DW Christmas Special 2016: The Return of Doctor Mysterio

A Guide to Classic Who references in new Who.

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2016 in which the Doctor meets the superhero, Doctor Mysterio.

Warning: May contain Spoilers for

"The Return of Doctor Mysterio"

References

[OLD] - Things that first appeared in the classic series (or the film.)  Episode List.

For context, the following are also covered:

[1ST] -  The first appearance of things in Doctor Who series.

[NEW] - Things that first appeared previously in the new series.

[OTH] - Things from outside the series.

Ongoing References...

• [OLD]  The Doctor - The central character of both series of Doctor Who.  This is the Twelfth Doctor.

• [OLD]  UNIT - A military organisation created to investigate alien incursions.  UNIT appeared regularly in the classic series.  In the new series organisation appeared in a small role in the Doctor Who (2005) episodes "Aliens of London"/"World War Three," and in larger role in "The Christmas Invasion," "The Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords," and "The Sontaran Stratagem"/"The Poison Sky," as well as "Turn Left," "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End," "Planet of the Dead," "The End of Time," "The Power of Three," "The Bells of St John," "The Day of the Doctor," and, of course, "Death in Heaven," "The Magician's Apprentice" and "The Zygon Invasion"/"The Zygon Inversion."  UNIT, of members of UNIT, have also appeared or been mentioned in Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Class.

• [NEW]  Osgood - A UNIT scientist who first appeared in Doctor Who (2005) episode "The Day of the Doctor" in which she gained a Zygon double, "Death in Heaven" in which either she or her double was killed, and "The Zygon Invasion"/"The Zygon Inversion" 

• [NEW]  River Song - The Doctor's wife.  It's complicated.  First appeared in... it's complicated.

This episode...

• [OLD]  Radiation Poisoning - The Third Doctor died (and regenerated) after radiation poisoning contracted on "The Planet of the Spiders" (Season 11, Third Doctor).

• [NEW]  A Christmas Invasion - See Doctor Who (2005) episode "The Unquiet Dead" (the Ninth Doctor); "The Christmas Invasion," "The Runaway Bride," "The Next Doctor" and "The End of Time (Part 1)," (all the Tenth Doctor); "The Snowmen," and "The Time of the Doctor" (the Eleventh Doctor); as well as "Last Christmas" (the Twelfth Doctor).

• [NEW]  The Original Doctor - River Song makes this point in the Doctor Who (2005) episode "A Good Man Goes To War" saying it has come to mean "healer" or "wiseman."  Previously, the Master had said the Doctor had picked the name because it means one who "makes people better." ("The Sound of Drums").

• [OTH]  Doctor Mysterio - In Mexico, Doctor Who is called Doctor Misterio.

• [OLD]  Local Disruptions - New York has been visited by the Doctor a couple of times, including 1966 (in the First Doctor episode "The Chase" (Season 2)), 1930 (in the Tenth Doctor story "Daleks in Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks") and 1938 (in the Eleventh Doctor story "The Angels Take Manhattan").  In "The Angels Take Manhattan" it is stated that the timestream around Manhattan is badly damaged and landing the TARDIS there would be dangerous for the timestream.  The Doctor did so anyway.

• [1ST]  A red hole - First mention of this celestial object.

• [1ST]  Pure dwarf star crystal - First mention of these objects.

• [1ST]  The Apocalypse Monks of the Andorax - First mention of them.

• [1ST]  Hazandra, the Ghost of Love and Wishes - The first appearance of this gemstone.

• [NEW]  The Shoal of Winter Harmony - A group loyal to Hydroflax in the Doctor Who (2005) episode "The Husbands of River Song."

• [OLD]  Brains with eyes in jars - Creatures of this type (unnamed in the episode but listed as the Morpho in the credits) enslaved the population of Marinus, leading them to believe the illusion that the lived the luxurious city of Morphoton when it was, in fact, filthy.  (The First Doctor story "The Keys of Marinus" (Season 1))

• [NEW]  Nardole - River Song's assistant in the Doctor Who (2005) episode "The Husbands of River Song."  His head was removed and used by the robot body of the Hydroflax.

• [OLD]  Work for an Agency - A group of Time Lords who breach the Time Lord vow of non-interference, who the Doctor has done work for in the past.  They were first mentioned in the Doctor Who (1963) episode "The Deadly Assassin" (Season 14) to explain why he'd been previously asked to interfere with time by the Time Lords despite their vow.

• [NEW]  24 Years - The length of a night on Darillium (as noted in "The Husbands of River Song.").

• [NEW]  Hydroflax -  See"The Husbands of River Song."

Previous: "The Husbands of River Song"

Next: "The Pilot"

~ DUG.

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[Torchwood episodes][Sarah Jane Adventures episodes][Class episodes][The Doctor classic Doctor Who information]

The Time Crash blog was created to help New Who fans understand Classic Who references - and to know if something isn't a reference but a new idea.  If there's a reference I missed or a subject that you feel needs more explaining, please comment.