The Simpsons (franchise)
- You may be looking for the series as it exists in the DWU.
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's run lasted the entirety of the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s; Doctor Who returned to British television during The Simpsons' 16th season, and the 2023 specials aired during the 35th season. It is the longest-running American animated series, the longest-running American sitcom, and the longest-running American scripted primetime television series. It is the thirty-fourth longest-running television series of all time as of November 2022[update], coming in six places and ten years behind the combined classic and modern eras of Doctor Who.[1]
Crossovers[[edit] | [edit source]]
The series first crossed over with the Doctor Who universe in the 60-page comic story The Totally Stonking, Surprisingly Educational And Utterly Mindboggling Comic Relief Comic [+]Loading...["The Totally Stonking, Surprisingly Educational And Utterly Mindboggling Comic Relief Comic (comic story)"], where Bart and Lisa Simpson make brief non-speaking cameos among several other characters within the margins of the book, while several incarnations of the Doctor, their companions, the TARDIS, and the Sleeze Brothers appeared elsewhere in the comic.
The DWU later officially crossed over with the series in the massive crossover toys-to-life video game, LEGO Dimensions [+]Loading...["LEGO Dimensions (video game)"], with the two franchises being one of 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 the whole bag".
The Cyberman also has a unique voice clip when paired with Homer, newly recorded by Nicholas Briggs: "You are incompatible for upgrade. We do not stock Cyber-armour in your size".
In promotional material for the game, further crossovers between the two franchises occur. In Endless Awesome [+]Loading...["Endless Awesome (webcast)"], the Twelfth Doctor exits the TARDIS and Homer Simpson pops out of a donut. Homer makes a further cameo appearance in Doctor, Doctor, Doctor [+]Loading...["Doctor, Doctor, Doctor (webcast)"].
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 the 2004 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 spoken by the show's characters: in the audio story, Cuddlesome, the titular toys could be heard uttering two phrases commonly attributed to 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 that Bart Simpson used to: "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.
The 2024 short story A World of Pure Unimagination [+]Loading...["A World of Pure Unimagination (short story)"], which featured various DWU elements, featured Jenny Everywhere referring to Willy McDuff as "McDuff Beer", referring to a recurring drink brand from The Simpsons.
DWU references on The Simpsons[[edit] | [edit source]]
Television[[edit] | [edit source]]
In the season 7 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 10 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 season 11 - 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 15 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 season 15, 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 18 episode, Springfield Up, Homer calls a character voiced by Eric Idle "Doctor Who".
In the season 23 episode, Holidays of Future Passed, a futuristic London is patrolled by bobby-wearing Daleks.
In the season 24 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 season 24, in Love is a Many-Splintered Thing, Alfred Hitchcock is seen piloting the TARDIS in a British movie.
In the season 25 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 season 26 -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".
In the season 29 episode Springfield Splendor, the Doctor's TARDIS can be seen among other pop culture references at Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con.
In the season 34 episode Step Brother from the Same Planet, Homer's temporary step brother Calvin has a picture of a TARDIS on his pajamas.
In the season 35 episode Murder, She Boat, people dressed as the First, Thirteenth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors appear playing "pickleball".
The Fourth Doctor. (Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming)
Doctor Who at a science fiction convention. (Mayored to the Mob)
The Fourth Doctor held captive in the Collector's Lair. (Treehouse of Horror X)
A pair of Daleks in Cosmic Wars: The Gathering Shadow. (Co-Dependents Day)
The Fourth Doctor and the TARDIS, among others, at a convention. (My Big Fat Geek Wedding)
Dalek-like police robots in London. (Holidays of Future Passed)
Alfred Hitchcock exiting the TARDIS. (Love is a Many-Splintered Thing)
Diggs' arm cast, featuring signatures reading "the TARDIS" and "Dalek #7". (Diggs)
A note in a hat reading "TELL EACH "DOCTOR WHO" THEY'RE THE WORST". (Treehouse of Horror XXV)
The Doctor's TARDIS at Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con. (Springfield Splendor)
Calvin wearing pyjamas depicting the Doctor's TARDIS. (Step Brother from the Same Planet)
Thirteenth, First, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctor cosplayers play pickleball. (Murder, She Boat)
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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 "Snake's Kin" (Simpsons Comics #167), Comic Book Guy states that he just has "a dozen "Doctor Who" DVDs and an economy-sized roll of fried dough".
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 "Small-Time Travellers" (Simpsons Comics #225), Lisa remarks that Bart's apparent time machine is as big as a house, as Bart wields a "sonic laser gun", referencing the TARDIS and sonic screwdriver respectively. Later in the story, Professor Frink's Frinkomatic Chrono-Corrector also acts as a parody of the TARDIS.
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 inmates is a Dalek.
Comic Book Guy references the Draconian Empire, among other pop culture references. (Sense and Censorability)
The Fourth Doctor invades Springfield. (Hail to the Cat)
Comic Book Guy references Dr. Who. (The Town That Time Forgot)
Comic Book Guy mentions Doctor Who. (Snake's Kin)
Comic Book Guy states that he'll try to refrain from reciting quotes from Doctor Who episodes he'll be watching. (One Flu Over Springfield)
Comic Book Guy dressed as a "Composite Dr. Who". (Comic Book Guy's Best Costumes Ever - Part 1)
Several references to the Doctor Who series in Small-Time Travellers.
The Doctor's TARDIS. (The Once and Future Bartman Part Three: Together Again for the First Time)
A Dalek inmate in a space prison. (Future Cop!)
Books[[edit] | [edit source]]
In Comic Book Guy's Book of Pop Culture, the titular character has a dress mannequin adorned with props and costume pieces from different superhero and sci-fi franchises, including the Fourth Doctor's scarf.
In Flanders' Book of Faith, one of the entries in the "Ned-Approved Family-Safe TV Viewing Log" is a show called Reverend Who, with the description; "the Reverend travels 5,000 years into the past to help early humans survive a dinosaur attack."
Lisa Simpson's Guide to Geek Chic contains a "Table of Geeky Delights", set out like the periodic table. Three of the elements are The Doctor (Dc), Gallifrey (Gf), and TARDIS (Td). The Doctor's TARDIS also appears in the background of the page.
The Simpsons: Tapped Out[[edit] | [edit source]]
Tapped Out is a freemium mobile game which allows the player to create their own version of Springfield. Doctor Who references have appeared in in-game dialogue.
When the character, Database, is unlocked, the first thing he says is, "Gaaah! By Dr. Who's Tardis, I'm back!"
In the game's Superhero update, Comic Book Guy, when dressed as the Collector (from the aformentioned Treehouse of Horror episode), mentions his "Dr. Who sonic screwdriver".
In the Thanksgiving 2018 update, Homer mentions how he tried using the event's collectable gold tokens on a payphone to see if he could travel back in time "like Bill & Ted", but ended up travelling back in time like "stupid Doctor Who".
Production connections[[edit] | [edit source]]
Regular actors[[edit] | [edit source]]
Dan Castellaneta, who reprised his roles of Homer and Krusty in LEGO Dimensions, is among the show's six regular cast members, having appeared in every episode not just as the aforementioned two, but an extensive variety of other characters including, but nowhere near limited to, Abraham "Grandpa" Simpson, Mayor Quimby, Groundskeeper Willie, Sideshow Mel, and Barney Gumble.
Prolific American voice actor, Frank Welker, the voice of such LEGO Dimensions characters as Scooby-Doo and Slimer, provided the vocalisations of various animal characters during the show's first thirteen seasons, including those of the Simpson family pets, Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II.
Guest stars[[edit] | [edit source]]
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. It began airing on BBC One on Saturday, 23 November of that year (incidentally, Doctor Who's 33rd anniversary), with said terrestrial premiere being the main cover story of the 3800th issue of Radio Times.[2] It moved to BBC Two just a few months later, were it became a popular mainstay, so much so that it received its own dedicated "Simpsons Night" in June 2000, not unlike Doctor Who's own dedicated night on the channel seven months prior. The show remained on the channel until the BBC relinquished the rights 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. The Simpsons universe briefly returned to BBC Two on 5 July 2015 with the UK premiere of the Family Guy crossover episode, The Simpsons Guy.
The Tracey Ullman Show, the American variety television series on which the Simpsons originated via animated shorts was, itself, broadcast on BBC Two in the years prior, ironically, with the shorts removed. According to Ullman, the BBC believed "[the shorts] would never catch on".[3]
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.
In New Zealand, the show currently airs on TVNZ 2, where Doctor Who itself was also broadcast from 2018 to 2020.
Past seasons of the show are also streamed worldwide on Disney+, a platform it currently shares with Doctor Who outside of the UK and Republic of Ireland.
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. This UK iteration continues to run, though only reprinting older strips, due to the ending of its US counterpart. As shown above, the comics have also contained several references to Doctor Who.
Andrew Pepoy, who illustrated the Second Doctor's prologue to Supremacy of the Cybermen, drew multiple stories for the series.
The original American incarnation also took part in the annual Free Comic Book Day event.
Miscellaneous[[edit] | [edit source]]
AKOM worked on animation production for the series.
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. Following the dismissal of longtime composer Alf Clausen, Zimmer was credited as the producer of the regular series' score by Bleeding Fingers Music.
The aforementioned 3800th issue of Radio Times was the first in a handful of issues in subsequent years to promote The Simpsons on their covers. One other notable instance was the cover to issue 4281[4], with a cover illustration promoting the British broadcast of the episode, Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife, sharing space with an additional cover tagline that promoted that week's broadcast of Tooth and Claw.
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest-running_television_shows_by_category
- ↑ https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/f4f5a21499ec407a916366e6ddd9724f
- ↑ https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/107675/Brit-comedienne-Tracey-Ullman-can-t-crack-the-UK
- ↑ https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/5b978ceb431c44d89e6fdda7c3f53e84
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