Cultural references to the Doctor Who universe: Difference between revisions

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{{retitle|Cultural references to the ''Doctor Who'' universe}}
{{real world}}
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Just as [[crossover character|characters]] from other [[Wikipedia:fictional universe|fictional universes]] have appeared in the [[Doctor Who Universe]], elements of the Doctor Who Universe, have (for the most part, unofficially), appeared in other continuities.
{{you may|Doctor Who pastiches|Doctor Who parodies|n2 = parodies}}
Occasionally, elements of the [[Doctor Who universe|''Doctor Who'' universe]] are '''referenced in the broader popular culture'''. This page exists to throw a spotlight on some of these casual references made in television, comics, films and other media.


==Partial list==
Such references generally take two forms: '''in-universe references''' which function as brief, unlicensed [[crossover]]s where elements of the DWU (or close analogues thereof) are shown to be real within the fictional universe of the work at hand; and '''out-of-universe references''' where ''Doctor Who'' media, or comedic analogues thereof, are mentioned as media enjoyed by the fictional characters.


===Television===
== References by decade ==
*''Get Off My Cloud'', the final episode of the third season of the [[BBC]]'s anthology series ''[[Wikipedia:Out of the Unknown|Out of the Unknown]]'' was partly set in the subconscious mind of a science-fiction writer and featured in-character appearances by the [[Dalek]]s as fictional creations inside the mind of the writer. (The episode's designer was [[Raymond Cusick]], who was earlier responsible for the original Dalek design.)
{{Cultural references decades}}
{{#dpl:|category=Cultural references to the Doctor Who universe by decade|ordermethod=sortkey}}


*''Arrivederci Roma'', the first episode of the first season of Channel 4's comedy series ''[[Wikipedia:Chelmsford 123|Chelmsford 123]]'', showed the [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] materializing in the background of one scene, the Doctor briefly stepping outside before going back in and dematerializing.
[[Category:Real world lists]]
 
*The [[Fourth Doctor]] has appeared several times in ''[[The Simpsons]]''.
 
*''Green Courage'', an episode of Fox Kids' children action series ''[[Wikipedia:Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy|Power Rangers Lost Galaxy]]'', featured an on-screen note claiming that a meteoroid field that had just collided with a planet was located at "ten zero eleven zero zero by zero two from galactic zero," in the constellation of [[Kasterborous]]. These are the same coordinates as stated in [[Pyramids of Mars]] as the location of [[Gallifrey]].
*In ''420'', an episode of ''Family Guy, ''Brian says that ever since weed was legalized "crime is down, productivity is up, and the ratings for Doctor Who is through the roof". Another ''Family Guy'' episode, the ''Star Wars Episode IV'' spoof "Blue Harvest", incorporated footage from the Tom Baker-era opening credits during the scene in which the ''Millennium Falcon'' enters hyperspace.
*Several episodes of the 2008 series ''[[wikipedia:The Middleman (TV series)|The Middleman]]'' include references to ''Doctor Who''. For example, in one episode a character is identified as "[[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|Lethbridge-Stewart]]". Only 12 episodes were produced, with the decision made not to produce a 13th episode. That episode, ''The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalpyse'', also contained several references to ''Doctor Who'', most notably having the Middleman recite the [[First Doctor]]'s farewell speech to [[Susan Foreman]] in ''[[The Dalek Invasion of Earth]]'' ("There must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties..."). The script for this unmade episode was performed by the cast in a "read through" at the 2009 San Diego ComicCon and also adapted into a graphic novel by Viper Comics, both with the Doctor's speech intact. Given the series' acknowledged debt to ''Doctor Who'', the fact the lead character is never referred to by name, only as "The Middleman", is a probably reference to the fact The Doctor's real name is never revealed. (The aforementioned finale episode, however, does reveals the Middleman's real name.)
* In the fifth episode of the second season of the ABC television series ''[[Wikipedia:Better Off Ted|Better Off Ted]]'', the scientists Phil and Lem name the small robot designed to clean up spills in their laboratory [[Chumbley]], the same name that [[Vicki]] gives the robots that she, [[Steven Taylor|Steven]], and the [[First Doctor]] encounter in the story ''[[Galaxy 4 (TV story)|Galaxy 4]]''. Later on in that same episode, Phil and Lem enter a room full of used robot parts where a [[Dalek]] can clearly be seen in the corner nearest the door.
* Several episodes of ''Leverage'' reference ''Doctor Who'', including one in which Nathan Ford is asked what ID's he has on him so that he can board an airplane. He replies, "I've got a Peter Davidson, Sylvester McCoy, and a Tom Baker." Sophie adds, "I've got a Sarah Jane Baker." Hardison pronounces them man and wife. Another episode had Hardison mentioning that he had been torrenting the latest episode of ''Doctor Who.''
 
===Comics===
====[[Marvel UK]]====
*[[Marvel UK]] created a number of characters who appeared in various titles owned by the company, including ''[[Doctor Who Weekly|Doctor Who Magazine]]'' (which was later re-named ''Doctor Who Monthly''). The characters of the [[Special Executive]] (troubleshooters employed by the [[Time Lord]]s, who had appeared in ''[[4-D War]]'' and ''[[Black Sun Rising]]'') appeared with [[Wikipedia:Captain Britain|Captain Britain]] in the "[[Wikipedia:Jaspers' Warp|Jaspers' Warp]]" storyline written by the Special Executive's creator, [[Alan Moore]].
*The ''Doctor Who'' comics version of [[Merlin]] also appeared briefly in ''Captain Britain'' in a sequence demonstrating that Merlin had several alternate appearances and personalities that he could adopt as he saw fit. The Doctor has also appeared in cameos in several prose novels based in the [[Wikipedia:Marvel Universe|Marvel Universe]].
*In ''[[The Crossroads of Time]]'', published in Doctor Who Magazine, the [[Seventh Doctor]] ran into (literally) [[Death's Head]], who was departing the ''Transformers'' universe; he sent Death's Head on to the future Earth of Dragon's Claws (a Marvel UK title that may be set in the Doctor Who Universe, since Dogbolter and Keepsake are both residents of this Earth). Later, the Doctor guest-starred in [[Death's Head]]'s comic book from [[Marvel UK]], a crossover that ended with the Doctor depositing Death's Head in the main Marvel universe (Earth-616) atop the Fantastic Four's headquarters, Fours Freedom Plaza - providing a direct link between the Doctor Who Universe and Marvel's Universe. Death's Head himself interacted with mainstream superheroes from the Marvel Universe, which provides another, indirect, link between the mainstream Marvel Universe and the Doctor Who Universe.
*Both Reed Richards of the Fanstastic Four and Alistaire Stuart of Britain's Weird Happenings Organization (WHO, a nod to Doctor Who) have obliquely mentioned being friends of the Doctor.
*JLA Classified #1 reveals that Batman keeps a Dalek in his "Sci-Fi" closet.
 
====DC/Wildstorm====
The [[Wikipedia:Wildstorm|Wildstorm]] title ''[[Wikipedia:Albion (comics)|Albion]]'', scripted by [[Wikipedia:Leah Moore|Leah Moore]] and plotted by her father, [[Alan Moore]], featured a [[Cyberman]] and also an [[Ice Warrior]]. It is unclear whether the Cyberman was meant to be 'real' or a costume. (The scene was set in an SF-themed bar, but the 'real' [[Wikipedia:Robot Archie|Robot Archie]] is also on display.) Like ''The Establishment'', which featured a [[Doctor Who pastiche]] characer, ''Albion'' was deeply rooted in English popular culture.
 
====2000 AD====
The ''[[Wikipedia:2000AD|2000AD]]'' strip ''[[Wikipedia:Caballistics, Inc.|Caballistics, Inc.]]'' features ''Doctor Who'' references so often that they are practically part of the series' format. However, it also depicted a character clearly intended to be the actor [[Tom Baker]] being murdered by Scottish nationalist demons. This would appear to undermine the frequent suggestion by ''Caballistics, Inc'' fans that the series is unofficially set in the ''Doctor Who'' universe.
 
====The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen====
[[Alan Moore]]'s crossover series ''[[Wikipedia:The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen|The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' links the [[Silurian]]s to [[Wikipedia:Gill-man|the Creature from the Black Lagoon]]. Additionally, [[the TARDIS]] appears in the background of The Black Dossier.
 
====Buffy the Vampire Slayer====
The [[Tenth Doctor|Doctor]] and [[Rose Tyler]] can be seen in Part 1 of the season 8 comic ''[[w:c:buffy:No Future For You|No Future For You]]''.
 
===Prose===
*[[Wikipedia:Barbara Hambly|Barbara Hambly]]'s ''[[Star Trek]]'' novel ''[[Wikipedia:Ishmael_(Star_Trek)|Ishmael]]'' contains a number of references to ''Doctor Who'' and a cameo appearance of the [[Fourth Doctor]] and [[Leela]].
 
*Lady [[Jennifer Buckingham]] from ''[[The War Games]]'' appears in the second volume of [[Kim Newman]]'s crossover-intensive ''[[Wikipedia:Anno Dracula|Anno Dracula]]'' universe. [[Charles Beauregard]], the hero of several ''Anno Dracula'' stories, is referred to in ''[[All-Consuming Fire]]''. One of Newman's books in the [[Wikipedia:Dark Future|Dark Future]] series makes references to an alternative timeline, ultra-nationalist pro-English version of the ''Doctor Who'' television series in which the Doctor makes visits to famous events in English history while fighting off extraterrestrial threats to the Crown. Newman's ''Life's Lottery'', a playful exploration of the concept of [[alternate universe]]s, references ''[[Inferno]]'' in some detail (and a character fantasises somewhat colourfully about [[Jo Grant]]).
 
*[[Wikipedia:Michael Moorcock|Michael Moorcock]], an admirer of ''Doctor Who'', had "Doctor Who" and a Dalek appear, amongst many other fictional characters, in his ''[[Wikipedia:The Condition of Muzak|The Condition of Muzak]]''.
 
*[[Wikipedia:Richard Calder (writer)|Richard Calder]]'s Dead trilogy features numerous dark alternative time lines involved in a sex war between men and woman, at least one featuring a version of ''Doctor Who''. The last scene of the final volume, ''Dead Things'', shows the young protagonist watching a scene of the "Daleks exterminating the slave girls of [[Skaro]]" on television.
 
*The [[Wikipedia:Red Dwarf (TV Series)|Red Dwarf]] novels have a number of references. Kryten, for example, owns a [[sonic screwdriver]].
 
===Video games===
====[[Wikipedia:Lemmings 2: The Tribes|Lemmings 2: The Tribes]]====
*The exit for the "Shadow tribe" level is clearly the Doctor's TARDIS.
 
==Out-of-universe references==
A number of TV series have made reference to the ''Doctor Who'' franchise itself:
 
*Sheldon from ''The Big Bang Theory'' has said that he wakes up and watches Doctor Who every Saturday morning.
*A 2009 episode ''NCIS'', "Power Down", includes the character of McGee comparing the unexpectedly spacious interior of a cargo container to the TARDIS, and briefly explains the meaning to another character, who replies, "''Doctor Who'' - who watches that?"
*A reference to ''Doctor Who'' also occurs in the ''CSI: New York'' episode "Time's Up."
*In the Christmas special in which the title character of ''The Vicar of Dibley'' got married, her bridesmaids were dressed as the Tenth Doctor and two Daleks.
 
==See also==
*[[Doctor Who pastiches]]
[[Category:Canon and continuity]]

Latest revision as of 08:36, 18 March 2023

RealWorld.png
You may be looking for Doctor Who pastiches or parodies.

Occasionally, elements of the Doctor Who universe are referenced in the broader popular culture. This page exists to throw a spotlight on some of these casual references made in television, comics, films and other media.

Such references generally take two forms: in-universe references which function as brief, unlicensed crossovers where elements of the DWU (or close analogues thereof) are shown to be real within the fictional universe of the work at hand; and out-of-universe references where Doctor Who media, or comedic analogues thereof, are mentioned as media enjoyed by the fictional characters.

References by decade[[edit] | [edit source]]