Doctor Who

HeroesCon 2009 program cover art by The Muppet Show Comic Book artist Roger Langridge.

The Muppet Show Annual 1978

Donna Noble's plush of Tutter from Bear in the Big Blue House.

A toy TARDIS lurks behind Cookie Monster in the 2012 "Share It Maybe" video.

Inspector LeStrade waits inside a police box, in Muppet Sherlock Holmes.

Mighty Fine t-shirt design.

Entertainment Weekly sketch.

The Muppet Show Comic Book: The Four Seasons #4

Doctor Who is a long-running BBC science fiction television program starring the mysterious time-traveling adventurer known as "the Doctor" (not, as often popularly supposed, "Doctor Who"). With various traveling companions, he explores time and space in his TARDIS, a time machine that looks like an old police box, and periodically regenerates (allowing for frequent recasting; as of 2010 there have been eleven actors cast in the role).

The program originally ran from 1963 to 1989. A TV-movie was made in 1996, and the program was successfully relaunched in 2005. The original series aired in the US for many years on PBS stations, and the seasons featuring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor (The one with the dark curly hair and wore a very long scarf) were rerun many times in local markets. The show has also given birth to three spin-off TV series to date, as well as two 1960s theatrical films (where the character's name *was* Dr. Who), comics, audio plays, novels and webcasts.

Muppet Mentions

• In the 2006 episode "Tooth and Claw", the Doctor tells his companion, Rose Tyler, 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 Noble'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.
• The 2007 DVD release of "Arc of Infinity" includes a behind-the-scenes feature, "Anti-Matter from Amsterdam". In an outtake of Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, a hairdresser fixes Davison's hair as he remarks that it's "a bit Miss Piggy." (YouTube)
• In a 2012 episode, The Angels Take Manhattan, when the group is discussing tactics and the situation of things, 2 characters say in conversation:- "The Angels Take Manhattan. "Not just a musical anymore."- An obvious reference about Manhattan Melodies in The Muppets Take Manhattan, and the writer of the episode, Steven Moffet, has said on the Doctor Who website and in interviews that the title is also a refernce to the Muppet film.[cite]

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.
• In the 2009 comic The Muppet Show Comic Book: Pigs in Space, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew goes through a list of items that have already been invented. One of them is the sonic screwdriver, famous as the Doctor's tool of choice.
• The 2010 comic book Muppet Sherlock Holmes notably featured several references to Doctor Who:
  • In issue #1, Holmes, played by Gonzo, shows a certificate that is not valid in, among other places, Torchwood, referencing the title of the spin-off series Torchwood.
  • In issue #2 of Muppet Sherlock Holmes, Holmes, Dr. Watson and Inspector LeStrade (Gonzo, Fozzie Bear and Kermit the Frog) are on a stakeout outside Irene Adler's home. LeStrade is hidden inside a Police Call Box, and say: "Erm, guys, I think I'm lost in here... It's a lot bigger on the inside than you'd think..." This is a reference to the Doctor's TARDIS, which is disguised as a police box that's bigger on the inside.
  • Later on, in issue #4 of Muppet Sherlock Holmes, one of the objects that is dredged out of the lake is a police call box, referencing the Doctor's TARDIS again.
• A t-shirt made by Mighty Fine in 2011 depicts Oscar the Grouch leaning out of a small blue police box with the caption "It's Bigger On The Inside". This is a reference to The Doctor's spaceship having been built with alien technology that allows for the space inside to be bigger than it is on the outside; as has been suggested with Oscar's trash can. To add on to this, Oscar is wearing a fez; the Eleventh Doctor is known to like fezzes.
• A miniature toy TARDIS can be seen in the "Share It Maybe" video released online by Sesame Workshop in 2012. The TARDIS toy can be seen above a cubicle wall while Cookie Monster is looking at the copy machine.
• In a 2012 Entertainment Weekly video, Grover portrays the Eleventh Doctor, with Cookie Monster as Amy Pond, in a musical spoof of the show.
• In The Muppet Show Comic Book: The Four Seasons #4, Link Hogthrob responds to Dr. Julius Strangepork, "Lots of planets have a north." This is a reference to the first season (2005) Doctor Who episode "Rose", when Rose Tyler asks the Doctor why he sounds like he's from the north.
• At New York Comic Con 2012, Elmo mentioned seeing "Dr. Spock." Gordon replied "Doctor Who?" elicitting laughter from the audience. Elmo replied that he had seen both.

The Dark Dimension

Henson Workshop Cybermen design.

A direct-to-video film, referred to as The Dark Dimension, was planned to be released in 1993 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the series. The film was to have featured redesigned Cybermen (robotic creatures from the series) built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Nigel Johns and Chris Fitzgerald worked on the design and build of the creature. Test footage was shot over the course of three weeks, including model and title effects, but the film was never made.

Connections

• 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
• Lauren Ambrose appears in the spin-off Torchwood as Jilly Kitzinger
• 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)
• Bill Bailey played Droxil in "The Doctor, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (2011)
• Frances Barber played Madame Korvarian in seven episodes (2011)
• Tim Barker played Harold V in "The Happiness Patrol" (1988)
• John Barrowman played Captain Jack Harkness in many episodes (2005-2010), 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), as well as an alternate universe version of the Doctor in a BBC-licensed audio drama for the British media company Big Finish.
• 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)
• Hugh Bonneville played Captain Avery in the episodes "The Curse of the Black Spot" and "A Good Man Goes to War" (2011)
• Ben Browder played Isaac in "A Town Called Mercy" (2012)
• 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).
• James Corden played Craig Owens in "The Lodger" (2010) and "Closing Time" (2011)
• Graham Crowden played Soldeed in "The Horns of Nimon" (1979)
• Warwick Davis played Porridge in "Nightmare in Silver" (2013)
• Ken Dodd played the Tollmaster in "Delta and the Bannerman" (1987)
• Lindsay Duncan played Adelaide Brooke in "The Waters of Mars" (2009)
• Christopher Eccleston played the Ninth Doctor (2005)
• Tracey Eddon doubled for Ace in "Remembrance of the Daleks" (1988).
• David Forman coordinated stunts for several episodes of the 2005 series.
• John Franklyn-Robbins played the Time Lord in "Genesis of the Daleks," part one (1975)
• Michael Gambon played Kazran Sardick in "A Christmas Carol" (2010)
• Stephen Garlick played "Hippo" Ibbotson in "Mawdryn Undead" (1983)
• Rupert Graves played John Riddell in "Dinosaurs on a Space Ship" (2012)
• Mark Gatiss has written several episodes from 2005 onward (four to date) and played Professor Lazarus in "The Lazarus Experiment" (2007) and Gantok in "The Wedding of River Song." He has also written numerous Doctor Who novels, audio books, and spoofs.
• Rupert Graves played John Riddell in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" (2012)
• 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).
• John Hurt was introduced as The Doctor in "The Name of the Doctor" (2013)
• Derek Jacobi played Professor Yana (aka The Master) 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)
• Hus Levant played Edwin Green in "The Mark of the Rani" (1985).
• Joanna Lumley played the Thirteenth Doctor in the BBC-produced charity spoof, "Curse of Fatal Death" (1993)
• Fulton MacKay played Dr. Quinn in "Dr. Who and the Silurians" (1970)
• Ian McNeice played Winston Churchill in "Victory of the Daleks," "The Pandorica Opens" (2010), and "The Wedding of River Song" (2011)
• 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)
• David Morrissey played Jackson Lake in "The Next Doctor" (2008)
• Bill Nighy played Dr. Black in "Vincent and the Doctor" (2010)
• 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)
• Bill Paterson played Professor Bracewell in "Victory of the Daleks" and "The Pandorica Opens" (2010)
• Steve Pemberton played Strackman Lux in "Forest of the Dead" (2008)
• 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).
• Diana Rigg played Mrs. Gillyflower in "The Crimson Horror" (2013)
• Shane Rimmer played Seth Harper in "The Gunslingers" (1966)
• 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)
• Kerry Shale played Dr. Renfrew in "Day of the Moon" (2011)
• Cyril Shaps played John Viner in "The Tomb of the Cybermen" (1967), Dr. Lennox in "The Ambassadors of Death" (1970), Professor Herbert 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)
• Imelda Staunton voiced the Interface in "The Girl Who Waited" (2011)
• Gordon Sterne played Professor Heldorf in "The Ambassadors of Death" (1970)
• Meredith Viera played a newsreader in "The Wedding of River Song" (2011)
• Zoë Wanamaker played Cassandra O'Brien in "The End of the World" (2005) and "New Earth" (2006)
• David Warner played Professor Grisenko in "Cold War" (2013)
• Mark Williams played Brian Williams in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" and "The Power of Three" (2012)
• Richard Wilson played Dr. Constantine in "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" (2005)

External links

• Doctor Who News