Did Star Trek: Picard feature a subtle nod to Doctor Who, confirming that the universes of the world’s two biggest sci-fi TV franchises are connected? That’s what this wild, but strangely plausible, fan theory suggests. It’s all based around a handy gizmo introduced in the final episodes of Picard‘s first season which appears to be extremely similar to the Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver.
ScreenRant has pondered the importance of a gadget lent to Cristobal Rios by one of Soong’s androids on the planet Coppelius. The tiny device “fixes things” by manipulating matter. The highly advanced device, even by Starfleet standards, requires one to use their imagination and was able to repair La Sirena. It was also key in fooling the sensors of the Romulan armada into believing the single ship was actually a whole fleet.
Soong’s a genius, sure, but maybe this extraordinary device had its origins with a certain Time Lord. You see, there’s actually been an official Who/Trek crossover in which the Eleventh Doctor crossed paths with Jean-Luc Picard during his days on the Enterprise-D. This was 2012’s Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2, as published by IDW.
The four-part comic miniseries saw the TARDIS cross universes and end up in the Holodeck of the Enterprise. It turns out that the Doctor had been in the Trek universe before, too, as he’d teamed up with Kirk in his fourth incarnation. This time, Eleven paired with Picard to stop the Cybermen, who had also crossed universes, from assimilating the Borg. While the timey-wimeyness of the Doctor’s actions ensured he was removed from recorded events when the adventure was over, he told Picard that he and the Enterprise crew would remember it all.
It’s feasible, then, that the crew got the chance to study the Doctor’s screwdriver during this exploit and someone was inspired to create their own version of it. Soong’s androids then somehow came into contact with this prototype and adapted the concept again for the advanced device that’s given to Rios.
Tell us, though, do you think this Star Trek: Picard theory confirms that the Doctor Who comic crossover is canon? Have your say in the comments section below.
