Doctor Who’s Final 60th Anniversary Special Has a Cool Flash Gordon Reference

Warning: The following article about Doctor Who‘s final 60th anniversary special having a cool Flash Gordon reference contains spoilers.

Doctor Who‘s final 60th anniversary special, “The Giggle,” ended with a surprise, but it also threw in a neat blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to both Flash Gordon and an earlier Season 3 scene.

Returning villain The Toymaker boasts about having beaten The Master and storing him in a gold tooth. When he’s defeated by the Doctor(s), he leaves behind that tooth on the floor of UNIT’s sky-high landing pad.

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But instead of being pinched by a magpie, we see a red-fingernailed hand reaching out, taking the tooth, followed by sinister laughter from one or more of The Masters. If you’ve not seen the ’80s classic Flash Gordon, you might just see it as a retread of the end of “Last of the Time Lords,” where another, similar hand took The Master’s signet ring, which, in turn, led to his slightly wonky return.

But both it and that original Season 3 scene are call backs to the end of Flash Gordon, where deceased villain Ming the Merciless’ ring is picked up by an unknown figure, accompanied by Ming’s evil laughter. Who took the ring? Well, we never found out because while it’s now regarded as a cult classic, it didn’t do well enough (even with Queen providing the music) to warrant a sequel.

Could this fun connection be a coincidence? Not a chance. Speaking on Brett Goldstein’s Films to be Buried With podcast, Russell T. Davies (who co-wrote both episodes) chose Flash Gordon as his favorite film of all time. So, this is a clear homage to that campy sci-fi classic. Now, if Davies can only get Brian Blessed back on the show…