The Simpsons (franchise)

The Simpsons is an American animated television series and multimedia franchise created by Matt Groening for.

The sitcom focuses on the titular, dysfunctional American family, consisting of the dimwitted father Homer, his ever-exasperated wife Marge, and their three children, the mischievous Bart, the gifted prodigy Lisa, and the voiceless infant Maggie, as they attempt to navigate daily life in their hometown of Springfield, inhabited by a sizeable extended cast of eccentric characters.

The family originally began life in 1987 through a series of animated shorts on the American variety show,, with their popularity leading to the creation of a fully fledged television series.

The show's first full episode,, premiered in the United States on 17 December 1989, a mere week and a half after Doctor Who's classic run concluded on UK television.

The show's run lasted the entirety of the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s; Doctor Who returned to British television during The Simpsons', and the Centenary Special aired during the. It is the longest-running American animated series, the longest-running American sitcom, and the longest-running American scripted primetime television series. It is the thirty-fourth longest-running television series of all time, coming in six places and ten years behind the combined classic and modern eras of Doctor Who.

Crossovers
The DWU officially crossed over with the series in the massive crossover toys-to-life video game, LEGO Dimensions, with the two franchises being one of the many to be represented in the game from launch.Homer Simpson, Bart Simpson, and Krusty the Clown appear as playable characters, allowing them to be used while playing through the A Dalektable Adventure and Dalek Extermination of Earth levels, to explore the Doctor Who-themed adventure world, and to ride K9 and the TARDIS. In turn, this allowed the player to play as the Doctor and the Cyberman during the Meltdown at Sector 7-G and The Mysterious Voyage of Homer levels.

Homer and Krusty's dialogue throughout the game consists entirely of archival recordings from the show, as originally provided by their voice actor, Dan Castellaneta. Homer's exclusive voice clip that is activated when paired with the Doctor during gameplay is "Who are you?", lifted from the episode,.

The Doctor, if in his Twelfth incarnation, also has an exclusive voice clip when paired with Homer, newly recorded by Peter Capaldi: "I'd offer you a jelly baby, but, you'll take the whole bag".

The Cyberman also has a unique voice clip when paired with Homer, newly recorded by Nicholas Briggs: "You are incompatible for upgrade. We do not stock Cyber-armour in your size". In promotional material for the game, further crossovers between the two franchises occur. In Endless Awesome, the Twelfth Doctor exits the TARDIS and Homer Simpson pops out of a donut. Later, in the Meet That Hero! story Supergirl Meets E.T., which features the Twelfth Doctor and the TARDIS, part of the gameplay footage featured as part of the narrative shows E.T. running through Springfield.

References in the DWU
The show's first reference within the DWU came within the pages of the 1991 Doctor Who Magazine comic strip, Party Animals where, among the guests to attend Bonjaxx's birthday party on Maruthea was an individual who greatly resembled Bart Simpson.

The 1996 novel, GodEngine, contained a less explicit nod to the show, in the form of the two 23rd century Martian colonies of Springfield and Shelbyville, in reference to the family's hometown and its neighbouring town with which it has a fierce rivalry.

The 1997 novel, Vampire Science, contained two references, both coming courtesy of Sam Jones. At one point, Sam tells her teacher that her role model is Lisa Simpson. At another point, a confrontation with a vampire prompts Sam to utter the exclamation first coined and popularised by Homer Simpson: "D'oh!"

In the 2004 novel, The Tomorrow Windows, Martin and Trix MacMillan were said to have drank tea from Simpsons mugs.

Three stories released in 2008 contained nods to catchphrases famously spoken by the show's characters: in the audio story, Cuddlesome, the titular toys could be heard uttering two phrases commonly attributed to Bart Simpson: "¡Ay, caramba!" and "Eat my shorts!" A month later, the television story, Planet of the Ood, saw another utterance of Homer Simpson's famous "D'oh!" exclamation, as a voice setting for one of the Ood sold by Ood Operations. Later in the same series, The Doctor's Daughter has Martha Jones introduce herself to the Hath in the same way that Bart Simpson used to: "I'm Martha Jones, who the hell are you?".

Also in 2008, The Sarah Jane Adventures story, The Day of the Clown, features a child yelling at Odd Bob to "Take a hike, Krusty!", a reference to the character, Krusty the Clown. In the second part of the Tenth Doctor's last TV story, The End of Time, as Rossiter and Addams rescue the Doctor by hastily rolling him away in the stretcher he's strapped to, the Doctor frustratedly pleads for them to stop and undo his restraints and, after being bumpily rolled down a flight of stairs, exclaims, "Worst. Rescue. EVER!", a reference to the catchphrase famously coined by Comic Book Guy, used when declaring something to be the "worst ever".

Twenty-four years after the instance in Party Animals, another DWM strip, Space Invaders!, saw the appearance of another Bart Simpson lookalike being eaten by Rigellan Hyper-Kraken.

Television
In the episode,, the Fourth Doctor (or perhaps Tom Baker in costume) appears as a member of the "esteemed representatives of television".

A number of references throughout the series come curtesy of the reoccurring character referred to as "Comic Book Guy", such as in the episode, also from season 7, where he makes reference to a "Doctor Who [episode watching] marathon".

In the episode,, the family go to a science fiction convention at which a Doctor Who table can be seen, with a costumed Tom Baker giving autographs while sitting beside the TARDIS.

In the show's tenth annual - a part of the  - in the middle segment, "Desperately Xeeking Xena", Comic Book Guy, under the supervillainous guise of "The Collector", has a lair in which the Fourth Doctor and other famous sci-fi and fantasy-related individuals are concealed in giant plastic bags. The Collector refers to him as "Doctor Who". In the episode,, two Daleks make a brief background cameo in the new Cosmic Wars (a parody of Star Wars) film that the family go to see.

Also in the fifteenth season, a Doctor Who table not unlike the one mentioned above can be seen at a convention in the episode,, although this instance comes with a discoloured TARDIS.

In the episode,, Homer calls a character voiced by  "Doctor Who".

In the episode,, a futuristic London is patrolled by bobby-wearing Daleks.

In the episode,, an outline of a Dalek can be seen in the bottom of T-Rex's drawer. Also in the twenthy-fourth season, in, Alfred Hitchcock is seen piloting the TARDIS in a British movie.

In the episode,, the episode's titular character has an arm cast that he had signed himself with various famous and fictional names, two of which are "The TARDIS" and "Dalek #7".

The twenty-fifth annual - part of  -in the middle segment, "A Clockwork Yellow" (a parody of the film ) one of the "nasties" put into a hat is to "tell each "Doctor Who" they're the worst".

In the episode, Homer's temporary step brother Calvin has a picture of a TARDIS on his pajamas.

Comics
In "Sense and Censorability" (Simpsons Comics #39), Comic Book Guy, after ending up in court, delivers an opening statement that includes, among other geeky references, a mention of the Draconian Empire. In "Hail to the Cat" (Simpsons Comics #87), Springfield finds itself at the centre of a British invasion consisting of a mob of many famous British figures, both real and fictional, including the Fourth Doctor.

In "The Town That Time Forgot" (Simpsons Comics #121), when Springfield abolishes daylight savings time, Comic Book Guy notices a loophole in the new law that allows one to set their clock any way they want to, prompting him to remark, "Like Dr. Who, time is no longer my master!"

In "One Flu Over Springfield" (The Simpsons Winter Wingding #5), Comic Book Guy, once again, takes a plane to get away from a flu epidemic in Springfield. On the flight, he promises his seatmate that he'll try to refrain from reciting dialogue from the Doctor Who episodes he'll be watching for the duration.

The graphic novel compilation, The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Hoodoo Voodoo Brouhaha, contains a series of original pages under the title, "Comic Book Guy's Best Costumes Ever", in which he showcases some of his old costumes from past conventions and events. One of the costumes featured is "Composite Dr. Who", a costume consisting of different items of clothing from the first seven Doctors, worn to Who-Con 1993. In "The Once and Future Bartman Part Three: Together Again for the First Time" (Bartman Spectacularly Super Secret Saga #3), Bartman and Houseboy (superhero alter-egos of Bart and Milhouse) travel through time via a Time Vortex-like wormhole in which the Doctor's TARDIS can be clearly seen.

In "Future Cop!" (Chief Wiggum's Felonious Funnies one-shot), Chief Wiggum acts as a cop in the future, where he is called to put an end to a riot at a space jail, in which one of the inmates is a Dalek.

Books
In Comic Book Guy's Book of Pop Culture, the titular character has a dress mannequin adorned with props and costume pieces from different superhero and sci-fi franchises, including the Fourth Doctor's scarf.

In Flanders' Book of Faith, one of the entries in the "Ned-Approved Family-Safe TV Viewing Log" is a show called Reverend Who, with the description; "the Reverend travels 5,000 years into the past to help early humans survive a dinosaur attack."

Lisa Simpson's Guide to Geek Chic contains a "Table of Geeky Delights", set out like the periodic table. Three of the elements are The Doctor (Dc), Gallifrey (Gf), and TARDIS (Td). The Doctor's TARDIS also appears in the background of the page.

The Simpsons: Tapped Out
is a freemium mobile game which allows the player to create their own version of Springfield. Doctor Who references have appeared in in-game dialogue.

When the character, Database, is unlocked, the first thing he says is, "Gaaah! By Dr. Who's Tardis, I'm back!"

In the game's Superhero update, Comic Book Guy, when dressed as the Collector (from the aformentioned Treehouse of Horror episode), mentions his "Dr. Who sonic screwdriver".

In the Thanksgiving 2018 update, Homer mentions how he tried using the event's collectable gold tokens on a payphone to see if he could travel back in time "like ", but ended up travelling back in time like "stupid Doctor Who".

Guest stars
Stephen Hawking appeared as himself in The Simpsons episode  and  episode  and was interviewed for Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor.

Britney Spears appeared as herself in The Simpsons episode  and the 2016 Children in Need mini-episode the Looking for Pudsey.

Ian McKellen appeared as himself in The Simpsons episode  and voiced the Great Intelligence in the Doctor Who 2012 Christmas Special The Snowmen.

Simon Cowell appeared as Henry in The Simpsons episode  and himself in the  episode  and the 2016 Children in Need mini-episode the Looking for Pudsey.

Ricky Gervais both wrote and starred in The Simpsons episode  and the Extras: The Special episode, the latter of which which features a non-DWU appearance of David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor.

The Simpsons episode  featured Russell Brand as himself, as well as another appearance by Gervais. Brand appeared in the 2021 Comic Relief mini episode 2020: The Movie.

Neil Gaiman, a writer of various Doctor Who related fiction beginning with series 6's The Doctor's Wife, appeared as himself in The Simpsons episode  and as Snowball II in the  episode.

Benedict Cumberbatch appeared as the Prime Minister and Severus Snape in the season 24 episode, Quilloughby in The Simpsons episode , Howard Carter in the Big Finish Doctor Who audio story False Gods, and Thing 2 in the Big Finish Doctor Who audio story Order of Simplicity.

Richard Dawkins appeared as himself in The Simpsons season 24 episode as well as the Doctor Who series 4 episode The Stolen Earth.

Christopher Lloyd appeared as in The Simpsons season 26 episode  and as Doc Brown in the webcast Doctor, Doctor, Doctor.

Michael Sheen appeared as in The Simpsons season 28 episode  and as the voice of House in the Doctor Who Series 6 episode The Doctor's Wife.

Jennifer Saunders appeared as Phoebe Pratt in The Simpsons season 28 episode and as Silurian 2 in the Doctor Who skit The Silurian Disruption.

In the episode, Eugene Mirman (an interview subject on various BBC America shows) voiced his  character, Gene Belcher, during the opening.

Peter Serafinowicz appeared as a CEO in The Simpsons season 30 episode and as the voice of the Fisher King in the Doctor Who series 9 episode Before the Flood.

Michael Palin appeared as a museum curator in The Simpsons season 32 episode and as The Voice in the Torchwood audio drama Tropical Beach Sounds and Other Relaxing Seascapes 4.

Olivia Colman appeared as Lily in The Simpsons season 32 episode and as a mother and Prisoner Zero in the Doctor Who Series 5 episode The Eleventh Hour.

Stephen Fry appeared as various characters in The Simpsons season 32 episode and as the Minister of Chance in the webcast Death Comes to Time and C in the Doctor Who Series 12 episode Spyfall Part One.

Alan Cumming appeared as in The Simpsons season 33 episode  and as James I in the Doctor Who Series 11 episode The Witchfinders.

Brian Cox appeared as Kostas Becker in the two-part Simpsons episode, as the voice of the Ood Elder in the 2009 Doctor Who Christmas Special The End of Time Part One, and as Sydney Newman in the Doctor Who 50th anniversary docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time.

Television channels
In its native United States, The Simpsons airs on the Fox network. In 1996, the Doctor Who television movie had its US premiere on the network, five days before the conclusion of The Simpsons'.

In the United Kingdom, after seven years of only being viewable on cable and satellite television, the BBC obtained the terrestrial broadcasting rights to The Simpsons in 1996. It began airing on BBC One on Saturday, 23 November of that year (incidentally, Doctor Who's 33rd anniversary), with said terrestrial premiere being the main cover story of the 3800th issue of Radio Times. It moved to BBC Two just a few months later, were it became a popular mainstay. The show remained on the channel until the BBC relinquished the rights to Channel 4 in 2004. Overall, the BBC aired the show's first eleven seasons during its time as broadcaster, including the Doctor Who references depicted in, , , and. The Simpsons universe briefly returned to BBC Two on 5 July 2015 with the UK premiere of the crossover episode,.

, the American variety television series on which the Simpsons originated via animated shorts was, itself, broadcast on BBC Two in the years prior, ironically, with the shorts removed. According to, the BBC believed "[the shorts] would never catch on".

In Australia, Network Ten originally aired the series, beginning in 1991, and lasting until they lost the rights in 2014, meaning it shared the channel with the first two series of Torchwood and, possibly, some episodes of K9.

, the first 33 seasons are available to stream worldwide on Disney+, a platform it will share with Doctor Who by 2023 outside the UK.

Simpsons Comics
A comic book series titled Simpsons Comics ran from 1993 to 2018. Originally published in the United States, it was also exported to other territories, including the United Kingdom, where it is published by Titan Publishing Group (the series continues to run reprints of old strips, due to the ending of its American counterpart).

Andrew Pepoy, who illustrated the Second Doctor's prologue to Supremacy of the Cybermen, drew multiple stories for the series.

The original American incarnation also took part in the annual Free Comic Book Day event.

Miscellaneous
Hans Zimmer, who contributed to the charity record, Doctor in Distress, composed the soundtrack to, and the theatrical short film,. He was also a co-composer on. Following the dismissal of longtime composer Alf Clausen, Zimmer was credited as the producer of the regular series' score by.