Doctor Who has never been shy about tipping a hat to other science fiction franchises. The 2014 Christmas special “Last Christmas” owes a heavy debt to Alien, with its face-hugging alien parasites. Several Star Trek references have beamed onto Doctor Who stories, including the Starfleet-esque crew at the start of another Christmas special, “A Christmas Carol.” The world of comic book superheroes, particularly stories starring Superman, clearly influenced “The Return of Doctor Mysterio.”
Unsurprisingly, Doctor Who and its spinoffs have also acknowledged the most popular sci-fi franchise of the past several decades, Star Wars. Nerdy kid Clyde drops several Wars mentions in The Sarah Jane Adventures, and the Eleventh Doctor compared himself to Yoda in the short “Meanwhile in the TARDIS.”
But for the adventures of the Fifteenth Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa, the Star Wars nods are getting much more subtle. Speaking with Doctor Who Magazine, senior art director Crissy Howes, who worked on the new TARDIS with production designer Phil Sims, reveals her longstanding habit of paying tribute to the great space opera. “On every production I’ve done since Event Horizon, I’ve followed the tradition of hiding a bit of R2-D2 in plain sight. Just saying…” she revealed.
In other words, Howes’s hint means that the lovable droid is referenced some place in the newly-reimagined time machine. With only one full episode under Fifteen’s belt, the Christmas special “The Church on Ruby Road,” viewers haven’t had too much of a chance to poke around the Doctor’s new digs to look for Artoo. But your theories are welcome in the comments.
