There was nothing subtle about this new TARDIS Easter egg.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds triumphantly returned to streaming with its season 4 premiere, and showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers didn’t waste any time in stoking the Doctor Who crossover flames again. The crew of the USS Enterprise gather together to discuss the Category 10 interstellar squall the ship has encountered, and that’s when Commander Pelia (Carol Kane) drops the Galaxy-class-sized Easter egg for science fiction fans to enjoy.
“I’ve seen one [interstellar storm] once a long time ago but not from this close,” Pelia tells her shipmates in the episode. “I think I was in a phone box at the time.” Make no mistake, the 5,000-year-old Lanthanite was referring to the TARDIS, which The Doctor — not to be confused with Star Trek’s beloved Emergency Medical Hologram — uses to time-travel in.
Personally, I love that Strange New Worlds showrunners Goldsman and Myers went there right out of spacedock to jump start season 4. And Star Trek fans likely weren’t all that surprised because Goldsman admitted in an interview back in June that “certainly in our view, I mean, Pelia traveled in the TARDIS. Why not?”
Goldsman also said during that same sit-down that he and Myers were trying desperately to concoct a crossover with Doctor Who’s Russell T Davies. And Strange New Worlds already teased the TARDIS flying near the Enterprise when the Starfleet vessel and her crew faced Asaasllich, the Destroyer of Worlds in the season 3 episode “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail.”
What I’m hoping for now thanks to this new Doctor Who Easter egg is that a version of the character and his corresponding companion will show up in either season 4 or 5 of Strange New Worlds. Perhaps, Goldsman and Myers were able to work something out with Davies, and they’ve all managed to keep it under wraps.
I know it’s a longshot, but here’s hoping. Spock did say there are always possibilities, right?
Did you enjoy Pelia’s reference to Doctor Who’s “phone box” as much as I did? Share your thoughts and comments with us about the Easter egg on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages. And Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4’s premiere is now streaming on Paramount+.
Live long and prosper, Trekkies!
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