Doctor Who

Donna's Tutter plush.

Doctor Who is a long-running BBC family science fiction television program starring the mysterious time-travelling adventurer known as the Doctor (not, as often popularly supposed, "Doctor Who") and his various friends and traveling companions.

Overview

The Doctor explores space and time his TARDIS, a time machine/space vehicle that resembles like an old police box. The program originally ran from 1963 to 1989, a one-off television movie was came out in 1996, and the program was successfully relaunched in 2005. It still runs today.

The original series aired in the USA for many years on PBS stations. The seasons featuring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor were rerun many times in local markets. The new series, featuring the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, currently airs on Sci Fi.

It has had three television spin-offs: K-9 & Company, Torchwood (2006-present) and The Sarah Jane Adventures. A fourth, K9, has yet to air. The series has also had spin-off comics, audio plays, novels and webcasts.

References

• In the Veterinarian's Hospital sketch from The Muppet Show episode 422:

Nurse Janice: Who, doctor?

Dr. Bob: It's not who doctor, it's Doctor Who. That's another show.

• The Pigs in Space comic in The Muppet Show Annual 1978 features a food fight with several sci-fi references. Amongst them, a robot can be seen exclaiming "Egg-sterminate!", a pun on "Ex-term-inate!", the battle cry of the Doctor's cyborg enemies, the Daleks.
• The booklet for the 2009 HeroesCon in Charlotte, North Carolina, featured a Doctor Who-themed cover with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew as the Doctor and Beaker as his companion (wearing the schoolgirl outfit the Doctor's companion Romana wore in the story "City of Death") standing in front of the TARDIS. The artwork was provided by Roger Langridge, writer and artist for The Muppet Show Comic Book; Langridge is also a former illustrator for Doctor Who Magazine.

Muppet Mentions

• In the 2006 episode "Tooth and Claw", the Doctor tells his companion, Rose, that he's going to take her to the year 1979, to see Ian Dury in concert. "1979, hell of a year!" the Doctor exlaims. "China invades Vietnam... The Muppet Movie -- love that film! -- Margaret Thatcher, uggghhh... Skylab falls to Earth -- with a little help from me, nearly took off my thumb. And I like my thumb, I need my thumb. I'm very attached to my thumb." The Doctor and Rose leave the TARDIS, and discover that they're a century off course. "Eighteen-seventy-nine," the Doctor shrugs. "Same difference."
• A Tutter doll is seen on companion Donna's desk during a flashback to her past with Lance in the 2006 Christmas special, "The Runaway Bride".
• The 2005 Ninth Doctor novel Winner Takes All, the Doctor jokes that Cookie Monster is actually an alien.

Connections

Several actors and crew members who have contributed to Muppet/Henson productions have connections to Doctor Who.

• Douglas Adams was the script editor for Season 17 (1979). He also wrote "The Pirate Planet" (1978) and "City of Death" (1979) and the never-completed "Shada", which would have aired in 1980.
• Michael Attwell played Isbur in "The Ice Warriors" (1967) and Bates in "Attack of the Cybermen" (1985).
• Annette Badland played Margaret Blaine the Slitheen in "Aliens of London," "World War Three," and "Boom Town" (2005)
• Tim Barker played Harold V in "The Happiness Patrol" (1988)
• John Barrowman has played Captain Jack Harkness in many episodes (2005-2007), and stars in the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood (2006-present)
• Timothy Bateson played Binro the Heretic in "The Ribos Operation" (1978)
• Geoffrey Bayldon played Organon in "The Creature from the Pit" (1979)
• Robert Beatty played General Cutler in "The Tenth Planet" (1966)
• Ailsa Berk provided monster choreography for episodes of the 2005 series.
• Honor Blackman played Professor Lasky in "The Trial of a Time Lord" (1986)
• David Bulbeck played a Foamasi in "The Leisure Hive" (1981), Castrovalvan in "Castrovalva" (1982), and a Lazar in "Terminus" (1983).
• Peter Burroughs played a jester in "The King's Demons" (1983).
• Navin Chowdhry played Indra Ganesh in "Aliens of London" and "World War Three" (2005).
• John Cleese played an art critic in "City of Death" (1979).
• Tim Condren performed stunts in "The Meddling Monk" (1965) and played a guerilla in "Day of the Daleks" (1972).
• Graham Crowden played Soldeed in "The Horns of Nimon" (1979).
• Ken Dodd played the Tollmaster in "Delta and the Bannerman" (1987).
• Christopher Eccleston played the Ninth Doctor.
• Tracey Eddon doubled for Ace in "Remembrance of the Daleks" (1988).
• David Forman coordinated stunts for several episodes of the 2005 series.
• Stephen Garlick played "Hippo" Ibbotson in "Mawdryn Undead" (1983).
• Mark Gatiss wrote "The Unquiet Dead" (2005) and "The Idiot's Lantern" (2006) and played Professor Lazarus in "The Lazarus Experiment" (2007).
• Sheila Hancock played Helen A in "The Happiness Patrol" (1988)
• Peter Hawkins performed Dalek and Cybermen voices in twelve stories from "The Daleks" (1963) through "The Wheel in Space" (1968).
• Derek Jacobi played Professor Yana in "Utopia" (2007) and has appeared in Doctor Who spin-off adventures in other media.
• Michael Kilgarriff played the Cyber-Controller in "The Tomb of the Cybermen" (1967) and "Attack of the Cybermen" (1985), an Ogron in "Frontier in Space" (1973) and the title character in "Robot" (1974).
• Burt Kwouk played Lin Futu in "Four to Doomsday" (1981).
• Phyllida Law played Bea Nelson-Stanley in "Eye of the Gorgon" in Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures) (2007).
• Hus Levant played Edwin Green in "The Mark of the Rani" (1985).
• Hugh Lloyd played Goronwy in "Delta and the Bannerman" (1987).
• Fulton MacKay played Dr. Quinn in "Dr. Who and the Silurians" (1970).
• Steven Mackintosh played Gazak in "Timelash" (1985).
• Jean Marsh played Joanna in "The Crusade" (1965), the Doctor's companion Sara Kingdom in "The Daleks' Master Plan" (1966), and Morgaine in "Battlefield" (1989).
• Kylie Minogue played companion Astrid Peth in "Voyage of the Damned" (2007).
• John Owens played Thorpe in "The Dæmons" (1971).
• Geoffrey Palmer played Edward Masters in "Doctor Who and the Silurians" (1970), the Administrator in "The Mutants"(1972), and Captain Hardraker in "Voyage of the Damned" (2007).
• Victor Pemberton wrote "Fury from the Deep" (1968) and audio drama "Doctor Who and the Pescatons" (1976), as well as appearing in a small role in "The Moonbase".
• Courtney Pine played himself in "Silver Nemesis" (1988)
• Nigel Plaskitt played Unstoffe in "The Ribos Operation" (1978).
• Hugh Quarshie played Solomon in "Daleks in Manhattan" and "Evolution of the Daleks" (2007).
• Shane Rimmer played Seth Harper in "The Gunslingers" (1966).
• Eric Roberts played Bruce and the Master in Doctor Who (TV movie, 1996).
• Michael Robbins played Richard Mace in "The Visitation" (1982).
• Ricco Ross played the Ringmaster in "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" (1987).
• Deep Roy played Mr. Sin in "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" (1977) and the Possicar delegate in "Trial of a Time Lord" (1986).
• Cyril Shaps played John Viner in "The Tomb of the Cybermen" (1967), Dr. Lennox in "The Ambassadors of Death" (1970), Professor Hebert Clegg in "Planet of the Spiders" (1974), and the Archimandrite in "The Androids of Tara" (1978).
• Hugh Spight was a Dalek operator in "Remembrance of the Daleks" (1988).
• Elizabeth Spriggs played Tabby in "Paradise Towers" (1987).
• Gordon Sterne played Professor Heldorf in "The Ambassadors of Death" (1970).
• Zoë Wanamaker played Cassandra O'Brien in "The End of the World" (2005) and "New Earth" (2006).
• Richard Wilson played Dr. Constantine in "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" (2005).

External links

• Doctor Who News