10 Times Doctor Who Has Ripped Off Other Franchises

4. Star Wars

Though always inspired by sci-fi movies, Doctor Who - like all science fiction - was inevitably changed by the emergence of the worldwide Star Wars phenomenon in 1977 and it's easy to see the influence on the show. At a time when the show was being heavily criticised for its violent content, incoming producer Graham Williams used the opportunity the franchise provided to add more space opera trappings and tales that featured princesses in far off galaxies. You can also mark the extra effort being put into the model making as the BBC Model Making Department as an attempt to keep up with Lucasfilm - and sometimes even almost succeeding. The most tangible element that Doctor Who copied, of course, was robot mutt K-9. The success of the droids R2-D2 and C3PO led to the pooch becoming a regular, and Doctor Who wasn't the only one. Remember Twiki in Buck Rogers, Doctor Who's main ITV competition in the late 1970s? Biddy-biddy-biddy, what's up, Buck?