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The Simpsons is an American animated television series and multimedia franchise created by Matt Groening for 20th Television.
The sitcom focuses on the titular, dysfunctional American family, consisting of the dimwitted father Homer, his ever-exasperated wife Marge, and their three children, the mischievous Bart, the gifted prodigy Lisa, and the voiceless infant Maggie, as they attempt to navigate daily life in their hometown of Springfield, inhabited by a sizeable extended cast of eccentric characters.
The family originally began life in 1987 through a series of animated shorts on the American variety show, The Tracey Ullman Show, with their popularity leading to the creation of a fully fledged television series.
The show's first full episode, Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, premiered in the United States on 17 December 1989, a mere week and a half after Doctor Who's classic run concluded on UK television.
The show continues to run to this day: it is the longest-running American animated series, the longest-running American sitcom, and the longest-running American scripted primetime television series. It is currently the thirty-third longest-running television series of all time, coming in six places behind Doctor Who itself.[1]
Crossovers[[edit] | [edit source]]
The DWU officially crossed over with the series in the massive crossover toys-to-life video game, LEGO Dimensions, with the two franchises being one the many to be represented in the game from launch.
Homer Simpson, Bart Simpson, and Krusty the Clown appear as playable characters, allowing them to be used while playing through the A Dalektable Adventure and Dalek Extermination of Earth levels, to explore the Doctor Who-themed adventure world, and to ride K9 and the TARDIS.
In turn, this allowed the player to play as the Doctor and the Cyberman during the Meltdown at Sector 7-G and The Mysterious Voyage of Homer levels.
Homer and Krusty's dialogue throughout the game consists entirely of archival recordings from the show, as originally provided by their voice actor, Dan Castellaneta. Homer's exclusive voice clip that is activated when paired with the Doctor during gameplay is "Who are you?", lifted from the season 12 episode, Hungry Hungry Homer.
The Doctor, if in his Twelfth incarnation, also has an exclusive voice clip when paired with Homer, newly recorded by Peter Capaldi: "I'd offer you a jelly baby, but, you'll take a whole bag".
References in the DWU[[edit] | [edit source]]
The show's first reference within the DWU came within the pages of the 1991 Doctor Who Magazine comic strip, Party Animals where, among the guests to attend Bonjaxx's birthday party on Maruthea was an individual who greatly resembled Bart Simpson.
The 1996 novel, GodEngine, contained a less explicit nod to the show, in the form of the two 23rd century Martian colonies of Springfield and Shelbyville, in reference to the family's hometown and its neighbouring town with which it has a fierce rivalry.
The 1997 novel, Vampire Science, contained two references, both coming courtesy of Sam Jones. At one point, Sam tells her teacher that her role model is Lisa Simpson. At another point, a confrontation with a vampire prompts Sam to utter the exclamation first coined and popularised by Homer Simpson: "D'oh!"
In 2004's novel, The Tomorrow Windows, Martin and Trix MacMillan were said to have drank tea from Simpsons mugs.
Three stories released in 2008 contained nods to catchphrases famously uttered by the show's characters: in the audio story, Cuddlesome, the titular toys could be heard uttering two phrases commonly uttered by Bart Simpson: "Ay Caramba!" and "Eat my shorts!" A month later, the television story, Planet of the Ood, saw another utterance of Homer Simpson's famous "D'oh!" exclamation, as a voice setting for one of the Ood sold by Ood Operations. Later in the same series, The Doctor's Daughter has Martha Jones introduce herself to the Hath in the same way as Bart Simpson: "I'm Martha Jones, who the hell are you?".
Also in 2008, The Sarah Jane Adventures story, The Day of the Clown, features a child yelling at Odd Bob to "Take a hike, Krusty!", a reference to the character, Krusty the Clown.
In the second part of the Tenth Doctor's last TV story, The End of Time, as Rossiter and Addams rescue the Doctor by hastily rolling him away in the stretcher he's strapped to, the Doctor frustratedly pleads for them to stop and undo his restraints and, after being bumpily rolled down a flight of stairs exclaims, "Worst. Rescue. EVER!", a reference to the catchphrase famously coined by Comic Book Guy, used when declaring something to be the "worst ever".
Twenty-four years after the instance in Party Animals, another DWM strip, Space Invaders!, saw the appearance of another Bart Simpson lookalike being eaten by Rigellan Hyper-Kraken.
DWU references on The Simpsons[[edit] | [edit source]]
Television[[edit] | [edit source]]
In the season seven episode, Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming, the Fourth Doctor (or perhaps Tom Baker in costume) appears as a member of the "esteemed representatives of television".
A number of references throughout the series come curtesy of the reoccurring character referred to as "Comic Book Guy", such as in the episode Bart the Fink, also from season 7, where he makes reference to a "Doctor Who [episode watching] marathon".
In the season ten episode, Mayored to the Mob, the family go to a science fiction convention at which a Doctor Who table can be seen, with a costumed Tom Baker giving autographs while sitting beside the TARDIS.
In the show's tenth annual Treehouse of Horror - a part of the eleventh season - in the middle segment, "Desperately Xeeking Xena", Comic Book Guy, under the supervillainous guise of "The Collector", has a lair in which the Fourth Doctor and other famous sci-fi and fantasy-related individuals are concealed in giant plastic bags. The Collector refers to him as "Doctor Who".
In the season fifteen episode, Co-Dependent's Day, two Daleks make a brief background cameo in the new Cosmic Wars (a parody of Star Wars) film that the family go to see.
Also in the fifteenth season, a Doctor Who table not unlike the one mentioned above can be seen at a convention in the episode, My Big Fat Geek Wedding, although this instance comes with a discoloured TARDIS.
In the season eighteen episode, Springfield Up, Homer calls a character voiced by Eric Idle "Doctor Who".
In the season twenty-three episode, Holidays of Future Passed, a futuristic London is patrolled by bobby-wearing Daleks.
In the season twenty-four episode, The Day the Earth Stood Cool, an outline of a Dalek can be seen in the bottom of T-Rex's drawer.
Also in the twenthy-fourth season, in Love is a Many Splintered Thing, Alfred Hitchcock is seen piloting the TARDIS in a British movie.
In the season twenty-five episode, Diggs, the episode's titular character has an arm cast that he had signed himself with various famous and fictional names, two of which are "The TARDIS" and "Dalek #7".
The twenty-fifth annual Treehouse of Horror - part of twenty-sixth season -in the middle segment, "A Clockwork Yellow" (a parody of the film A Clockwork Orange) one of the "nasties" put into a hat is to "tell each "Doctor Who" they're the worst".
Comics[[edit] | [edit source]]
In "Sense and Censorability" (Simpsons Comics #39), Comic Book Guy, after ending up in court, delivers an opening statement that includes, among other geeky references, a mention of the Draconian Empire.
In "Hail to the Cat" (Simpsons Comics #87), Springfield finds itself at the centre of a British invasion consisting of a mob of many famous British figures, both real and fictional, including the Fourth Doctor.
In "The Town That Time Forgot" (Simpsons Comics #121), when Springfield abolishes daylight savings time, Comic Book Guy notices a loophole in the new law that allows one to set their clock any way they want to, prompting him to remark, "Like Dr. Who, time is no longer my master!"
In "One Flu Over Springfield" (The Simpsons Winter Wingding #5), Comic Book Guy, once again, takes a plane to get away from a flu epidemic in Springfield. On the flight, he promises his seatmate that he'll try to refrain from reciting dialogue from the Doctor Who episodes he'll be watching for the duration.
The graphic novel compilation, The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Hoodoo Voodoo Brouhaha, contains a series of original pages under the title, "Comic Book Guy's Best Costumes Ever", in which he showcases some of his old costumes from past conventions and events. One of the costumes featured is "Composite Dr. Who", a costume consisting of different items of clothing from the first seven Doctors, worn to Who-Con 1993.
In "The Once and Future Bartman Part Three: Together Again for the First Time" (Bartman Spectacularly Super Secret Saga #3), Bartman and Houseboy (superhero alter-egos of Bart and Milhouse) travel through time via a Time Vortex-like wormhole in which the Doctor's TARDIS can be clearly seen.
In "Future Cop!" (Chief Wiggum's Felonious Funnies one-shot), Chief Wiggum acts as a cop in the future, where he is called to put an end to a riot at a space jail, in which one of the cellmates is a Dalek.
Other media[[edit] | [edit source]]
to be added
Behind the scenes connections[[edit] | [edit source]]
Guest stars[[edit] | [edit source]]
Britney Spears appeared as herself in the season eleven episode, The Mansion Family.
Ian McKellen appeared as himself in the season fifteen episode, The Regina Monologues.
Ricky Gervais both wrote and starred in the season seventeen episode, Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife.
The season twenty-two episode, Angry Dad: The Movie, featured Russell Brand as himself, as well as another appearance by Ricky Gervais.
Television channels[[edit] | [edit source]]
In its native United States, The Simpsons airs on the Fox network. In 1996, the Doctor Who television movie had its US premiere on the network, five days before the conclusion of The Simpsons' seventh season.
In the United Kingdom, after seven years of only being viewable on cable and satellite television, the BBC obtained the terrestrial broadcasting rights to The Simpsons in 1996, when it first began airing on BBC1, before moving to, and becoming a popular mainstay on BBC2, until the rights were relinquished to Channel 4 in 2004. Overall, the BBC aired the show's first eleven seasons during its time as broadcaster, including the Doctor Who references depicted in Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming, Bart the Fink, Mayored to the Mob, and Treehouse of Horror X.
In Australia, Network Ten originally aired the series, beginning in 1991, and lasting until they lost the rights in 2014, meaning it shared the channel with the first two series of Torchwood and, possibly, some episodes of K9.
The entire series is available to stream worldwide on Disney+, a platform it will share with Doctor Who by 2023 outside the UK.
Simpsons Comics[[edit] | [edit source]]
A comic book series titled Simpsons Comics ran from 1993 to 2018. Originally published in the United States, it was also exported to other territories, including the United Kingdom, where it is published by Titan Publishing Group (the series continues to run reprints of old strips, due to the ending of its American counterpart).
The original American incarnation also took part in the annual Free Comic Book Day event.
Miscellaneous[[edit] | [edit source]]
Hans Zimmer, who contributed to the charity record, Doctor in Distress, composed the soundtrack to The Simpsons Movie, and the theatrical short film, The Longest Daycare. He was also a co-composer on The Simpsons Game.