User:WaltK/The Simpsons (franchise)

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

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, The Tracey Ullman Show, with their popularity leading to the creation of a fully fledged television series.

The show's first 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 continues to run to this day: it is the longest-running American animated series, the longest-running American sitcom, and the longest-running American scripted primetime television series. It is currently the thirty-third longest-running television series of all time, coming in six places behind Doctor Who itself.

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 the many to be represented in the game from launch.

more to come

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 2004's novel, The Tomorrow Windows, Martin and Trix MacMillan were said to have drank tea from Simpsons mugs. Two stories released in 2008 contained nods to catchphrases famously uttered by the show's characters: in the audio story, Cuddlesome, the titular toys could be heard uttering two phrases commonly uttered by 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.

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.

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

Also in the seventh season, in the episode, Comic Book Guy makes an unambiguous 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,, 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.

Guest stars
Britney Spears appeared as herself in the episode,.

Ian McKellen appeared as himself in the episode,.

Ricky Gervais both wrote and starred in the episode,.

The episode,, featured Russell Brand as himself, as well as another appearance by Ricky Gervais.

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.

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, when it first began airing on BBC1, before moving to, and becoming a popular mainstay on BBC2, until the rights were relinquished 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.

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 entire series is available stream worldwide on Disney+, a platform it will share with Doctor Who by 2023 outside the UK.

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.

Titan Publishing Group is the current UK publisher of.