Doctor Who in popular culture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The science fiction franchise Doctor Who has been referenced in various popular culture media. Some of these references have ranged from cameos, pastiches and by name or word. The series has also been parodied on many occasions.

Film[]

Title Reference Ref(s)
The Lego Batman Movie The Daleks appear in the film where they are referred to as "British Robots" and are trapped in the Phantom Zone with other villains. [1]
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part The TARDIS makes a brief appearance in the movie when Rex Dangervest uses parts from it and other famous Time Machines to build his time machine.
Looney Tunes: Back in Action In the Area 52 scene, two Daleks are seen among numerous monsters and robots from old sci-fi films [2][3]

Television[]

Title Reference Ref(s)
Chelmsford 123 In the first episode, Arrivederci Roma, the TARDIS and a scarf-wearing, silhouetted figure appear briefly in the background as Aulus Paulinus travels through Britain.
Community In the season 3 episode "Biology 101", Britta introduces Abed to the long-running British sci-fi show "Inspector Spacetime", a spoof on Doctor Who, after he suffers a nervous breakdown from running out of episodes of the real life series Cougar Town. Since then, Inspector Spacetime is often referenced throughout the duration of the series, namely in the episode "Conventions of Space and Time", where Abed and the study group attend an Inspector Spacetime convention and meet various actors and super-fans of the series, including one played by Matt Lucas, who would later play Nardole in the series.
Mr. Bean In the episode "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean", Mr. Bean plays with a toy Dalek in the nativity set inside the store.
[4]
Rugrats In the season 2 episode "Toy Palace", pink Dalek toys can be seen on the store shelves. The show's animator, Gábor Csupó, featured the reference as he is a fan of Doctor Who.
[5]
Sesame Street In the 2014 episode "Numeric Con", one of the characters is dressed up as the Fourth Doctor with the TARDIS appearing, two Cybermen and two Dalek-like Aliens saying "Enumerate".
[6]
CSI:NY In the season 4 episode, "Time's Up", a dying man confesses to a murder 24 hours before it happens. While detectives investigate, they find a body in what is supposedly a time machine, and one of them comments "Paging Doctor Who".
Rick and Morty "Heavily inspired" by Doctor Who, Rick and Morty uses various references and similarities from the series in multiple episodes.
[7][8]
[9][10]
Regular Show In the episode, "Terror Tales of the Park V", Pops dresses as the Fourth Doctor for Halloween.
South Park The episode entitled "Funnybot" featured a new character, "Funnybot". Funnybot was designed by the Germans to prove that they were a funny people, after what the students of South Park Elementary had to say about them. Funnybot was obviously based on the Daleks, albeit with Gatling guns in lieu of a death ray, even shouting "Exterminate!" at one point.
[11]
Top Gear A Dalek, the Sixth Doctor, and a Cyberman appeared alongside Darth Vader, Ming the Merciless, and a Klingon, in a 2003 episode, to see who was "Master of the Universe" with a lap around their test track in a racing modified Honda Civic. The Dalek could not get into the car, so it exterminated the other drivers (with the exception of the Klingon and the Doctor; who had apparently fled beforehand as they were not present); the Cyberman was eventually declared the winner by the hosts.
[12][13]
The Avengers Dalek toys are seen in a department store in the episode "Death at Bargain Prices". The series, like Doctor Who, was created by Sydney Newman, although broadcast on the rival ITV network.
[14]
Heartbeat The episode, "State of Mind", contains a subplot in which David Stockwell deals with a police box he claims won't stop disappearing.
Robot Chicken One short skit in Season 2, entitled "Do You Get It?" (2006), featured the Fourth Doctor standing on first base in the middle of a baseball field, asking the audience "Do you get it?" The joke being (Doctor) Who's on first (base).
Family Guy The Star Wars Episode IV spoof "Blue Harvest" (2007), used footage from the Tom Baker-era opening credits in the scene to represent the Millennium Falcon entering hyperspace.

Video games[]

Title Reference Ref(s)
Beneath a Steel Sky When the welding robot body is placed onto Joey and when talked to, he'll say "EX-TER-MIN-ATE! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!!" mimicking the Daleks. [15]
Borderlands 2 After blowing up the dam in the side mission "Hell Hath No Fury", Handsome Jack will read a list of names of the week's construction casualties which are Hartnell, W. Troughton, P. Pertwee, J. Baker, T. These are references to the actors William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker; respectively, who had played the role of the Doctor. [16]
EverQuest A non-player character named Tavid Dennant, a reference to actor David Tennant who played the Tenth Doctor, can be found in the Guild Hall, who was previously named Flavin Deepockets until the release of the expansion EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction. When talking to him, he will ask the player to find his long colorful scarf, a reference to the Fourth Doctor's scarf, and also claims to have a watch which he cannot recall where he got it but believes it is a part of him, a possible reference to the chameleon arch fob from the episode "Human Nature". [17]
Fallout One of the random encounters the player may come across features the TARDIS from the series. Upon approaching it, it will disappear.
Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Two Weeping Angels can be found in the game. The first can be found outside the Hall of Doom, and the second can be found in a cave during the level, "Jailhouse Nok". Every time the camera moves away from them, its hands will move away from its face and back again. [18]
Lego Marvel Super Heroes When travelling to Asgard during the level, "Bifrosty Reception", the player goes through a portal similar to the time vortex from 2005-2007.
Pokémon Platinum The character Looker is a reference to the Tenth Doctor. He features almost the same attire as the Tenth and refuses to reveal his true name similar to the Doctor. In the game, his goal is stop Team Galactic from taking over the universe. [19]
RuneScape In the town of Burgh de Rott, two characters named Rory and Amelia can be found, references to Rory Williams and Amy Pond; respectively. If the player claims to be the hero in their stories, they will accuse the player of lying and state that the player character is not wearing a "cool bow tie" like their hero.

During the Ratcatchers Quest the player's cat screams "Exterminate! Exterminate!" referencing the Daleks.

[19][20]
Taz: Wanted When all sandwiches are collected in a level, a blue phone box with a flashing blue light will arrive to take Taz to a bonus challenge. Inside the box also have the classic TARDIS interior. [21]
Team Fortress 2 The bow tie item "Dr. Whoa" is a reference to the show and in particular the Eleventh Doctor who was synonymous with bow ties. [22]
Terraria A wearable vanity set exists made up of The Doctor's Shirt and The Doctor's Pants, styled after the Eleventh Doctor. The Fez item also contains the tooltip 'Fezzes are cool', a reference to the Eleventh Doctor's description of fezzes in The Big Bang. The Wizard NPC will sometimes say 'I once tried to bring an Angel Statue to life. It didn't do anything.', a reference to Weeping Angels.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Outside the church near Lindenvale, there are two angel statues that when you turn away will have moved from where they were standing, a reference to the Weeping Angels. [23]
The Secret World In "The City Before Us" mission involving time travel, Saïd, an ancient mommy speaking in a very old unknown language refers to the name "Tardis" when inviting the character to enter the stone room that will transport the character in Ancient Egypt.
Destroy All Humans! 2 The player can travel to a version of London called Albion, where the appearance of the extraterrestrial main character, Crypto, causes its citizens to scream phrases like, “Someone call The Doctor!�� or “Where the hell’s the bleedin’ TARDIS?".

Comics[]

Title Reference Ref(s)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer In issue #6 of Season Eight, the Tenth Doctor with Rose Tyler can be seen in London. [24]
Power Man and Iron Fist In issue #79, Iron Fist and Power Man encounter J. A. Gamble and the Dredlox, who are pastiches of the Doctor and the Daleks. Writer for the comic Jo Duffy was a fan of the show and described the story as her "love letter to Doctor Who". [25]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Mlot, Stephanie (2017-02-06). "Daleks Invade 'Lego Batman Movie'". Geek.com. Archived from the original on 2017-02-26. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
  2. ^ Bignell, Jonathan; O'Day, Andrew (2004). Terry Nation. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 187. ISBN 0-7190-6547-X. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
  3. ^ Vasquez, Josh (12 November 2003). "Film Review—Looney Tunes: Back in Action". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on 1 February 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
  4. ^ "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean". Mr. Bean. Season 1. Episode 7. 1992-12-29. ITV.
  5. ^ Anderson, Kristy (2016-12-21). "Honor Dalek Remembrance Day With 5 Dalek Appearances That Aren't 'Doctor Who'". Moviepilot. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
  6. ^ Holmes, Jonathan (2014-08-04). "Daleks invade Sesame Street". Radio Times. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
  7. ^ "Dan Harmon's Adult Swim series inspired by 'Doctor Who'".
  8. ^ "All of Rick and Morty's Shoutouts to Doctor Who". 19 November 2019.
  9. ^ "Rick and Morty Season 4 Brilliantly Echoed a Moment from Doctor Who". 17 July 2020.
  10. ^ "'Rick and Morty' is More Like 'Doctor Who' Than 'Game of Thrones'".
  11. ^ "Funnybot (Season 15, Episode 2) – Episode Guide". South Park Studios. 2013-03-06. Archived from the original on 30 May 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-30.
  12. ^ "Top Gear—Series 2". BBC Knowledge. Archived from the original on 28 April 2010. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  13. ^ Director Brian Klein, Producer Peter McCann, Executive Producer Gary Hunter (6 July 2003). "Series 2, episode 8". Top Gear. Series 2. Episode 8. Dunsfold, Surrey, UK. 30:00 minutes in. BBC. BBC Two.
    "Top Gear—Episode Archive—Series 2". official Top Gear website. BBC. Archived from the original on 22 February 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  14. ^ Smith, David K. (11 July 2008). "Death at Bargain Prices". The Avengers Forever. Archived from the original on 12 April 2010. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  15. ^ KnowledgeBase. "Beneath a Steel Sky". VGFacts. Retrieved 2017-07-09. If you talk to Joey after placing the welder robot shell on him, he'll say during conversation "EX-TER-MIN-ATE! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!!", mimicking the Daleks from the science-fiction series Doctor Who.
  16. ^ KnowledgeBase. "Borderlands 2". Did You Know Gaming?#VGFacts. Retrieved 2017-07-23. In the side mission "Hell Hath No Fury", after blowing up the dam, Handsome Jack will read out a list of the week's construction casualties which are: Hartnell, W. Troughton, P. Pertwee, J. Baker, T. This is a reference to the actors William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, all of who played in respective order the character 'the Doctor' in the science fiction series Doctor Who.
  17. ^ KnowledgeBase. "EverQuest". VGFacts. Retrieved 2017-08-27.
  18. ^ KnowledgeBase. "LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham". VGFacts. Retrieved 2017-07-09. In the Hall of Doom, a Weeping Angel from Doctor Who can be found. Every time you move the camera away from it, its hands will move from its face and then cover it back.
  19. ^ a b Fullerton, Huw (2016-08-22). "The 14 sneakiest Doctor Who video game Easter Eggs (page 2)". Radio Times. Retrieved 2017-07-23.
  20. ^ "Ratcatchers". Old School RuneScape Wiki. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  21. ^ KnowledgeBase. "Taz: Wanted". VGFacts. Retrieved 2017-07-09. After collecting all the sandwiches in a level, a blue phone box with a flashing blue light will appear which will take Taz to a bonus challenge. This is a reference to the TARDIS from Doctor Who, as the box features the classic TARDIS ship interior.
  22. ^ KnowledgeBase. "Team Fortress 2". VGFacts. Retrieved 2017-07-09. The bow tie "Dr. Whoa" is a reference to the science fiction series "Doctor Who" and is often associated with the main character 'the Doctor', particularly the 11th incarnation. The bow tie can be worn by either the Medic or Spy and was created through the Steam Workshop by the user "TauVee".
  23. ^ Phillips, Tom (2015-05-28). "The Witcher 3 features a creepy Doctor Who Easter egg". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2017-07-10.
  24. ^ Cronin, Brian (2012-12-06). "Comic Book Easter Eggs – Doctor Who Visits the Pages of Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2017-07-10.
  25. ^ Callahan, Timothy (2013-04-11). "Revisiting Marvel's Heroes for Hire, Part 1". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2017-07-10.
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