Eagle comics released JD in america in the 80's. Eagle Comics JD #1 is fairly easy to come by on ebay, and if you happen to own a JD, it looks good framed on the wall next to it.

Anyway, if you watch the Promo video, you will see that in 93 they were starting a second push of JD into the american market with new comics and toys, and of course the movie. Trudeau was offered the option to base the game on the movie, but he opted for the comic instead, which I think we all can agree was the right choice in hindsight.

So JD wasn't completely foreign, it just never quite caught on like they wanted it to. But with as popular as comics were in the 90's, it's easy to see williams execs as thinking they were jumping on a wave before it became a huge social phenomenon. But much like Last Action Hero, Demo man, etc, this theme failed to catch on in a big cultural way.

As for Dr. Who, I have to agree that there was really only a tiny niche market in america. However, keep in mind that for a long time, most pinball sales went over to europe, so in that sense these 2 themes make a ton of sense for the time.