Cultural references to the Doctor Who universe/1990s

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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 which happened during the 1990s.

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]]

The Fourth Doctor appears in The Simpsons.
  • In addition to a number of Doctor Who references to Doctor Who as fiction in-universe (see below), the Fourth Doctor appeared in one 1995 episode of The Simpsons, Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming, as a representative of television.

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

The TARDIS appears in Fallout 2.
  • In Fallout 2, the TARDIS can be found in the Desert, although it disappears after a while. As an additional reference, a speaking cyborg by the name of K9 is a recruitable companion for the player character (although he does not resemble any known "official" DWU K9 model); it refers to the player character as "Master" once it is an active member of the party.
The exit for one of the levels in Lemmings 2: The Tribes is the TARDIS.
  • In Lemmings 2: The Tribes,the exit for the "Shadow Tribe" level is clearly the TARDIS.
  • In the 1991 DOS game Hugo II: Whodunit?, the player can meet a character who calls himself "The Doctor". Nearby are what appear to be the TARDIS and a Dalek.
  • In the 1996 3D FPS Duke Nukem 3D, on the level "Bloody Hell", a Green Police Box serves as a teleporter.

Comics[[edit] | [edit source]]

Marvel[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Doctor Phoo appeared on the cover of The Bog Paper #11 (1990).
  • In Alf #38 (1991), a Melmacian named Doctor Whozonfirst appears dressed like the Fourth Doctor. He claims to be a "Slimelord" from "Gallifree" and travels in a "TARDIS Gras"
  • In Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four Vol 3 9 (1998), Johnny Storm knows that Reed Richards got a second-hand phone booth that is bigger on the inside from his "weird 'doctor' friend". (While Johnny called it an "antique London police call box", it was drawn as a red telephone booth.) (The Seventh Doctor had previously interacted with elements of the Fantastic Four mythos in licensed crossover stories Time Bomb!, Clobberin' Time! and The Incomplete Death's Head.)
  • The 1999 Donald Duck comic story The Last Time Lord was a mashup spoof of Doctor Who and Star Wars where Donald was accidentally confused for the last surviving Time Lord in the universe after digging up a "laser sword" clearly standing in for a Star Wars lightsaber (the Jedi and the Time Lords being conflated in the story's mashup cosmology), and beamed up to outer space to battle a cyborg tyrant. Regeneration is alluded to, as the cyborg tyrant readily accepts Donald as his old Time Lord nemesis due to knowing that "your lot can change faces".

Prose[[edit] | [edit source]]

It looked like every cartoon of a flying saucer Newt had ever seen.
As he stared over the top of his map, a door in the saucer slid aside with a satisfying whoosh, revealing a gleaming walkway which extended automatically down to the road. Brilliant blue light shone out, outlining three alien shapes. They walked down the ramp. At least, two of them walked. The one that looked like a pepper pot just skidded down it, and fell over at the bottom.'Good Omens

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.

Television[[edit] | [edit source]]

Two Daleks are seen on a toy shelf in Rugrats.
  • In episode "Toy Palace" (1992) of Rugrats, purple Dalek toys can be seen in the background on a shelf.
Mr. Bean plays with a toy Dalek in the titular show.
  • In the episode "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean" (1992) of Mr. Bean, Mr. Bean plays around with toy animals in front of a diorama of Jesus's birth. He eventually begins to bring out a toy Dalek, and pretends that it killed a toy lamb.
  • The 1996 The Vicar of Dibley Christmas special, "The Christmas Lunch Incident", Jim Trott hysterically attempts to recite a joke he had previously heard to Geraldine, the joke being none other than the overused knock knock in which the recipient is forced to ask "Doctor who?" at the end. As well as featuring Roger Lloyd Pack among its regular cast, the episode also coincidentally featured the second and final appearance of Peter Capaldi as Tristan Campbell.
  • Several The Simpsons episode have referenced the Doctor Who franchise:
    • In Bart the Fink (1996), Comic Book Guy buys a hundred tacos from Tacomat and says "This should provide adequate sustenance for the Doctor Who marathon."
    • Mayored to the Mob (1998), Tom Baker appears in costume at Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con, along with a TARDIS prop.
    • In Treehouse of Horror X (1999), Comic Book Guy, under the guise of The Collector, has "Doctor Who" concealed in plastic.
  • In the UK version of Queer as Folk (created by Russell T Davies), the character of Vince makes various references to Doctor Who in season 1 (1999).[1]
    • In episode 1, Vince has a Dalek toy in his fish tank. He watches the cliffhanger to episode one of Pyramids of Mars.
    • In episode 2, Vince is at a pub with coworkers. One makes references to Star Trek while Rosaline says she did watch Coronation Street instead of Doctor Who.
    • In episode 3, Vince says Mickey Blake got him episode three of Planet of the Daleks in colour and can get him episode four of The Tenth Planet.
    • In episode 5, a Vince and a guy he brings home for a one-night stand end up watching his Genesis of the Daleks tapes. In the same episode, Cameron comments on "the one with the shop dummies" and "that one with the maggots". He said the show scared him as a kid.
    • In episode 7, Vince receives a replica of K9 for his birthday. (When asked where he got K9, Davies confirmed, "It was the original K9 from the BBC!")
    • In episode 8, Vince ends up breaking up with Cameron when he can't list "all the Doctor Whos". Stuart, Vince's long-time friend, can list all 7 actors in order, even remembering that according to Vince, "Paul McGann doesn't count."
  • The opening of BBC comedy-drama Lovejoy episode "Fair Exchange" has the titular character, Lovejoy, trying to deliver a gong (from the iconic Rank Pictures ident) to the Planet Pinewood movie memorabilia exhibition house. A Dalek casing (either a Mk 1 or Mk 2, or more likely a 1965 movie Drone) can be seen through the front door, when Lovejoy is trying and failing to fit the gong through the entrance.

Prose[[edit] | [edit source]]

Kim Newman[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • One of Kim 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 visits famous events in English history while fighting off extraterrestrial threats to the Crown.
  • Newman's Life's Lottery (1999), a playful exploration of the concept of alternate universes, references Inferno in some detail (and a character fantasises somewhat colourfully about Jo Grant).
  • Richard Calder's Dead trilogy features numerous dark alternative time lines involved in a sex war between men and woman. At least one features a version of Doctor Who. The last scene of the final volume, Dead Things (1996), shows the young protagonist watching a scene of the "Daleks exterminating the slave girls of Skaro" on television.

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]