Rugrats: The 1990’s Nickelodeon classic needed something – genocidal killer mutants!
Family Guy – As far as I know there have been at least three references in Family Guy of something related to Doctor Who, the first was when Brian mentions that since marijuana has been legalized in Quahog, “Doctor Who ratings are through the roof”. Another brief reference involves Peter naming an owl “Doctor Hoo”. The best example of this is in the very first Star Wars special that they did. As the crew jumps into hyperspace, one can see the fourth Doctor theme through the window to which Peter suggests that “Hyperspace is weird!”
Simpsons – Matt Groening is a big fan of Tom Baker Era Doctor Who, so it’s really no surprise that The Doctor Shows up constantly!
Futurama – And the tradition carries over in his other show as well.
South Park – Fairly recently, South Park did an episode featuring a German Comedy Robot named “Funnybot”. Of course Funnybot is in fact a parody of a Dalek!
Star Trek – One could write a book about Doctor Who references in Star Trek and even vice versa. One of the oddest took place in a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode entitled “The Neutral Zone”. In the episode, the crew comes face to face with survivors from an ancient cryoship. One of the thawed folks, Clare Raymond, is scanned so that her lineage can be seen. It seems she is descended from William Hartnell, Tom Baker, Colin Baker, and Even Kermit T. Frog!
Saturday Night Live –The season 30 episode starring Paris Hilton had a treat for all the Doctor Who fans out there. Sadly Paris Hilton, of all people, donned a Tom Baker-esque scarf and contributed to a new phone sex line for nerds including Star Trek, Harry Potter, and World of Warcraft ladies. To be honest, even with a Doctor Who scarf, Ms. Hilton is just about as sexy as a brick to me.
Community has an ongoing reference to a fictional show called “Inspector Spacetime” which is just a send up of Doctor Who. Supernatural had a character named Amy Pond apparently as a tribute. Criminal Minds character Dr. Spencer Reid has mentioned Doctor Who a couple of times including his enthusiasm over Doctor Who conventions as well as his frustration over Bill and Ted being a ripoff. NCIS character McGee mentioned Doctor Who and referenced the TARDIS and got teased for it by Tony. The Big Bang Theory character Dr. Sheldon Cooper is another fan much like Dr. Spencer Reid only he had taken it a step further by even dressing up like the fourth Doctor and complaining the other guys want to go out when they know Doctor Who is on.
awesome! I may have to do another one of these 😛
Also, Supernatural had a picture of a cyberman with the title Rise of the Cybermen or something like that in a magazine that was onscreen in the nightshifter episode.
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In Criminal Minds season 8 episode 23, Penelope Garcia, the BAU teams technical analyst, tells the team that she “found something stranger than a time-traveling police box”.
Thanks for that! I need to do another one of these since I have noticed TONS of references since last year!
Tommy Pickles’ obviously a Timelord!! (:
Also a ton in The Big Bang Theory!
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It’s wonderful to see Doctor Who move into mainstream consciousness across the anglosphere incuding the USA at long last.
Doctor Who has always been a mainstream family viewing show in the UK, not at all a “niche” show until recently, so it’s ironic to see it move one way in Great Britain whilst at the same time see it flatten and broaden like a great river on a flood plain everywhere else. 🙂