Cultural references to the Doctor Who universe

Cultural references to the Doctor Who universe

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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.

Television

• "Get Off My Cloud", the final episode of the third season of the BBC's anthology series Out of the Unknown was partly set in the subconscious mind of a science-fiction writer and featured in-character appearances by the Daleks 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.)

• "Arrivederci Roma", the first episode of Channel 4's comedy programme Chelmsford 123, showed the TARDIS materialising in the background of one scene, the Doctor briefly stepping outside before going back in and dematerialising.

• The Fourth Doctor has appeared several times in The Simpsons.

• "Green Courage", an episode of Fox Kids' children's action series 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 legalised "crime is down, productivity is up, and the ratings for Doctor Who is through the roof". Another 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 The Middleman include references to Doctor Who. For example, in one episode a character is identified as "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 reveal the Middleman's real name.)

• In the fifth episode of the second season of the ABC television series 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, and the First Doctor encounter in Galaxy 4. Later in the 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.

• In one episode of The Sarah Silverman Program, one character buys a DVD boxset of a science-fiction show called Dr. Lazer Rage. He later feels regret at buying the expensive boxset, and Ninth Doctor actor Christopher Eccleston makes a cameo as "Dr. Lazer Rage" coming to life on the cover of the box. In the same episode, one character calls another from a blue telephone box. Interestingly, this is the only example of Eccleston participating in a guest appearance that directly references and parodies his involvement in Doctor Who, as his fear of being typecast means he tends to avoids this.

• The pilot for the 2000 series The Invisible Man contains at least four references: A doctor named Troughton, a business card reading I.M. Foreman, and a magazine cover with the headlines "Time and Relative Dimensions in Space!" and "Playing the game of Rassilon!"

• In Insecurity, a March 2012 episode of Young Justice, a police box, clearly emulative of the Doctor's TARDIS, is seen as one of the ends of a Zeta-Beam conduit. A character enters the box and then teleports to the Cave, the main setting for the heroes of the series. The design of the police box is comparatively detailed, and is even reminiscent of the TARDIS as seen in The War Machines, because it bears an "out of order" sign. It's unclear how Warner Bros. would have been able to use the police box design legally, since the appearance was not clearly parodic, nor was it even historically accurate. The scene was set in America, and the DC universe had never previously established the existence of British police boxes in the United States.

Comics

Marvel UK

• Marvel UK created a number of characters who appeared in various titles owned by the company, including Doctor Who Magazine (later re-named Doctor Who Monthly). The characters of the Special Executive (troubleshooters employed by the Time Lords, who had appeared in 4-D War and Black Sun Rising) appeared with Captain Britain in the "Jaspers' Warp" storyline written by the Special Executive's creator, Alan Moore.

• The Doctor Who comics version of Merlin 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 Marvel Universe.

• In The Crossroads of Time, published in Doctor Who Magazine, the Seventh Doctor ran into (literally) Death's Head, who was thrown from the Transformers Generation 1 universe into the Time Vortex; he sent Death's Head 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 Fantastic Four and Alistaire Stuart of Britain's Weird Happenings Organisation (WHO, a nod to Doctor Who) have obliquely mentioned being friends of the Doctor.

• In an issue of The Spectacular Spider-Man concerning paradoxes, alternate realities, and time travel, the words "BAD WOLF" can be seen grafittied on an alley wall.

DC/Wildstorm

• JLA Classified #1 reveals that Batman keeps a Dalek in his "Sci-Fi" closet.

• The Wildstorm title Albion, scripted by Leah Moore and plotted by her father Alan Moore, featured a Cyberman and an Ice Warrior. It is unclear whether the Cyberman was meant to be "real" or a costume, as the scene was set in an SF-themed bar (although the "real" Robot Archie is also on display). Like The Establishment, which featured a Doctor Who pastiche character, Albion was deeply rooted in English popular culture.

2000 AD

• The 2000AD strip 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 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 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen links the Silurians to the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Additionally, the TARDIS appears in the background of the Black Dossier.
• In the series' last instalment, Century: 1969, the Second Doctor makes a cameo in the background. The comic strip of Karkus is visible in a bookshop in the same page.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

• The Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler can be seen in Part 1 of the Season 8 comic No Future For You.

Sergio Bonelli Editore

• In La donna che cambiò la storia d'Italia (The woman who changed Italy's history), 15th volume of Storie da Altrove, a spin-off of italian comic series Martin Mystère, the TARDIS, K9, Donna Noble, the Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond, Captain Jack Harkness (with Torchwood's logo), a Silurian, a Dalek and a Weeping Angel appear in the background in different panels. The main character's cover name throughout the story is "Lady Christina de Souza", and another character directly quotes Tenth Doctor's explanation about time as heard in Blink. The villain mentions being addressed as "The Oncoming Storm" and that his name "burns in the stars, in the Cascade of Medusa herself".

Prose

• In Christopher Paolini's novel, Brisingr, a reference is made to a 'lonely god' who's 'adrift on the seas of time.' Paolini later admitted in the acknowledgements to be a massive Doctor Who fan and that he believes the Doctor might have visited his world of Alagaësia at some point. In the sequel to this novel, Inheritance, the herbalist Angela begins to tell another character what she has inscribed on her blue hat- "Raxacori- Oh, never mind. It wouldn't mean anything to you anyway." Also, someone mentions having seen rooms that are bigger on the inside.

• In the novel High Wizardry by Diane Duane, part of the Young Wizards series, a "Mysterious Stranger" helps the protagonist out of a sticky situation, who seems oddly familiar.

• Barbara Hambly's Star Trek novel Ishmael contains a number of references to Doctor Who, plus a cameo appearance by the Fourth Doctor and Leela.

• Lady Jennifer Buckingham from The War Games appears in the second volume of Kim Newman's crossover-intensive 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 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 universes, references Inferno in some detail (and a character fantasises somewhat colourfully about Jo Grant).

• Michael Moorcock, an admirer of Doctor Who, had "Doctor Who" and a Dalek appear, amongst many other fictional characters, in his The Condition of Muzak.

• 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 Red Dwarf novels have a number of references. Kryten, for example, owns a sonic screwdriver.
• The Bunny Suicides book, Bunny Suicides return, involves a Doctor Who themed suicide.
• In Rick Riordan's The Red Pyramid one of the main characters makes a comparison about an egyptian symbol, noting that it looks like an angel, or a "killer alien robot"

Video games

Fallout

• The TARDIS can be found in the Desert, although it disappears after a while.

Lemmings 2: The Tribes

• The exit for the "Shadow Tribe" level is clearly the 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.
• The Big Bang Theory also featured a costume contest hosted by a character dressed up in Fourth Doctor garb.
• A 2009 episode of 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 with "Doctor Who - who watches that?"
• A reference to Doctor Who also occurs in the CSI: New York episode "Time's Up" which includes character Flack saying "Paging Doctor Who." Later in the episode, the time travel machine makes a noise very much like the noise the TARDIS makes.
• 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.
• In an obvious reference, the 13 May 2010 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is titled "Doctor Who".
• In the Lead Balloon episode "Karma", Jack Dee's character Rick Spleen believes he could put himself up for the part of the Doctor.
• The 2007 Extras Christmas special had Andy Milman appearing in an episode of Doctor Who opposite David Tennant's Doctor.
• In the 20 August 2010 Episode of Eureka on SyFy ("Stoned") Zane, while searching through government files mentions TARDIS blueprints as something he might be searching for.
• In the Disney Channel series Sonny with a Chance, two characters are trapped in a phone box and the title character asks why they built another time machine.
• In the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, the title characters travel to a parallel universe via a phone box.
• In the comedy show Coupling (made by Doctor Who show runner Steven Moffat) the character of Oliver runs a science fiction bookstore with a replica Dalek. In one scene he has a package that shouts 'Exterminate'.
• In the UK version of Queer as Folk (created by Russell T Davies), the character of Vince makes various references to Doctor Who throughout the program and is bought a replica of K9 for his birthday.
• The comedy Spaced (starring and written by Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes) features a comic book store. The door to its back room is painted to look like the TARDIS doors.
• In the American comedy Community, the character Abed compares himself to various science fiction characters, including K9, while describing himself as a dispassionate observer of those around him.
• Community would later make frequent references to the fictional tv show Inspector Space Time, an obvious parody of Doctor Who. A British programme, Inspector Space Time is said to be the oldest sci-fi show on television, dating from 1962, centering around "The Inspector" and his companion, who travel through Time and Space in a telephone booth. The main recurring villains are mechanical "Dalek-like" creatures, and a brief glimpse of the opening credit sequence is strikingly similar to the Doctor Who credits from the Ninth/Tenth Doctor.

See also

• Doctor Who pastiches