Toggle search
Toggle menu
114.1K
74.2K
24.2K
3.7M
Tardis Wiki
Toggle personal menu
Not logged in
Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits.

Cultural references to the Doctor Who universe/2010s

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
More actions
RealWorld.png

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 which happened during the 2010s.

In-universe references[[edit] | [edit source]]

These references functionally act as minor, unlicensed crossovers between the series and the DWU: some element of the Doctor Who universe makes a cameo, or is referenced, in such a way as to imply that it is real in the world of the story, or indeed that the story itself "unofficially" takes place in the Doctor Who universe.

Television[[edit] | [edit source]]

  •  
    Funnybot is presented. (Funnybot)
    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 Eureka episode "Reprise" (2011), Zane call Jo's house as a TARDIS house, referring to how the house is bigger on the inside.
  • In an episode of South Park titled Funnybot (2011), the Germans build a robot designed to be funny in reaction to being labelled unfunny. This robot looks and speaks like a Dalek, complete with a plunger, and is found going on murder sprees saying, "Exterminate!"
  • In the last episode of season two of The Librarians, the Librarian talks about time travel and a cloth is lifted away by Cassandra Cillian to show the TARDIS as a broken down artefact in a room full of time travelling artefact such as the Delorean from Back to the Future.
  • Phineas and Ferb (in which Thomas Sangster voiced Ferb) made several references to Doctor Who, one example being a dimensionally transcendental room made possible by "a little British sci-fi technology" in "Mission Marvel" (2012).
  • In Insecurity, a March 2012 episode of Young Justice, a police box, clearly looking like the Doctor's TARDIS, is seen as one of the ends of a Zeta-Beam conduit. A character enters the box and teleports to the Cave, the main setting for the heroes of the series. The design of the police box is comparatively detailed. It looks like the TARDIS as seen in The War Machines, bearing an "out of order" sign.
  • On January 2 2015, the The Big Fat Quiz of the Year aired and featured a skit in which Jimmy Carr was exterminated by a bronze Dalek after the Dalek asked the game show's final questions.
  • Amongst its recurring characters, the TV series Newzoids (2015-2017) features a foul-mouthed version of the Twelfth Doctor, referencing Peter Capaldi's prior role as Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It.
  •  
    The interior of Dr Yowl's BARCDIS. (Carried Away)
    In the Arthur episode "Carried Away" (2015), a dog called "Dr. Yowl", a cousin to Arthur's pet dog Pal, appears. The character wears a brown hat and red scarf, giving him an appearance similar to the Fourth Doctor, and he travels through space in a blue dog house-shaped ship called the BARCDIS ("Ballistic Astro Rocket for Carrying Dogs in Space") which is bigger on the inside and contains a console similar to that of its inspiration.
  •  
    A Dalek in a crowd of robots. (Robot Rap Battle)
    In Cartoon Network's Regular Show, the YouTube minisode Robot Rap Battle features robots who resemble Bronze Daleks without eyestalks and mounted onto mechanical legs.
  • The 2017 DuckTales reboot, having cast David Tennant as the voice of Scrooge McDuck, dropped many allusions to time-travel, the intentionality of which was confirmed by showrunner (and noted Whovian) Francisco Angones on Twitter. Among them is Scrooge's ownership of a time machine disguised as a grandfather clock (like the Master's second TARDIS) and his ironic distaste for time-travelers in the 2018 Christmas special Last Christmas, whose title is, of course, shared with an earlier Doctor Who Christmas special. The series also cast Catherine Tate (who played a one of the companions of Tennant's Doctor) as the villainous Magica De Spell, a decision which the filmmakers later confirmed was partially spurred by the knowledge that Tennant and Tate verifiably had "great chemistry" together. Michelle Gomez (Missy) later appeared as Matilda McDuck, Scrooge's sister.
  • In The Venture Bros., the TARDIS appears in Season 5, owned by St Cloud.
  • In Detentionaire, the cloning room Lee and Biffy found is similar to the genius room.
  • The 2017 episode of The Thundermans entitled Save the Past Dance features a time machine known as the Time Share, which possesses a button that allows it to blend into whatever time period it visits in a manner reminiscent to the TARDIS chameleon circuit.
  • Near the conclusion of the 2017 finale of The Flash, Cisco Ramone makes a request over a walkie-talkie to "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow".
  •  
    Emma and Kitty face the Tennis Menace. (Hello and Dubai)
    The Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race episode "Hello and Dubai" features a robot heavily resembling a Dalek, called the "Tennis Menace". It shoots tennis balls at players and shouts "PARTICIPATE!".
  • In an episode of ABC Family's The Fosters, Callie and Mariana are at a party. At one point, Mariana is talking to a girl in a room that has black light. Graffiti is seen glowing on the wall behind the girls and right between their heads are the words "Bad Wolf" printed above a non-detailed drawing of what appears to be the TARDIS.
  • A number of Doctor Who references appeared in The Simpsons.
    • "Treehouse of Horror XXII" (2010): The vortex Bart traverses is similar to the Time Vortex.
    • "Holidays of Future Passed" (2011): The robot policemen are very similar to the Daleks.
    • "Them, Robot" (2012): The robots smash through the glass room and surround Mr. Burns and Homer in similar fashion to the Cybermen in Rise of the Cybermen.
    • "Love Is a Many-Splintered Thing" (2013): The TARDIS appears in the movie Love, Indubitably. Alfred Hitchcock then comes out of it.
    • "Diggs" (2014): Two of the names on Diggs' arm cast are the TARDIS and Dalek #7.
 
The Fourth Doctor appears in Futurama.
  • Three Futurama episodes have directly referenced Doctor Who.
  • In the American animated sitcom Family Guy, in season 12's "Meg Stinks" (2014), Peter loses his hand and says he can regenerate, regrowing his hand similar to The Tenth Doctor in The Christmas Invasion. Then, the disarmed hand regrows into another version of Peter, ala Journeys End.
  • Doctor Who is parodied in a number of skits in the stop-motion animated series Robot Chicken:
    • The Season 7 skit "Doctor Who Meets the Nerd" (2014) sees the Doctor (in a "generic" incarnation who possesses traits of the Third, Fourth, and Twelfth Doctor's) taking on the show's reoccuring Nerd character as his new companion, only for the Doctor to be left exasperated when the nerd proceeds to nitpick at the low production values of the stone age setting he's been taken to (a reference to the low production values of the show's classic era). The Doctor finally decides he's had enough when a Dalek appears and the nerd simply pushes it over.
    • A Season 9 episode features a collection of skits under the title "Taking A Guess At Shows We Don't Watch" (2018), in which the writers offer their interpretations of what a show they've presumably never seen is about based on the title. The last of these skits sees a father and son involved in a fatal car accident, with the father screaming for a doctor to see to his son. An ethnic man claiming to be a doctor arrives, introducing himself as "Dr. Sunjayvandanacandanapecarpecar", with the father responding in confusion to his long name. The title card at the end reveals that the show being misinterpreted is in fact Doctor Who.
  •  
    Dr. Hooves wearing 3D glasses while accompanied by Rose. (It Ain't Easy Being Breezies)
    In the television cartoon, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, there is a recurring background earth pony named Dr. Hooves (formerly "Time Turner" and "Doctor Whooves") who bears a resemblance to the Tenth Doctor. His cutie mark is an hourglass. Official merchandise of Dr. Hooves such as t-shirts and collectable figures have been licensed by Hasbro.
    • In the episode "The Super Speedy Cider Sqeezy 6000", Dr. Hooves can be seen wearing a tie similar to the Tenth Doctor's and operating an elaborate hourglass.
    •  
      The Hot Topic variant cover for the first issue of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic IDW Publishing comic series, featuring various Doctor Who references.
      The Hot Topic variant of the cover for the comic series' first issue features Dr. Hooves in front of the TARDIS (marked "Pony Box") and wearing a tie similar to the Tenth Doctor's, as behind him the character of Muffins holds a sonic screwdriver in her mouth.
    • Another reference in a cover of the official comic depicted Dr. Hooves wearing the Fourth Doctor's scarf, holding the fob watch, and standing in front of a statue that resembles a Weeping Angel, and a street light that bears a resemblance to the TARDIS.
    • His official trading card says "Time Turner keeps Ponyville's clocks in sync, sets the hourglass for cider competitions, and takes care of all things timey-wimey."
    • In the season 2 episode, "Sweet and Elite", pony versions of the Third, Fifth, and Eleventh Doctors are seen attending a party with Dr. Hooves.
    • In the episode "One Bad Apple", Dr. Hooves wears a pear costume and a polka-dotted bowtie.
    • Various forms of the Doctor and possibly the Master have been seen in pony form. In the episode "It's Not Easy Being Breezies", he can be seen walking with a pony bearing a rose cutie mark while wearing 3D glasses.
    • Dr. Hooves is among several background characters to take centre stage in the series' 100th episode, "Slice of Life", where his scientific background is explored.
    • In "A Royal Problem", he has a bad dream about a statue.
  • Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which made a number of real-world references to Doctor Who besides, a holographic Dalek head can be seen on the Holo-table, and an image of a Dalek is displayed on Leo Fitz's monitor. Another episode sees the team hunted down by a killer robot, not too dissimilar to a Dalek. In one scene, this robot uses the phrase "exterminate".
  •  
    Gallifrey is referenced in Saturday Morning Funtime.
    Several references to Doctor Who were made in the 2019 miniseries Good Omens, which starred David Tennant alongside Michael Sheen (with cameos Derek Jacobi and Dan Starkey):
    • the name of Gallifrey is briefly glimpsed among the planets where Crowley (Tennant) considers taking refuge to escape the end of the world;
    • a brief exchange sees Adam Young and his friends chatting about how odd it is that aliens in so-called "real" U.F.O. encounters only ever talk about cosmic harmony, which leads into Brian remarking that aliens would be more likely to say “Exterminate” (a word the child pronounces in a clear impression of a Dalek voice);
    • in his first scene, the character of Newton Pulsifer is wearing a necktie patterned after the Fourth Doctor's notorious scarf, which, according to costume designer Claire Anderson, is meant to be a hint that the character is himself a Doctor Who fan;
    • Adam's father's car's license plate can briefly be seen to read "SID RAT" — a backwards-spelling of TARDIS. The backwards spelling was used in The War Games as the name of the War Lords' SIDRATs.

Films[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • In the Pixar film Cars 2, while a British spy trapped in the Big Ben was attempting to "turn back time" (as in the clock), she said, "If I can just reverse the polarity...".
  • In Theory of Everything there are two Doctor Who references.
    • After Stephen is toasted for becoming an "esteemed and formidable Doctor...," someone says "Who?"
    • Stephen rolls around on his wheelchair with a paper bag on his head, typing/saying EXTERMINATE. EXTERMINATE. In real-life, Stephen Hawking was a major Whovian.
 
One of Pat's replacements acts rather like a Dalek. (Postman Pat: The Movie)
  • In the 2014 film The Postman Pat Movie (which features David Tennant), one of Pat's replacements resembled and acted like a Dalek, though it was never technically identified as such.
  • In The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, a lego version of "Dr. Who's TARDIS" is one of the time machines that Rex Dangervest uses to build his time machine, the Rexelcior.
  • In A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon:
    • The Fourth Doctor's sonic screwdriver appeared in Lu-La's storage locker.
    • One of the Sheep with Shaun is dressed as a Dalek.
    • A man appeared dressed as the Fourth Doctor.
  • In The Lego Batman Movie, numerous villains from across the multiverse appear to fight the heroes. These villains derive from a number of shows, movies and comics. Among the enemies is a group of Lego Daleks, which are referred to as "British Robots" by the Joker. They all shout "exterminate" and are voiced by Nicholas Briggs.

Audio[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • In Bleak Expectations, Series 4 Episode 6, Harry Biscuit's childhood asthma comes back when they travel back in time, sounding just like the TARDIS. This is one of a number of references to fictional time travel in this episode, such as "88 camomiles per hour".

Prose[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • In The Serpent's Shadow (2012), the British character Sadie Kane tried to create a Shabti out of a Thermos, which resulted in it flying around, yelling "Exterminate". Later, a challenge posed to Sadie is completed by stalling a huntress with tales of "fearsome" jelly babies, in a tactic reminiscent of the Fourth Doctor.
  • In one chapter of Our Strange and Wonderful House, "a TARDIS" is mentioned in a list of fantastical artefacts gifted to people who survive the deadly Cotillion Cavern within the titular, surreal House.

Comics[[edit] | [edit source]]

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen[[edit] | [edit source]]

 
The Second Doctor appears in Century: 1969.

Sergio Bonelli Editore[[edit] | [edit source]]

Italian writer Carlo Recagno is Doctor Who fan and includes many references in his work:

Disney Comics[[edit] | [edit source]]

  •  
    Scrooge McDuck exiting the TARDIS. (Ducktor Who)
    Scrooge McDuck writer and artist Don Rosa created Ducktor Who and Tardis for Sale in 2012 and 2015, where his version of Scrooge comes into possession of the TARDIS and uses it to travel to his past, before selling it away at a "used TARDIS lot".
  • In one 2018 Italian-produced comic story, a flashback panel to Flintheart Glomgold's scientists' numerous attempts to develop a working time machine feature the Fourth Doctor and the TARDIS among the crowd (as well as Back to the Future’s Doc Brown and his DeLorean).

Monica's Gang[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • In Clássicos do Cinema – Turma da Mônica #36 – Coelhada para o Futuro (A 2013 Monica's Gang parody of Back to the Future), several different time machines from different franchises appeared, including the the TARDIS.

DC Comics[[edit] | [edit source]]

Marvel[[edit] | [edit source]]

 
A poster for "Dr. Cool" on Maxwell's bedroom wall in Seekers of the Weird.
  • In Avenging Spider-Man Vol 1 8 (2012), the words "BAD WOLF" are graffitied on an alley wall.
  • In Disney Kingdom: Seekers of the Weird #1 (2014), a poster for a series called Dr Cool is seen on Maxwell Keep's bedroom wall. It depicts a TARDIS-like blue box, as well as the titular character standing in front of a spacey background; he is depicted with an outfit and haircut reminiscent of Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor in the back half of Series 7 (with the "Dr. Cool" title itself referencing one of his catchphrases), but with the addition of a goatee and sunglasses.
  • In All-New, All-Different Avengers Vol 1 6 (2016), Miles Morales mentions Doctor Who to Thor as an example in explaining how leaving the second Mjolnir will be found by future-Captain America and future-Thor and uses the phrase "timey-wimey stuff".

Archie Comics[[edit] | [edit source]]

IDW Publishing[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The IDW Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency series — inspired by the Douglas Adams novel which reused concepts from his Doctor Who stories — has a number of references:
    • The Interconnectedness of All Kings (2015): The time traveler Professor "Reg" Chronotis has a cameo appearance. He has the same appearance as Denis Carey's portrayal of Chronotis in TV: Shada. (Issue 3)
    • A Spoon Too Short (2016): Dirk Gently has a childhood memory of playing a card game with a Fourth Doctor toy. He also says, "That's the problem with Time Lords, you never know when to fold..." (Issue 1)
    • The Salmon of Doubt (2016-2017):
      • Professor "Reg" Chronotis is a main character but has an inexplicably different appearance. (Issue 1)
      • Fixed points are mentioned. (Issue 2)
      • Dirk wears a disguise that resembles the Fourth Doctor. (Issue 5)
      • Sally Mills uses the phrase "Adventures in Space and Time". (Issue 8)
      • The Dirk of the BBC America universe hallucinates a Dalek. (Issue 8)
  • In IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 19 (2019), E-123 Omega, a robot character, exclaims "Exterminate!" in a similar fashion to the Daleks while fighting off zombots.

Homestuck[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The webcomic's main antagonist, Lord English, is a parody of the 4th Doctor. Additionally, his past-self, Caliborn, has theming based-around the number 11 and dresses like the 11th Doctor, including the suspenders and bowtie.

The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Doctor's TARDIS makes a cameo on the April 6th, 2010 page of the Love and Space storyline as one of several sci-fi spaceships kept in force fields at the Nemesite Empire's "Sol System Imperial Impound Lot". Oddly enough, earlier in the same storyline, a character also referenced Who as an in-universe franchise when remarking on the dimensional transcendentalism of a building on the planet Butane, referring to it as "Whovian".

Webcasts[[edit] | [edit source]]

Dragon Ball Z Abridged[[edit] | [edit source]]

Eddsworld[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • In the episode "WTFuture", the TARDIS is seen in the background and "Bad Wolf" is also graffitied on the wall. Future Edd also possesses a watch that resembles Jack Harkness's Vortex manipulator. (In Fun Dead, an obvious spoof of Doctor Who-the-TV-series, Professor Why, appears in Edd's channel surfing. The black bars on the TARDIS read "Herpa Derp" in place of "Police Box".)

Homestuck[[edit] | [edit source]]

Epic Rap Battles of History[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History had a battle come out in 2012 with the title Doc Brown vs. Doctor Who in which the scientist Doctor Emmett Brown (played by MC Mr. Napkins) battles against the Doctor in both his 10th incarnation (played by Nice Peter) and his 4th incarnation (played by George Watsky) with cameos from Marty McFly (played by EpicLLOYD) and a Dalek (played by Matt Sherin (physical) and Dante Cimadamore (voice)). A number of references are made:
    • The Doctors rap inside their respective TARDISes (which change interior as they change appearance).
    • The Dalek exterminates the 10th Doctor, who regenerates into the 4th Doctor.
    • Doc Brown disses the Whovian fandom and the classic special effects.
    • The Doctor mentions effects of time travelling, the fact that he's saving the world and uses the term dilly-dally.
    • As the 10th Doctor regenerates into the 4th Doctor, he hears voices calling out "Doctor".
    • The Doctor protests being called "Doctor Who", preferring "the Doctor".
    • Doc Brown mentions the Doctor's numerous companions.
    • The Doctor mentions his infinite number of me[s].
    • As the battle ends, it travels back in time to the beginning of the battle, and as the battle begins, the Doctor pulls out his sonic screwdriver to tune out.
  • In the 2013 battle Hitler vs. Vader 3, the 4th Doctor appears on an airborne speeder on the planet Tattoine from Star Wars alongside other battle-characters Leonidas and Macho Man Randy Savage.
  • In the 2013 battle Bob Ross vs. Pablo Picasso, the 4th Doctor appears on a channel of an old television in the middle of his end-verse.
  • In the 2015 battle Lewis and Clark vs Bill and Ted, Lewis says "Now go back in time and give Doctor Who his phone booth back!" while a TARDIS appears.

HISHE[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Starting with the 2016 episode The Villain Pub, the opening credits of the parody animated series in question featured a static cameo of a Bronze Dalek as one of the patrons of the titular Pub.

SiIvaGunner[[edit] | [edit source]]

Video games[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • In Fallout New Vegas, in the Z-43 Innovative Toxins Plant, one building contains a man in a suit with a skull for a head, who at one point says, "Hey, who turned out the lights?". This is a direct reference to the episode Silence in the Library.
  • An NCR Emergency Radio Broadcast references the Doctor, and (through a pun) the BBC, in the form of the message: "Bravo Bravo Charlie, the Doctor is coming".
  • In Part 5 of Quest It's a Winterful Life, Nishan, when asking if anything unusual happened to your main character lately, asks if you have "met a handsome Doctor in a blue booth?"
  • In Terraria, there is a clothing set available to buy from the clothier on the day after a full moon called "The Doctor's set" which consists of a bow-tie and tweed jacket top along with dark blue pants, a reference to the Eleventh Doctor's outfit. Similarly, a fez can be purchased from the Travelling Merchant for 3 gold and 50 silver. Its item description says, "Fezzes are cool", a reference to the Eleventh Doctor's affinity for fezzes.
  •  
    The Barry Box mid-flight. (Jetpack Joyride)
    In Jetpack Joyride (2011), a purchasable alternative skin for the "Crazy Freaking Teleporter" vehicle is the Barry Box, which strongly resembles the exterior of the the Doctor's TARDIS, only with "BARRYBOX" written above the door instead of "POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX".
  • In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice, during Ahlbi's first cross-examination during "The Foreign Turnabout" episode, he complains about wanting his time back. Protagonist Phoenix Wright laments that he is a "lawyer, not a Time Lord". During the same episode the courtroom gallery frequently chant "EX-TER-MI-NATE! AN-NIH-I-LATE" to cheer for Ahlbi and Phoenix's executions, in a manner not dissimilar to the Daleks.
  • In Goat Simulator: Waste of Space, the player can find a blue portable toilet referred to as a TURDIS with the Origin of Space Flight Museum. Headbutting the TURDIS will cause it to dematerialise, at which point the player is given a mission to find its new location. After finding and headbutting the TURDIS in a further three locations, its doors will open, allowing the player access to a bathhouse located inside.
  • In Deep Loot one of the locations that the diver can stumble upon is the Tardis which remains present for a moment before dematerialising.

Westerado[[edit] | [edit source]]

 
Stone angels are scattered around Westerado.
  • In Westerado, the player can go up to a stone angel, which will show a text box saying, "Is it... weeping?" However, this will only work on certain stone angels. The player character also says "Wibbly Wobbly...", which is then finished off by the postman who says "Timey-wimey, yes."

Out-of-universe references[[edit] | [edit source]]

These references are to Doctor Who (or one of its spin-offs) as works of fiction. They merely establish that fiction about the Doctor or the Daleks exists in the fictional universe of the story, as it does in the real world.

Film[[edit] | [edit source]]

Television[[edit] | [edit source]]

 
A Doctor Who poster is seen in Toby's room. (Tracy Beaker Returns)
 
A photograph of the TARDIS. (Variation Under Nature)
 
A poster of the Twelfth Doctor in Scott's room. (Ruthless in Purpose, and Insidious in Method)
  • The BBC America series Orphan Black has made a number of references to Doctor Who:
  • In the American comedy See Dad Run (2012-2014), Joe (one of the main characters) was going to a sci-fi convention to meet his hero "the Time Lord", an inter-galactic dimension jumper who travels in a cosmic elevator and wears a bowtie.
  • In the English dub for the 2011 anime Steins;Gate, Makise Kurisu, while in a conference discussing the possibility of time travel, mentions that while the idea of travelling through time in a little blue box may be charming, it (time travel) is completely impossible. Daru, while looking at a time machine later in the series, makes reference to a "blue box."
  • In the English dub of the Anime Disasterous Life of Saiki K in the episode "Industry-leading, Top-ranking Company?! Father’s Job" Saiki Kuniharu when begging to his son Kusko Saiki to use his teleportation powers to get him to work after waking up late, a few Doctor Who references were made as he begged to his son “Please help me out Doctor Ku! Make that Blue Box teleport me to-" before getting interupted by him. The Blue box lie is a clearly a reference to the TARDIS.
  • In an episode of Archer titled "Archer Vice: House Call", Archer asks how much the "stock" is worth in pounds. Cyril, confused, says that the weight is in kilogrammes and not in pounds. Archer then explains that he was talking about the currency called pounds but he gets interrupted by Malory. He then says "Exactly, as in Doctor Who money."
  • In the animated Netflix series BoJack Horseman, Sarah-Lynn’s drug provider Dr. Allen Hu is introduced in "Downer Ending" (2014). The titular character, BoJack, is the only one who recognises the connection, showing surprise that neither Sarah-Lynn nor Todd are familiar with the "extremely popular BBC science fiction show about the time travelling Doctor who saves civilisations".
  • In 2016 animated Disney show Milo Murphy's Law the main character is a fan of a show called Dr. Zone's Files which depicts an oddly dressed time-travelling alien and is said to be running for 50 years, going through various incarnations. In the 2017 feature-length special "Missing Milo", part of the plot concerns the recovery of Dr. Zone's missing black-and-white pilot episode from 1965.
    • The Dr. Zone's Files was homage to Doctor Who, created because of writer Joshua Pruett's love for the latter series. In 2022, Joshua Pruett wrote the Big Finish audio drama The Tides of the Moon, after having met and bonded with the producer, Jacqueline Rayner, on Twitter, who coincidentally had a profile picture of Vanessa Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb, a previous show that Joshua Pruett worked on. After the story's release, co-creator of Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy's Law, Dan Povenmire, released a YouTube Short wherein he recommended any fans of Doctor Who, Phineas and Ferb, and Milo Murphy's Law to listen to the audio drama.[3]
  • In Cartoon Network's Regular Show, the 2015 Halloween Special, "Terror Tales of the Park V", has the character Pops dressed up as the Fourth Doctor.
  • In the 2016 Still Game episode "Pie", in the beginning, shopkeeper Navid Harrid gets an automatic till installed at his convenience shop, to help deal with large customer numbers. Resident miser Tam Mullen likens the automatic till to a Dalek.
  • The favourite television series of Hugo the Duck from 2017 Netflix show Julie's Greenroom is Doctor Who. In addition, Hugo only speaks Duck, which another character can understand because he learned it at a performing arts school.
  • In the Cobra Kai episode "Pulpo", Demitri talks to Eli about the new series of Doctor Who, how Steven Moffat isn't the showrunner anymore and that the new Doctor is "badass".
  • In Criminal Minds season 8 episode 23, Penelope Garcia, the BAU teams technical analyst, tells the team that she "found something stranger than a time-travelling police box". One episode shows Garcia and Dr. Reid dressed as the Eleventh and Fourth Doctors. In another, Reid defends Doctor Who after comparisons with Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure calling it "Bill & Ted's Excellent Ripoff".
  • In New Dimensions, a 2017 episode of The Orville, Captain Ed Mercer uses "Doctor Who's phone booth" as an analog to a "quantum bubble" which will theoretically preserve a shuttle's interior dimensions while its exterior dimensions are compressed.
  • The 2017 sitcom One Day At A Time references Doctor Who in its second series. In the episode Locked Down, teenage daughter Elena and her friend Syd are preparing to attend Comic Con, dressed as the Fourth Doctor and the TARDIS respectively. The episodes includes jokes about Doctor Who, and the TARDIS costume is later used as a hiding place by another character.
  • In The Goldbergs, among the pop culture-related t-shirts Adam Goldberg is seen wearing throughout the series is a black shirt bearing the Doctor Who "diamond logo".
  • In the 2019 continuation of the 1996 TV show The Demon Headmaster (which both featured Terrence Hardiman), the Prime Minister said "Exterminate" when he saw the robot Tyler had created.
  • In the American animated sitcom Family Guy, in Season 9's "Welcome Back, Carter" (2010), Peter names an owl "Doctor Hoo".
  • In the Lucifer episode "The One with the Baby Carrot", Lucifer (played by Tom Ellis) is called "Doctor Who" by a comedian due to his British accent.
  • In the Rick & Morty episode "The Rickchurian Mortydate" (2017), when a character says that Rick isn't a god, he responds "you don't know what I am, or what I can do! I'm Doctor Who in this motherf*cker!"
  • In the Bob's Burgers episode Tweentrepreneurs, Mr. Frond mentions that he once had a thriving Etsy store that sold hand-knitted Doctor Who scarves, until he received a cease and desist letter.
  • In an episode of Supergirl, Winn is required to quickly hack a computer and compares the situation to Doctor Who. In the second episode of the series, Alex Danvers uses the codenames "Greyhound" and "Trap" in reference to the code names used by UNIT in Day of the Daleks.
 
Stuart dressed as the Fourth Doctor. (The Big Bang Theory)
  • Doctor Who is referenced several times in episodes of The Big Bang Theory:
    • In "The Justice League Recombination" (2010), Stuart is seen wearing a Fourth Doctor costume.
    • In "The Beta Test Initiation" (2012), Penny, Amy, Sheldon, and Leonard are seen watching Doctor Who. Though the screen is not shown, you can hear parts of the episode.
    •  
      The Doctor & A Dalek is one of Sheldon's favourite couples. (The Big Bang Theory)
      In "The Holographic Excitation" (2012), Raj announces he may have a TARDIS at his Halloween party. This TARDIS can be seen later on in the episode. Also in the same episode, Sheldon and Amy are brainstorming couples costumes for the party, and one of the ideas seen on Sheldon's board is "The Doctor & a Dalek". Additionally, several TARDIS posters can be seen in Stuart's comic book store, as well as a Dalek in Leonard and Sheldon's apartment.
    • In another episode[which?], a poster of Vincent Van Gogh's "The Pandorica Opens" can be seen prominently displayed in a comic book shop.
    • Another episode[which?] had a copy of Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition: The 2017 Yearbook on Sheldon's table.
  • A number of Doctor Who references have appeared in The Simpsons:
    • In "Treehouse of Horror XXV" (2014), during "A Clockwork Yellow", one of the "nasties" put into the hat is "Tell Each 'Doctor Who' They're the Worst".
    • In "Springfield Splendor" (2017), the TARDIS is seen at Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con.
  • In the American comedy Community, the character Abed Nadir compares himself to various science fiction characters in "Critical Film Studies" (2011), including K9, while describing himself as a dispassionate observer of those around him. In one episode of Season 4, Abed wears a TARDIS shirt. Additionally to these direct references, starting in "Biology 101" (2011), Community would make frequent references to the fictional TV show Inspector Spacetime, an obvious parody of Doctor Who. A British programme, Inspector Spacetime is said to be the oldest sci-fi show on television, dating from 1962, centring around "The Inspector" and his companion, who travel through time and space in a red telephone booth. The main recurring villains are mechanical Dalek-like creatures named Blorgons, and a brief glimpse of the opening credit sequence is strikingly similar to the Doctor Who credits from the first Russell T Davies era.
  • Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has made a number of references to Doctor Who.
    • In the episode The Hub, a model TARDIS can be seen on top of a desk.
    • In The Only Light in the Darkness, when the agents are asked the first thing they would like to see if stranded on an island, Jemma Simmons responds "the TARDIS."
    • In the season 5 episode 'Together or Not at All', Jemma Simmons says 'Allons-y' (The Tenth Doctor's catchphrase) in response to Leo Fitz saying 'Once more unto the breach' (William Shakespeare originally said this, but it is also something the Tenth Doctor says in The Shakespeare Code).
    • In the episode 4,722 Hours Jemma Simmons is seen being given a Tardis-shaped birthday cake.
  • In the 2018 episode of iZombie, Chivalry is Dead, after finding a body dressed as a knight, Ravi suggests 'Time-travel murder. Perhaps the impaled knight stepped out of the TARDIS seconds before his death.', and then has to explain Doctor Who to his collegues.
  • In The Magicians, some characters make references about the show.
    • In the 2016 episode Homecoming, Alice's parents' house is made to look like a Roman Domus and appears more spacious than it should, leading Quentin to remark that "it's like the TARDIS in here".
    • In the 2019 episode The Side Effect, Kady needs a "Bag of Holding... whatever that is.", to which someone replies "It's a "Doctor Who" kind of thing. A bag that's bigger on the inside."
  • In the Internet safety short film Caught on the Web (which also featured David Tennant), a Dalek poster could be seen inside the main character's bedroom.
  • Hiro, the main character of the 2014 Walt Disney animated film Big Hero 6, can at one point be observed to have an action figure of a Dalek on his shelf.
  • In the film A Street Cat Called Bob (which featured Anthony Head, Nina Wadia, Sasha Dickens, Cleopatra Dickens, Rob Jarvis, Jill Winternitz, Daniel Fearn and Frances Ashman), when one of the characters created a scarf for the titular character, she referred to him being "Doctor Who's twin".
  • In the 2018 film Bumblebee, one of the posters on Memo's room's wall is of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor (a still/set photo from The Stones of Blood).

Prose[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • In Ben Aaronovitch's Moon Over Soho (2011):
    • Main character Peter Grant wryly muses in narration that the scientists at CERN "are smashing particles together in the hope that Doctor Who might turn up and tell them to stop."
    • After an adolescent girl protests that Peter can't see into the future because it would be a "violation of causality", James, a band member, quips that he blames Doctor Who.
    • Grant, again in narration, compares a taser to "something off Doctor Who".
  • In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods (2014), Percy says that Kronos became the titan of Time but he "couldn't pop around the time stream like Doctor Who".
  • In The Blood of Olympus (2014), Leo Valdez couldn't make small talk with Percy about things the last episode of Doctor Who because Percy had just been through Tartarus.
  • In The Burning Maze (2018), plastic-wrapped automatons faced Apollo like a "scary episode of Doctor Who".
 
"Invasion" of Doctor Who monsters. (Grandpa's Great Ecscape)
  • In Chapter 18 ("Jiggery-Pokery") of Grandpa's Great Escape, the reader is told of many school trips that have gone wrong. On one of these school trips to a Doctor Who exhibition, kids dressed up as Daleks, Cybermen and Sontarans using stolen costumes, and pretended that there was an alien invasion of Earth.
  • Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard contained two distinct references to Doctor Who, due to the main character being a Doctor Who fan himself. In The Sword of Summer (2015), Magnus Chase thinks the towers on Longfellow Bridge look like Daleks. In The Ship of the Dead (2017), the ship Big Banana was bigger on the inside and Magnus thought of it as a "bright yellow TARDIS".
  • In Kate Gordon's Twenty-five Memories of Viggo MacDuff (2017), Jed moans to Connie Chase that the Beezus-juice "smells like the fart of an Abzorbaloff", a reference to a scene from the episode Love & Monsters in which the Abzorbaloff, having absorbed Bliss, farts on her face as he allows her to tell Elton Pope that he really does not want to know where on the Abzorbaloff's body her face has been embedded.

Comics[[edit] | [edit source]]

DC Comics[[edit] | [edit source]]

Other[[edit] | [edit source]]

Webcasts[[edit] | [edit source]]

In JibJab's 2013 Year in Review "What a Year!", the Doctor's TARDIS is seen in the background of a sequence baring a "50" banner and a party hat, a reference to the fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who that year.[4]

Video games[[edit] | [edit source]]

Borderlands 2[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • A random citizen will sometimes say "I'm missing the new episode of Constable What!", a parody of Doctor Who.
  • After blowing up the dam in a mission, Jack will list four names of workers killed in the flooding, all of which are the names of the first four actors playing the Doctor in Doctor Who. These are William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, and Tom Baker.
  • At the beginning of the game Claptrap is injured and states that he must find a Doctor, then turns away to say "Allons-y!", a catchphrase by the 10th Doctor.
  • The NPCs constantly knocking on walls in Sanctuary seem to be doing so in a similar beat and fashion to the subliminally-controlled humans in the Doctor Who episode "The Sound of Drums." The Master also refers to Captain Jack Harkness as "Handsome Jack" in that episode.
  • ECHOs found in Lynchwood bandits named 'John' and 'Barrowman' reference Doctor Who and Torchwood actor John Barrowman, who plays Jack Harkness.
  • There is a skin for Maya called Rose Tailor, a play on Rose Tyler.
  • In the Bloodshot Ramparts, there is a small platform aside a crane that has a teddy bear with a bow tie and 3-D glasses, referring to both the 10th and the 11th Doctor.
  • Hyperion robots can often be heard uttering "Deleted!" which is a popular phrase of the Cybermen.
  • In the character selection screen, CL4P-TP sometimes says, "I need to pee," which will trigger him to go into the outhouse. Said outhouse will then vanish, and pop back up, much in the same manner of the Doctor's TARDIS.
  • The character Maya was given to the Order of the Impending Storm, a play off of the nickname Oncoming Storm, given to the Doctor by the Daleks.
  • During the final mission in which you kill Handsome Jack. He has a pocket watch which reveals his true identity, similar to the Fob Watch owned by Time Lords.
  • During the Quest “Fake Geek Guy” in Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, Tiny Tina asks Mr. Torgue a question which is a clear reference to Doctor Who. The question she asks is: “In the 23rd episode of the 15th season of Blue Box Adventures. What is the name of the ship that abducts the Blue Box?”

Other[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • One bit of ambient dialogue by the character Lety in House Party references the TARDIS when she says "Soooo .... anyone check out my bag? It's very colorful, and kinda has a whole Doctor Who thing going on where it's bigger on the inside! Very video-gamey, the more I think about it ..."[5]

Musicals[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • During Where Do You Belong?, a song from the Mean Girls musical, Damian says the mathletes are all "college applications and Doctor Who quotations".
  • In Matilda the Musical, during the song, "Bruce", as the obese Bruce Bogtrotter is made to eat the entirety of Miss Trunchbull's chocolate cake as a form of punishment, the other children watching wonder if "maybe [his] largeness is a bit like the TARDIS; considerably roomier inside".

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/416 The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob
  2. ↑ https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/444 The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob
  3. ↑ Josh Wrote A Doctor Who Story!!!
  4. ↑ JibJab 2013 Year in Review: "What A Year!"
  5. ↑ House Party - VGFacts.com
Retrieved from "https://tardis.wiki/w/index.php?title=Cultural_references_to_the_Doctor_Who_universe/2010s&oldid=3894624"
Contents
Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies.
More information