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The long-runningscience fiction television seriesDoctor Who has been the subject of many parodies over the years. That includes comedy sketches and specially made comedy programs, fromSpike Milligan's "PakistaniDalek" to theComic Relief episodeDoctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death. There have been occasionalparodies and references toDoctor Who on American TV shows such asCommunity,Saturday Night Live,The Simpsons,Late Night with Conan O'Brien,Robot Chicken, andThe Colbert Report. Some notable examples follow, categorized by medium.
An early televisedDoctor Who spoof was on theMichael Bentine sketch showIt's a Square World in December 1963, only a few weeks after the series first aired.[1] Season 6, Episode 8, broadcast onNew Year's Eve, featuredClive Dunn playing a scientist called Doctor Fotheringown ("Doctor Who?" / "No, not Doctor Who, Doctor Fotheringown!"), for which Dunn woreWilliam Hartnell'sFirst Doctor costume and wig. The sketch, which was recorded on 16 and 20 December 1963, also featuredWilfrid Brambell andPatrick Moore.[2]
In one episode ofThe Lenny Henry Show, an untitled sketch showed a newly regenerated 7th Doctor, portrayed byLenny 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 MinisterMargaret Thatcher and her husbandDenis.
An episode made forComic Relief with celebrity appearances fromRowan Atkinson,Joanna Lumley,Hugh Grant,Richard E. Grant (later to appear in the webcastScream of the Shalka and cast as Dr. Simeon in the 2012 Christmas episodeThe Snowmen), and Jim Broadbent as various incarnations of the Doctor andJonathan Pryce as theMaster. 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 ofDoctors,Sylvester McCoy made a guest appearance, where he played a retired actor named Graham Capelli, who played a time traveler in a television show calledThe 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 seriesMy Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic features occasional appearances by the characterDoctor Hooves, sometimes also namedDoctor Whooves andTime Turner. In thefifth season episode "Slice of Life" he is seen wearing a scarf of a similar coloration as theFourth Doctor's. Doctor Hooves is briefly seen sitting next to another character that looks likeRose Tyler and has alaboratory similar to that of theThird Doctor's.
In the episode "Chrono Trigger Time Travel Mix-Up" ofDorkly, the characters from the gameChrono 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" ofCommunity, Britta searches for a new television series for Abed to watch. She eventually shows him a sci-fi series calledInspector Spacetime, a thinly veiled parody ofDoctor Who. Troy and Abed have been seen watchingInspector 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, withMatt Lucas guest starring. Lucas would later go on to become the companionNardole onDoctor Who in 2015.
Inspector Spacetime has proved popular withDoctor Who fandom and has taken on a life of its own beyondCommunity. Many parodies, fleshed-out backstories, and unauthorizedstraight-to-web videos (produced by and starring the original Inspector actor) have been created.[5]
Multiple episodes of the showMilo Murphy's Law reference an in-show program called The Doctor Zone Files, a very obvious parody ofDoctor Who. The first appearance of the show appears in the third episode ofMilo 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 byJemaine Clement). Orton also created the show and characters based on his experiences traveling in time withDr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz to save the world from being taken over by evil pistachio monsters.
The seriesSister 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 andJo Kendall, except episode 4 where Oddie was absent). The shows were produced byDavid Hatch and Peter Titheradge.[6]
In thisDOS video game, the player uses a telephone booth to travel to the planet Retupmoc where she meets a man who looks likeTom Baker'sFourth Doctor and identifies himself as "the Doctor". A "mechanical monster" appears to be a Dalek, and the phone booth looks like theTARDIS. The Doctor gives the player a "sonar screwdriver" to rescue him.[7]
In theDragon MagazineAD&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 byBBC Books and written byJustin Richards,Nicholas Briggs (who provides voice acting for theDaleks in the 2005 series),Stephen Cole,Jacqueline Rayner, andMike Tucker. ParodyingThe Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbooks, theDalek Survival Guide gives wry hints such as how Daleks work, how to recognize differentDalek 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 namedHot-Rod Cow.[11] "Hot-Rod Cow" is the favorite comic ofThe 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 asAmazing Fantasy #15 (Spider-Man's first appearance), as well as containing other superhero-related jokes.
In the April 2015 first issue of theOni Press' original ongoingRick and Mortycomic book series, a part of the story arcThe Wubba Lubba Dub Dub of Wall Street, a "time detective" based on the Doctor, namedProfessor Tock, is introduced as an adversary of Rick's, who wears a colorful suit, is prone to making watch-related puns, and manipulatesJerry Smith into giving up his sonMorty and father-in-lawRick Sanchez to the Time Police.[12]
Subsequently, the story arcsThe Ricky Horror Peacock Show,Rick Revenge Squad, andThe Reckoning feature a second character based on the Doctor, a four-armed alien namedPeacock Jones who goes through an endless cycle of female companions on adventures on his spaceship. InThe Ricky Horror Peacock Show, Jones takesSummer Smith as his latest companion, only to come to odds with her when she rejects his advances, and he is then framed as adrug kingpin by Summer's grandfatherRick Sanchez, and imprisoned alongside aMr. Meeseeks in space prison. InRick Revenge Squad, Jones returns as a member of the titular squad (put together byParty 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 motherBeth, and decides to cut his losses and leave. InThe 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 theIllumiRicki) that separating Rick from his grandsonMorty 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-boostingMega-Seeds. After engaging Rick in combat in a reality whereRick and Morty is afictional multimedia franchise, Jones lures Rick and Jerry onto his ship (which isbigger on the inside), where he has a robot army andMeeseeks 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 havingbrainwashed Morty to kill Rick.[13]
"I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas with a Dalek" is a song released the first Christmas afterThe Daleks was initially broadcast.[14] The BritishGo-Go's novelty single tried to turn the sinisterDaleks into another version ofThe Chipmunks, and was originally released as one of the many products fuelingDalekmania.
However, as that craze fizzled out, the song was largely forgotten, with snippets occasionally appearing inDoctor 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 byThe 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!" bySweet and "Let's Get Together Tonite" bySteve 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 alsomashed up withGreen Day'sHoliday for the albumAmerican Edit.
"The Doctor Games" is a mini-parody video, created for the50th anniversary specials, as well as the release ofThe Hunger Games: Catching Fire. It is a crossover ofDoctor Who andThe Hunger Games.[16]
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