Doctor Who Wants To Crossover With Star Trek, But Could It Happen?

Summary Doctor Who teases potential Star Trek crossover in new season, blurring lines between sci-fi universes.

Ncuti Gatwa hints at Eleventh Doctor adventure in a different universe, sparking fan theories and excitement.

Previous attempts at Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover never materialized, but new hints suggest it could happen now.

Doctor Who wants to do a crossover with the Star Trek franchise, leading fans of both franchises to ponder whether it could ever happen. As the two longest-running science fiction franchises in the world, there have been various Star Trek crossovers with Doctor Who and vice versa over the years. However, outside expanded media and cute references, Doctor Who and Star Trek have never officially crossed paths on screen. This could finally be about to change, as a revelation in Doctor Who season 14, episode 1, "Space Babies" blurs the boundaries between each show's fictional universe.

An Easter egg in Doctor Who season 14, episode 1 heavily suggests that Starfleet and the starship Enterprise exist in the same universe as the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson). Doctor Who has referenced Star Trek multiple times before, but strictly as a TV show. For example, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) wished the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) was more like Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in Steven Moffat's "The Empty Child". Now, Doctor Who changes the game by suggesting Star Trek is real, setting up a potential cliffhanger in the future.

Related Doctor Who Subtly Proves A Matt Smith Sci-Fi Crossover Is Proper Canon In RTD's New Era Ncuti Gatwa makes a comment in "Space Babies" that refers to an off-screen adventure that took the Eleventh Doctor into another sci-fi universe.

Doctor Who Confirms It’s Set In The Same Universe As Star Trek

But which Star Trek universe is it?

In Doctor Who season 14, episode 1, "Space Babies", the Doctor takes Ruby Sunday on her first trip in the TARDIS, arriving aboard a space station. As Ruby tries to wrap her head around the intricacies of TARDIS travel, she asks if it's a matter transporter "like in Star Trek", to which the Doctor grins, laughs, and replies "We've gotta visit them one day." While the Doctor is prone to bending the truth and outright lying to wind up his companions, his statement heavily implies that Doctor Who and Star Trek share a fictional universe.

Between 2012 and 2013, IDW published an eight-issue limited-run comic book called Assimilation², which paired up Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor with the characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

However, if that is the case, then it's unclear which Star Trek timeline that Doctor Who is set in; Kelvin or Prime? While Doctor Who and Star Trek have alternating movie and TV universes, it's most likely that writer Russell T Davies is referring to the prime universe, populated by legends like Captains James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). To further emphasize the connection between Doctor Who and Star Trek in "Space Babies", the costumes worn by the baby farm staff mirror the Starfleet uniforms worn during the Star Trek: The Next Generation era.

Doctor Who Almost Crossed Over With Star Trek Before

Doctor Who returned just as Star Trek: Enterprise ended.

"Space Babies" isn't the first time that the Doctor Who showrunner has broached the subject of doing a Star Trek crossover episode. In 2009, as he prepared to hand Doctor Who over to his successor, Steven Moffat, RTD revealed that he had planned to do a crossover with Star Trek: Enterprise back in 2005. However, due to Enterprise being canceled that year, the proposed episode never went anywhere. However, in The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter, co-written with Benjamin Cook, RTD revealed he wanted one of David Tennant's last episodes to be heavily influenced by Star Trek:

The Doctor on board the Enterprise, puncturing Starfleet pomposity with his sheer Doctor-ness. This is my favourite idea. (So long as it’s not a simple Star Trek parody. That would be too easy.) If you give it a good story, and make the captain, the science officer and everyone real [...] then we'll get the joke and get involved.

RTD's Star Trek crossover never came together in the end, with "Planet of the Dead" taking its place as Doctor Who's 2009 Easter special. This means that Ncuti Gatwa's throwaway Star Trek gag is RTD's third attempt to set up a crossover between the two longest-running sci-fi franchises. It remains to be seen if it will be third time lucky for the Doctor Who showrunner, but in a streaming landscape dominated by big IPs, it may be more likely than ever for the TARDIS to finally land inside the starship Enterprise.

Related Star Trek’s Leonard Nimoy Almost Directed A Doctor Who Movie The 1996 Doctor Who TV movie could have been very different - it seems Leonard Nimoy (of Star Trek fame) was almost brought in as director!

RTD Still Wants Doctor Who To Crossover With Star Trek

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In the lead up to season 14, Russell T Davies has been very vocal about how Star Trek has influenced Doctor Who's Disney+ era. RTD has been watching all the modern Star Trek shows from Star Trek: Discovery to Star Trek: Picard. Hilariously, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) utters the line "space babies" in Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 4, "No Win Scenario", a coincidence that greatly amused RTD back in 2023. In an interview with Collider to promote Doctor Who season 14, RTD affirmed his intention for both franchises to coexist, while hinting at a hilarious inspiration for wanting to do a Star Trek crossover:

Frankly, the fact that I'm not married to Captain Pike is a major problem in my life, and I look to you, Collider, to put this right, frankly. It’s a wrong that needs righting...

RTD tells Collider that he hopes his revelation that Star Trek is real in Doctor Who will create "excited ripples around the world." The concept of the Doctor meeting Starfleet is definitely an exciting prospect. There's a strict professionalism to the life of a Starfleet officer that is at odds with the Doctor's more ramshackle, gadabout approach to exploring strange new worlds. The prospect of Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor causing chaos on the bridge of the starship Enterprise is hugely enticing, just as long as there's a good story to justify the crossover.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds A spin-off of Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a television series that takes place before the events of the original series and follows Captain Christopher Pike as he mans the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The show focuses on this previous crew of the Enterprise as they explore the galaxy with returning characters from Discovery.

Star Trek: Picard Where to Watch *Availability in US stream rent buy Not available Not available Not available After starring in Star Trek: The Next Generation for seven seasons and various other Star Trek projects, Patrick Stewart is back as Jean-Luc Picard. Star Trek: Picard focuses on a retired Picard who is living on his family vineyard as he struggles to cope with the death of Data and the destruction of Romulus. But before too long, Picard is pulled back into the action. The series also brings back fan-favorite characters from the Star Trek franchise, such as Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Worf (Michael Dorn), and William Riker (Jonathan Frakes).

How Would A Doctor Who Crossover Episode Of Star Trek Work?

Do you bring the Enterprise to Cardiff or the TARDIS to Toronto?

One of the first things that would need to be decided about a Doctor Who and Star Trek crossover is in which show it would take place. Do the cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds head to Cardiff to film an episode of Doctor Who, or do Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson head to Pinewood Toronto Studios to film an episode of Star Trek? Even before those discussions take place, there would need to be an agreement made between the BBC, Disney, CBS, and Paramount Studios over whether such a crossover could, or should exist.

The 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie, starring Paul McGann, was filmed in Vancouver, making it the only time that the show has filmed in Canada.

Such discussions could take a long time, as it's likely that Russell T Davies and Alex Kurtzman would have very particular ideas about how they would want their respective shows represented. Star Trek is the larger global brand, meaning that those in charge of it will be highly protective of its reputation. The last thing they would want would be for Russell T Davies to write a Doctor Who script that sent up Star Trek, or did something that went against the core ethos established by Gene Roddenberry and his successors.

However, recent industry developments could make things easier for a potential crossover between Star Trek and Doctor Who. Paramount Global was recently put up for sale (via Los Angeles Times), and while Disney hasn't been mentioned as a potential buyer, they could be tempted to add the one huge franchise they don't own, Star Trek to their portfolio. A crossover between two Disney properties would make a Doctor Who and Star Trek crossover a simpler thing to achieve. However, given Disney's recent cost-cutting measures, this is unlikely, meaning that fans are unlikely to see Doctor Who and Star Trek crossover in either franchise's immediate future.

Episode Disney+ Release Date "Space Babies" & "The Devil's Chord" May 10 "Boom" May 17 "73 Yards" May 24 "Dot & Bubble" May 31 "Rogue" June 7 "The Legend of Ruby Sunday" June 14 "Empire of Death" June 21