Doctor Who parodies: Difference between revisions

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{{Real world}}As a cultural phenomenon for nearly half a century, ''Doctor Who'' has been both the target of parody, as well as the frame of reference for satire of other subjects.
{{Real world}}As a cultural phenomenon for half a century, ''Doctor Who'' has been both the target of parody, as well as the frame of reference for satire of other subjects.


== Television ==
== Television ==

Revision as of 03:01, 22 March 2014

RealWorld.png

As a cultural phenomenon for half a century, Doctor Who has been both the target of parody, as well as the frame of reference for satire of other subjects.

Television

The first Doctor Who parody ever, from It's a Square World.

1970s

  • An episode of the children's variety series Crackerjack featured "Hello, My Dalek" including Don Maclean as a Tom Baker-ish Doctor Why and Peter Glaze as a portly Brigadier. The sketch takes place within the TARDIS, which has landed on top of the Post Office Tower. Harry is absent, having been despatched to hospital to have his duffelcoat removed. There's a cameo of a Dalek with a eyestalk in a fixed rampant position.
  • An episode of "Emu's Broadcasting Company" (aka EBC1) featured puppeteer Rod Hull and his permanently attached avian sidekick Emu as a gestalt Doctor battling the Deadly Dustbins (with their war cry "Rubbish! Rubbish!"). The TARDIS in this segment was seen to be a red UK telephone kiosk.
  • An episode of the London Weekend Television sketch show "End Of Part One" (directed by Geoffrey Sax) featured a spoof called Doctor Eyes. Fred Harris played the Doctor, who is shot through his contract and is quickly replaced by Tony Aitken. Sue Holderness played a Romana-like Gloria
  • An episode of Spike Milligan's "Q" series featured the sketch "Pakistani Daleks" in which a turban-wearing Dalek is shown living in a suburban home with a human wife, Dalek child, granny and dog. The chant "Put them in the curry" followed the extermination of the last two

1980s

1990s

  • The Curse of Fatal Death, a multi-part sketch broadcast as part of the Comic Relief charity telethon in 1999, starred Rowan Atkinson as the Ninth Doctor, Richard E. Grant as the Tenth Doctor, Jim Broadbent as the Eleventh Doctor, Hugh Grant as the Twelfth Doctor and Joanna Lumley as the female Thirteenth Doctor.
  • In the TV series Crime Traveller episode six, as one of the main characters talks to another character, he notices a blue police box there is an also slower version of the Doctor Who theme, this is a clear nod to Doctor Who's Tardis
  • In the popular kids show Rugrats, which ran from 1991 to 2004, Tommy Pickles is unknowingly portrayed as a child version of the Doctor. He frequently plays with a screwdriver toy and always leads the other kids on adventures. The writers of Rugrats have confessed to being huge fans of Doctor Who. Also, in an episode where the characters visit the local Toy Mega-Store, toys lining one of the shelves can be clearly identified as Daleks.

2000s

  • The comic impressions show Dead Ringers has featured a number of Who-related sketches in its radio and TV incarnations. The earliest examples featured Jon Culshaw making spoof phones calls to retailers and service providers in the guise of the Fourth Doctor. Radio sketches included calling B&Q to get a quote for a sonic screwdriver, enquiring of a taxi to take him to Gallifrey and calling NASA for the loan of a space shuttle. In the TV version, Culshaw appeared in costume as the Fourth Doctor, attempting to buy a transdimensional wardrobe from a furniture shop. Another sketch involved the Doctor taking part in the TV show Living With the Enemy in which he lived with the Cyberman family.

File:Tony Blair regenerates like Dr Who - BBC

  • Other Dead Ringers sketches included Phil Cornwell as Christopher Eccleston. In it, the actor returned home to find his family disappointed by his role as the Doctor as they are Star Trek fans. Eccleston's mum was supposed to have made his prominent "Ferengi" ears. Another sketch featured Culshaw and Jan Ravens in character as the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler. In it, they complain about the overly loud background music and elect to read their own subtitles. In a multi-Doctor sketch, the Tenth Doctor spends Christmas with some of his former incarnations and tries unsuccessfully to get them to watch the Christmas Special. It features Culshaw as the Fourth and Tenth Doctors, Cornwell as the Ninth, Kevin Connelly as the Seventh Doctor and Mark Perry as the Second Doctor.
  • In 2003, the movie Looney Tunes: Back in Action included a scene with two Daleks. Marvin the Martian and a group of famous aliens (including the two Daleks) attack, but the heroes, including Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck escape. There is a deleted scene in which Bugs insults a Dalek by saying "Your mother was a garbage disposal!". Also a Dalek incinerates Marvin in a cartoon style when he gets in the way. Bugs also pretends to hold a wrestling match between the two, saying "Ok boys, I want a fair fight, a clean fight..." and ending with "May the best piece of tin win!"
  • In 2005 The Chaser's War on Everything, a current affairs satire program produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), aired a parody song sung by Andrew Hansen, a self declared Doctor Who fan. The song featured Hansen as a Doctor Who fan (from the 'Woolongong Doctor Who Fan Club') playing a Doctor Who tribute song based on the Doctor Who theme, singing about how if you're a fan of Doctor Who, you're a social outcast. All actors who played the Doctor were mentioned (including David Tennant who had at the time just been announced to the public as the Tenth Doctor, Peter Cushing and Richard E. Grant), as well as Robert Holmes, (with references to Scream of the Shalka and various companions.)
  • The Christmas 2006 episode of The Vicar of Dibley featured a Doctor Who-themed wedding with actual BBC Dalek props, as well as a bridesmaid dressed in David Tennant's Tenth Doctor costume. A previous episode of the same series also had the suggestion that a wedding dress should be decorated with hearts, each one containing a different image of the Doctor's various incarnations. Both episodes were co-written by Richard Curtis, who later wrote Vincent and the Doctor.
  • In the premiere of Series 4 of The Sunday Night Project, which aired on 5 January 2007, Justin Lee Collins (wearing the Tenth Doctor's outfit) starred as the Doctor in a spoof of Doctor Who. He travelled to the Pink Planet with his "gorgeous time travelling assistant" played by David Tennant in drag. There they faced "the most evil Time Lord of them all, the Gaylord", played by Alan Carr. After this came other aliens which the assistant thought were the Daleks. The Doctor explained that these creatures were far worse, the Carrleks. The Carrleks had Dalek skirts and were played by two men painted silver. They had Alan Carr's glasses and teeth, while Alan Carr in a silver catsuit played the Carrlek supreme.
Ricky Gervais as "Shlong".
  • The 2007 "Extra Special Series Finale" of the comedy series Extras featured Ricky Gervais as struggling actor Andy Millman playing an alien villain opposite David Tennant in a fictional Doctor Who story. The finale showed a brief excerpt from his death scene. In the special, Ricky is reluctantly cast as a slug-like alien called Shlong. David Tennant reprises his role as the Tenth Doctor in a cameo appearance. A brief clip of the episode is shown in which the Doctor and an unidentified companion, a female police constable, are attacked by Shlong. The Doctor describes the attack as "hyper-podulating", a manipulation of "molluskian glang valves to internally vibrate our DNA", a process that will turn its victims into slugs in roughly thirty seconds. Shlong is quickly dispatched when the Doctor throws table salt on him.
File:Comic Relief - Catherine Tate & David Tennant
The Catherine Tate Show's contribution to Comic Relief 2007, co-starring David Tennant
  • The Catherine Tate Show's contribution to the 2007 Comic Relief appeal featured a meeting between her trademark "Lauren" character and David Tennant as a weary English language teacher, who secretly was the Doctor. The sketch presaged her return to Doctor Who as well as the actors' future Shakespearian work together.
  • Family Guy has mentioned Doctor Who many times. In "Blue Harvest", the Star Wars-themed season premiere of the sixth season of Family Guy, Peter Griffin (as Han Solo) comments that "Hyperspace always looks so freaky." The scene then cuts to the first Fourth Doctor title sequence (with full audio) playing outside the Millenium Falcon cockpit. Also, in the 2009 episode "420", Brian, who has successfully lobbied to have marijuana legalised in Quahog, comments that in the aftermath, "Crime is down, productivity is up, and ratings for Doctor Who are through the roof." In the episode "Welcome Back, Carter", Peter mentions his owl's name is Doctor Hoo.
  • In the CSI: NY episode "Time's Up", the main case involves scientists experimenting in time travel. When the team enter an apartment containing a "time machine", the character Flack remarks "paging Doctor Who".
  • Episodes of the comedy sketch show The Harry Hill Show featured Nicholas Courtney reprising the role of The Brigadier alongside a Cyberman, and comedian Bobby Davro as "Bobby Davros".

2010s

  • In a 2010 episode of Harry & Paul, starring Harry Enfield and Paul Whithouse, they performed a sketch called 'Rockin' the TARDIS', or 'Doctor Who: The ITV Years'. The Doctor (Harry) and his companion (Paul) crash land on the planet Woompa-woof', the planet of gay people. Suddenly, three three-breasted woman come along and start dancing with the Doctor and his companion. The whole sketch is played out like a cheaply made sitcom. Another sketch was shown. This involved them playing two characters from On the Buses.
  • In a 2011 episode of South Park, the Germans created a "Funnybot" to try and convince the world they could be funny. The FunnyBot was very similar to a Dalek, with a plunger and eye stalk. On several occasions it yelled "Exterminate!" or "Exterminate all humans!" He believed it would be of the most ultimate irony for a human-created robot to kill the humans, thus being the worlds funniest, and indeed last, joke.
  • In honour of Steven Moffat's presence at the Paris Comic Con, the French cable TV Station Nolife broadcast a Doctor Who parody, spoofing at the same time the Eleventh Doctor, Amy, The Rubik's Cube, and Terminator. You can watch it here. (caution : the language might not be appropriate for children)
  • In a 2011 episode of Community, Britta introduces Abed to "a British science fiction show that's been running since 1962." The two then watch a brief clip from "Inspector Spacetime", featuring The Inspector, his male assistant, and an attack from the Blorgons, who look like salt shakers and declare "Eradicate! Eradicate!"
  • In the children's show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic there is a recurring background character that seems to share similar characteristics with the Tenth Doctor. Fans of the show (widely known as "Bronies") have seemed to have given this character the name, 'Doctor Whooves, sole survivor of Gallopfrey'. There are also background characters in the show that resemble the Third, Fifth, and Eleventh Doctors. In the episode It Ain't Easy Being Breezies, Doctor Whooves is seen in the company of another pony previously named Rose while wearing some 3D glasses, a shout-out to Army of Ghosts and Doomsday.

Comics

1970s

  • The UK edition of Mad Magazine issue 161 released September 1975 featured a comic strip called Doctor Ooh. In the strip Doctor Ooh and his companions Hairy and Squarer battle technobabble and a self-knitting scarf. Which has been affected. by Xeno-Acidic Mebates After the previous three Doctor Oohs fail to solve any problems, the day is saved by the film version of Doctor Ooh with his movie magic. He than claims that he is the real Doctor Ooh and leaves Doctor Ooh and his companions stranded on the scarf .

1990s

2000s

  • In March 2007, the first issue of BeanoMAX was published. The Daleks featured in the Balloonatics comic strip and The Invasion of Bash Street comic strip.
  • The Dandy released a comic strip called "Doctor Loo" featuring the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith travelling in the L.A.D.I.E.S (a time travelling toilet parodying the TARDIS). It also featured a one-off comic called "Doctor Huh?" featuring Doctor You, Doctor Shoe and Doctor Glue.
    • The Dandy had also earlier ran a strip called "Auntie Clockwise", who travelled in a grandfather clock-shaped time machine with her niece and a robot bird.

Internet

2000s

  • The popular YouTube artist nicepeter (most popular for his Epic Rap Battles of History Battles) posted a video called Japanese People Are Weird in his Picture Song series. At 2:07, an image of a Cyberman playing a guitar appears, and he states "and now I'm rockin' so hard!"

2010s

Other

1970s

  • Doctor Poo (not to be confused with the comic strip of the same title described above) was an Australian comedy radio series which ran for over 400 episodes from 1979 to 1981.

1980s

  • Doctor Why, a 1986 game for the ZX Spectrum home computer, featured Doctor Why and his other incarnations Doctor What, Doctor Where, and Doctor When hung over after a night of heavy drinking. The Doctors must each recover their TRYDIS in order to find the jelly baby of infinite wisdom.

1990s

2000s

  • The 2003 stage show Bottom Live 2003: Weapons Grade Y-Fronts Tour featured a time-travelling portaloo called the "Turdis."
  • The Chuckle Brothers starred in a 2006 comedy stage show spoofing Doctor Who, entitled Doctor What and the Return of the Garlics.
  • The 2003 Harry Potter parody Barry Trotter and the Unnecessary Sequel by Michael Gerber features a character called Dr. Loo, a time-travelling wizard who travels in a toilet called the P.O.T.T.Y.
  • In the Kapow 2012 play Whose Story is it Anyway? a child recives a sonic screwdriver, a TARDIS and a dinosaur from his father. His neighbour reveals that his father is the Doctor. In another scene, a boy finds two Time Lords in his closet.
Doctor Who parodies
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