7 Doctor Who TV References You (Probably) Didn't Know About
4. Do('h!)ctor Who?
Its time for another cartoon caper with the Time Lord now and this is one of his more well known and celebrated cameos which took place during a Halloween special of the long running animated sitcom The Simpsons back in 1999. Tom Bakers Fourth Doctor - of whom Simpsons creator Matt Groening is a particular fan - can be spotted on display as one of the Comic Book Guys prized collectibles, seen above. Its another blink-and-youll-miss-it moment (so get your pause buttons at the ready!) but nonetheless it serves as a hearty tribute to the incarnation of the Time Lord who arguably received the biggest following in the US. After all, an assemblage of classic cult characters wouldnt be complete with the Doctor himself, and this moment continued The Simpsons ongoing appreciation of the series which was established a few years earlier, in 1995, when the Fourth Doctor was included as a representative of TV in Sideshow Bobs Last Gleaming. He was seen once again in the 1996 episode Bart the Fink and then made it a hat trick in the 1998 episode Mayored to the Mob. And those arent the only times references to the Doctor have popped up in Springfield. The iconic TARDIS briefly appeared in the Season 24 episode Love is a Many Splintered Thing and Dalek-inspired policemen are featured in the 2011 episode Holidays of Future Passed. Meanwhile, in the 2009 Halloween special, one of the show's writers is listed as 'HE WILL KNOCK 4 TIMES' in reference to he one of the overriding arcs of the Tenth Doctor's final episodes. It hasn't all been one sided as over the years the Doctor Who producers have returned the favour, although arguably it's much more difficult for them to openly reference it in the same way. In in Planet of the Ood, though, when one of the Ood used Homer Simpson's iconic catchphrase "D'oh!" in a moment of frustration. The Ood probably have the same sized brain as Homer, too.
Dan Butler is the Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture.com. When he isn't writing his own articles or editing other people's, he can be found trawling the internet for gifs of Steven Moffat laughing. Contact him via dan.butler@whatculture.co.uk.
