Two of the biggest sci-fi franchises are officially joining forces, at least in terms of expressing their mutual admiration later this month. Star Trek and Doctor Who will celebrate the inaugural “Intergalactic Friendship Day” on July 30. Things kick off a few days earlier at San Diego Comic-Con.
Intergalactic Friendship Day
This new collaboration was announced jointly by the official Star Trek and Doctor Who sites on behalf of CBS Studios and BBC Studios, respectively. Here is how they describe it:
Through fifteen doctors and over a dozen brave captains, sci-fi fans have traveled on journeys spanning the cosmos, and on July 30th, fans will rejoice as the Doctor Who and Star Trek franchises come together to celebrate the creation of the inaugural Intergalactic Friendship Day.
The celebration aligns with International Friendship Day, which was established in 2011 with the idea that friendship between peoples, countries, cultures, and individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities. Throughout both franchises’ long histories, there have been numerous on-screen nods to each other that delight fans, and now the two pop culture titans Doctor Who and Star Trek are joining forces to spotlight shared values of friendship, hope, and fandom with fan celebrations, digital activations, and special giveaways.
Doctor Who x Star Trek @SDCC
Things kick off at San Diego Comic-Con which starts next week. This includes a panel featuring Star Trek executive producer Alex Kurtzman and Doctor Who executive producer Russel T. Davies. Here is the official description:
Alex Kurtzman (showrunner and executive producer at the helm of the Star Trek franchise) and Russell T. Davies (showrunner and executive producer spearheading the Doctor Who Whoniverse) come together to celebrate the power of friendship. The Star Trek and Doctor Who franchises are teaming up to spotlight shared values of friendship, hope, and fandom, in an exclusive creator-to-creator conversation about the art of storytelling across time and space.
The “Intergalactic Friendship Panel: Star Trek x Doctor Who” panel takes place on Saturday, July 27, 5:30 – 6:30 PM (Room 6A). The panel is being moderated by Keisha Hatchett of TVLine. Attendees will each receive a special Doctor Who X Star Trek poster designed by artist Dusty Abell.
There will also be a “Friendship is Universal” Doctor Who/Star Trek pop-up exhibition in the Gaslamp Quarter. Here is what to expect:
The gallery experience will feature original costumes and props from across the storied histories of both, highlighting themes of friendship and shared values between the two universes. There will also be photo opportunities for fans as well as special friendship bracelet giveaways.
The activation will be at 226 and 230 5th Avenue, open Thursday, July 25 through Saturday, July 27, 11:00 AM – 8:00 PM, and Sunday, July 28, 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
Both the official Star Trek and Doctor Who social media accounts shared this promotion for the collaboration:
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Crossover with Doctor Who?
Both franchises have dropped references to each other over the decades, including the most recent season of Doctor Who (streaming on Disney+) which included a specific mention by the Fifteenth Doctor (played by Ncuti Gatwa) saying (of Star Trek) “We gotta visit them some day.”
We’re watching the new episode of #DoctorWho and that just happened… #StarTrek crossover maybe?? :-) pic.twitter.com/OGWH7nyo4o
— Jörg Hillebrand (@gaghyogi49) May 12, 2024
So far the closest the franchises have to a crossover was IDW’s 8-issue Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who “Assimilation2“ (non-canon) comic mini-series in 2012.
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You can do cross over with really anything if you really want to. I guess Dr Who and Trek are as good as any others. I’d quite like to see this done Prodigy style rather than live action, if it was ever to come to pass. I could never see a sign off from the BBC and Paramount tomake a TV movie or something.
Animation would allow for some true craziness too, like bringing in William Shatner and Tom Baker.
Animation is far less interesting to me unless it’s something like Clone Wars/Prodigy or Futurama/Lower Decks. I want to see Ncuti Gatwa meet Michael Burnham or Captain Pike, Matt Smith making his long-awaited return to cross paths with Admiral Janeway, or David Tennant having an adventure with Dr. Bashir, Ezri, and Worf — in live-action.
Animated adaptations of existing live-action franchises always just feel like fan fiction to me.
It’s funny for someone like me who not only loves time travel stories but seeks them out constantly I have never seen a single episode of Doctor Who. No particular reason, it was just never on my radar as a kid. And by the time I got older it just felt too intimidating to try and watch it from the beginning with so much content out there. Of course no one says you have to watch everything of everything but I am a completest, and that holds me back a lot lol.
But I am thinking of watching the new season on Disney+ now, especially since everyone says the specials they put out last year were made for newbies like me who knows nothing about the show and want a gateway of some sort; basically what Prodigy is designed to do.
But this event does sound cool. I don’t think we’ll ever see a cross over or anything, at least in terms of canon. Cross overs seem mostly impossible when you are doing it between competing studios. It’s certainly happened, but it is rare. Maybe they could do a comic book special where Dr. Who runs into the Enterprise D or something. There was a Star Trek/X Men comic cross over so anything is possible in that regard.
Someone rail and harass me into infinity if I’m wrong, but didn’t they already do an 11th Doctor (Matt Smith)/TNG crossover funnybook?
They did! It’s excellent. The title is Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation. It does feature the Matt Smith Doctor and the Next Gen crew, but there are a few flashbacks that feature the TOS crew meeting Tom Baker’s Doctor from the ’70s. There is a collected version and it’s wonderful.
In fact, it’s pictured in the article above!
Yeah, that’s the ticket.
It’s right there in the article. :)
You can get a feel for the show by watching the classics free on Tubi also.
The show is intimidating now because even the new show is 20 years and 15 seasons old. It’s been on so long the show is split amongst 3 streamers in the US and 3 naming conventions for its seasons/series. But on the other hand, they are shortish seasons.
The most rewarding watch of the new show is still from Series 1, next best is starting with series 5, but I can see a way forward if you begin with the Disney Season 1. Do let me know what you think. It’s lost some luster for me the last few years, but it’s a wildly inventive show and still my favorite.
i get that as DW was seen a low budget cult to US viewers in the 70s and then off the air during the 90s SF tv boom.
Doctor Who Crossover with Star Trek Academy soon………..
Fun fact: Davies was actively interested in trying to get an Enterprise/Doctor Who crossover going when the show was revived, but Enterprise’s cancellation put an end to that idea.
That was my very first thought when they announced this. That combined with Anson Mount repeatedly saying that SNW season 3 takes bigger swings than last season’s musical episode makes me feel like all the right pieces are pointed in the right direction for this to happen. Not saying it will, there may be insane rights issues to navigate, but from the outside, all the necessary players and comments have been placed and said to get me excited at the possibility of it.
Well I think if they ever did do a crossover in the current era they have two choices: do a “modern” crossover — Ncuti Gatwa popping up on Pike’s Enterprise — or a “classic” crossover: a previous Doctor meeting members of the 90s Trek shows.
Personally I’d love to see a series of 20 minute shorts, with different Doctors meeting different crews. Imagine Paul McGann joining forces with Janeway. David Tennant and Captain Pike, Peter Capaldi meeting Picard, Matt Smith on the Cerritos. Jodi Whittaker on the Discovery…
Traveller Wesley Crusher is right there to make it happen!
I’d be all for a real crossover if not for the fact that Rose references “Spock” in an episode – sadly, Star Trek already exists in Doctor Who as a TV show! (I’m sure there are other references to it, too).
It only takes a bump or two in the space/time vortex for the Doctor to accidentally cross over into another universe. You could have the TARDIS turn up on the Enterprise with no more than a line or two of technobabble to justify it! As a person who loves both universes equally, I would possiboy die from sheer joy if a crossover happened. Which, all things considered, is not a bad way to go!
You missed the line in a recent episode where Milly references the Enterprise and the Doctor says “we should visit them someday.”
in the nature of trek intergalactic friendship (since he did write about the planet of galactic peace), just pointing out that David Loughery died a week ago and yet no mention here that I saw. I know most folks don’t like TFF like I do, but even so, the fact he wrote it plus the unproduced Academy script ought to justify a mention.
Agreed, especially since this is TrekMOVIE and he had a big part in making one. RIP.
Thank you for mentioning!
Years ago, after Marvel and Sony put aside their financial differences to unite Spider-Man with the MCU, I predicted that the next big thing in movies would be crossovers. No, not like SNW/LD, but Trek/Dr. Who.
Theaters aren’t what they used to be, streaming has become a battleground. Networks and studios need to find bold ways of attracting and keeping audiences. Cinematic universes were one way they tried to do it in the last decade.
Teamups were the next big thing; Not The Avengers, but 2 or 3 characters from different but related franchises teaming up in a single movie. Marvel did it with Thor: Ragnarok, The Marvels, and No Way Home. DC did it in The Flash, and Trek did it in “Those Old Scientists.”
But imagine Star Trek/Dr. Who, Justice League/Avengers, Bad Boys/Beverly Hills Cop, Ghostbusters/Beetlejuice. Blade Runner/Alien, Robocop/Terminator. If studios want billion-dollar blockbusters again, this is an obvious winner. I could even see studios making them exclusive to theaters and home video to collect more direct dollars.
Yes, they’ve been done before — there was a brief period when horror crossovers were big. And few of them were huge hits. But this is a different era, and fans would FLOCK to theaters for these big event crossovers that they never thought they’d see.
they are still trying to develop ’21 jump st/MiB’ at Sony.
and GI joe/transformers’ maybe on the way too.