Star Trek (franchise)

For discussion of the Star Trek franchise from an in-universe perspective, see Star Trek.

A number of references to the Star Trek universe have occurred in the Doctor Who Universe and vice versa.

Overview

References to Doctor Who in Star Trek media

Television

• A computer console seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Neutral Zone" shows the names of the first six actors to play the Doctor. Despite this being an obvious reference, a basic mistake was made where Peter Davison's name was misspelled as "Peter Davidson".
• "Future Tense", an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, features a TARDIS-like spacecraft that could travel through time, is bigger on the inside than on the outside, and has an interior design featuring TARDIS-like roundels.
• The Argolis Cluster, first mentioned in the Next Generation episode "I Borg", was named after the planet Argolis (DW:The Leisure Hive).
• In the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Threshold", after an experiment goes wrong, Tom Paris begins to mutate and eventually grows a second heart.

Other media

• The Star Trek novel "Ishmael" makes an indirect reference to the Time Lords, a direct reference to Metebelis crystals, and features cameos by the Second Doctor and the Fourth Doctor. (Per a directive from Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and the franchise owners, Paramount Pictures, novels are not considered part of Trek canon.)
• Several Star Trek stories have made mention of the use of "sonic screwdrivers" as Starfleet engineering tools.

Casting and crew connections

In terms of major Doctor Who co-stars, Daphne Ashbrook (the Eighth Doctor's companion Grace Holloway), played the character of Melora on the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode of the same name. As a regular cast member throughout the entire run of Deep Space Nine however, Alexander Siddig is the most experienced Star Trek actor to appear in any Doctor Who production, participating in two Eighth Doctor audio dramas for Big Finish Productions in 2008, Sisters of the Flame and The Vengeance of Morbius. In contrast to this, Simon Pegg has had the biggest involvement in Doctor Who. Not only did he play The Editor in The Long Game, narrate a series of Doctor Who Confidential, and perform vocal work for Big Finish in Invaders from Mars, but in 2009 he also became the first to have a major role in a Star Trek feature film when he appeared as Montgomery Scott in the latest incarnation, Star Trek, and is contracted for more.

Others that have appeared in both Star Trek and Doctor Who franchise productions include Alan Dale, Guy Siner, Barrie Ingham, Christopher Neame, John Franklyn-Robbins, Maurice Roëves, Olaf Pooley, Gregg Palmer, Deep Roy, Ed Bishop and David Warner.

According to The Nth Doctor, in 1994 Leonard Nimoy was reportedly under consideration to direct one of the many aborted Doctor Who feature film projects under consideration during the 1989-96 interregnum.

Star Trek stars who were considered to contribute to the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie include Patrick Stewart who was considered for the role of the Eighth Doctor and The Master. Stewart has stated in a recent interview that he might have been considered for the roles but he was never formally approached. Kate Mulgrew was considered for the role of Grace Holloway (though her involvement in Star Trek: Voyager for rival network UPN would likely have precluded her involvement), while legendary voice actor Frank Welker was considered to voice several aliens had the TV movie pilot been extended into a series. TV movie composer John Debney also composed scores for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Pegasus" and the Star Trek:Deep Space Nine episodes "The Nagus" and "Progress". Tony Dow, who worked as visual effects producer for the TV movie, later directed the Deep Space Nine episode "Field of Fire".

Potential official crossover

In April, 2009, Russell T Davies revealed in an interview that he had considered writing a Doctor Who episode that crossed over with Star Trek Enterprise.

"I would have loved to have done a Star Trek crossover," said Davies. "The very first year, we talked about it. Then Star Trek finally went off air. Landing the Tardis on board the Enterprise would have been magnificent. Can you imagine what their script department would have wanted, and what I would have wanted? It would have been the biggest battle."

Given the vast settings of both franchises, and the amount of companies involved in the international rights, it is highly unlikely such an episode would have been made. In addition, there have been several references made to Star Trek as an entertainment franchise in Doctor Who — most notably when Rose Tyler dubs the Doctor "Mr. Spock" in DW: The Empty Child — which could have presented a continuity challenge (or could have been ignored, like other Doctor Who continuity glitches). Star Trek, for its part, has never made a direct reference to Doctor Who in any TV episode or film, beyond a few visual references and in-jokes not intended to link to the canon.

Other information

• The fan novella The Doctor and the Enterprise by Jean Airey, initially published privately as a stand-alone fanzine and then in a professional edition in 1989 by Pioneer Books. Many other amateur fan fiction crossovers between the two universes that have been written over the years, though Airey's book remains (as of 2009) the only one to be published professionally, if unofficially.

• There have only been two periods in which the rights to publish comic books based upon Star Trek have been held by the same company holding the rights to publish same based upon Doctor Who. The first was in the 1979-81 period when Marvel Comics published a monthly Star Trek comic at the same time it published (with comic strips) Doctor Who Weekly in the UK (although Marvel's licence on Trek had ended by the time it began republishing the DWM strips in America). More recently, IDW Publishing began a line of Doctor Who originals and reprints in 2007, concurrent with its own ongoing line of Trek-based comic books.

• In October 2008, Trek actor Zachary Quinto, who also appears in the latest "Trek" film as Mr. Spock, announced David Tennant as the winner of that year's National Television Awards; it was during Tennant's acceptance speech broadcast live via remote that Tennant announced his departure from Doctor Who. Like Tennant, and most other actors who have portrayed the Doctor, Quinto, Pegg and several others of the Star Trek cast are having to take over iconic roles from popular actors.

• David Tennant has been cast in the remake of cult film Fright Night opposite Anton Yelchin who played Checkov in the latest Star Trek film
• David Tennant appeared in both a stage and television production of Hamlet opposite Patrick Stewart, with Tennant playing the title character and Stewart as Claudius.

External links

• Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki focusing on the television and films
• Memory Alpha's page on Doctor Who
• Memory Beta, a Star Trek wiki focusing on the expanded media, such as books and comics.
• Memory Beta's page on Doctor Who