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The long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who has been the subject of many parodies over the years. That includes comedy sketches and specially made comedy programs, from Spike Milligan's "Pakistani Dalek" to the Comic Relief episode Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death . There have been occasional parodies and references to Doctor Who on American TV shows such as Community , Saturday Night Live , The Simpsons , Late Night with Conan O'Brien , Robot Chicken , and The Colbert Report . Some notable examples follow, categorized by medium.
An early televised Doctor Who spoof was on the Michael Bentine sketch show It's a Square World in December 1963, only a few weeks after the series first aired. [1] Season 6, Episode 8, broadcast on New Year's Eve, featured Clive Dunn playing a scientist called Doctor Fotheringown ("Doctor Who?" / "No, not Doctor Who, Doctor Fotheringown!"), for which Dunn wore William Hartnell's First Doctor costume and wig. The sketch, which was recorded on 16 and 20 December 1963, also featured Wilfrid Brambell and Patrick Moore. [2]
In one episode of The Lenny Henry Show , an untitled sketch showed a newly regenerated 7th Doctor, portrayed by Lenny Henry (who would appear in the revival show episode "Spyfall" as Daniel Barton), and his companion Peri, played by Jadie Rivas. They land in England in the year 2010 and face off against the Cybermen, led by Thatchos and her sidekick Denos, parodies of the contemporary Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her husband Denis.
An episode made for Comic Relief with celebrity appearances from Rowan Atkinson, Joanna Lumley, Hugh Grant, Richard E. Grant (later to appear in the webcast Scream of the Shalka and cast as Dr. Simeon in the 2012 Christmas episode The Snowmen ), and Jim Broadbent as various incarnations of the Doctor and Jonathan Pryce as the Master. The writer of the sketch, Steven Moffat, subsequently went on to become a writer and executive producer on the show proper following its 2005 revival.
In an episode of the ninth series of Doctors , Sylvester McCoy made a guest appearance, where he played a retired actor named Graham Capelli, who played a time traveler in a television show called The Lollipop Man, where he could travel through time with his traffic lollipop stick. Graham also has to provide commentary for the DVD release of the show. [3]
The series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic features occasional appearances by the character Doctor Hooves, sometimes also named Doctor Whooves and Time Turner. In the fifth season episode "Slice of Life" he is seen wearing a scarf of a similar coloration as the Fourth Doctor's. Doctor Hooves is briefly seen sitting next to another character that looks like Rose Tyler and has a laboratory similar to that of the Third Doctor's.
In the episode "Chrono Trigger Time Travel Mix-Up" of Dorkly , the characters from the game Chrono Trigger meet the Doctor, who tells them that Lavos had in fact been trying to return to its home planet. [4]
During the episode "Biology 101" of Community , Britta searches for a new television series for Abed to watch. She eventually shows him a sci-fi series called Inspector Spacetime, a thinly veiled parody of Doctor Who. Troy and Abed have been seen watching Inspector Spacetime throughout the third season. The season four episode "Conventions of Space and Time" sees the group travel to a fan convention for the show, with Matt Lucas guest starring. Lucas would later go on to become the companion Nardole on Doctor Who in 2015.
Inspector Spacetime has proved popular with Doctor Who fandom and has taken on a life of its own beyond Community. Many parodies, fleshed-out backstories, and unauthorized straight-to-web videos (produced by and starring the original Inspector actor) have been created. [5]
Multiple episodes of the show Milo Murphy's Law reference an in-show program called The Doctor Zone Files, a very obvious parody of Doctor Who. The first appearance of the show appears in the third episode of Milo Murphy's Law, "The Doctor Zone Files", where Milo Murphy's sister, Sara, "wants to see The Doctor Zone Files movie with Milo but worries about potential problems."
The titular character of this show within a show, full name Doctor Hankry Zone, had a companion similar to The Doctor, a gorilla with a clock for a head named Time Ape, who is the brother of Doctor Zone. In the fictional intro of the show, he is described as having "one foot in the future, and one foot in the past. He's got one hand in the present, or at least in a gift-shaped cast." This is about his costume where one foot wears a shoe from the past, the other wears a shoe from the future, and his hand is in a present.
Doctor Zone was played by Orton Mahlson, who also created the show (both characters were played by Jemaine Clement). Orton also created the show and characters based on his experiences traveling in time with Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz to save the world from being taken over by evil pistachio monsters.
The series Sister Boniface Mysteries features an episode dedicated to a "Doctor Who" parody. The episode includes spoofs of the eccentric Doctor, the time and space traveling TARDIS, and the longstanding android-esque alien villain Dalek. It also showcases the 1960s creation of the show, its "Whovian" fan following, and local conventions.
This was a radio serial, stretched over 13 episodes of Series 7 of the popular radio comedy. This series went out on Radios 1 and 2 at 9.30 pm from 12 January to 6 April 1969 with the usual line-up (John Cleese, Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Jo Kendall, except episode 4 where Oddie was absent). The shows were produced by David Hatch and Peter Titheradge. [6]
In this DOS video game, the player uses a telephone booth to travel to the planet Retupmoc where she meets a man who looks like Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor and identifies himself as "the Doctor". A "mechanical monster" appears to be a Dalek, and the phone booth looks like the TARDIS. The Doctor gives the player a "sonar screwdriver" to rescue him. [7]
In the Dragon Magazine AD&D adventure "The City Beyond The Gate", the Fourth Doctor can be met (but not interacted with) as a short one-time random encounter. [8]
Dalek Survival Guide was a humorous book published by BBC Books and written by Justin Richards, Nicholas Briggs (who provides voice acting for the Daleks in the 2005 series), Stephen Cole, Jacqueline Rayner, and Mike Tucker. Parodying The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbooks , the Dalek Survival Guide gives wry hints such as how Daleks work, how to recognize different Dalek variants, "How to survive enforced captivity with a Dalek" and "What to do if you see a Dalek".
This book became the subject of legal action due to copyright issues. However, the issues were ruled against, and the book continues to be sold. [9] [10]
Beginning in their 21 April issue, The Beano ran a three-part parody comic-within-a-comic by writer-artist Kev F Sutherland called "Hot-Rod Cow", about a superhero time-travelling talking cow named Hot-Rod Cow. [11] "Hot-Rod Cow" is the favorite comic of The Bash Street Kids character, Plug. [11] The comic contained many in-jokes, for example, Hot-Rod Cow wielded a "Sonic Moo-driver". [11] The phrase "Hot-Rod Cow" is an anagram of "Doctor Who". The comic also spoofed classic comic covers such as Amazing Fantasy #15 (Spider-Man's first appearance), as well as containing other superhero-related jokes.
In the April 2015 first issue of the Oni Press' original ongoing Rick and Morty comic book series, a part of the story arc The Wubba Lubba Dub Dub of Wall Street , a "time detective" based on the Doctor, named Professor Tock, is introduced as an adversary of Rick's, who wears a colorful suit, is prone to making watch-related puns, and manipulates Jerry Smith into giving up his son Morty and father-in-law Rick Sanchez to the Time Police. [12]
Subsequently, the story arcs The Ricky Horror Peacock Show , Rick Revenge Squad , and The Reckoning feature a second character based on the Doctor, a four-armed alien named Peacock Jones who goes through an endless cycle of female companions on adventures on his spaceship. In The Ricky Horror Peacock Show, Jones takes Summer Smith as his latest companion, only to come to odds with her when she rejects his advances, and he is then framed as a drug kingpin by Summer's grandfather Rick Sanchez, and imprisoned alongside a Mr. Meeseeks in space prison. In Rick Revenge Squad, Jones returns as a member of the titular squad (put together by Party Dog), seeking revenge on Rick for his incarceration, alongside the Meeseeks, now his best friend and named "Mr. Sick". After attempting to reach Summer, Jones is beaten up by her mother Beth, and decides to cut his losses and leave. In The Rickoning, on the run from Party Dog's criminal empire (who blame him for their boss' death), and drinking at a bar, mourning Mr. Sick, Jones is advised by a hooded figure (a member of the IllumiRicki) that separating Rick from his grandson Morty Smith (and acquiring more intelligence) will leave the former vulnerable. Inspired, Jones breaks into the Smith family's garage when Rick and Morty are away, and steals a large quantity of the former's gear, and after time has passed, ambushes Morty at Dimension 35-C, kidnapping and consuming a large quantity of intelligence-boosting Mega-Seeds. After engaging Rick in combat in a reality where Rick and Morty is a fictional multimedia franchise, Jones lures Rick and Jerry onto his ship (which is bigger on the inside), where he has a robot army and Meeseeks Box to oppose Rick and his allies, using a Meeseeks army to also kidnap Beth and Summer, and chase down Rick. However, once the Mega-Seeds wear off, Jones is quickly killed by Beth and Summer, who use the chains he attached to them to decapitate him. As the reunited Smith family portal away, they remain oblivious to Jones having brainwashed Morty to kill Rick. [13]
"I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas with a Dalek" is a song released the first Christmas after The Daleks was initially broadcast. [14] The British Go-Go's novelty single tried to turn the sinister Daleks into another version of The Chipmunks, and was originally released as one of the many products fueling Dalekmania.
However, as that craze fizzled out the song was largely forgotten, with snippets occasionally appearing in Doctor Who anthological products. It finally resurfaced in its entirety on the October 2000 album, Who Is Dr Who . [15]
"Doctorin' the Tardis" is an electronic novelty pop single by The Timelords ("Time Boy" and "Lord Rock", aliases of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, better known as The KLF). The song is predominantly a mash-up of the Doctor Who theme music, Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll (Part Two)" with sections from "Blockbuster!" by Sweet and "Let's Get Together Tonite" by Steve Walsh. The single became a commercial success, reaching number 1 in the UK Singles Chart and charting in the Top 10 in Australia and Norway. The song was also mashed up with Green Day's Holiday for the album American Edit .
"The Doctor Games" is a mini-parody video, created for the 50th anniversary specials, as well as the release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire . It is a crossover of Doctor Who and The Hunger Games . [16]
The sonic screwdriver is a fictional multifunctional tool in the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who and its spin-offs, used by the Doctor. Like the TARDIS, it has become one of the icons of the programme, and spin-off media such as The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood have replicated its functions in devices such as the sonic lipstick, sonic blaster, sonic probe, sonic modulator and sonic cane.
The Curse of Fatal Death is a Doctor Who special made specifically for the Red Nose Day charity telethon in the United Kingdom, and was originally broadcast in four parts on BBC One on 12 March 1999 under the title Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death. Later home video releases are formatted as two parts and drop the "and" in the title. It follows in a long tradition of popular British television programmes producing short, light-hearted specials for such telethon events.
Ian Chesterton is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and a companion of the First Doctor. He was played in the series by William Russell and was one of the members of the programme's first regular cast, appearing in much of the first two seasons from 1963 to 1965. In a film adaptation of one of the serials, Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965), he was played by Roy Castle, but with a very different personality and backstory. Ian appeared in 16 stories and 77 episodes. He later returned for a cameo appearance, played once again by Russell, in the 2022 episode "The Power of the Doctor".
Tegan Jovanka is a fictional character played by Janet Fielding in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. An Australian airline stewardess and a native of Brisbane who was a companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, she was a regular in the programme from 1981 to 1984. Tegan appeared in 20 stories.
Mickey Smith is a fictional character in the BBC One science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by British actor Noel Clarke and was the show's first televised black companion. The character is introduced as the ordinary, working class boyfriend of Rose Tyler, a London shopgirl who becomes a travelling companion to the Ninth and Tenth incarnations of an alien Time Lord known as the Doctor. Mickey first appears in the first episode of the 2005 revival, "Rose". Initially someone who struggles in the face of danger, Mickey nevertheless acts as an Earth-based ally to the Doctor and Rose. In the second series he joins the pair as a second companion of the Doctor's, though he leaves during the 2006 series to pursue his own adventures. He returns to aid the Doctor and Rose in the series finale later that year, and then again for the 2008 finale "Journey's End," as well as fleetingly in 2010 in the Tenth Doctor send-off "The End of Time".
The First Doctor is the original incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor William Hartnell in the first three series from 1963 to 1966 and the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors from 1972 to 1973. The character would occasionally appear in the series after Hartnell's death, most prominently as portrayed by Richard Hurndall in the 1983 multi-doctor special "The Five Doctors", and as portrayed by David Bradley in the 2017 Twelfth Doctor episodes "The Doctor Falls" and "Twice Upon a Time" and in the 2022 Thirteenth Doctor episode "The Power of the Doctor", the latter previously having portrayed Hartnell himself in the 2013 biopic An Adventure in Space and Time.
Dr. Who is a character based on the Doctor, the protagonist featuring in the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, or shares adventures with, the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as an audience surrogate by providing the lens through which the viewer is introduced to the story, and often, the series itself.
Since its premiere in 1985, the BBC soap opera EastEnders has had a large impact on popular culture.
"Journey's End" is the thirteenth and final episode of the fourth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on BBC One on 5 July 2008. It is the second episode of a two-part crossover story featuring the characters of spin-off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, preceded by "The Stolen Earth", which aired on 28 June. At 65 minutes in length, it was approximately 20 minutes longer than a standard fourth-series episode. It marked the final regular appearances of every companion introduced in the Russell T Davies era, including Catherine Tate as Donna Noble.
Doctor Who: The Adventure Games is an episodic adventure video game based on the BBC television series Doctor Who and developed by Sumo Digital.
Untitled Web Series About a Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time (UWSAASTWCATTT), also known as Inspector Spacetime, is an adventure-sci-fi web series created by Travis Richey, and based on the television comedy series Community. The series is based on a fictional series first mentioned during the episode "Biology 101" of Community. Inspector Spacetime is, by itself, a Doctor Who parody. UWSAASTWCATTT follows The Inspector, a character that can travel through time and space by way of a red BOOTH, a special space/timeship similar in some ways to the TARDIS. Reception for the series has been positive, with USA Today including it in their "Best of TV on the Web in 2012" list. A feature film based on the series, titled The Inspector Chronicles, is currently in production.
Mr. Meeseeks is a recurring fictional species in the American animated television series Rick and Morty. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon and based on the title character from Scud: The Disposable Assassin by Rob Schrab, Meeseeks are a powder-blue-skinned species of humanoids who are created to serve a single purpose which they will go to any length to fulfill. Each brought to life by a "Meeseeks Box", they typically live for no more than a few hours in a constant state of pain, vanishing upon completing their assigned task so as to end their own existence and thereby end their suffering; as such, the longer an individual Meeseeks remains alive, the more insane and unhinged they become.
"Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat" is the premiere episode of the fourth season of the Adult Swim animated television series Rick and Morty. Written by Mike McMahan and directed by Erica Hayes, loosely adapting Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo, the episode was broadcast on November 10, 2019. A stand-alone graphic novel miniseries, Rick and Morty: Worlds Apart, serving as a sequel, was published by Oni Press from February 3 to May 5, 2021.
Rick and Morty is an American comic book series written by Zac Gorman, Kyle Starks, and Alex Firer and illustrated by Marc Ellerby, based on the television series of the same name. Oni Press published the original series across 60 issues from April 1, 2015, until March 25, 2020. Using the television series' established premise of alternate timelines, the first two volumes expressly follow the Rick and Morty of a different dimension (C-132) on the "Central Finite Curve" than the protagonists of the television series so-as not to contradict its continuity, before the series switches focus over to the same Rick (C-137) and Morty of the television series following the "Head-Space" arc (#12–14) in the third volume, featuring sequel storylines to specific episodes of the series, with elements of the comic series and references to its events later being incorporated into the television series. Backup stories of the series alternate between focusing on Rick (C-137) and his Morty and various Ricks and Mortys from alternate dimensions, before the primary storyline switches focus over to yet another Rick and Morty at an unspecified point before/during the final volume of the series. In October 2022, a revival of Rick and Morty was announced for a January 2023 release date, spinning out of the limited series Rick's New Hat, from the same new creative team.
Rick and Morty is an American animated science-fiction comedy franchise, whose eponymous duo consists of Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith. Rick and Morty were created by cartoonist Justin Roiland for a 2006 parody film of Back to the Future for Channel 101, a short film festival co-founded by Dan Harmon. After six years, the sketch was developed into Rick and Morty, a half-hour prime time show that was a hit for Adult Swim, receiving universal acclaim across all seasons. Alongside the original television series, the characters of the show have been featured in a variety of media, including spin-offs, comic books, musical releases and video games. The show has earned hundreds of millions of dollars in income across their merchandising and media franchise.
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