat fighters as they lead and train the main heroes through the EarthRealm, NetherRealm and Outworld to confront and battle Shao Kahn and fight his well-trained accomplices along the way.

Season 3: The Master Plan (2018)
The third and final season of the show, written by Steven Moffat, aired from September 1 to November 24, 2018, and was primarily focused on the battle against The Master as The Doctor and the rest of the group battle to save The Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey after the beginning of the First Great Time War.

End of the Line (2018)
The one-off television short, End of the Line, was aired on December 25, 2018 only on the official DWMKGF website, and acted as a prequel to the television movie. The short revolved around the build-up to the final confrontation between the main protagonists and the arch enemies.

DWMKGF: Fight For Freedom (2019)
The television movie, entitled DWMKGF: Fight For Freedom, aired on January 1, 2019, and served as the conclusion to the series and the final battle against The Master, Shao Kahn and Bill Cipher. The movie also featured the return of many supporting characters and important locations from the three universes throughout the series.

Initial broadcast
The Series Premiere of Season 1 of DWMKGF aired on July 9, 2016 simultaneously on the CBBC channel in the United Kingdom, and on the Disney XD channel in the United States. Trailers, Character Profile Previews, and Sneak Peeks for the new show were broadcast throughout June to September 2016 in the UK and US. The show also premiered simultaneously in cinema showings across the United Kingdom and United States on July 9, which attracted numbers of fans and cosplayers of Doctor Who, Mortal Kombat, and Gravity Falls. From then on, the series was broadcast in a regular Saturday weekly slot in the UK and US. The series premiered a day later on July 10 on Disney XD in Ireland, Canada, MENA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), and Scandinavia, on July 11 in Australia, Japan, and Southeast Asia, and on July 12 in Latin America. The series then premiered on August 6 on BBC Entertainment in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Malta. Season 1 concluded on October 1, 2016.

Season 2 premiered on April 1, 2017 in the US on Disney XD and in the UK on CBBC, albeit at different airtimes. Each of the Season 2 episodes were preceded with video messages from Kung Lao actor Will Yun Lee, also a martial artist, with basic tutorials on martial arts moves used in the show by the characters, in styles including Jiujitsu (Parts One and Two), Judo (Parts Three and Four), Karate (Parts Five and Six), Kickboxing (Parts Seven and Eight), Taekwondo (Parts Nine and Ten), Tai Chi (Parts Eleven and Twelve), and Wrestling (Part Thirteen). These instruction videos were later included as a Special Feature on the home media releases of Season 2. Promotions and advertisements for the series' merchandise including DVDs, Blu-Rays, and books were also broadcast for the first time at the end of each episode in all territories. The finale of Season 2 aired on June 24, 2017.

The third and final season of the show, Season 3, debuted on September 1, 2018. Each of the episodes' broadcast were preceded by a 'Previously' video intro featuring Tom Baker, Steven Moffat, Edward Boon, and Alex Hirsch, explaining the synopsis of each episode. These video intros were later included on the home media and digital releases of Season 3. During the week leading up to the Season Finale on November 24, 2018, a collection of "Time Is Up In..." countdown trailers featuring short preview clips of the Finale were broadcast over 5 days, culminating with a 30-second Countdown trailer entitled "Time Is Up", broadcast immediately before the season's final episode. On the same day, November 24, a documentary entitled DWMKGF: The Ultimate Guide was shown in the United States, encircling the show's stars, history, production, and worldwide success.